Description
A number of measures could have been taken to prevent deaths of Kiwi soldiers in World War I, new research has found. A study, co-authored by Massey University Professor of War Studies Glyn Harper, is published in today's New Zealand Medical Journal. Prof Harper said that while historical interpretations differed, the study had found many plausible preventive measures that could have been taken to reduce loss of life. "A key one would have been better military planning to avoid failed campaigns such as Gallipoli and preventing the poor military leadership that resulted in the extremely high death rate of New Zealanders at Passchendaele. "Improved preventive measures such as the use of steel helmets by troops earlier in the war could also have reduced both injuries and deaths." Passchendaele, a battle Prof Harper has researched extensively, was the bloodiest day in New Zealand's war history, with 2700 New Zealand soldiers killed or wounded on October 12, 1917. In all, the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Great War suffered 16,703 deaths. Of the soldiers who died, 65 per cent were killed in action and 23 per cent died later of their wounds. The remaining deaths were mainly due to disease, with a small number due to accidents, drownings and executions. The study, the first of its kind, was undertaken by researchers from Massey, Wellington University and Otago University. Among its findings was that the proportion of deaths where soldiers died of wounds peaked in the last year of the war, 1918, at 29 per cent. "What this suggests is that the ongoing improvements in medical services for the wounded were being overwhelmed by other factors such as changes in weaponry and military tactics," Otago Associate Professor Nick Wilson said. Prof Wilson said improved design and resourcing of military medical services, which were especially deficient at the start of the war, could also have had an impact. "The lack of adequate medical facilities was one of a number of deficiencies outlined in the final report on the Gallipoli Campaign by the Dardanelles Commission," he said. On the Western Front there was an initial return to horse-drawn ambulances, whereas civilian society was generally using motorised ones at this time, Prof Wilson said.| Period | Nov 2013 |
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| Held at | Manawatu Standard, New Zealand |