Crosses mark ‘darkest day’

Hundreds of crosses have been set up on the banks of a Christchurch river to mark the centenary of the ‘‘darkest day’’ in modern New Zealand history.

On October 12, 1917, 843 New Zealand soldiers were killed in the space of about four-and-a-half hours as they tried to take Bellevue Spur, in Belgium.

The offensive, part of the World War I campaign known as the Battle of Passchendaele, remains the single deadliest day in post1840 New Zealand history.

To commemorate the centenary of the battle, the Christchurch Memorial Returned and Services Association (RSA) have put up about 843 crosses in the park beside the Bridge of Remembrance. The crosses, installed with help from Fire and Emergency New Zealand, each bear the regimental number, rank and name of soldiers from Canterbury who died during World War I.

On Thursday, exactly 100-years on from the assault on Bellevue Spur, the RSA is holding a memorial service to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

RSA president Pete Dawson said it was important the legacy of Passchendaele was remembered, along with the death of every New Zealand serviceman and woman.

‘‘The fact we can parade, and stand out there and commemorate these guys and do it with freedom – that’s what they fought for,’’ he said. Dawson described October 12, 1917, as New Zealand’s ‘‘darkest day’’ and said he doubted anyone alive today could truly imagine the horror of the battle.

‘‘The bodies in the craters, the mud, the muck, the sound of shells and smell of cordite – it must have been horrific,’’ he said.

‘‘We need to consider the courage these people had.

‘‘It must have been obvious to a lot of them that they wouldn’t get out alive, but they did their duty, and they fought for their country.’’

The memorial service starts at 10.30am on Thursday with a parade forming on the Hereford St bridge.

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel will then plant a tree to commemorate the anniversary, before the parade marches to the Bridge of Remembrance.

''It must have been horrific.'' RSA president Pete Dawson

PHOTO: JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF White crosses have been installed on the banks of the Avon River in Christchurch to represent the New Zealand soldiers who died on one day during the Battle of Passchendaele.