April 25 – ANZAC Day – Gallipoli
“To die violently and be laid in this shell swept area is to
die lonely indeed. The day is far off (but it will come) when splendid
mausoleums will be raised over these heroic dead. And one foresees the
time when steamers will bear up the Aegean pilgrims come to do honour at
the resting places of friends and kindred, and to move over the charred
battlegrounds of Turkey.”HECTOR DINNING (Aust. A.S.C.) 1915
Most Australians know something about Gallipoli and very little about the Western Front and the Somme battlefields. Most Australians, if asked, would assume that the ill-fated Anzac campaign was a victory and their country’s finest hour. Few Australians know enough about the part played by the Diggers on the Somme to compare it with Gallipoli. Yet nearly 10 times the number of soldiers fought at the Somme than did at Gallipoli and they fought more than five times as long, in shocking conditions.
The Anzacs fought the Turks for close on eight months at Gallipoli and Australia had nearly 40,000 troops engaged there. The number of Australians killed and wounded – about 8000 – shocked the Nation. The casualty figures were so grim in the first few days of the landing that they were with-held from the public for months. Information was only trickled out and many families did not find out about the loss of their loved ones for months after their deaths. Most Australians at first thought it a gallant victory against the unspeakable Turk. They weren't told anything else. (...)
