Battle of the Somme Centenary ticket ballot

05 January 2016

The Battle of the Somme took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the River Somme in France. It was one of the largest battles of the First World War, in which more than a million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The New Zealand Division joined the Battle of the Somme in mid-September 1916. The division was part of the second big push of the offensive and was designed to open the German lines once and for all. Fifteen-thousand members of the division went into action. Nearly 6,000 were wounded and 2,000 lost their lives.

The International Service marking the centenary of the Battle of the Somme will be held at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France at 12 noon (11:00 GMT) on 1 July 2016. The service is being organised jointly by the United Kingdom and French Governments. An allocation of 40 tickets are available for New Zealanders to attend who are direct descendants (grandchildren, great grandchildren, great/grand nieces or nephews) of those who fought in the battle. For the purposes of selecting descendants, a ballot will open on Monday January 4th. The ballot closes 11:00am (GMT) on Monday 18 January 2016. Tickets are free, and will be allocated in the weeks following the closure of the ballot. Recipients are required to self-fund travel and accommodation. If you are selected you will also be asked to provide supplementary evidence of your descendancy to a Battle of the Somme veteran. The Online Cenotaph provides information on those New Zealanders who served in the 1916 Battle of the Somme.

Please note: If you are unsuccessful in the Somme ballot, a special commemorative event for New Zealanders will be held at Caterpillar Valley, Longueval, on 15 September 2016, which will be open to the public. Further details of this event will be made available separately.

Image credit: New Zealand soldiers erecting a commemorative cross to those who died in the Somme Battle, 1916. Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref: 1/2-013632-G