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Commemorating The Fallen .
The Gallipoli Campaign of 1915-16, also known as the Battle of Gallipoli or the Dardanelles Campaign, was an unsuccessful attempt by the Allied Powers to control the sea route from Europe to Russia during World War I. The campaign began with a failed naval attack by British and French ships on the Dardanelles Straits in February-March 1915 and continued with a major land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, involving British and French troops as well as divisions of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). Lack of sufficient intelligence and knowledge of the terrain, along with a fierce Turkish resistance, hampered the success of the invasion. By mid-October, Allied forces had suffered heavy casualties and had made little headway from their initial landing sites. Evacuation began in December 1915, and was completed early the following January.
LAUNCH OF THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN
With World War 1 stalled on the Western Front by 1915, the Allied Powers were debating going on the offensive in another region of the conflict, rather than continuing with attacks in Belgium and France. Early that year, Russia’s Grand Duke Nicholas appealed to Britain for aid in confronting a Turkish invasion in the Caucasus. (The Ottoman Empire had entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, by November 1914.) In response, the Allies decided to launch a naval expedition to seize the Dardanelles Straits, a narrow passage connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara in northwestern Turkey. If successful, capture of the straits would allow the Allies to link up with the Russians in the Black Sea, where they could work together to knock Turkey out of the war.
In May 1915, Britain's First Sea Lord Admiral John Fisher resigned dramatically over the mishandling of the Gallipoli invasion by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. His political capital damaged by the debacle, the future prime minister later resigned his own position and accepted a commission to command an infantry battalion in France.Spearheaded by the first lord of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill (over the strong opposition of the First Sea Lord Admiral John Fisher, head of the British Navy), the naval attack on the Dardanelles began with a long-range bombardment by British and French battleships on February 19, 1915. Turkish forces abandoned their outer forts but met the approaching Allied minesweepers with heavy fire, stalling the advance. Under tremendous pressure to renew the attack, Admiral Sackville Carden, the British naval commander in the region, suffered a nervous collapse and was replaced by Vice-Admiral Sir John de Robeck. On March 18, 18 Allied battleships entered the straits; Turkish fire, including undetected mines, sank three of the ships and severely damaged three others.
GALLIPOLI LAND INVASION BEGINS
In the wake of the failed naval attack, preparations began for largescale troop landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula. British War Secretary Lord Kitchener appointed General Ian Hamilton as commander of British forces for the operation; under his command, troops from Australia, New Zealand and the French colonies assembled with British forces on the Greek island of Lemnos. Meanwhile, the Turks boosted their defenses under the command of the German general Liman von Sanders, who began positioning Ottoman troops along the shore where he expected the landings would take place. On April 25, 1915, the Allies launched their invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Despite suffering heavy casualties, they managed to establish two beachheads: at Helles on the peninsula’s southern tip, and at Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast. (The latter site was later dubbed Anzac Cove, in honor of the Australian and New Zealand troops who fought so valiantly against determined Turkish defenders to establish the beachhead there.)
After the initial landing, the Allies were able to make little progress from their initial landing sites, even as the Turks gathered more and more troops on the peninsula from both the Palestine and Caucasus fronts. In an attempt to break the stalemate, the Allies made another major troop landing on August 6 at Sulva Bay, combined with a northwards advance from Anzac Cove towards the heights at Sari Bair and a diversionary action at Helles. The surprise landings at Sulva Bay proceeded against little opposition, but Allied indecision and delay stalled their progress in all three locations, allowing Ottoman reinforcements to arrive and shore up their defences.
DECISION TO EVACUATE GALLIPOLI
With Allied casualties in the Gallipoli Campaign mounting, Hamilton (with Churchill’s support) petitioned Kitchener for 95,000 reinforcements; the war secretary offered barely a quarter of that number. In mid-October, Hamilton argued that a proposed evacuation of the peninsula would cost up to 50 percent casualties; British authorities subsequently recalled him and installed Sir Charles Monro in his place. By early November, Kitchener had visited the region himself and agreed with Monro’s recommendation that the remaining 105,000 Allied troops should be evacuated.
The British government authorized the evacuation to begin from Sulva Bay on December 7; the last troops left Helles on January 9, 1916. In all, some 480,000 Allied forces took part in the Gallipoli Campaign, at a cost of more than 250,000 casualties, including some 46,000 dead. On the Turkish side, the campaign also cost an estimated 250,000 casualties, with 65,000 killed.
The above information I copied from the History site below. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/battle-of-gallipoli
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Shaun
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Remembering my three cousins, three brothers who joined the Australian Army and all lost their lives between 1916 and 1918.
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Why is this day special to Australians?
When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federated nation for only 13 years, and the new federal government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. When Britain declared war in August 1914 Australia was automatically placed on the side of the Commonwealth. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany.
The Australian and New Zealand forces landed on Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months.
At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated from the peninsula, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers had been killed.
The Gallipoli campaign had a profound impact on Australians at home, and 25 April soon became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who died in the war.
Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign left us all a powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as the “Anzac legend” became an important part of the identity of both nations, shaping the ways they viewed both their past and their future.
Early commemorations
In 1916, Anzac Day was held on 25 April for the first time. It was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt. In London more than 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets; a London newspaper headline dubbed them “the knights of Gallipoli”. Marches were held all over Australia; in the Sydney march convoys of cars carried soldiers wounded on Gallipoli and their nurses.
For the remaining years of the war Anzac Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities.
During the 1920s Anzac Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the more than 60,000 Australians who had died during the war. In 1927, for the first time, every state observed some form of public holiday on Anzac Day.
By the mid-1930s all the rituals we now associate with the day – dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, two-up games – were firmly established as part of Anzac Day culture.
With the coming of the Second World War, Anzac Day also served to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in that war. In subsequent years the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include those who were killed in all the military operations in which Australia has been involved.
Anzac Day was first commemorated at the Memorial in 1942. At the time, government orders prohibited large public gatherings in case of a Japanese air attack, so it was a small occasion with neither a march nor a memorial service. Since then, Anzac Day has been commemorated at the Memorial every year.
What does it mean today?
Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national remembrance, which takes two forms. Commemorative services are held at dawn – the time of the original landing – across the nation. Later in the day, former servicemen and servicewomen meet to take part in marches through the major cities and in many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremoniesare more formal and are held at war memorials around the country. In these ways, Anzac Day is a time at which Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.
The Dawn Service.
It is often suggested that the Dawn Service observed on Anzac Day has its origins in a military routine still followed by the Australian Army. The half-light of dawn was one of the times most favoured for launching an attack.
Soldiers in defensive positions were woken in the dark before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons; this is still known as the “stand-to”. As dusk is equally favourable for battle, the stand-to was repeated at sunset.
After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they had felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. A dawn vigil became the basis for commemoration in several places after the war. It is difficult to say when the first dawn services were held, as many were instigated by veterans, clergymen, and civilians from all over the country.
A dawn requiem mass was held at Albany as early as 1918, and a wreath-laying and commemoration took place at dawn in Toowoomba the following year. In 1927 a group of returned men, returning from an Anzac Day function held the night before, came upon an elderly woman laying flowers at the as yet unfinished Sydney Cenotaph at dawn. Joining her in this private remembrance, the men later resolved to institute a dawn service the following year.
Thus, 150 people gathered at the Cenotaph in 1928 for a wreathlaying and two minutes’ silence. This is generally regarded as the beginning of organised dawn services. Over the years the ceremonies have developed into their modern form and have also seen an increased association with the dawn landings of 25 April 1915.
Today’s dawn services include the presence of a chaplain, but generally not of dignitaries such as the governor-general. Originally, the services were simple, and usually followed the military routine. Before dawn, those who had gathered would stand while two minutes’ silence was held. At the end of this time a lone bugler would play the Last Post and then conclude the service with Reveille, the bugler’s call to wake up.
In recent times more families and young people have taken part in dawn services. Reflecting this change, some services have become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, readings, pipers, and rifle volleys. Other services, though, have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to, familiar to so many soldiers.
The Anzac Day National Ceremony.
At the Australian War Memorial the National Ceremony takes place at 10.15 am in the presence of people such as the prime minister and the governor-general. Each year the ceremony follows a pattern that is familiar to generations of Australians.
A typical Anzac Day National Ceremony may include the followingfeatures: an introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, the laying of wreaths, a recitation, the Last Post, a period of silence, the playing of either the Rouse or the Reveille, and the national anthem.
After the Memorial’s ceremony families often place red poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier or beside the names of relatives on the Memorial’s Roll of Honour, as they do after Remembrance Day services.
The following is from the websit below.
https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac-tradition/
shaun
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Went photographing headstones on Thursday and found (laid down due to damage) the family memorial for a chap from our area. (Mr Daff and I research for the village).
George H Banfield AEF who fell at Gallipoli 1st May 1914 aged 29 years.
We remember all soldiers who served in WW1 and Mr. Daff has stories, maps and diaries (where available) and they are published on our site. As a retired army Major he has the knowledge to decipher the records, I add social and family details.
We are presenting our research next weekend.....it's astounding just how many left our village to fight. They all deserve to be remembered.
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Hi Sue,
Well done to Mr Daff and Yourself for Indexing all the events that took place during WW1, very time consuming.
I found a photo of my great uncle in a Imperial War Museum book but have failed to find any other information which I think is a bit odd.
Very interesting Web-site
http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-gallipoli.html
Shaun
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I too am greatly involved with our History Society WW1 project, researching all the men who fell that are listed on our War memorial. Many times I have shed a few tears whilst reading letters etc written from the trenches.
RIP all those who fell at Gallipoli. They will never be forgotten as will no other man who fell or were part of the Great War. <3
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Dear Shaun and All
Hello
Thank you Shaun for all the detailed information.
There was much I did not know about this conflict.
I saw a lot of the BC service today, extremely moving.
The events at Gallipoli were yet another example of mans inhumanity to man.
Remembering all those who died and suffered as a result of this battle.
Take gentle care all
Sincere wishes
Elizabeth, EOS
xx
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So much history to try and pass on to others, our young people will never learn it all unless they take a specific interest and research more for themselves.
I hope that remembrance services will continue to take place so that those lost in battle will always be remembered and respected.
Lizx
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We were heading for bed last night when I noticed a program that was on bbc 2 at 8.30 titled Gallipoli: When Murdoch Went To War.
In September 1915, Australian journalist Keith Murdoch was so appalled by what he saw happening at Gallipoli that he wrote what would become the most important letter of his life.
In it, he outlined how this daring military adventure had gone catastrophically wrong – and he didn’t pull his punches.
To mark the centenary of the Gallipoli operations, this riveting film tells how it inspired a war fought with words, ink and paper – one in which reputations fell and careers were born.
With dramatic reconstructions and contributions from, among others, Max Hastings and Murdoch’s son, Rupert, it’s a fascinating tale.
The above I copied from the Mail.
We stayed up to watch it and found it very touching, and thanks to Murdoch’s son the truth is now known what really happened.
Shaun
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