Gallipoli Trip

[Groundhog]

Myself, WES and Herr Flick were in Gallipoli last week. Here's a few photos for ye.







The village is a bit basic but the hotel was excellent. Also located conveniently near the mosque for the Imam's 5am wake up call. As it was Ramadan we also had a lad with a drum waking the village for braekfast about 4 am.



Ready for the day's touring.



Australian trenches on The Nek (above). Below is The Nek Cemetery. Of the 326 men buried here only 10 have been identified and thus have headstones. Only about 25% of the 36,000 allied casualties at Gallipoli were identified.





The Turget Reis Battery. This is a WW2 defence, utilising the 240mm Krupp guns of a WW1 cruiser, the Turget Reis. The second turret can be seen in the background. Forest fires are a problem in Turkey as you can see.

[Groundhog]

The Helles Memorial, commemorating UK casualties on the entire peninsula who have no known grave. Herr Flick's great grandfather is one of them. Also comemorates Australians who died at Helles.



Headstone of William Kenealy VC, born in Wexford. He won his VC at the landings on April 25th and was killed duing the Battle of Gully ravine.



Herr Flick feeling the heat on Plugge's Plateau and improvising with Major and Mrs Holt's guide and bookmark.



The Wooden Horse used in the film Troy. It now stands in Chanakale. The town is also home to the Turkish Naval Museum. Below is the wreck of a German submarine the UB 46 which was sunk by a mine in Dec 1916 near Istanbul with the loss of the whole crew of 20 men. The wreck was discovered about 15 years ago.

[GoneToTheCanner]

excellent pictures.Anyone wanting good gen on the campaign should read Harvey Broadbent's "Gallipoli-the fatal shore"(2005).
regards
GttC

[Groundhog]

V Beach from Etrugal Fort looking towards Seddulbahir Fort behind the houses. The place is as small as it looks. The River Clyde was beached where the boats are moored. V Beach cemetery is in the foreground. The Mallaghan brothers from Newry are buried there.





An excellent model of the landing.

[hptmurphy]

Herr Flick in Camo and Concealment mode

Nice piccies , Churchill must have been out of his mind to even suggest to try take that place , its an attackers nightmare.

Must have been intersting especially from a soldiers viewpoint with knowledge of how actions are fought .

[johnny no stars]

Hmmm looks nice! Maybe Churchill had himself a holiday in mind:wink:

[Connaught Stranger]

Hmmm looks nice! Maybe Churchill had himself a holiday in mind:wink:

During the time of the landings and subsequent occupation there was virtually no fresh water to be had by the Allied Forces in the ground held by them*, the "fresh" water was shipped from Egypt, and later distilled from seawater.


* Even for the Turkish defenders fresh water was a scarcity.

Climate wise it was very hot and the hundreds / thousands of unburied corpses attracted millions of flies adding to the misery, soon disease such as dysentery would make the soldiers lives a living hell.

While green and fresh looking in the early spring period, this was soon burnt off by the remorseless heat of high summer, fires raged in the many wadis, and the corpses of many were never recovered for burial.

A great website to read upon the Gallipoli Campaign is on the GREAT WAR FORUM at:-

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showforum=5

Connaught Stranger

[johnny no stars]

Someone missed my tongue rooted firmly in cheek style of post...

[Connaught Stranger]

Someone missed my tongue rooted firmly in cheek style of post...

Na!!! just an excuse to post more info and a link to a great site on World War 1.

By the way great pictures from Gallipoli lads, and all to often forgotten campaign.

Connaught Stranger

[herr flick]

That trip ment a lot to me, and a big thank you to "Wes" for his organisational skills, which made the trip possible. My Great Grandfather was Edward Drohan of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He had already served in India and South Africa. He returned to Ireland after the Boer war and settled in My home town of Carrick-on-suir. He married Johanna Drohan and they had 5 children. When the Great war started he was a lobourer in the local creamery which was owned by the "Cleves" family. Im sure we have all sucked a cleeves toffee at some stage! Work was scarce at this time and I believe he was made redundant by this company. He re-enlisted in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in March of 1915. I dont know for sure if he was on board the "River Clyde" at V Beach or maybe in one of the towed lighters which were used to put his battalion ashore. What I do know is that his regiment set of for Gallipoli on 18th March of 1915, so there is every possiblity that he was. His Regiment was decimated at V Beach on the 25 April, during the landings. So much so that on the following day out of the whole battalion strenght, they only had one officer left standing. All others having been killed, wounded or missing. Having stood on this beach a few weeks ago, and having seen the amount of cover available, its a wonder anyone survived. But anyway back to Edward Drohan and what happened to him. On the night of the 6th of August his Regiment was in the line at a place which became known as the "vineyard" near the village of Krithia, which is now called Alcitepe. Their purpose that night was to create a diversionary attack, and draw the turks reserves into the fight. This was done to take pressure off the Landings at Suvla Bay which were due to commence on the morning of the 7th. During the night the attack was posponed many times due to congestion of the trenches. Around 3.15 on the morningh of the 7th the turks secceded in entering the Dublins trench system through an area known as "Worcester Flat Barricade".
An officer named Lt.Carruthers succeded in removing the Turks and defending this position. Unfortunatly he lost quite a few men and many more missing. I believe Edward Drohan was one of these men. His body was never found and his name appears on the "Helles Memorial", which is situated just off V Beach.
I have often wondered about him, how did he die, was it quick, did he have time to think about his wife and 5 children? I suppose i will never know, but his memory has become very important to me over the years since I first heard his name mentioned by his daughter (my Grandmother). When I was going to school, i would often go to her house for lunch. I was forever asking about him as his picture was well placed in the home over the fireplace. She would tell me me that he had been killed in France, and never knew he been at Gallipoli. She went to her grave believing this to be the truth. Only after some research when I was much older did I learn the truth about this extraordinary man. So to go to Gallipoli and see his name inscribed on the Helles Memorial was quite a big deal for me. Better still, if it can be put that way, was for me and "wes" to find pieces of bone in the very area where he fell. This I placed in the local War Grave, which is built on the battle area. Maybe Im getting too sentimental, but you never know who it was.
Gallipoli is a place I will visit again as much as I can in the future. I know a lot of people say it was just as bad in France or Flanders, but when you see the ground that had to be fought over in Gallipoli, its amazing to think they could even live there, never mind fight.
Anyway thats my "tuppence" worth as they say.

[clean it again]

well written

it is good to know that you care to chase the family history

a forgotten place in history

[WES]

Herr Flick's great grandfather, Edward Drohan on the Helles Memorial



Picture of Edward Drohan at the Helles Memorial



The River Clyde remembered at Cape Helles



Herr Flick at the area of the Vineyard at Krithia



A view of the Turkish positions at Etrugal Fort from the landing area at V beach



A view of the landing area at V Beach from the Turkish positions at Etrugal Fort



A view of the landing area at V Beach from the Turkish positions at Seddulbahir



A view of the Turkish positions at Seddulbahir from the landing area at V Beach



Cover from fire at V Beach



On the way to Lala Baba, exercise was guaranteed every day

[WES]

The reason why the heights of Sari Bair were so important. Both of these photos were taken from the same position in opposite directions



A view of The Dardanelles from Chunuk Bair



A view of Suvla Bay from Chunuk Bair



Memorial at Chunuk Bair

Two of the best known cemeteries on Sari Bair







ANZAC Cove. L to R, Herr Flick, WES, and Groundhog



The Sphinx, the dominating feature at ANZAC



Grave of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, the man with the donkey. He is buried in Beach cemetery

[hptmurphy]

Nice piece by Herr Flick, added to the comments from Wes and GH coupled with the photos proabaly one of the best threads in a long time.

The Battle scenes from the mel Gibson film Galipoli really do show the conditions and horror involved.

Thanks to all for posting.

[rod and serpent]

Excellent pics lads.