Battle for Chunuk Bair to be marked in Wellington

Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli. Photo / File

The centenary of one of the most significant and bloody battles in New Zealand's World War I Gallipoli campaign will be marked in Wellington next month.

Pukeahu National War Memorial Park will host commemorations for the Battle for Chunuk Bair from 4pm on August 8.

The five-day battle was part of the August Offensive, where the Allies tried to seize Sari Bair heights.

The Wellington Battalion captured Chunuk Bair early on the 8th, but it and other New Zealand units suffered huge casualties defending it. Chunuk Bair was lost two days later to the Ottoman forces after a series of counter-attacks.

The commemoration in Wellington will be led by the Government and includes the laying of a wreath at the tomb of the unknown warriors.

A New Zealand ceremony will also be held at Chunuk Bair on the same day. It comes between an Australian service at Lone Pine on August 6 and a Turkish ceremony on August 10.

In Bloody Gallipoli, author Richard Stowers calculates that 880 New Zealanders died in the Battle for Chunuk Bair.

The Wellington Battalion suffered particularly badly, including losing senior officer Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone from supposed Allied fire. The casualty list for the regional battalions is: Auckland Infantry Battalion, 100; Wellington Infantry Battalion, 313; Christchurch Infantry Battalion, 93; Otago Infantry Battalion, 124; Auckland Mounted Rifles, 90; Wellington Mounted Rifles, 64; Christchurch Mounted Rifles, 31; Otago Mounted Rifles, 34; Maori Contingent, 21; others, 10.

The battle was also notable as the first major engagement of the Maori Contingent and the awarding of New Zealand's only Victoria Cross of the campaign, to Corporal Cyril Bassett.

Future WWI commemorations include the Battle of the Somme (September 15, 2016), the Battle of Messines (June 7, 2017), the Battle of Passchendaele (October 12, 2017), the Battle of Beersheba (October 31, 2017) and the liberation of Le Quesnoy (November 4, 2018).