In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies. The objective was to capture Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was an ally of Germany during the war. The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman Army commanded by Mustafa Kemal (later known as Atatürk). What had been planned as a bold strike to knock the Ottomans 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 after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. The Allied casualties included 21,255 from the United Kingdom, an estimated 10,000 dead soldiers from France, 8,709 from Australia, 2,721 from New Zealand, and 1,358 from British India. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in the war.
Though the Gallipoli campaign failed to achieve its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the war, the actions of the Australian and New Zealand troops during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as an "Anzac legend" became an important part of the national identity in both countries. This has shaped the way their citizens have viewed both their past and their understanding of the present.
I was an Australian soldier for 3 years. I never served overseas because I was never called up but I was always on standby ready to go. I guess I was either lucky or unlucky however you look at it. Most soldiers these days want to get deployed because it means great financial gain but the risk can be great. The ANZACS though did it for the people of their country and it does make me sad for the loss of all the lives lost.
I am pictured the last person on the right in the back row with 15 Platoon, Bravo Company. P.S. You are not supposed to smile in military photographs.
Not only Australian and NZ but I massively acknowledge the efforts of all men of the Allied forces.
I read the ANZAC day ode this morning:
"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."
I did not think that it would effect me as much as it did but I almost cried during the reading.
In any case, this was an extraordinarily important day in history for many countries / WWI.
[ 25. April 2015, 06:20: Message edited by: Bernie_Lomax ]
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
one of the turkish guns photographed at gallipoli,turkey 1915
you'd have to be seriously brave to jump out of one of those trenches and charge at the turks with there machine guns going full pelt.
i definitely wouldn't have fancied it!
you think you are given your orders and that's it,you've got no way of backing out.
if you did try i'd imagine you'd probably get shot for cowardice
talk about scary!
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
great photo actually bernie,when i first saw it i thought you was at a paintball challenge
you might have not served in conflict overseas bernie but you was prepared to,that's a lot more than a lot of people can say!
if you had served overseas bernie what do you reckon your first words to the locals would have been? do you reckon it might have been something like "gunga galunga" .
[ 25. April 2015, 07:59: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
I think the ANZACS were very brave to charge the Turks but I think one of the main reasons they did was to capture some of their machine guns. With the weapons the Turks had compared to the weapons we had it was a must. Still, It's a ballsy move that I can't comprehend. For 100 years ago that machine gun still looks pretty scary.
A paintball challenge, please
I love paintball though. One of my mates actually shot me with a paintball gun on the inner thigh at close range once. He was not my mate for about a month It was the most insane bruising ever!
Yeah, sometimes I get down on myself for not going overseas but it's not like it was up to me. I would have gone if I had to. Most of my mates went to Iraq/Afghanistan. I was disappointed I did not go but at the same time glad I didn't go too. I am proud though that I done what I done and I appreciate your comments
So anyway I jumped ship in Hong Kong and then I made my over to Tibet.......
"So I finish 18 and he's gonna stiff me. So I says, Hey, Lama! How about a little something, you know for the effort you know?"
As I would not know the local language Warrior, I would have attempted to speak a sort of pidgin English language with regular interjections of "gunga galunga." followed by "Freeze Gopher!"
[ 25. April 2015, 08:21: Message edited by: Bernie_Lomax ]
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