TURKEY – GALLIPOLI

DECEMBER 4 – 8, 2024

The Battle of Gallipoli was a military campaign in WWI where Britain, France and Russia wanted to weaken the Ottoman Empire by taking control of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Strait; because the Ottoman Empire was in cahoots with the German Empire. Taking control of the two straits would allow a safe supply route to the Black Sea and the, then, Russian allies. It would also allow the Suez Canal to be safe.

In February an Entente fleet (Russia, French & UK) failed to force a passage through the Dardanelles. An amphibious landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula began in April 1915. Eight months and 250,000 casualties on both sides later, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force withdrew.

Despite the heavy casualties, the Ottoman considered this a great victory and a defining moment in the history of the state. They had beaten the unbeatable and cocky English. It was also the basis for the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who proved himself as a hero at Gallipoli, was declared the founder and president, and thus ending the sultanate and Ottoman Empire.

The campaign is often considered to be the beginning of Australian and New Zealand national consciousness. The anniversary of the landings, 25 April, is known as Anzac Day (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps).

We took a tour of the Gallipoli Peninsula with an amazing guide, Hasan. Nicole, an Aussie, was also on our tour.

A bit about Nicole: Her son died at the age of 21. Before he died, he requested that his ashes be distributed to all the places he had wanted to go. His great-grandpa had landed on Gallipoli, and considering Anzac day is bigger than Remembrance Day in Australia & New Zealand, he wanted to honor his Grandpa in this way.

Hasan was an excellent guide. He had a whole binder of old photos and maps that corresponded to the areas he took us to. It sent a shiver up the spine to be standing exactly were the action happened.

He went into all the details of the battle, which I won’t here. There is just too much to report. There were a lot of poppies on the ANZAC monolith. I added a small Canadian flag to honor the Newfoundlanders who also fought here.

We walked the beach where the troops landed.

Our walk ended at a cemetery full of Aussie soldiers.

Just past the cemetery was a huge monument dedicated to the Mothers of the dead Anzac soldiers, stating that their dead boys will be looked after on these far distant shores. It was a hint of respect between two adversaries that appeared over and over again.

The fighting was intense. Trenches were just metres apart.

At some point the dead bodies were so plentiful that villagers 20 miles away could smell the stench. A ceasefire was called to bury the dead. The Turks were to bury their men and the Anzacs were to bury theirs. Before you knew it, the two sides were working side by side, helping each other. Before the ceasefire, they were throwing grenades at each other; afterwards, they were throwing cigarettes and chocolates back and forth. A mutual respect grew.

An Aussie soldier was wounded in front of the Turk trenches. A Turkish soldier waved a white flag. Gunfire stopped. The Turkish soldier picked the Aussie up in his arms, carried him over to the Aussie trench, gently laid him down, then returned to his own trench. The fighting continued. The Anzac soldiers appreciated the loyalty and patriotism the Turks had for their homeland. They had to fight each other, but there was a mutual respect also.

We stopped at many cemeteries and monuments. One of the monuments was the Lone Pine Cemetery. All the original trees had been cut down on this ridge during the battle. However, a soldier brought a pine cone back to Australia. His mother planted it in her garden. When it produced cones, it was returned to Turkey and planted on this ridge.

Another monument was dedicated to the Turkish soldiers. There is a statue of an old man in the corner of the park. He was a survivor of the battle. When he attended the opening ceremony he was offered a place to sit, but he refused. He said “How can I sit when my brothers lay here dead?”

The two monuments stand at the two edges of the battle line. They are only a few kilometers apart.

Another huge monument was dedicated to Mustafa Kemal, the hero of the Gallipoli Battle. The only reason he wound up a hero is because he took matters into his own hands, and did not wait for orders. A risky move that, thankfully worked out. Otherwise he would have been court marshalled.

When we were on a ridge where the first battle happened, Hasan pointed out a point of land where the Newfoundlanders landed and where their cemetery was. We asked if we were going there. He said No, it was not part of the tour. However, he called his head office and said he had a couple of Canadians. They authorized him to bring us to that location, albeit in his private car for an extra cost. As it turned out, Nicole’s Great-Grandpa had a Canadian Dad. She was also interested in going.

The monument was an elk, one of five in the world, dedicated to the Newfoundland Regiment.

We decided to use the same guide to take us to Troy, the next day. (There is a separate blog on Troy.)

We returned to Canakkale that night, then came back to Eceabat the next morning, crossing the Dardanelles Strait by ferry. We had a couple of hours before Hasan was to pick us up for the Troy tour, so we grabbed a taxi and went straight to the Gallipoli Museum to kill some time.

GALLIPOLI MUSEUM

Travelling in the off-season has its advantages, we had the museum to ourselves. The life-like displays grabbed our attention the moment we entered the museum.

It was one of the best museums I have ever been to. The displays were very well done, and the write-ups were clear and informative. It explained how Turkey came to be in WWI. That information is available on Google, so I won’t go into it here. There were a few artifacts from the battle, like these two bullets that collided in mid-air.

I learned some interesting facts about how the war affected the everyday life of civilians. For instance, the war put such a strain on soldier manpower, the government started drafting college students and teachers. Schools were in jeopardy of closing all over the country. Lay teachers stepped up and kept the education wheels rolling. Many schools ended up closing anyway. To make matters worse, many schools were converted to hospitals for wounded soldiers. Istanbul had 6350 hospital beds, but 85,750 wounded soldiers were treated.

There were letters written home from both the Turks and the ANZAC soldiers saying brave and optimistic things. But there were also notes from their diaries, saying how scared they were.

Hasan picked us up at the museum and drove us back to town to catch the van with the other Troy tour people. Our new friend, Nicole from Australia, was one of them.

We had about an hour before the tour was to start. Hasan suggested that we go across the street to check out more Gallipoli historical stuff & monuments. There was a beautiful monument commemorating the Gallipoli Campaign

and a life size diorama of the battle in the trenches.

FORT RUMELI MECIDIYE

The day after visiting Troy we crossed the Dardanelles again to go see some old forts. The first one was Fort Rumeli Mecidiye.

When the Allied ships were coming through the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915, this fort was a primary target because it had 28 guns. A shell fired from one of the Allied ships hit the ammunition magazine where a soldier by the name of Seyit Ali was posted. The battery blew up, killing fourteen of the soldiers and wounding twenty-four. Only Seyit Ali and his friend Niğdeli Ali escaped unharmed. 

One of the battery’s guns was still usable. However, the lever part of the cannon that lifted the shells was broken. Seyit Ali loaded an artillery shell onto his back with the help of his friend Niğdeli Ali, and fired at the ship opposite him. He carried three shells in total, each weighing 190 to 215 kg (419 – 474 lbs). With his third shot, he hit one of the largest British warships, the HMS Ocean, in the rear propeller, causing the ship to list. The ship became uncontrollable and it hit one of the mines in the Strait.

The story of this real event has become a legendary story in the public imagination.  When photographers came to take pictures of his incredible feat of strength, he was not able to lift the shells. The adrenalin was of the moment was spent. A replica had to be made for the photo opp.

We walked further along and came to Namazgah Fort. It was used as the Operation Center of War during the Dardanelles Campaign. It only had 16 guns and they were short-range guns. Today, it is a museum with artifacts and display boards showing historical information about the battle.

Across the road from Namazgah Fort was Kilitbahir Castle. Built in 1463 to control the straits at their narrowest point. Kilitbahir’s name, meaning “lock of the sea”, reflects this defensive purpose. It was an impressive structure that I was very excited to explore. Alas, it was closed for renovations. The guard kindly let me take a few pictures just past his guard gate. It looked really cool, and I hope to return one day.

We caught the ferry back to Çanakkale.