New Zealand - The wood chopping competition at the New Zealand Base Depot Sports, Etaples
- General view of an event at the wood chopping competition during the New Zealand General Base Depot Sports held in Etaples, France, during World War I. Shows soldiers with axes chopping numbered blocks of wood in an arena, and a group of spectators (including civilians) looking on.
- 1918
- Photograph taken by Henry Armytage Sanders
Quick facts and figures about World War 1
- The total population of New Zealand in 1914 was approximately 1.1 million
- Almost 100,000 New Zealanders served overseas in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF)
- More than 2200 Māori and around 500 Pacific Islanders served overseas with the New Zealand forces
- 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to soldiers serving with New Zealand forces
- Several thousand New Zealanders served in the Australian or British imperial forces, being awarded a further five Victoria Crosses
- In all, 550 nurses served overseas with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, while others enlisted in the United Kingdom
- Around 18,000 New Zealanders died in or because of the war, and there were 41,000 instances of wounding or illness; 2779 died at Gallipoli and more than 12,000 on the Western Front
- The names of those who died are recorded on approximately 500 civic war memorials throughout New Zealand
(https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/first-world-war-overview/introduction)
Image source: The wood chopping competition at the New Zealand Base Depot Sports, Etaples. Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association :New Zealand official negatives, World War 1914-1918. Ref: 1/2-013429-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. natlib.govt.nz/records/22747792