With Them Through Hell

New Zealand’s Great War medical battlefield, abroad and at home

The thousands of New Zealand men who fought in the First World War went through hell. And right beside them was another fighting force, armed with scalpels, bandages and drugs. Hundreds of doctors, nurses, stretcher-bearers, orderlies and ambulance drivers, dentists, chiropodists, pharmacists, physiotherapists and chaplains cared for the sick and wounded, often at great personal risk. Veterinarians did the same for horses, camels and other animals.

The challenges were enormous — horrific injuries, gas and deadly diseases, especially the influenza of 1918. There were some astonishing successes — most famously by plastic surgery pioneers Harold Gillies and Henry Pickerill — but the price was high, for patients and carers.

The skilled, compassionate and courageous New Zealand medical personnel of the Great War have not always received the attention they deserve. Anna Rogers tells their remarkable story.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 OCKHAM NEW ZEALAND BOOK AWARDS

‘This is a book that will grace any bookshelf or coffee table but don’t expect anyone who casually picks it up to merely flick through and then put it down. This book draws you in and doesn’t let you leave unchanged. . . . With Them Through Hell is a gripping, well-researched and fluidly written history. It’s a milestone volume.’ — Sue Wootton, Corpus. Read the full review here.

‘The author skillfully escorts general readers on an unforgettable journey, through well-worked territory, casting new light on the everyday work of the medical services in wartime.’ — Barbara Brookes, New Zealand Journal of History

To look inside, click here.