Dawn Service, Anzac Day 2007, Adelaide War Memorial

The closing of the Dardanelles by a German officer in late September 1914 – a direct breach of Turkish neutrality – caused serious problems for the British Military regime. Turkey joined Germany at war and the Allies’ vital supply line to Russia via the Black Sea was effectively sealed. Early in 1915 the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, sent a British-Franco naval contingent to force the Dardanelles. The Narrows had been so effectively mined by the Germans that the British-Franco naval force retreated after losing three battleships with a further three crippled.

On the 25th April 1915 the A.N.Z.A.C. (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) campaign commenced.

The Allied Force, under the command of General Ian Hamilton, initially consisted of 75,000 men, an Australian Division, a New Zealand Division, the 29th British Division and a French Division. The Turks along with their German Allies had not been idle and Liman Von Sanders commanded six Divisions that were strategically placed high above the beaches. Landings at Gaba Tepe, Cape Helles and Suvla Bay were, by any reckoning, an unmitigated disaster for the Allies. On the 8th January 1916, with all Allied troops withdrawn, the Gallipoli campaign was over.

During these disastrous months an estimated joint Allied Force of 480,000 were involved in the Gallipolli campaign. A.N.Z.A.C. casualties numbered 33,600 with 8000 Australians killed either from enemy action or the ravages of disease such as dysentery. Although this campaign was a diabolical loss, it however created the image of Anzac, a time when mateship was a common bond and courage the perpetual symbol of Anzac history.

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Australia - New Zealand / Australia

Lat: 35° 54' 26" S
Long: 138° 34' 52" E

Elevation: 120

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

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