The Panels at Anzac Commemorative Site Gallipoli

Index to the The Panels

• #01. The Dardanelles

• #02. The Landing

• #03. Krithia

• #04. Counter Attack

• #05. Sick-Wounded

• #06. Lone Pine & Nek

• #07. Chunuk Bair

• #08. Evacuation

• #09. Defence of Turkey

• #10. ANZAC

Each panel has a map or a photo or painting (color altered) and some text in English and in Turkish.

PANEL 1: THE DARDANELLES

A good army of 50,000 men and sea power - that is the end of the Turkish menace. Winston Churchill British cabinet minister, 1915

On 19 February 1915 British ships began a bombardment of the Turkish defences at the straits of the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Bogazi). The British wanted to break through to Constantinople (Istanbul), the Turkish capital, and force Turkey, Germany's ally, out of the war. This strategy was designed to enable Britain and France to supply their ally Russia through Turkish waters and to open a southern front against Austria - Hungary. The naval attack failed. A plan was then developed to invade the Gallipoli (Gelibolu) peninsula to overcome the Turkish defences and allow the navy through the Dardanelles. An army, the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, composed mainly of British, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and French soldiers, was assembled in Egypt and on Greek islands close to Gallipoli. British troops were to make the main landing at Cape Helles. Shortly before the British landing, a combined Australian and New Zealand force, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), was to land further north near Gaba Tepe (Kabatepe).

Panel 1 has a map to locate visitors within the region of Turkey where Gallipoli is situated. The quotation from Winston Churchill, with whom the idea for taking the Dardanelles originated, indicates something of the contempt which the British had for Turkey’s military capabilities. Those who fought the Turks there in 1915 soon found them a formidable enemy.

50,000 askerden olusan güçlü bir ordu ve deniz birlikleri—Türk tehdidinin sonu olacaktir.
Winston Churchill Ingiliz Kabine Bakani, 1915

19 Subat 1915 günü Ingiliz gemileri Çanakkale bogazindaki Türk savunma hatlarini top atesine tutmaya basladi. Ingilizler, Türklerin baskenti Istanbul’u ele geçirmek ve Almanlarin müttefiki olan Türkleri savas disi birakmak istiyorlardi. Bu strateji, Süveys Kanali üzerindeki Ingiliz hakimiyetini pekistirmek ve Ingiliz ve Fransizlarin, müttefikleri Rusya’ya Türk karasulari üzerinden destek vermeleri için gelistirilmisti.

Deniz saldirisi basarisiz oldu. Bunun üzerine, Gelibolu yarimadasini isgal ederek Türk savunmasinin üstesinden gelmek ve donanmanin Çanakkale bogazindan geçmesine olanak saglamak için bir plan yapildi. Esas olarak Ingiliz, Avustralya, Yeni Zelanda, Hint ve Fransiz askerlerinden olusan Akdeniz Kesif Kuvvetleri ordusu Misir’da ve Gelibolu yarimadasi yakinindaki Yunan adalarinda toplandi. Helles Burnu’na ana çikartma Ingiliz kuvvetleri tarafindan gerçeklestirilecekti. Ingiliz çikartmasindan hemen önce, Avustralya ve Yeni Zelandalilardan olusan bir birlik (Avustralya Yeni Zelanda Ordu Birligi—ANZAK) daha kuzeydeki Kabatepe’ye çikacakti.

PANEL 2: LANDING

You have got through the difficult business, now you dig, dig, dig, until you are safe.
General Sir Ian Hamilton British commander-in-chief, Gallipoli

At dawn on 25 April 1915 soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) began landing on Gallipoli here at North Beach and around Anzac Cove (Anzac Koyu) to the south of the nearby headland, Ari Burnu. They were followed by the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. The aim that day was to capture the heights of the Sari Bair range and then press inland to Mal Tepe to cut off Turkish reinforcements to Cape Helles. From the beach, groups of men rushed up steep, scrub-covered slopes towards the high ground.

At first the few Turkish defenders were pushed back. Isolated groups of Australians and New Zealanders fought their way to where they could see the Dardanelles. As the day progressed Turkish resistance strengthened. By nightfall none of the objectives had been reached. The commanders on the spot recommended withdrawal but were ordered instead to dig in and hold on. This area of Gallipoli captured on 25 April became known for the rest of the campaign as Anzac.

Another purpose behind the choice of Lambert’s Anzac, the Landing was to show this tremendous work of art at the spot where the action that it depicts took place. The new Anzac Commemorative Site is situated at the very bottom left of the picture where a small section of beach is visible. This is North Beach and many of the first wave landed there beneath the Sphinx, the dramatic landform in the top centre of the canvas. In the painting, dawn is breaking as the men of the 10th and 11th Battalions – South Australians and Western Australians – make their way under Turkish rifle and machine gun fire up the northern slope of Plugge’s Plateau.

Isin zor kismini atlattiniz, simdi kendinizi emniyete alincaya kadar siper kazin, kazin, kazin. General Sir Ian Hamilton Ingiliz Baskomutani, Gelibolu

25 Nisan 1915 günü sabaha karsi, Avustralya Imparatorluk Kuvvetleri (AIF) askerleri Kuzey Sahiline ve yakindaki Ari Burnu’nun güneyindeki Anzak Koyu’na çikartma yapmaya basladilar. Onlari Yeni Zelanda Piyade Birligi izliyordu. O günkü hedefleri, Sari Bayir sirtlarinin güney yamaçlarini ele geçirmek ve Türklerin Helles Burnu’na ulasmalarini engelleyebilmek için, denizden içerideki Mal Tepe’ye saldirmakti. Kiyiya çikan asker birlikleri çalilarla kapli dik yokuslari tirmanarak daha yüksek mintikayi ele geçirmeye çalistilar.

Az sayidaki Türk savunma birlikleri baslangiçta geri itildiler. Bazi Avustralya ve Yeni Zelanda birlikleri, çarpisa çarpisa Çanakkale Bogazi’ni görebilecekleri mevkilere kadar gelmeyi basardilar. Ne var ki, günün ilerleyen saatlerinde Türklerin direnisi güçlenmeye basladi. Gece çöktügünde hedeflerin hiçbirisine ulasilamamisti. Savas alanindaki komutanlar geri çekilme önerisinde bulundularsa da, kendilerine, siper kazarak dayanma emri verildi. Gelibolu yarimadasinin 25 Nisan günü ele geçirilen bu bölgesi harekatin geri kalan süresi boyunca "Anzak" olarak anildi.

PANEL 3: KRITHIA

Sir, this is a sheer waste of good men. Joseph Gasparich New Zealand soldier, Krithia, 8 May 1915

Also on 25 April the British landed at Cape Helles, the southern point of the Gallipoli peninsula. This force was to push north to the Kilitbahir plateau. However, determined Turkish opposition held the British to a small area at the tip of the peninsula. In an attempt to break out of the position at Helles, seize the village of Krithia and the commanding hill, Achi Baba, a combined assault by British, Australian, New Zealand and French troops was planned to begin on 6 May.

Little initial progress was made and on 8 May the Australians and New Zealanders were ordered forward. Moving over open and exposed ground towards Krithia (Al­itepe), the troops found the enemy fire so accurate and intense that some men raised their shovels in front of their faces to protect themselves. However, the Turkish lines were not reached and over 1,000 Australian and 800 New Zealand soldiers were killed or wounded.

Krithia is a small village near the tip of the Gallipoli peninsula where British troops landed on 25 April 1915. As on Anzac, the advance in this area gradually bogged down into trench warfare. On the evening of 8 May, the four battalions of the 2^nd Brigade, AIF, approximately 2,900 strong, advanced over flat open ground against the Turkish trenches south of Krithia. The attack failed and within a matter of an hour and a half 1,056 – 36 per cent – of that 2,900 had been killed or wounded. Most of the Australian dead at Krithia were never identified for burial and their names are on the Helles Memorial to the Missing and not at Lone Pine. By comparison with Anzac, relatively few Australians visit Helles or are aware of the tragedy of the 2nd Brigade on 8 May 1915.

The painting on this panel – ‘The Charge of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 8 May 1915’ – was executed by Charles Wheeler. It shows an incident in the advance when the brigade commander, Brigadier J W McCay, urged his men forward from a position about half way to the Turkish line known as the Tommies’ trench. With enemy bullets flying all around, McCay walked out to his advancing troops waving his periscope and yelling ‘Come on – Run!’

Komutanim, bu iyi askerlerin telef edilmesinden baska bir sey degil.
Joseph Gasparich, Yeni Zelanda askeri Kiritya, 8 Mayis 1915

25 Nisan günü, Ingilizler, ayni zamanda, Gelibolu yarimadasinin güney ucundaki Helles burnuna da çikartma yaptilar. Bu birlikler kuzeydeki Kilitbahir platosuna ilerlemek niyetindeydi. Ancak, Türklerden gelen güçlü savunma karsisinda, Ingilizler yarimadanin ucundaki küçük bir alanda çakili kaldilar. Helles’te içine düsülen konumdan kurtulmak ve Kiritya köyü ile Alçi Baba tepesini ele geçirmek için, Ingiliz, Avustralya, Yeni Zelanda ve Fransiz birlikleri 6 Mayis’ta baslayacak birlesik bir saldiri planladilar.

Baslangiçta fazla bir ilerleme gösterilemedi.

8 Mayis’ta Avustralya ve Yeni Zelandalilara hücum emri verildi. Açik ve korunaksiz alanda Kiritya (Alçitepe) dogrultusunda ilerleyen birlikler düsman atesini o kadar yogun ve keskin buldular ki, kimi askerler kendilerini korumak için küreklerini yüzlerine siper yapmak zorunda kaldilar. Türk hatlarina ulasilamadi ve bini askin Avustralyali ile 800’ü askin Yeni Zelandali öldü ya da yaralandi.

PANEL 4: TURKISH COUNTER-ATTACK

Countless dead, countless! It was impossible to count. Memish Bayraktir, Turkish soldier

By mid-May the initial attempt to seize the Dardanelles had failed. The British clung to the small gains they had made. The Turkish army now mounted a major attack to drive the Australians and New Zealanders from Anzac.

In the darkness of the early hours of 19 May, Turkish soldiers advanced in waves on their enemies. The Turks were met with a concentrated fire that kept them from entering the Anzac trenches, except in one or two places.

For about six hours the Turks pressed their attack only to be driven back. Over 10,000 Turkish soldiers were hit and an estimated 3,000 lay dead between the lines. In this battle the Australians and New Zealanders lost 160 dead and 468 wounded. The Turkish bodies lay out in the open sun until 24 May when a truce was arranged to permit burial of the dead.

After the terrible punishment inflicted upon the brave but futile assaults all bitterness faded … The Turks displayed an admirable manliness … From that morning onwards the attitude of the Anzac troops towards the individual Turks was rather that of opponents in a friendly game.

[Charles Bean, The Story of Anzac, Vol II, Sydney, 1924, p.162]

Sayisiz ölüler, sayisiz! Saymak mümkün degildi. Memis Bayraktar, Türk Askeri

Vakit öglen oldugunda Çanakkale bogazini ele geçirmek için yapilan ilk saldiri basarisizlikla sonuçlanmisti. Ingilizler elde ettikleri ufak mevzilere tutunmuslardi. Türk ordusu, Avustralya ve Yani Zelandalilari Anzak’tan çikarmak için büyük bir karsi saldiriya girismekte kararliydi.

19 Mayis sabah erken saatlerde, daha gün agarmadan Türk askerleri dalgalar halinde düsmanlarina karsi hücuma giristiler. Fakat karsilastiklari yogun ates, Türklerin Anzak siperlerine, bir iki nokta disinda, girmelerine olanak vermedi. Türklerin alti saate yakin süre ile uyguladiklari baskilar her defasinda geri çekilmeyle sonlandi. 10 binden fazla Türk askeri vuruldu. 3 bin ölü iki mevzi arasinda yatiyordu. Bu çarpismalarda Anzak kayiplari 160 ölü ve 468 yarali idi. Türk askerlerinin cesetleri 24 Mayis’a kadar günesin altinda öylece kaldilar. Bu tarihte, ölülerin gömülebilmesi için ates kesildi.

PANEL 5: SICK AND WOUNDED 

They lived with death, dined with disease. From an anonymous poem about Gallipoli

When the Gallipoli campaign began no-one expected that it would last so long or cause so many casualties. The number of wounded from the initial invasion overwhelmed the poorly organised medical facilities. During major attacks many hours passed before a wounded man received adequate care. Eventually, proper lines of evacuation were established to hospital ships and back to base hospitals at Lemnos island, Egypt and Malta.

As the summer heat intensified, conditions on Gallipoli deteriorated. Primitive sanitation led to a plague of flies and the outbreak of disease. Thousands of men were evacuated suffering from dysentery, diarrhoea and enteric fever. The poor and monotonous diet of bully beef, hard biscuits, jam and tea made the situation worse. Men suffered particularly from lice in their clothing. Morale sank as the prospect of victory receded. Many came to feel they would never leave Gallipoli alive.

Only twice during the whole campaign did the proportion of men being evacuated from Anzac with wounds – during May and the two weeks of the August offensive – exceed the proportion being taken off with some form of illness. In some ways this was the main personal experience of serving on Gallipoli, rather than the more dramatic but short-lived periods of battle. The youngest Australian to die on Gallipoli – Private James Martin, aged 14 years 9 months – did so from illness not wounds.

The image on this panel is that of two stretcher-bearers. Undoubtedly, the most famous medic on Anzac was the ‘man with the donkey, Private John Simpson (Kirkpatrick), 3rd Field Ambulance. However, it was decided not to feature Simpson, whose story is so well known, but rather that unsung legion of other bearers whose work right throughout the campaign undoubtedly saved many lives.

Ölümle birlikte yasadilar, hastalikla birlikte sofraya oturdular. Gelibolu hakkinda, sairi bilinmeyen bir siirden

Gelibolu harekati basladiginda bu kadar uzun sürecegini bunca yarali verilecegini kimse beklemiyordu. Ilk saldiri sirasinda yaralananlarin sayisi, yeterli hazirliktan yoksun sihhiye ekiplerinin yetisebileceklerinin çok üstünde idi. Büyük saldirilar sirasinda yaralananlara gerekli müdahelede bulunabilmesi için saatler geçmesi gerekiyordu. Sonradan hastane gemilerine ve Limni adasi, Misir ve Malta’daki ana hastanelere gerekli ulasim saglandi.

Yaz sicaklari bastirinca, Gelibolu yarimadasinda kosullar daha da kötülesti. Ilkel temizlik kosullari pire salginina ve diger hastaliklara yol açti. Binlerce asker dizanteri, ishal ve zehirli hummaya yakalanarak savas alanindan tahliye edildiler. Boga eti, bisküvit, reçel ve çaydan olusan, her gün ayni tayin durumu daha da kötülestiriyordu. Özellikle askerlerin üniformalarindaki bitler, onlara büyük izdirap veriyordu. Zafer umutlari sönerken askerin morali de çökmeye basladi. Birçoklari Gelibolu yarimadasini asla sag tekedemiyeceklerine inanmaya basladilar.

PANEL 6: LONE PINE AND THE NEK

There is hell waiting here. C.A. McAnulty Australian soldier killed in action at Lone Pine, 7–12 August 1915

Aware of the need to seize the initiative, the British planned a new offensive for early August. There would be a British landing at Suvla Bay (Suvla Koyu) and a major assault to the north of the Anzac position to capture the high ground leading to Chunuk Bair and Hill 971.

Supporting attacks were planned at Lone Pine and along a narrow ridge known as the Nek.

On the afternoon of 6 August at Lone Pine the Australians attacked and occupied Turkish frontline positions against determined Turkish counter-attacks. Most of this desperate fighting took place at close quarters in the Turkish trenches. On the morning of 7 August at the Nek, four waves of Australians were cut down before they reached the enemy line.

The Australian official historian, referring to these light horsemen, later wrote: "The flower of the youth of Victoria and Western Australia fell in that attempt."

Years earlier, Charles Bean had realised, long before the era of the modern feature film, that this charge was one of the defining moments of Australian courage – the willingness of the men to go forward into what was almost certain death. In 1919, he instructed George Lambert to create a large war painting of this incident for hanging in what Bean saw as Australia’s new war museum. This museum eventually became the Australian War Memorial and Lambert's ‘The Charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915’ is among the Memorial’s most treasured items. Once again, part of the agenda for this panel was that there should be somewhere on Gallipoli where these images were available to the public in the surroundings where the charge took place.

The Nek lies on Russell’s Top not far from where Walker’s Ridge runs out on to the top of the Sari Bair range above North Beach. Bean and Lambert walked all around the area while Lambert did sketches for his painting. In Gallipoli Mission Bean described Lambert’s work on the painting:

‘Descriptions are all too true,’ wrote Lambert to his wife. ‘Evidence grins coldly at us non-combatants … from the point of view of the artist-historian the Nek is a wonderful setting to the tragedy’. The grim, rather beautiful landscape of distant ridge-tops surrounding this upland would be his background, his foreground the patch of level scrub with the line of charging men shown at the moment when, a few yards out from their trench, the full force of the Turk’s rifle-fire struck them. As he says, he regarded himself in these works as the artist-historian, and he purposed in this picture to show the reaction of different types of Australian to this shocking experience. There was to be the larrikin; and the gently-bred type; the fair-haired Scandinavian Anzac; the lean countryman, and so on. You see them all in the picture which he painted some years afterwards in Australia from the landscape studies begun that morning on Plugge’s Plateau and The Nek.

[Charles Bean, Gallipoli Mission, Canberra, 1948, p109]

YALNIZ ÇAM VE NEK

Burada bizi cehennem bekliyor. C.A. McAnulty, Yalniz Çam’da harekat sirasinda ölen Avustralya askeri, 7—12 Agustos 1915

Insiyatifi ele geçirme zorunlulugunun bilincinde olan Ingilizler Agustos baslarinda yeni bir saldiri planladilar. Ingilizler Suvla Koyu’na çikacaklar ve Anzak mevzilerinden kuzeye dogru, Conk Bayirina giden tepelik alani ele geçirmek için, büyük bir saldiriya giriseceklerdi. Yalniz Çam’a ve Nek olarak bilinen dar bir serite karsi destek saldirilari düzenlenecekti.

6 Agustos ögleden sonra, Avustralyalilar Yalniz Çam’daki Türk ileri mevzilerine saldirdilar ve Türklerin azimli karsi saldirilarina ragmen burayi ele geçirmeyi basardilar. Bu çarpismalarin büyük bölümü Türk siperleri içerisinde gögüs gögüse gerçeklestirildi. Dört dalga halinde gelen Avustralya askerleri, 7 Agustos sabahi, düsman hatlarina ulasamadan kiliçtan geçirildi. Avustralya resmi tarihçileri, sonralari bu hafif süvariler hakkinda, "Viktorya ve Bati Avustralya gençliginin goncalari bu saldiri sirasinda düstüler" diye yazacakti.

PANEL 7: CHUNUK BAIR

I am prepared for death and hope that God will have forgiven me all my sins. Lieutenant Colonel William Malone New Zealand soldier, in a letter to his wife before he was killed defending the position his battalion had seized on the summit of Chunuk Bair

The main attack of the August offensive was made by a mixed New Zealand, Australian, British and Indian force against the heights of Chunuk Bair and nearby peaks. It was believed that if these positions could be captured and held, then the Turkish line at Anzac would be in danger and a breakout towards the Dardanelles possible.

Between 7 and 9 August the attacking troops made their way up the steep slopes and through the deep gullies on the approaches to the heights. Some units became lost in this wild country and planned assaults were often carried out too late and with inadequate support. The New Zealanders, fighting desperately and sustaining great losses, reached the Chunuk Bair summit and gazed upon the Dardanelles. By 10 August New Zealand troops had been replaced by British units when the Turks determinedly counter-attacked and regained the summit.

The August offensive thus ended in failure.

On Chunuk Bair today two great memorials face each other – the New Zealand Memorial and the (Mustafa Kemal) Ataturk Statue. Kemal’s leadership here on the night of 9–10 August was decisive in rallying the Turkish defenders of Chunuk Bair to a supreme effort at dawn on the 10th to drive the enemy from the summit. Over the days of the ‘August offensive’ in this area thousands were killed or wounded on both sides. Australians, proud of their countrymen’s efforts at Lone Pine and the Nek during the initial stages of the great offensive, should now and then cast their eyes when visiting Gallipoli to that summit whose name was once a byword for courage and sacrifice across the Tasman.

CONK BAYIRI

Ölmeye hazirim, insallah Tanri bütün günahlarimi affeder. Yarbay William Malone, Yeni Zelanda askeri; birliginin ele geçirdigi Conk Bayiri zirvesini savunurken ölmeden önce karisina yazdigi mektuptan

Agustos harekatinin esas saldirisi, Yeni Zelanda, Avustralya, Ingiliz ve Hint karma kuvvetleri tarafindan Conk Bayiri ve çevredeki tepelere karsi gerçeklestirildi. Bu pozisyonlar ele geçirilebilir ve elde tutulabilirse Anzak’taki Türk hatlarinin tehlikeye düsecegine ve Çanakkale bogazina dogru bir açilimin mümkün olabilecegine inaniliyordu.

Birlikler, 7-9 Agustos tarihleri arasinda Conk Bayiri tepesinin dik yamaçlarina ve derin vadilerine saldiriya giristiler. Bazi birlikler bu yabani arazide kayboldular. Planlanan saldirilar gecikmeli ve yeterli destekten yoksun olarak gerçeklestirildi. Disini tirnagina takarak çarpisan Yeni Zelanda birlikleri büyük kayiplar vererek zirveyi ele geçirdiler. Çanakkale Bogazi artik görüs alanlari içine gimisti. 10 Agustos’tan önce, onlarin yerine Ingilizler geçti. Bu tarihte Türkler kararli bir karsi saldiriyla Conk Bayiri zirvesini geri aldi. Böylece Agustos saldirisi basarisizlikla sonuçlanmis oldu.

PANEL 8: EVACUATION

I hope our poor pals who lie all around us sleep soundly, and do not stir in discontent as we go filing away from them forever. New Zealand soldier at the evacuation of Gallipoli

After August, the British mounted no further major attacks at Gallipoli. The British Government grew alarmed at the failure to break through to the Dardanelles and there was mounting criticism of the whole venture. In November, when winter arrived, there were men who froze at their posts and over 16,000 troops suffering from frostbite and exposure had to be evacuated. Eventually it was decided that the campaign could not meet its objectives and the British and Dominion force on Gallipoli should withdraw.
Many thought a withdrawal would result in heavy casualties. However, elaborate precautions were taken to deceive the Turks into thinking nothing unusual was happening.

Between 8 and 20 December 1915, 90,000 men were secretly embarked from Suvla and Anzac. On 8 and 9 January 1916 a similar evacuation was conducted at Helles. Only a handful of casualties were suffered in these well-executed operations.

The feeling of the soldiers about leaving Gallipoli is well summed up in the prefatory quotation from a New Zealand soldier. Basically, many of the men were greatly saddened by having to leave behind the graves of their dead comrades. Bean tells us their reaction to the news of the evacuation:

For days after the breaking of the news there were never absent from the cemeteries men by themselves, or in twos and threes, erecting new crosses or tenderly ‘tidying-up’ the grave of a friend. This was by far the deepest regret of the troops. ‘I hope,’ said one of them to [General] Birdwood on the final day [19 December], pointing to a little cemetery, ‘I hope they won’t hear us marching down the deres [gullys]'.

[Charles Bean, The Story of Anzac, Vol II, Sydney, 1924, p.882]

TAHLIYE

Umarim çevremizde sessizce uyuyan zavalli arkadaslarimiz, onlari sonsuza kadar terkedip gitmemiz karsisinda kahirlarindan mezarlarinda dönmezler. Bir Yeni Zelanda askerinin Gelibolu yarimadasinin bosaltilmasi sirasindaki sözleri

Agustos’tan sonra, Ingilizler Gelibolu’da baska büyük harekata girismediler. Ingiliz hükümeti, Çanakkale bogazina umulan açilimin gerçeklestirilememesi karsisinda telaslanmaya baslamisti. Ayrica tüm harekat gitgide daha fazla sorgulaniyordu. Kasim gelip de kis bastirdiginda, nöbet yerlerinde donup ölenler oldu. Uzuvlarinin donmasi ve soguga maruz kalma nedeniyle 16 bin askerin tahliye edilmesi gerekti. Sonunda harekatin amacina ulasamayacagi sonucuna varildi ve Gelibolu yarimadasindaki Ingiliz ve Dominyon birliklerinin geri çekilmesine karar verildi.

Agir kayiplar verilmeden geri çekilmenin mümkün olmayacagina bir çoklari inanmiyordu. Türkler bu geri çekilisin farkina varmasinlar diye büyük önlemler alindi. 8 ile 20 Aralik 1915 tarihleri arasinda Suvla ve Anzak koylarindan 90 bin asker gizlice geri çekildi. Benzer bir operasyon, 8 ve 9 Ocak 1916’da Helles’de gerçeklestirildi. Basariyla gerçeklestirilen bu operasyonlar sirasinda sadece az sayida kayip verildi.

PANEL 9: DEFENCE OF TURKEY

Their duty was to come here and invade, ours was to defend. Adil Shahin, Turkish veteran of Gallipoli

The British had expected the Gallipoli operation to conclude quickly and that the Turkish army would be no match for their soldiers. Instead they met a determined and resourceful opponent. At critical moments Turkish and German commanders took quick and decisive action and at no time did the British Empire forces manage the breakthrough which they so desperately sought.

On Gallipoli men of both sides showed bravery and endurance. After the Turkish counter-attack of 19 May, in which the Turks suffered so severely, the Australian and New Zealand soldiers began to regard the Turkish soldier with great respect. Something of the spirit of the Turks on Gallipoli can be seen in the response to an Australian note thrown into a Turkish trench urging its occupants to surrender: the response read, "You think there are no true Turks left. But there are Turks, and Turks' sons!" In this defence of the homeland, in the conflict known here as the Battle of âanakkale, Turkish authorities have put their casualties at between 250,000 and 300,000, of whom at least 87,000 died.

As the personal quote on this panel suggests, for the Turks 25 April 1915 was not a "landing" but an "invasion". It is, however, a generous quote from a man who recognises that soldiers often simply have to do what they are told and he bears no ill-will against his former enemies. Comparatively little is known, let alone acknowledged, in Australia and New Zealand about the experience of Gallipoli from the point of view of the ordinary Turkish soldier. We have hundreds, probably thousands, of books and articles about the stories of young men from every region of Australia who perished at Gallipoli. But who were the Turks? Where did these men come from within Turkey? What did they see themselves as fighting for? What stories of Gallipoli would emerge from a view of the campaign as seen through the eyes of a Turkish soldier?

One of the few officers at Anzac who spoke fluent Turkish was the Englishman Captain Aubrey Herbert. Herbert wrote the following tribute to the bravery of the Turkish soldiers at the Battle of Chunuk Bair:

The day went badly for us. We lost Chunuk Bair, and without it we cannot win the battle. The Turks have fought very finely, and all praise their courage. It was wonderful to see them charging down the hill, through the storm of shrapnel, under the white ghost wreaths of smoke.

[Aubrey Herbert, Mons, Kut and Anzac, London, 1919, pp.79-80, internet edition, http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~libsite/wwi-www/mons.htm]

TÜRKLERIN DIRENISI

Onlarin vazifesi burayi isgal etmek, bizim vazifemiz ise müdafaa etmekti.
Adil Sahin, Çanakkale Gazisi

Ingilizler, Türk ordusunun kendi askerlerinin karsisinda herhangi bir varlik gösteremeyeceklerini ve Gelibolu harekatinin çabucak tamamlanacagini saniyorlardi. Tam tersine, karsilarinda kararli ve becerikli bir hasim buldular. Kritik saniyelerde süratli ve kararli sekilde harekete geçen Türk ve Alman komutanlari, Ingiliz imparatorluk kuvvetlerinin siddetle ihtiyaç duyduklari açilimi yapmalarina firsat tanimadilar.

Gelibolu’da her iki taraf da büyük kahramanlik ve dayaniklilik gösterdi. Türklerin büyük kayiplar verdigi 19 Mayis’taki karsi saldiridan sonra Avustralya ve Yeni Zelandali askerler Türkler’e büyük saygi duymaya basladilar. Avustralyalilarin Türk siperlerinden birine yaptigi "teslim ol" çagrisina karsilik Türklerden gelen cevap, Gelibolu’daki Türklerin ruh hali hakkinda fikir vermektedir. Cevapta söyle denilmektedir: "Geride dogru dürüst Türk kalmadi saniyorsunuz, ama geride Türkler ve onlarin ogullari var!" Türk yetkilileri, bu ülkede Çanakkale savaslari olarak adlandirilan bu vatan savunmasi sirasindaki kayiplarini, bunlarin en az 87 bini ölü olmak üzere, 250 ile 300 bin arasinda vermektedirler.

PANEL 10: ANZAC

Anzac stood, and still stands, for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship, and endurance that will never own defeat. C.E.W. Bean, Australian official historianAn 

The British Empire, Dominion and French forces suffered severely on Gallipoli. More than 21,200 British, 10,000 French, 8,700 Australians, 2,700 New Zealanders, 1,350 Indians and 49 Newfoundlanders were killed. The Allied wounded totalled over 97,000.

In Australia and New Zealand people looked in disbelief at the mounting casualty lists. Gallipoli was the beginning of a long road for the Australian and New Zealand soldiers that took them to the even more costly battlefields of France and Belgium.

On 25 April 1916, people gathered throughout Australia and New Zealand to commemorate Gallipoli. Today Anzac Day has become a time to remember those who served and died for Australia and New Zealand in war. However, it remains a day that recalls particularly 25 April 1915 when Australians and New Zealanders landed on the shores of Gallipoli, where they founded a lasting tradition of courage, endurance and sacrifice.

However, historians are certainly ready to offer interpretations of what happened on Gallipoli and how it influenced the course of early 20th century Australian history.

The phenomenon that shaped the words on this panel is the development of Anzac Day in both countries as THE day of national commemoration and remembrance. Charles Bean, Australia’s official historian of World War I, had much to do with providing the thoughts and ideas that underlie the commemoration of Gallipoli. However, no one individual was responsible for the emergence of Anzac Day. That occurred spontaneously among the Anzacs themselves and in communities throughout Australia and New Zealand. By early 1916, and even before, the word ANZAC itself was entering Australian consciousness. It was not long before people wanted to call their homes ANZAC. Businesses were quick to see commercial advantage and ANZAC hotels appeared.

There has been a fair bit of discussion over the years concerning the nature of Anzac Day. Does it really commemorate war and the glorification of war? This has been firmly denied by veterans and others. They point to the comradeship and personal sacrifice that war demands of ordinary people and they proclaim that Anzac Day is about these simple human values. In seeking out the significance of Anzac Day we should, perhaps, return to the thoughts and feelings of the original Anzacs, those Australians who landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. They were faced on the evening of that day with possible defeat, indeed annihilation and death. One of them wrote of what sustained them in that crisis and his words are as apt a summary of what Anzac Day means as any modern Anzac Day orator striving for emotional effect:

In the early hours of the morning I heard the Officers going along amongst the men, saying ‘Stick to it lads, don’t go to sleep’, and the cheerful reply would be ‘No Sir, we won’t go to sleep’, and my heart swelled with admiration, I knew what the strenuous day before had been, and knew what pluck and determination was necessary to stay awake and alert through the long weary hours of the night, therefore I thought I was justified in being proud of being an Australian and after that night I had no fear as to the result of our operations eventually. Give me Australians as comrades and I will go anywhere duty calls, and I hope to be pardoned for saying so, being one myself.

[Private Roy Denning, 1st Field Company, Australian Engineers, letter to his mother, 23 July 1915, quoted in C Mongan and R Reid, ‘We have not forgotten’ – Yass and District’s War, 1914–1918, Yass, 1998, p.96]

ANZAK

Anzak, dün oldugu gibi bugün de, yüce bir amaç için gösterilen yigitlik, tesebbüs, beceriklilik, sadakat, dayanisma ve asla yenilgi kabul etmeyen dayaniklilik anlamina gelmektedir. C.E.W. Bean, Avustralya resmi tarihçisi

Çanakkale savaslarinda Ingiliz imparatorlugu, Dominyon ve Fransiz kuvvetleri agir kayiplar verdiler. Gelibolu yarimadasinda 21,200’den fazla Ingiliz, 10 bin Fransiz, 8,700 Avustralyali, 2,700 Yeni Zelandali ve 1,350 Hintli ve 49 Newfoundlandli öldü. Yaralilarin sayisi 97 bini buldu. Avustralya ve Yeni Zelanda’da, insanlar, tirmanan kayiplar listeleri karsisinda gözlerine inanamiyorlardi. Avustralya ve Yeni Zelandali askerler için Çanakkale savaslari, kendilerini Fransa ve Belçika’da daha büyük kayiplarin bekledigi uzun bir yolun baslangiciydi.

Avustralya ve Yeni Zelanda’nin her tarafinda insanlar 25 Nisan 1916’da biraraya gelerek Çanakkale savasini andilar. Bu gün, Anzak günü, Avustralya ve Yeni Zelanda için savasmis ve ölmüs olanlarin anildigi bir gün haline gelmistir. Fakat, hala, özellikle 25 Nisan 1915 günü Gelibolu sahillerine ayak basarak cesaret, dayaniklilik ve fedakarlik gelenegini baslatmis olan Avustralya ve Yeni Zelandalilar akla gelmektedir.

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Graveyards of Gallipoli:  a Tribute to the Men of all the Nations that took part in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915