Nation’s grief over brothers lost
Sons of a German immigrant, the Holz brothers were hit by a German shell following the Messines offensive
The Holz brothers — Ernest, William and their younger brother Allan — signed up for war on the same day.
The Wellington boys must have been close. Their enlistment papers show the same Karori address and they were assigned consecutive service numbers.
All signed on as reinforcements for the Wellington Infantry Battalion — they trained together at Featherston Army Camp before sailing to Britain in January 1917.
More training followed at Sling Camp in Salisbury before the brothers were posted to the Western Front in May.
Their simultaneous transfer was a departure in defence policy because the brothers, as their name suggests, were the sons of Bertha and the late Julius Holz, a German immigrant who became naturalised before the turn of the century.
Anti-German prejudice was strong in New Zealand when the war broke out, and the Holz boys could have been subject to a practice of confining soldiers with German ancestry to camp chores.
However, by May 27, 1917, the brothers were part of the big Allied Messines offensive, a strategy designed to capture high ground near the Belgium town of Ypres. German forces were dug in along a ridge and had to be overcome for the plan to succeed. New Zealand and Australian troops were united again for the first time since the Gallipoli disaster.
The NZ division was given the task of securing Messines. The battle opened with thunderous blasts at 3.10am on June 7 when detonator switches were thrown and the earth erupted in pillars of fire — the result of months of secret painstaking work beneath enemy lines when tunnels were dug under German positions and 19 mines stacked with explosives.
The Germans directly over the mines suffered enormous casualties. British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers made gains before the stunned enemy could form new defensive lines or retaliate with artillery.
Before the day was out, New Zealand troops had captured and held the village of Messines.
The next few days were given to consolidation. German fire did not let up and on June 13, 1917, a shell fired from the far side of Messines ridge landed on a house to the west in Pontde-Nieppe, in France.
Inside the billet, Allan, Ernest and William were staying with several other NZ soldiers. Allan, 24, a fitter, and Ernest, 33, a labourer, died instantly. Shrapnel hit William, 30, in the abdomen, wrist, hip and foot. He survived and returned to Wellington after surgery in England.
His brothers were buried, side by side, at Motor Car Corner, a cemetery which marks the point beyond which military vehicles were not allowed to proceed towards the front.
In New Zealand, the loss of the brothers at the same instant caused deep grief. The Minister of Defence, Sir James Allen, took it upon himself to deliver the news to Bertha Holz. the Press reported on July 4, 1917 that Allen also sought the fullest details about cabinet-maker William Holz’ injuries.
“These three lads achieved a fine record in defence of their King and Country,” the paper reported.