1916: “The Devastating Hun”

February 2, 2021

By AHNZ

Being ‘from one of the ANZACs’ you can be quite sure this was a Government bit of propaganda. Another one of the State’s cards provided to the soldiers to write home on.

“The Devastating Hun” was part of the dehumanisation of the German people, the better for us to go to war with them. The real devastating low lives were the men ruling New Zealand. They had seized power undemocratically, made questioning the war illegal, and conscripted young men against their will.

Ever since, The State’s version of history has us focus not on what madness the Government unleashed in the Great Wrong War but on sentimentality and sacrifice. Instead of remembering we’re encouraged to mutter ‘we will remember them’ as if procrastinating for the day the truth will be told by some future generation.

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Image ref. Christchurch, The Way Our Ancestors Knew It; Facebook

After the Evacuation of Gallipoli the New Zealand forces are split into two. The Infantry Division was deployed to the Western Front, France. The Rifle Division was deployed to Sinai and Palestine.

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