Anzac Day - Gallipoli - First World War

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Anzac legend Simpson to be denied posthumous bravery medal
John Simpson Kirkpatrick will be denied the ultimate recognition of courage and sacrifice: the Victoria Cross medal. Although his commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Sutton recommended him for the country's highest military award, the Rudd Government's new Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal will disqualify Simpson from being posthumously awarded the medal, because his bravery is not supported by the sworn statements of at least 3 witnesses. Witness accounts of Simpson's actions do exist but they are largely diary accounts of his journeys from battlefield to dressing station. [ theage :: 2008-05-22 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Anzac Day - Multimedia Showcase including rare historical photos
Take a look at rare photographs from the First World War showing the fighting and aftermath of Anzac battles, and see the Gallipoli campaign through the eyes of the Anzac forces as they invaded the Turkish peninsula in 1915 meeting fierce resistance. [ news.com.au :: 2008-04-11 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Historian flags Gallipoli visitor limits to prevent damage
Australian historian Joan Beaumont says there will be further damage to Gallipoli unless limits are set on the number of visitors. She says the claims between heritage and tourism at Gallipoli remains unsolved after the 2005 outcry over road works which disturbed soldiers' remains. "Over the last decade attendance at the ANZAC Day services at Gallipoli has grown steeply from 4500 visitors in 1994 to 18000 in 2004. Despite this site falling under Turkish sovereignty... many Australians and New Zealanders believing that ownership has been conferred by the deaths of their compatriots during WW1." [ abc.net.au :: 2008-04-04 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

The only cine-film of Gallipoli campaign on Australia's documentary heritage list
The only known cine-film of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign has been included to a list of Australia's documentary heritage. The film - Dardanelles Expedition: Heroes of Gallipoli - was made by English war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett in 1915, showing scenes at Anzac Cove, Cape Helles and Suvla Bay. Only 20 minutes of footage has survived, 20% of the original 3000m of film, because of the unstable nature of early nitrate film stock. The film has been listed with the Unesco Australian Memory of the World programme. The footage is a unique record of the Gallipoli campaign. [ nzherald :: 2008-02-20 :: Films, Movies & Footage ]

Massive flag to commemorate Turkish fallen of the Gallipoli Campaign
As of March 18, a huge 330-square metre Turkish flag will fly beside the monument to commemorate the Turkish soldiers who fell during the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign, authorities declared. At 71 metres, the flag's pole will be almost twice as high as the main Turkish memorial on the peninsula: the 41 metre high Canakkale Martyrs' Monument located above Morto Bay on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The flag will be unrolled on March 18, the 93rd anniversary of the defeat of the combined French and British fleets in their undertake to fight their way through the Dardanelles Strait to Istanbul. [ ntvmsnbc :: 2008-02-08 :: Flags & Uniforms ]

When Arthur Blackburn's boat touched the stony seabed of Gallipoli
The young man jumped out into a metre of water, only to slip and go under, rifle and all. The rocks were slimy and men had great trouble wading ashore under a hail of bullets. Other boats landed in deeper water. Men jumped out and were dragged under by the weight of packs. Arthur Blackburn's boat most likely was the second to land. He was among the first 50 Australians to set foot on the Gallipoli Peninsula of the 15,000 to land that first day, April 25, 1915. ... The danger came not only from the front: Australians on the beach shot at what they thought were Turkish-held crests above them. Australian bullets thudded into Australian flesh. [ theaustralian :: 2007-12-31 ]

Concerns Anzac remains at Gallipoli neglected as bones surface
The Commonwealth is under pressure to do more to protect the remains of ANZAC troops killed at Gallipoli. In 2005 Turkey was criticised, after roadworks unearthed human remains. Dr Peter Dowling says he found more remains in another section of the battlefield. "They probably came from the same individual ... eroding out of the slope next to the road, and they were quite visible. There's an almost 100% likelihood that any excavation, any roadworks in that area is going to uncover and disturb human skeletal pieces. We're talking about the disposal of the remains of young Anzac soldiers ... they probably deserve better treatment than they're getting now." [ abc :: 2007-06-14 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Australia pays tribute to Anzacs - Girls vandalise war memorial
Anti-war graffiti labelling diggers "murderers" was daubed in paint on a war memorial in the NSW central west community of Bathurst, ahead of morning's dawn services. After receiving calls about the graffiti, police arrested 5 teenage girls, allegedly still covered in paint. In Sydney, Naval Commander of Australia, Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas, said the Anzac story resonated with so many because it was about ordinary people: "It's interesting how a tactical defeat can outshine any number of successes and form part of our national identity. The wonderful thing about the Anzac story is that it's not a story that glorifies war." [ theage :: 2007-04-26 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Anzac Day 90 years ago: Western Front vs Gallipoli
Defeat had flattened their spirits. Two weeks earlier 3400 of them had perished in one of the Western Front's bloodiest battles. A minute's silence was observed and a tot of rum consumed. This was Anzac Day, 90 years ago at Bullecourt in France. It was 2 years since the Gallipoli landing and the Australians had been let down by their British command, this time with "new-fangled" battle tanks that did not perform. Now, licking their wounds they were unaware that one of their great victories was just weeks away. But for some reason Gallipoli, where 8709 lives were lost and the Anzacs were defeated and evacuated, consumed into the Australian identity. [ theage :: 2007-04-25 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Anzac Cove pilgrimage
I'm here, to follow the footsteps of my ancestors: my grandfather Charlie and great uncle Jock. They were two men who had heard their country's call and marched off to war - one a teenager looking for adventure, the other older and wiser. Jock's memoirs are tucked away in my rucksack. They are my road map on this short trip into the past. They tell a tale of innocence lost, of hope and horror, life and death. Between interviews with Gallipoli historians, Andrew Denton keeps the crowd updated with what the original Anzacs would have been doing 91 years ago. [ sundaymail :: 2007-04-22 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Anzac Day: A brief history
It was an act of ultimate sacrifice on a peninsula a long way from home. On April 25 1915, New Zealand and Australian soldiers, together with British and French, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. The aim was to defeat the Turkish soldiers and capture the Dardanelles strait. It was argued that if the operation was successful it would encourage some of the neutral Balkan states to join the Allies. What ensued was an event which would define New Zealand's involvement, and ultimately its losses, in WW1. The British Navy had made some progress prior to the assault on Gallipoli by driving Turkish forces from the outer Gallipoli forts. [ tvnz :: 2007-04-21 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

To Hell and Back: the banned account of Gallipoli
90 years after its banning, a stark eye-witness account of Gallipoli is back in print. He was a very old man, an Anzac veteran on the return visit to Gallipoli in 1990, but his memory was clear. He'd been at Quinn's Post, possibly the most dangerous place on the peninsula, and was wounded there. The sense of the individual that man displayed was in contrast to how we have romanticised war. The importance of the individual is a feature of Sydney Loch's book, first published in 1916 as The Straits Impregnable. Loch served in the field artillery but as runner for his commanding officer he roamed the combat area. [ smh :: 2007-04-21 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Godley's Map of Gallipoli Bought by Alexander Turnbull Library
The Alexander Turnbull Library has purchased a map that was used by Major General Godley, commander of the New Zealand and A Divisions, at Gallipoli during the landings at Anzac Cove. The map itself is the standard 1:40 000 scale printed map of the Gallipoli area that was issued to staff officers before the landings. Superimposed on the map in handwriting is information about Turkish troop positions that was available up to the 24th of April 1915. The map was used as a working command map and records Godley's thoughts on where the Anzac front line was during those first days. A low resolution image of the map is available on the National Library Catalogue. [ scoop :: 2007-04-20 :: Memorabilia & Collectibles ]

Denton takes a fresh look at WWI battleground Gallipoli
The legend of Gallipoli was epic in Andrew Denton's mind when he made his first pilgrimage to the WW1 battleground. He had never been to a battlefield, let alone Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs) landed on April 25, 1915, before a bloody battle. His first glimpse of the hallowed shores of Gallipoli was underwhelming. But it was a shock to see the battlefield: "The main thing that struck me when I got there was what a pathetic little pimple of land. It was so tiny. I don't know what I'd imagined, maybe this epic landscape but not at all. It was such a big story in my head that I found the size of the area quite shocking." [ ninemsn :: 2007-04-12 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Govt tells Anzac pilgrims to behave at Gallipoli service
In recent years, huge numbers of Australian and New Zealand backpackers have travelled to Gallipoli to commemorate Anzac Day and that has led to complaints. There were also photographs of young Australians at the Lone Pine cemetery lying on the graves of slain Australian soldiers, sitting on headstones and using the headstones as pillows. --- An "interpretive programme" will be run through the night of April 24, providing an account of the Gallipoli Campaign. "As part of this a new documentary, Kiwis on Gallipoli will be played which combines moving film footage, still images and the words of the New Zealanders who served on the Peninsula." [ nzherald :: 2007-03-28 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Anzacs' landscape: Gallipoli battlefield threatened
Large retaining walls to be built to stop erosion at Anzac Cove will fundamentally change the historic Gallipoli battlefield, historians and the RSL fear. Don Rowe urged the Australian Government to try to stop any further development at Gallipoli: "They are now planning for the 100th anniversary and I hope they can preserve the battlefield rather than do more road widening and build walls to stop erosion." In 2005, a road into Anzac Cove was expanded after a request from the Australian Govt to cater for buses taking 18,000 Australians to the Cove for the 90th anniversary of the Anzac Day dawn service. This year, 10,000 people are expected to make the pilgrimage on April 25. [ theage :: 2007-03-18 :: Battlefields ]

Vets fume over Anzac fee
Anzac Day march may be cancelled this year after its RSL sub-branch was asked to pay Richmond Valley Council $10,000 to divert traffic off the march route for an hour. Darryl Pobje said it was the first time council had asked for payment in the club's history. "This is the most significant day of the year and council should be paying us to march. We won't be marching now, full stop. We're absolutely disgusted. Why should we look at alternative routes when we've been doing this since World War 1?" [ northernstar :: 2007-03-06 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Historic forts used in the Gallipoli war being restored
The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism is about to complete the restoration of two historic forts that played important roles during the Gallipoli War. The project carried out within the context of the Long Term Development Plan (UDGP) is restoring the forts of Namazgah and Mecidiye for the first time. The forts, which had long been neglected, are now being converted into open-air museums. Ömer Yörükoðlu said that the original construction of the forts, to be used 21 years later during the 1915 Gallipoli War, had begun in the 1840's with the final touches added in 1894. [ todayszaman :: 2007-01-29 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Gallipoli is national symbol - For Australians, a Turkish pilgrimage
9 decades after 130,000 people died in the great allied fiasco of WW1, the hills of Gallipoli peninsula are still littered with shrapnel. The trenches where the soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) fought still riddle the hillsides, in places so close to the Turkish lines that the soldiers could lob hand grenades back and forth 3 times. Today no one swims in the waters of the Aegean out of respect; the Australians and New Zealanders who come to visit go to the nearby "Brighton Beach" instead. And come they do, in numbers that have exploded since the last diggers, or Anzac soldiers, died. [ iht :: 2007-01-10 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

Book admits Australia's mistakes: naive militarism in World War I
World War I, cane toads and the stolen generation are the most monumental stuff-ups in Australian history, according to a book "The Great Mistakes of Australian History". The biggest blunder was the naive militarism surrounding World War One, which cost 60,000 lives and wounded 150,000 men, Dr Crotty said. "World War I just cost us so much in so many ways. It resulted in incredible suffering among the soldiers and it just about tore Australian society apart." The Anzac legend was remembered as a time where Australians came together "but nothing could be further from the truth" as bitter debates raged over the issue of conscription. [ news :: 2006-10-28 :: Australia - Expeditionary Force ]

Australia: First Anzac Day without a surviving WWI combatant
Australians observing their first Anzac Day without a surviving WWI combatant have been urged to remember not only those who served but those still serving. Australia has been without a living WWI fighter since former sailor William Evan Crawford Allan died in Melbourne six months ago. He was the last of 330,000 Australians who saw active service in the Great War. "It is important that we pause to thank those who survived wartime and are still among us, and to remember those who gave their lives and didn't come back. We should also remind ourselves that the commitment of Australian men and women overseas in uniform is ongoing." [ aap :: 2006-04-24 :: Anzac Day - Gallipoli ]

First World War in the News is an edited review of hand-picked World War I 1914-1918 articles.