The World of The Gunny

It's ANZAC day today, the 25th April. on this day in 1915 was the first ever large-scale amphibious assault, and it was a massacre. Many Australians only consider the Australian part of this operation, but troops from all over the British Empire and France fought.

Of the landings, the British suffered the most casualties - they attacked the fortified beaches, and with the lack of motorised, armoured landing craft the turkish machine guns and artillery took their toll. They also used light transports to take men straight to the beach, but the gangway's off these boats was only wide enough to allow men through in single file. The Royal Munster Fusiliers, who landed on the SS River Clyde (a converted collier which beached to land troops), suffered 179 casualties out of the first 200 to leave the boat.

The plan was drawn up, initialy, by Winston Churchill. Coincidentally, the same plan (slightly modified) was used in the D-Day landings, but with much greater success. Churchill asked for 150,000 troops from Kitchener, who refused at first but then granted the use of 75,000 men, half of what was asked for. The Turks had caught wind of the impending attack and stationed over 84,000 troops along the coast at the most likely landing sites.

At the end of the campaign, when the British evacuated Helles on the 9th January 1916, there were over 280,000 Allied Casualties, and 250,00 Turkish dead or wounded. it's hard for me to find an exact number at the moment. On the wikipedia page, it says 280,000 for the british and then further down only says 140,000. every other source i can find states above 200,000, but varies from 205,000 to 290,000 for british casualties. The number of turkish casuaulties fluxuates even more.

The retreat, however, is among one of the most succesful military withdrawals in history (if you can call a retreat sucesful), particularly among the ANZAC's. Games of Cricket were used to cover troop movements. In the weeks leading up to the withdrawal, they'd sit in the trenches completely silent, and when the Turkish came over to investigate, thinking the ANZAC's to be gone, they'd open fire. On the night of the withdrawal, rifles were set up along the entire trenchline with a pan attached to the trigger, with water dripping into it so that when the pan filled with water the rifle would fire. Some sources say that the ANZAC retreat was not noticed by the Turks until a day or two after, although personally i find that hard to beleive. It'd be hard not to notice that over 10,000 men had just up and left a place less than 100m away from you.... although with the Aussies playing silent buggers for the last week or two i'd have hated to be the guys sent over to find out.

A bit of trivia - the batmen of both sides, along one trenchline between ANZAC's and Turks, were allowed to hang their washing out on the barbed wire to dry without drawing fire. Aussies used to trade Beer and Cigarettes for Turkish sweets and dates by throwing them across no mans land.

After the campaign ended, a Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal supposedly said "We have avenged Troy". One of the British ships that took part, a Lord Nelson class Battleship, was named the HMS Agamemnon.



Of course, today we not only remember those who served in Gallipoli, but all those who served and those who are currently serving.

I have always found that Australian troops were some of the best I ever trained with. Their esprit-de-corps was second to none in the Commonwealth. And Gallopoli shows that even in the face of possible defeat they did their duty for the Empire.

I salute all ANZAC warriors of all wars, may they always remain staunch allies of the US.




Cheers, Þórgrímr

Thats because, apart from a few years during Vietnam, our armed forces have always been totally voluntary. No man should ever be pressed into service.

A lot of our national identity was forged on the shores of Gallipoli. The rising sun on the Army dress uniform hat, for instance. The tale of Simpson and his donkey*, who made trip after trip after trip bringing wounded in from no mans land before being killed by a turkish amchine gun, is recounted every year, and to me the moral is this - that no matter what, you do what you can for your mates. It's also been said that the Japanese did not want to invade Australia simply because of the legend we created in the Dardenelles.

Kokoda also helped forge our identity. Thousands of men with little to no training gave Japan her first defeat. Chocolate Soldiers, called so because they were expected to melt under fire, were the only people between the Japanese and Australia when they landed on Guinea. Their training consisted of unloading crates of supplies, and on the Thompson sub-machine gun was "Stand facing the enemy like so, and with a fierce expression on your face pull the trigger"


*Private John Simpson was a stretcher bearer at Gallipoli. Alone with his donkey, he would venture out into no mans land, often while the attack was still underway, to retrieve the wounded. He saved hundreds of lives and lifted the moral of the troops there no end. Before they charged, men would often say "She'll be right. The man with the donk'll get us" to joke away the fear. He was eventually killed by a Turkish machine gun after being on the ground from the landings (he was the second man from his unit to make it to the beach) until the 19th May 1915. Every day, he made the trip from the front to the field hospitals around 12 times, through the most dangerous part of the trenches called shrapnel gully, which was almost always under direct fire, totally aware of the dangers he was facing. His last act was to shoo his donkey and the wounded man it carried towards the field hospitals. He was never decorated, although he was recomended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Victoria Cross (twice).

Benno, that is an outstanding tale. And to me he recieved the best 'medal' of all, the adoration and respect of his mates. No amount of metal and cloth can replace that award.

"A man hath no greater love than to give his life for another."




Cheers, Þórgrímr

I agree, that was a really interresting tale. Reminds me of some of the stories I read while visiting the military museum at Edinburg Castle. That old castle is filled to the rim with military history. Er, but I digress

All honour to the Australian forces.