gallipoli

one of the holidays in the australian/new zealand calendar is a day called ANZAC day...25 april...that's the anniversary of the first day of the battle for the gallipoli peninsula, which started 25 april, 1915...the battle ended up going on for 8 months, but 25 april is the day it's memorialized...the gallipoli peninsula was strategically important during WWI, whoeva captured the peninsula also controlled the supply lines to istanbul...and with control of istanbul would be some control of the black sea...the allies fought for it against the ottomans/germans...for once, the term allies does not include america...this battle was fought by the french, british, and the anzac forces for the allies...the french were coming in from the south, the brits on the northwest, and the anzacs on the west coast of the peninsula...

before dawn the morning of 25 april allied forces began landing on the gallipoli peninsula...where they landed depended on which country they were from...the most remembered area is where the anzac (australia/new zealand army corps) soldiers landed...they landed on north beach...it was the first of many mistakes in the battle, because it wasn't the beach on which they were supposed to land...north beach was a mile or so up the coast from the intended beach, which they'd called brighton beach...brighton beach led to a smooth rise in elevation, the troops would've had an easier time taking over the peninsula...north beach on the other hand led to much steeper rises, even a few cliffs...plus, it was raining...welcome to a very unpleasant time in these gentlemen's lives...most of those fighting were quite young...the youngest was 14, though he was officially listed as 18...

the battle for gallipoli really started a little over a month previously, with some fighting in the dardanelles, the straight separating the biggest part of turkey from the gallipoli peninsula...allied minesweepers went through, and declared the water mine free...but overnight the mines were laid again, and when an allied ship went through, it blew up...whoops...needless to say, that didn't make anyone happy...also, earlier, german troops had sailed through and when they got to istanbul (or somewhere else along that coast in turkey, i don't remember exactly) traded their uniforms for turkish uniforms...they also changed the names of their ships to turkish names, and changed the flags to turkish flags...until this point, turkey (the ottoman empire) had remained neutral, and intended to remain that way during the war...not surprisingly, as the german ships sailed on, they got into battle, and others thought that turkey had gotten into the war after all...basically, they were dragged into the war, kicking and screaming...it was these incidents that led the allies to create a specific battle plan to win the peninsula...

when the allies landed on that beach, they came in strong...with heaps of soldiers...at the moments when they landed, the turkish army only had 160 men protecting that area, and they had very little ammunition...in fact, they retreated almost immediately...i'm a little muddy on these details, but this seems to me a time when the allies should've pressed forward, taken the high ground, and kept it...but this didn't happen...i don't remember all of what i was told, but mistakes by the anzac forces included a tea break as well...at numerous times, they should've taken the peninsula...
the battle ended up dragging on for 8 months or so...both sides dug trenches, often just a few meters from each other...even as they were fighting, they were also sharing things like cigarettes, matches and more...the turks dug the trenches in straight lines...the allies dug them in wavy patterns...i don't know exactly how the battle ended, but the allies lost...

gallipoli is where one of turkey's heroes first made his name...mustafa kemal...later called ataturk, which means father of the turks...(given that he was married once, for only a short time, and had no children, this is both accurate and not)...he was the army leader who inspired and led his soldiers; he went on to become the president of the country...it was because of him that they didn't surrender...at one point he ordered them to die for their country, and many of them did...far more of them died than allied soldiers...there is one unit that no longer exists in the turkish army because every single one of them died during the anzac battles...it's a good memorial, but tragic at the same time...

one of the biggest reasons tourists come to canakkale is the chance to take a tour of the gallipoli peninsula...specifically the areas that were important during the anzac portion of the battle...on the anniversary of the first day of the battle there are ceremonies on gallipoli to remember what happened...dawn ceremonies...my guide said in 2005 (the 90th anniversary) there were 20,000 people there, and that if we wanted to be there in 2015 we should make reservations now...
my tour started with a ferry ride from canakkale to kitabahir, a small town on the peninsula...then we drove north, and met up with a few folks who had come from istanbul for lunch...the lunch was pretty good...(certainly a lot better than the tour i took in goreme)...then we drove to the other side of the peninsula, and started with the informative part of the tour..our first stop was the beach on which the anzac forces were supposed to land...a bit farther north we saw the beach on which the soldiers actually landed...in between the two is a cemetary, one of many on the peninsula...

we saw the australian memorial, which is called lone pine...it's called lone pine because of the tree in the middle of the memorial...our guide said it was the third generation of this particular tree...we saw the new zealand memorial (fun fact: the kiwis gained the highest ground of any of the allies during this battle)...we saw numerous cemetaries...nearly all the cemetaries have the inscription along the lines of 'their names shall live evermore'...we saw the turkish cemetary, which included a statue of the last living soldier to fight for the turks in these battles...he passed away about a decade ago, a year after visiting this cemetary with his great granddaughter...
the tour ended with a ferry ride back to canakkale...a good day, though a bit intense, and a bit overwhelming in terms of information provided...of course, i'm a geek and i like that:)