A memorial dedicated to the fallen soldiers at Gallipoli (PHOTO AA)
22 April 2012 / PAT YALE , ÇANAKKALE
As dawn breaks this coming Wednesday an eerie quiet will settle over the Gallipoli peninsula as a huge crowd of visiting Australians and New Zealanders prepare to remember those of their ancestors who lost their lives there in 1915 during the course of a particularly ill-judged episode of World War I.
In the bloody annals of military history Gallipoli, like the Somme, will forever be associated with shocking, senseless carnage and the waste of young lives. In April 1915 the British were determined to force their way through the Dardanelles and then, via the Sea of Marmara, on to the big prize of İstanbul. Unfortunately the ANZAC troops from Australia and New Zealand who were charged with accomplishing this task initially landed in the wrong place and were confronted by determined Turkish resistance under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk). In the ensuring fighting an estimated 90,000 men are believed to have lost their lives. Thousands more were wounded......
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