Ottoman (Turkish) 19th Division  

The 19th Division was led by Mustafa Kemal. 

• It consisted of the 

  • 72nd Regiment and the

  • 77th Regiment manned by Arab soldiers, and the 

  • 57th Regiment comprised of troops from Thrace and Anatolia. 

    • Thrace: A region and ancient country of the southeast Balkan Peninsula north of the Aegean Sea. In ancient times it extended as far north as the Danube River. The region was colonized by Greeks in the seventh century B.C. and later passed under the control of Rome, Byzantium, and Ottoman Turkey. Northern Thrace was annexed by Bulgaria in 1885, and eastern Thrace passed to Turkey in 1923.

    • Anatolia, also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey.

Although the 72nd and 77th Regiments did not individually distinguish themselves, the 57th Regiment earned high praise from Kemal for the willingness of its men to die at his behest when he flung the Regiment at the ANZACS on 25 April to arrest their progress: He said of them "A famous regiment, this, because it was completely wiped out".

What was his behest? 

"I do not order you to attack, I order you to die. In the time that passes until we die other troops and other commanders can take our places".

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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