Archives New Zealand today presented Veterans' Affairs Minster Rick Barker with digital copies of the Casualty Forms of New Zealand servicemen killed in action during the Battle of Passchendaele.

"The 1917 Battle of Passchendaele was one of the fiercest battles of WWI and one of the most tragic for New Zealand Forces," said Rick Barker.

"It is fitting that in this year, the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele, digitally scanned copies of each of the Casualty Forms of New Zealand servicemen killed at Passchendaele are being sent to the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917," said Rick Barker.

On 12 October 1917, over 845 New Zealand servicemen lost their lives in just one day of action as the farmlands of Passchendaele near Ypres, turned to mud and swamp by artillery bombardment and torrential rain. Another 2,000 New Zealanders were injured. Just eight days earlier, 490 New Zealand servicemen had been killed.

"This was a terrible toll for New Zealand, especially considering our population at the time. Every town would have been affected,"said Rick Barker.

Passchendaele village was eventually recaptured by Allied Forces on 6 November 1917. By that time, a staggering 300,000 Allied Forces and 270,000 German servicemen had lost their lives.

"The Casualty Forms of the New Zealanders who fought and died in the Battle of Passchendaele between 12 July and 15 November 1917 will now be sent to the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 for use in their 'Passchendaele Archives' project," said Rick Barker.

"The Forms, which give details of service, next of kin, and place of burial, will be used in the database at the Museum's visitor centre to assist the Museum in commemorating the New Zealanders who were killed in the Battle of Passchendaele," said Rick Barker.

The Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand, Judith Tizard, said records like these and the World War One personnel records held at Archives New Zealand help us gain an understanding of our own history and our national identity.

"I want to acknowledge the work of Archives New Zealand and the collaboration with Veterans Affairs in making these records available so they can be shared and made known to all visitors to the Museum," said Judith Tizard.

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