New Zealand has announced more details of events taking place in France on November 4 to commemorate the centenary of its last major action of the First World War.
The town of Le Quesnoy, near the Belgian border, was liberated on 4 November 1918 in an attack using ladders to scale the 17th century ramparts.
On the 100th anniversary, there will be a national commemorative service and Last Post ceremony in Le Quesnoy, also a remembrance mass at the church of Notre- Dame de l’Assomption.
The events are open to the public. For details of these, and other cultural and educational commemorations marking the Centenary, see WW100 New Zealand & Le Quesnoy Centenaire.
The programme also includes the unveiling of ‘Victory Medal’ – a sculpture by artist Helen Pollock – on the future site of a New Zealand Memorial Museum.
Le Quesnoy fell as the last British and French-led offensives began on the River Sambre, pushing German forces back into Belgium in the days leading up to the Armistice on November 11.
Source: WW100 New Zealand
Images: Henry Armytage Sanders – Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association:New Zealand official negatives, World War 1914-1918. Ref: 1/2-013791-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, /records/22855444. No known copyright restrictions
Posted by: CN Editorial Team