In the Footsteps of the New Zealanders

New Messines battlefield walks "In the Footsteps of the New Zealanders" are available for booking at any time through the Messines Council (see Bookings page). A leaflet with details can be downloaded through the link at the bottom of this page.

The walks have been developed by a small group of Belgians and New Zealanders and were launched on Saturday June 9 this year when Dr Chris Pugsley, the distinguished New Zealand military historian and Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, led the first walk for invited guests.

Jeff McNeill, who has built up the digital 3D battlefield maps of Messines at Massey University, and Martin O'Connor, a New Zealander living in Belgium, led the first public walk shortly after, and there were two Dutch-language walks led by Steven Reynaert and Patrick Colson the same day.

The Messines walk starts near the centre of the one-and-a-half kilometre long frontline the New Zealand Div ision occupied immediately prior to their attack at 3.10 am on June 7, 1917.

It then follows their footsteps up a small road, pictured above, onto the ridge and into the town.  The photo above is taken from the ridge looking down to the frontline which, where it crosses the road is at a small bridge this side of the first group of farm buildings.

The walk visits all the major sites before ending up at the church, where Samuel Frickleton won his Victoria Cross. The final stage of the walk involves climbing the church tower for an overview of the entire battlefield.

The view from the tower is stunning and people doing the walk can gain an excellent idea of exactly who was where and what was what in 1917.

           Looking up to the New Zealand Memorial
                                 from the frontline
The walk's guides not only talk about the battle itself but also cover the war in the air around Messines, the New Zealand Base Hospital which was a short distance away in France and which, due to constant shelling, had to be moved further back, the special occurrences that took place during the battle, the well-known New Zealanders who fought, and some of the remarkable stories about individuals.

The walk takes approximately two hours. Free walks are available on certain dates during the Commemorative programme (please see the Programme page). At other times they are available at a small charge person. The walks can be booked through the Messines Town Hall for any day and will continue to be available after the Commemorative period (for details see the Booking page).

A leaflet about the walk can be downloaded here.

(Top photo by Di Mackey; above right photo by Patrick Colson)