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Preventative measures could have significantly reduced the death toll of New Zealand soldiers in World War 1, new research into the war's injury deaths suggests. By Rebecca Fox on Sat, 2 Nov 2013 The study using modern statistical analysis also confirmed World War 1 was by far the worst mass injury event in New Zealand's history. Published in yesterday's New Zealand Medical Journal, the research by by University of Otago, Wellington and Massey University researchers, was timely, given the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the war would be celebrated next year. Massey University Professor of War Studies Glyn Harper said while historical interpretations differed, there were many plausible, preventive measures that could have been taken to reduce loss of life, and the study supported that. ''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, he said. University of Otago Wellington Associate Prof Nick Wilson said it was the first time an analysis of the mortality burden on New Zealand military forces in World War 1 had been done using modern analytic methods. Updated electronic versions of the roll of honour and the cenotaph database from Auckland Museum were used for the study. The research showed it was the first war where the major cause of death was injury, rather than disease, he said. Of the 16,703 deaths among New Zealand forces, from July 1914 to November 1918, 63% were ''killed in action'' and 23% ''died of wounds'' and only 11% of disease. Injury deaths peaked at 1335 per 10,000 soldiers in 1915 during Gallipoli and peaked again in 1917, mostly due to the Battle of Passchendaele. At the worst period in the war, 450 New Zealand soldiers were dying each day. Another finding was the proportion of deaths from wounds, out of all injury deaths, peaked in the last year of the war, 1918, at 29%, he said. ''What this suggests is that the ongoing improvements in medical services for the wounded were being overwhelmed by other factors like changes in weaponry and military tactics,'' Prof Wilson said. On the Western Front, there was an initial return to horse-drawn ambulances while civilian society was generally using motorised ones by that time. With 13% of New Zealand forces killed or dying of wounds during the war, it was the worst mass injury event in New Zealand's history. ''It's way ahead of World War 2, the influenza pandemic and way ahead of even the worst earthquake at Hawkes Bay, with 258 deaths.''| Period | Nov 2013 |
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| Held at | Otago Daily Times, New Zealand |