Thursday, September 16, marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme from a New Zealand perspective.
It was on September 15, 1916 that New Zealand was drawn into the battle of the Somme, which had started on July 1 of that year.
The Battle of the Somme is often remembered for the huge losses incurred on the first day of the battle, back in July, but the battle itself continued for a total of 141 days, with long casualty lists filling the newspapers back home in the UK and New Zealand.
In the 23 days the New Zealand Division spent on the Somme, their losses were close to the numbers from the eight-month long Gallipoli campaign.
Two thousand New Zealanders lost their lives in the battle and by the end, in November, more than 1 million Commonwealth, French and German soldiers had been wounded, captured or killed.