Friday 17 June 2016

8e. Gallipoli offensives & counter-offensives [History]

Half the Australians and New Zealanders who landed during the first couple of days were casualties. 
A quarter of the Australians who perished during the nine months of the Gallipoli campaign died in the horrific first 5 days when the ANZACs desperately tried to claim the highest points.

The terrain was very difficult to navigate with spurs. This is a spur showing contours and of the peninsula. 


 And from ANZAC Cove which was the base, but the ANZACS also took over North Beach. 


The Ottoman Turks had the high ground so they had an advantage. The ANZACS dug in - dug trenches which was difficult because the terrain was so steep. 

In May the Australian Light Horseman went to Gallipoli but without their horses, because the British needed more men. They had to leave their cherished horses in Egypt, which was hard because most of them had brought from their farms and stations in Australia. 

The trenches are where most of the ANZACS "lived. They observed and sniped at Turks and we fighting from the trenches. Bean described the trenches as:

"deep narrow alleys where the men lived as completely enclosed as in the lanes of a city, having their habitation along them in niches undercut in the wall, sometimes curtained by hanging blankets or waterproof sheets."

We walked around the trenches, but not the ones of the spurs. At the museum they had a simulation which showed how close the ANZAC trenches were to the Turkish, which we saw on the peninsula. 




I'm not going to write about all the different fights and offensives that happened in the 9 months in order. I'll post the photos of the places we went to and explain a bit about them. 

Beach Cemetary was on the beach, or next to it, and was used by the ANZACS as a cemetery from the first day of the landings until November 1915. Many who rest here died of their wounds whilst receiving medical care, or were skilled by Ottoman artillery targeting the beaches.  It's on the southern tip of ANZAC Cove. John Simpson (donkey) is buried here, he was killed by a Turkish sniper. 


Ari Burnu Cemetery. 

Ari Burnu cemetery was begun shortly after the landings. Over 250 servicemen are buried her - from Australia, New Zealand, India and Maltese Labour Corps. 

This cemetery stands no the promontory at the northern end of ANZAC Cove, where the first landings happened. 



This is Mustafa Kemal ATATURK's quote at the memorial, it's beautiful:


"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... 
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. 
Therefore rest in peace. 
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us
where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, 
wipe away your teams;
your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well"





Because the ANZACS had been training in Egypt they nicknamed the rocky outcrop above the beach 'The Sphinx'. 







This is a painting of the landing, with the Sphinx behind. 


This is a photo of the cemetery during the Gallipoli campaign. 








LONE PINE


On 6 August 1915, ANZAC forces attacked Ottoman trenches on this ground and began the Battle of Lone Pine. Fierce fighting and counter-attacks continued for five days as the ANZACS tried to push inland across the peninsula. The Australians captured Lone Pine but by establishing a line on the seaward side of the plateau. 

It had a solitary pine on this plateau so the area was called Lone Pine. 

Mum and I were the only ones there. Jim Martin, the youngest ANZAC is buried here. 




Lone Pine has sweeping views over the Aegean and down the Gallipoli peninsula. This is the view from Lone Pine. 































The Nek

On 7 August 1915, the men of the Australian Light Horse attacked Ottoman lines over the narrow strip of land, known as the Nek.
Of the 600 Australians of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade that took part, over 230 were killed and 150 were wounded.
This was in a tiny area of land about the size of three tennis courts.

The Nek is where the end of the 1980’s film Gallipoli ends.
The ANZACS were attempting a diversion tactic and attacked the Turkish trenches.
But the first light horseman were immediately shot down by Turkish machine gun fire.
The second group had to scramble over the dead and wounded to attack, but they were also gunned down.
The attempt to cancel the attack was refused by Major John Antill, and the third group who went over the top of the ANZAC trenches were also shot down.
Stopping the next attack was approved by the message didn’t get to the troops in time, so the fourth group were also mowed down by Turkish fire.


This cemetery is built on what was no-mans land, where many of the fallen lay until the Allies returned after the end of the way.

These photos of are the Nek. It was so very beautiful up there which made it even more tragic. 







There is so much I could write about, but I have to stop because this blog is taking a very long time and now Term 3 has started I have a huge amount of other work to do!

There were many offensives and counter-offensives for over 8 months but the ANZACS weren't achieving the goal of the Campaign. 

The Ottoman Turks had the higher land,  they had food and supplies coming in from the peninsula and they were fighting for their own independence! The Ottomans had lost a lot of territory in the last 50 years, and Ataturk wanted to establish a secular, nationalistic country. This happened in 1922 when the Ottoman Empire was eliminated and the Republic of Turkey became a country with Ataturk as the President. It wasn't that easy, but I wanted to say that the Turks were fighting for their own land and country. The Australians were doing what the British Empire expected of them. The Turks call this the Battle of Canaakale, not Gallipoli. The Turks had 250,000 casualties, that's 1/4 million,and 80,000 died, and it really affected the generations for 30-40 years. The Turks sacrificed their lives for their land. 8,700 Aussie boys died and 19,000 were wounded. 

 We asked to go to the Turkish memorial and grave sites also. 


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