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3rd Bde NZ Field Artillery




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11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Batteries, 3rd Brigade NZ Field Artillery were attached to the New Zealand Division. During the Battle of Messines, on the 7th of June 1917 they were near the town of Messines.



Those who served with The 3rd Bde NZ Field Artillery

at The Battle of Messines.

  • Mountford  
  • John Dvr.




    Beneath Hill 60 [DVD]


    BENEATH HILL 60 tells the extraordinary true story of Oliver Woodward, the legendary Australian metal scientist. In 1916, Woodward faced the most difficult decision, ultimately having to separate from his new young love for the deadly carnage of the Western Front. On treacherous territory, behind the German enemy lines, Woodward and his secret platoon of Australian tunnelers face a suicidal battle to defend a leaking, tunnel system. A tunnel packed with enough high explosives to change the course of the War.
    More information on:

    Beneath Hill 60 [DVD]




    Artillery Operations of the Ninth British Corps at Messines, June 1917

    Army War College (U.S.)





    Hill 60: Ypres (Battleground Europe)

    Nigel Cave


    The shell-ravaged landscape of Hill 60, some three miles south east of Ypres, conceals a labyrinth of tu nnels and underground workings. This book offers a guide to the memorials, cemeteries and museums at the site '


    Beneath Hill 60 [Paperback]

    Will Davies


    'Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one - fire! Down goes the firing switch. At first, nothing. Then from deep down there comes a low rumble, and it as if the world is spliting apart...' On 7th June 1917, nineteen massive mines exploded beneath Messines Ridge near Ypres. The largest man-made explosion in history up until that point shattered the landscape and smashed open the German lines. Ten thousand German soldiers died. Two of the mines - at Hill 60 and the Caterpillar - were fired by men of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company, comprising miners and engineers rather than parade-ground soldiers. Drawing on the diaries of one of the key combatants, "Benealth Hill 60" tells the little-known, devastatingly brutal true story of this subterranean war waged beneath the Western Front - a stygian battle-ground where men drowned in viscous chalk, suffocated in the blue gray clay, choked on poisonous air or died in the darkness, caught up up in vicious hand-to-han
    More information on:

    Beneath Hill 60 [Paperback]




    A Soldier in World War I: The Diary of Elmer W. Sherwood

    Robert H. Ferrell & Elmer W. Sherwood


    In April 1917 a sophomore from Indiana University, inspired by the stories of his grandfather’s service in the Union army during the Civil War, left school and enlisted with a National Guard unit in Indianapolis that became the 150th Field Artillery Regiment. Before long the young man, Elmer W. Sherwood, found himself in the thick of fighting in France, as his artillery regiment served in combat with the 42nd (Rainbow) Division, including the horrendous Meuse-Argonne offensive that claimed 26,000 American lives. Sherwood, who described himself as the Rainbow Hoosier, kept a diary of his time overseas, including his experiences in the army of occupation following the war’s end. Published by the Indiana Historical Society Press and edited by Robert H. Ferrell, Indiana University distinguished professor of history emeritus , A Soldier in World War I: The Diary of Elmer W. Sherwood, captures the words of the Hoosier soldier as he wrote them on the front lines. Corporal Sherwood tells of t




    If you know of anyone who served with this unit at the Battle of Messines, please complete the form below so that they can be remembered.

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