Gallipoli campange 15 May

We made a trip,to the Gallipoli Battlefields with a private guide because we wanted to visit both the sites of the naval battles, the French and British landings as well as the Anzac sites. We set off at 8.15 and started at the Turkish monument. This was not our private guide, just a bus nearby.

A short summary from a brochure. One of the greatest conflicts of the recent history, the Gallipoli campaign of WWI, started when the Allied forces bombarded the defences of the Dardanelles. The objective was to pass through the strait, defeat the Ottoman Empire and open the way to support Russia. During the 8 months of land campaign up to 200 000 lives were lost.

Kevin got hijacked by some giggly girls to take their photo and then they wanted a photo together with him. We can't take Kevin anywhere!

The Turkish monument is the tallest of all the monuments.

The graves of Turkish soldiers next to the monument. On each gravestone is written, for eg, Mehmet ogun (son of) Ali, the village he comes from regiment and age.

In 1934 Mustafa Kemel Araturk,wrote a message for those who were sent from far away to capture this land and whose graves remained. To those soldiers and their families who came from lands to fight in a  nation they knew nothing about, he wrote:

Those heroes who 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 in this country of ours...

You, the mothers who sent their sons from far-away countries, wipe away your tears;

Your sons are lying in our bosom and are in peace.

After having lost their lives in this land they have become our sons as well.

The site of the landing of the British soldiers, V beach.

The French monument. 15 000 French soldiers died. Because there were some Moslem soldiers amongst the French,  the crosses they were originally buried under were changed by sawing off the arms of the cross. This one was names was Ali Dou and was from Senegal.

Graveyard for soldiers lost at Lancashire landing.  

The British monument.

Lancashire beach.

A well - deserved lunch! Lentil soup, fresh fish and fruit.

Anzac cove

The beach where the Anzac troops landed

One of the many cemetries.

Cemetery

The so called Sphinx where the Anzac troops landed.

The Pine tree cemetery for Anzac troops.

The Anzac trenches and comminications tunnel which was dug from the beach.

The trenches.

The New Zealand monument.

Carl as always having fun.