In pictures: Faces of Battle

World War I was unlike any conflict before or since.

It was the first fully mechanised war, and the advent of heavy artillery, shells and machine guns meant more devastating injuries than ever before could be inflicted.

At the same time, the fighting was mostly in trenches which provided protection for men’s bodies, but left their heads exposed.

New Zealander Gillies saw the results of this lethal combination first hand when he was posted to the Western Front in 1915.