Birthed in Blood

New Zealand became a Nation

In Jun 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. The fallout from this faraway event would ultimately claim the lives of 18,500 New Zealanders and wound a further 50,000. Places thousands of miles from home with exotic-sounding names such as Gallipoli, Passchendaele and the Somme were forever etched in the national memory during what became known as the Great War.

The war took more than 100,000 New Zealanders overseas, many for the first time. Some anticipated a great adventure but found the reality very different. Being so far from home made these New Zealanders very aware of who they were and where they were from. In battle they were able to compare themselves with men from other nations. Out of this came a sense of a separate identity, and many New Zealand soldiers began to refer to themselves as ‘Kiwis’.

The significance of the war on New Zealand society was summed up by a man who participated in it from Gallipoli to France. Ormond Burton went from being a stretcher-bearer at Anzac Cove to a highly decorated infantryman on the Western Front. He believed that ‘somewhere between the landing at Anzac and the end of the battle of the Somme New Zealand very definitely became a nation’.

There are plenty of slouch-hatted soldiers in town,
Doughty and debonair, stalwart and brown;
Some are from Weymouth or Salisbury plain,
Others have 'pushed' in the western campaign;

Call them 'overseas soldiers' or 'down-under men'
Declare that each is as daring as ten;
Call them cornstalks or fern leaves all out for a fight,
But don't call them ANZACS, for that isn't right.

The ANZACS, their ranks are scanty but all told,
Have a separate record illuminated in gold;
Their blood on Gallipoli's ridges they poured,
Their souls with the scars of that struggle are scored,

Not many are left, and not many are sound,
And thousands lie buried in Turkish ground,
These are the ANZACS; the others may claim,
Their zeal and their spirit, but never their name.

From One of The Anzacs

'Tho we've done a bit of fighting

We still got more to do

For they took us from Gallipoli

Before we got quite through

But let us hope we'll finish

Very soon, what we've begun

To wipe forever off the map

The Devastating Hun.

The War affected most families in New Zealand to some extent. For the Hobsons and the Coulams it resulted in the loss of life, of two sons, William Hobson and Frank Coulam both of whom were my Gr Uncles.

William Hobson 

Born in Australia in 1889

Died (KIA) on the 7th July 1916 at Armentieres, 7 days into the battle of the Somme, in France.

Buried at: Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, II C 44 (Armentieres), Nord, France.

Serial Number:    12/3681

Member of the New Zealand Expeditionary forces.

Unit:  9th Reinforcements Auckland Infantry Battalion, A Company.

Embarkation Date:  8th January 1916.

Left Wellington on the "Maunganui", desination Suez, Egypt.

The following is an extract from the book "The New Zealand Division" pg 51 & 52", and recounts the action of the "1st Auckland" during the first week of the Battle of the Somme at Armentieres. It obviously can't be established that William was one of the casulaties mentioned here, however it is definitely describing the battle surrounding his death.

"The German raids on the Divisional sector were neither as numerous as our own (4 as against 11), nor did they achieve as substantial a success. The first was launched at the 1st Auckland in the L'Epinette Salient on 3rd / 4th July. An effort made on the same night against the Australians on the right, was replused by machine gun fire.

The assault on the L’Epinette was accompanied by a heavy bombardment from 10pm till 11.45pm and after an interval from midnight tp 12.45am. Just prior to the commencement of the bombardment the enemy fortified his nerves by a sing-song in his trenches. On the SOS call our artillery put down a barrage on the enemy parapet and in No Man’s Land, but shortly after midnight the raiders rushed through it and made for our trenches. In No Man’s Land they were broken up by a listening post of 5 private soldiers who threw no less than 80 Mills Bombs at their adversaries.

Examined later, the ground showed signs of a desperate struggle. The efforts of these, out-numbered but undaunted, men prevented all but a handful of enemy from entering our trenches. At these a machine gunner threw a bomb, and 1 of the party was wounded and fell into our hands. The rest, after a brief show of fighting fled, leaving behind them 2 mobile charges. Apart from 3 prisoners, our casualties, all inflicted by the bombardment, were 33 men killed and 3 officers and over 60 men wounded.

The Divisional artillery fired over 4,000 rounds in direct connection with the attack. The German casualties were unknown, but “several were heard to squeal” and in the grey of dawn of the following morning, the sentries reported that many killed and wounded were being taken over the enemy parapet. Under this ordeal the Aucklanders’ behavior was stolid and resolute.  The commanding officer reported that he believed not a man had left his post without orders.

The second attempt was made on the 8th / 9th July, further south on the Mushmoom just beyond the Lille-Armentieres railway.

William had died on the 7^th July.



Francis Coulam

Born in Taranaki

Died on the 11^th Nov 1918 (Armistice Day) in Auckland.

Buried at:  Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland, Prot, Soldiers Area A, Row 1, Grave 8

Serial Number:       12/2252

Member of the New Zealand Expeditionary forces

Unit:  5^th Reinforcements Auckland Infantry Battalion

Embarkation Date:  13^th June 1915

Left Wellington on the “Maunganui”, destination Suez, Egypt (24^th July - 6th Aug)

He fought in : Gallipoli, Egypt and the Western Front

Military.Medal. :    Sergeant, Ist Bn, Auckland Regiment L.G. 17 December 1917, p13201, Rec No 1394

"For conspicuous gallantry in the field. east of St Julien on the 4th inst. during the advance this N.C.O, handled the men under his command in a most capable manner and took part in a lot of severe fighting he himself accounting for a great number of the crony with the bayonet. He was cool and level headed throughout and let nothing hinder the advance of his platoon to the objective. On arrival at the Red Line he worked without sparing himself and organised his men in a most capable manner in the work of consolidation, and it was greatly due to his own energy that such good work and progress was made in his particular sector."

It is unclear from the records at what stage Francis got to Gallipoli. The unit that he was in was used to reinforce the initial troops who went ashore on the 25th Apr. Francis's ship was due in Egypt between 24th Jul and the 6th Aug. What time it arrived and then how long it took them to get to Gallipoli I haven't yet established. he probably would have been there at some stage in Aug. The battle of Chunuk Bair began on the 6th Aug and was one of the key events of the New Zealanders action at Gallipoli.

The NZ troops initially secured the ground but lost it again to the Turks after three days of fighting.The eventual failure of Chunuk Bair and the August offensive, created doubts in London about the campaign, especially as the Western Front was assuming importance. General Sir Ian Hamilton, who was in charge of the British forces at Gallipoli, wanted more men. Opinion was against him. General Sir Charles Monro replaced him in mid-October and soon proposed evacuating the troops. Appalling weather conditions sealed the issue. A storm swept through the peninsula in late November. Water flooded the trenches and drowned men and drenched everything. The snow that followed left many dead from exposure. Survivors from both sides were miserable.

In London, the authorities reluctantly agreed to a withdrawal. In marked contrast to the shambolic landings of April, the evacuation went without a hitch. The New Zealanders left Suvla and Anzac on 19 and 20 December. Helles was emptied of its last British soldiers on the night of 8 and 9 January 1916. The Turks still held the peninsula.

Following the evacuation, the NZ forces went to Egypt for training before been transported to the Western front where they participated in many crucial Battles in both France and Belgium, including the Somme and Passchendaele.

Francis was discharged from the Army on the 11th July 1918 and returned to New Zealand where he died, of injuries incurred during the War and of the Flu, on the 11th Nov 1918 the day that peace was signed in Europe.

Source material and additional reading:

Roll of Honour - William Hobson

William's Cemetery at Cite Bonjean Armentieres France

William Hobson - Cenotaph Record
Roll of Honour - Francis Coulam

Francis Coulam - Cenotaph Record