| Historical
Information: |
The
Gallipoli campaign was mounted by Commonwealth and French forces in an
attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the stalemate of the
Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to
Russia through the Dardanelles and Black Sea. Allied landings were made
on 25-26 April 1915 at Helles, on the southern tip of the peninsula, and
on the west coast, in an area which later became known as Anzac.
On 6 August, further landings were
made at Suvla, just north of Anzac, and the climax of the campaign came
in early August when simultaneous assaults were launched on these three
fronts. Johnston's Jolly (called by the Turks Kirmezi Sirt, or 'Red
Ridge'), was named from the commander of the 2nd Australian Division
Artillery, Brigadier-General G J Johnston, CB, CMG, VD.
The position was reached by the 2nd
Australian Infantry Brigade on 25 April 1915 but lost the next day and
it was never retaken. The cemetery was made after the Armistice when
graves were brought in from the battlefield. There are now 181
Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in this cemetery.
144 of the burials are unidentified
and there are special memorials to 36 Australian casualties believed to
be buried among them, almost all of whom were killed in the capture of
Lone Pine in August 1915.
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