Gallipoli - Lest We Forget

There are 2 pages of photos again. Where there is a poem or a quotation, click on the photo. It should open in a new window and hopefully you can read the inscriptions.

We came to the Gallipoli peninsula quite ignorant of any detail about the events which took place here in 1915. The night before our visit we watched the film Gallipoli starring a very young Mel Gibson. It was very interesting and I think it put things into context for us. The morning of our visit we watched a documentary called Gallipoli: The Fatal Shore featuring interviews with various Gallipoli veterans from both sides of the trenches.

Our trip began at 1230 and we went first to a museum and then to numerous battlefields and cemeteries. I won't go into a lot of detail because the experience leaves you a little numb and I don't really know what to say!

Instead I will provide some links about the Gallipoli Campaign and the timeline of events.

I think what surprised us were the numbers. We always knew that Gallipoli and ANZAC were synonymous with each other but didn't completely understand why. It was also staggering to see how many British died during the campaign, along with thousands of Indian and French soldiers, not to mention the Ottoman Turks. It was also news to us that Winston Churchill was the original "mastermind" behind the campaign. His plan was good on paper, but once the naval battle failed to succeed and the troops went in, it turned into a disaster, a massacre.

"They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are

Turkish Monument

starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain."

Laurence Binyon, 1914

Written a year before Gallipoli, but just as poignant.

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Part of trip: Leaving Baku

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