 |
The Graveyards of Gallipoli; A Digger History Associate Site |
 |
|
|
A Tribute to the Men of all the Nations that took part in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 |
|
Corporal Seyit's Turkish War Memorial, Gallipoli |
| Onbaşı Seyit Anıtı | No BE-8 |
Photo: Eric Goossens |
 |
 |
 |
Just south of
the Namazgah Rampart is a reminder of the struggle here on 18 March as
the Allied warships shelled the forts and ramparts.
Facing out to sea is a great bronze statue, placed here in 1992, of Corporal Seyit from the village of Edremit-Havran. Seyit, stripped to the waist, carries in his arms a 275 kilogram shell for his gun battery at the Rumeli Mecidiye Rampart. Seyit, a timber cutter, was apparently famous in his village for his great strength and capable of walking around with a log under each arm. At Seyit’s battery on 18 March the machinery which brought the shells to the guns broke down, so he personally carried them. The particular shell in the statue is probably meant to be the last the battery had on that day when Seyit took it to the gun and fired it himself. Supposedly, it hit and sank the British battleship HMS Ocean, but what actually crippled the warship may have been one of Captain Hakki Bey’s mines from the Nusret. |
| Corporal Seyit who carried a 275 kg. artillery shell during the naval attack (18 March 1915). |
