Gallipoli. Part 2

Display of life in the trenches at Canekkale

In the first post on the Gallipoli battlefields,  I covered a bit of the history of the battle. In this post, I will give a bit more details on getting there and specific places visited on the tour. Most of the tours to the region also include a stop at the site of  the ruins of the city of Troy. This will be a separate post. Just too much to talk about from a short, packed 2 day tour.

Remains of trench lines at Lone Pine 

So, I was in Turkey where I was a guest speaker at a meeting arranged by a multinational vaccine producer. After the work part of the trip, I took a few days off in Istanbul. The normal pattern. Travel for work and then make the most of the weekends and a day or two of leave! I was staying in my normal hotel in Istanbul (there has been a few posts on Istanbul, where I have discussed the hotel). I had arranged my tour to Gallipoli through my trusty travel agent - Jessica Cameron (jessica.cameron@travelcounsellors.co.za). This included an early morning pick up at my hotel.  We (myself and others in the tour bus) then headed out of Istanbul on the drive to Canakkale, about 200 km from Istanbul. We stopped for breakfast along the way and then arrived in Canakkale in time for lunch. After lunch, we crossed over the Dardanelles on a ferry for an afternoon tour of Troy. Most of the people on the tour were Australian or New Zealanders, who had lost a family member at Gallipoli. After the tour of Troy, it was back across the Dardanelles. There was a bit of free time to wonder about the amazing display of trench life on the waterfront of the town. I have have included a few photos of this in my previous post. This is a really amazing art work and is well worth the visit. It is free of charge and is right on the waterfront as you get off the ferry. The distance between the trenches in the display was a realistic distance between some of the trenches, particularly in the Lone pine are of the battle. The trenches were literally spitting distance apart.

Ferry

The next morning we headed off for a full day tour of the battlefields. The Allied countries had their normal style monument to the Missing-in-action. Walls with thousands of names on. At the Turkish memorial, they did things a bit differently. There were row upon row of “graves” each with the named of the Turkish missing in action. These were not real graves, but just row upon row of grave stones. Each grave had the name of some 50 missing soldiers on. Very sad to see! This is a much more realistic way to honour the missing and you get a much better idea of the numbers of soldiers who were missing in action. In the First World War, there were literally millions of soldiers who were listed as missing. Either blown to bits by the constant rain of shells, or just slipped beneath the mud.

Names of the Allied Missing

Names of the Turkish missing

Not actual graves - but a good way to list the name of the missing

Of course the tour visited ANZAC point, which was were the main ANZAC landings took place. This beach head was under fire for most of the campaign. Sites of the various field hospitals are marked by the ever present grave yards. Not very many actual graves, considering the number of men who died. These were basically the wounded who were brought down to the field hospitals and who died of their wounds. They mostly have graves with their names and date they died. Many of the wounded were taken out to the waiting hospital ships. One of the heroes of Gallipoli was the “man and his donkey”. He was a medic, who, with his donkey, made the dangerous trip up the hill to the front line to extract wounded soldiers. His name was John Simpson Kirkpatrick. He was a stretcher bearer and on his way down, he saw a donkey and enlisted him/her as a stretcher bearer. Story has it that he brought down 300  wounded  soldiers, although this is disputed. The time taken to go up through Shrapnel and Monash gullies, which were under heavy constant enemy fire, and back down again with a wounded solider, would have made it impossible to do 300 return trips from the time he landed till he was killed, which was three and a half weeks.What cannot be disputed was that he and his donkey made many trips under heavy enemy fire to bring down the wounded. He was apparently oblivious of the shells and enemy fire around him.

ANZAC point

We visited Lone Pine cemetery, which is the largest of the ANZAC cemeteries. Bearing in mind the number of ANZAC dead,  this is a very small cemetery. Many buried there are unknown or do not have a date when the soldier died. Many just died between two dates.

Trench lines. The ANZAC side

After the war, many of the mothers of the fallen ANZAC soldiers started a campaign to bring the bodies of their sons home. As you can well image from what I have described above, there were, in fact, very few actually bodies of identified soldiers to bring home. The Turkish leader, then president of Turkey, wrote a very moving letter to the mothers of the fallen ANZAC troops. Still brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it!

Attatuk's messeage: 

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 Joh

nnies 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 faraway 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.

The top of the hill - the main objective of the whole campaign. Turkish lines.

The ANZAC forces did make it to the top of the hill, but could not hold it. The Turkish trench lines there have been partially restored. It would really be great if the Turkish government could restore sections of the trench lines, particularly in the Lone Pine area, where they were so close together. These remains of the trench lines are over 100 years old are are being reclaimed by the forest. They will soon be lost forever.

This was a great trip to do if you are ever in Istanbul. Even if you are not interested in the war or the Gallipoli battlefields, there is really interesting scenery and a great little Turkish town. The visit to the legionary city of Troy was also an interesting add-on to the battlefields. The old, pre-war castles and forts guarding the narrow waterway are also very interesting. Next time, I would like to spend more time there!

At the Turkish memorial