Gallipoli 2015 / Gelibolu 2015 Çana, Turkey
By Rhinogeo & Facitman on 25-Apr-15. Waypoint GA7178

This Geocaching Event provides an opportunity for geocachers fortunate enough to hold an attendance pass for the 2015 ANZAC Centenery commemoration to meet during the night prior to the Dawn Service at the Anzac Commemorative Site and will be held from 00:01 to 00:31 Anzac Day 25 April 2015

This Geocaching Event provides an opportunity for geocachers fortunate enough to hold an attendance pass for the 2015 ANZAC Centenery commemoration to meet during the night prior to the Dawn Service at the Anzac Commemorative Site and will be held from 00:01 to 00:31 Anzac Day 25 April 2015.

Anzac Day falls on the 25th of April each year. The 25th of April was officially named Anzac Day in 1916.

'ANZAC' stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. 

On the 25th of April 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. 

These became know as Anzacs and the pride they took in that name continues to this day.

The largest Anzac Day commemoration outside of Australia, is held at Gallipoli.

All visitors should be aware that the commemorative sites are the sovereign territory of the Turkish people and holding the annual Anzac Day commemorative services at Gallipoli is only possible due to the cooperation and generous assistance of the Government of the Republic of Turkey.

Each year Australia and New Zealand conduct three commemorative services at Gallipoli: a joint Dawn Service at the Anzac Commemorative Site, followed by an Australian Memorial Service at Lone Pine, and a New Zealand Memorial Service at Chunuk Bair.

Attendance at the Anzac Day commemorative services at Gallipoli in 2015 will only be permitted for those visitors holding a valid attendance pass issued through the Australian or New Zealand ballot.

BACKGROUND

At around 4.30 am on Sunday 25 April 1915, the first soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed near Ari Burnu on the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the same morning, soldiers from Britain, France and their colonies launched assaults at nearby Cape Helles and Kum Kale. The Allies wanted to destroy the forts overlooking the Dardanelles to allow a fleet to enter the Sea of Marmara and bombard the Ottoman (commonly known as Turkish) capital, Constantinople. They hoped Turkey would surrender, easing pressure on Russia and depriving Germany of an ally.

Men of the 3rd Australian Brigade were the first Anzac troops ashore. Approaching the coast on board Royal Navy warships, they were woken around 1 am, fed and assembled. The first wave boarded thirty-six rowing boats and were towed towards the beach until they were close enough to row to shore. Mostlylanding at a place that became known as Anzac Cove, the Australian troops came under fire before they had stepped ashore. 

We thought that our landing was to be effected quite unopposed, but when our boats were within about 30 yards [around 27 metres] of the beach a rifle was fired from the hill in front of us above the beach right in front of where we were heading for. Almost immediately heavy rifle and machine gun fire was opened up on us. We had to row for another 15 yards [around 4.5 metres] or so before we reached water shallow enough to get out of the boats.

10 Battalion War Diary 25/4/15, War Office Papers, WO 95/4344, National Archives, Kew, cited in Prior, 2009, p. 114.

Under increasingly heavy Turkish machine gun and rifle fire, the Anzacs raced inland into a warren of steep ground, razor-back ridges and scrub-filled gullies that caused formations to either bunch together or separate into small groups. 

The following waves of Anzacs came ashore as Turkish shells began bursting over the landing area. A soldier’s experience of the landing could be remarkably different depending on when he landed on that first day. One described it as ‘a perfect hail of bullets’ at dawn, while a New Zealand officer landing in mid-morning wrote of his surprise at how relatively ‘peaceful’ the landing was.

Meanwhile, Turkish troops were responding to the Anzac landing in force. The battle ebbed and flowed, with the Anzacs taking, losing, and then retaking ground in the face of Turkish counter-attacks. In some places the Anzacs were forced off key locations, such as the hill known as Baby 700, which they would not retake during the entire campaign.

By the end of that first day, the Turks threatened to force the Anzacs into the sea. The situation was so precarious that the Anzac commanders considered immediate evacuation. However, they were ordered to dig in by their superior, General Sir Ian Hamilton. 

Historians estimate that some 2000 Australians were killed or wounded on 25 April, but there are no precise casualty figures for that day – the fighting was too confused and casualties were widely dispersed across the battlefield, the beach and on board hospital ships. The Anzacs were evacuated in December 1915, and by then some 8700 Australians and 2700 New Zealanders had been killed. In total, the Gallipoli campaign cost the lives of around 44,000 Allied and 86,000 Turkish soldiers.

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives. You are now living 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 tears; 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.

Kemal Ataturk, the Commander of the Turkish 19th Division during the Gallipoli Campaign and the first President of the Turkish Republic from 1924-1938

For the British, French, Canadians, Indians and Germans, the Gallipoli campaign is remembered as just another name in a long, tragic list of World War I battles. For Turks, Australians and New Zealanders, Gallipoli is something apart – a significant event in the self-development of their individual nations. Gallipoli occupies a special place in the national memory. As such, the battles have not been allowed to fade in people’s memory … In Turkey, the annual commemoration centres around the decisive victory won over the British and French fleet on 18 March 1915.

Source: Kevin Fewster, Vecihi Başarin, Hatice Hürmüz Başarin, Gallipoli: The Turkish story, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2003, p. 7.

REFERENCES

http://www.army.gov.au/Our-history/Traditions/Anzac-Day
http://www.anzacportal.dva.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-attachments/Wartime%20Snapshot%2016%20FINAL.doc
http://www.gallipoli2015.dva.gov.au/AnzacDay2015.htm
Australian War Memorial, Dawn of the Legend Exhibition, online at www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/dawn. 
Kevin Fewster, Vecihi Başarin, Hatice Hürmüz Başarin, Gallipoli: The Turkish story, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2003.
Ian McGibbon (ed.), The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 2000.
Robin Prior, Gallipoli: The end of the myth, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2009.
Dr Richard Reid, Australians in World War I: Gallipoli, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canberra, 2010.
Denis Winter, 25 April 1915 – The inevitable tragedy, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1994.