Troy antique city and Gallipoli Memorials are among the popular tour destinations especially for those who lost their loved ones in the World War I, map.
A good detailed excursion should include: Anzac Cove, Lone Pine Australian Memorial and Cemetery, warfare tunnels and trenches at Johnston Jolly, The Nek Cemetery, Chunuk-Bair New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery and Kabatepe War Museum.
To get to Gallipoli take a transport from Istanbul, about 4.5 hours.
"Those heroes that shed their blood
And lost their lives
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country
Therefore, rest in peace
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours
You, the mothers
Who sent their sons from far away countries
Wipe away your tears
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace
After having lost their lives on this land, they have
Become our sons as well"
M. KEMAL ATATURK, 1934
( The founder of Turkish Republic )
A N Z A C T U R K E Y T O U R
John Simpson Kirkpatrick, affectionately known as "the man and his donkey", was born on the 6th of July 1892 in South Shields, England.
He landed at ANZAC Cove at 5 a.m. on the 25th of April 1915 and was mortally wounded in Shrapnel Gully, near the mouth of Monash Valley, on the 19th of May 1915 at the age of 22.
During the 24 days he spent at ANZAC he operated as a sole unit with his beloved donkey/s and is credited with saving the lives of probably hundreds of men.
He has become a part of the ANZAC folklore and though recommended for the Victoria Cross, twice, and the Distinguished Conduct Medal, he was never decorated for his actions.
His friend Andy Davidson described him as "a big man and very muscular, though aged only 22 and was selected at once as a stretcher bearer... he was too human to be a parade ground soldier, and strongly disliked discipline; though not lazy he shirked the drudgery of ‘forming fours’, and other irksome military tasks" and "he was very witty, and inclined to the lazy, very popular, liked a pot or two but did not drink to excess, careless of dress and was a handful to Sgt. Hookway, his Section Sergeant."
Davidson said, "We covered his body and put it in a dugout beside the track and carried on with our job. We went back for him at about 6.30 p.m. and he was buried at 'Beach Cemetery on the same evening." Private Johnson made a simple wooden cross with the inscription "John Simpson".
Basically, forcing Dardanels may be summarised in five reasons:
1. To break the link by which Turkey keeps her hold as a European Power.
2. To divert a large part of the Turkish army from operations against our Russian Allies in the Caucasus and elsewhere.
3. To pass into Russia, at a time when her northern ports were closed by ice, the rifles and munitions of war of which her armies were in need.
4. To bring out of Southern Russia the great stores of wheat lying there waiting shipment.
5. If possible, to prevent, by a successful deed of arms in the Near East, any new alliance against us among the Balkan peoples.
February 18 Allied Fleets attacked the forts at the entrance to the Straits.
March 18 The ships developed a fierce fire upon the shore defences.
April 25 Landing to the beaches
May offensive 13 days: This early fighting, which lasted from dawn on the 25th April till noon on the following day, only a footing a footing was won.
At V Beach the Munsters lost more than one-third, and the Dublins more than three-fifths of their total strength. The Lancashires at W Beach lost nearly as heavily as the Dublins. At Anzac, one Australian battalion lost 422 out of 900. At X Beach, the Royals lost 487 out of 979. All these battalions had lost more than half their officers, indeed by the 28th April the Dublins had only one officer left.
"The Turk front ranks crept up on hands and knees without firing (their cartridges had been taken from them) and charged our trenches with the bayonet. They got into our trenches in the dark, bayoneted the men in them, broke our line, got through to the second line and were there mixed up in the night in a welter of killing and firing beyond description. "
August Assault 6th-10th .
