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On April 25, 1915, the allied forces of the Entente Powers landed on
the Gallipoli peninsula. The main forces under the British
command were from Australia and New Zealand. Together with the
French division and the Indian brigade, the landing forces had a
total of 78,000 men. This day, however, turned out to be a day
for future repentance. This was what happened: The
advance unit of the allied troops of New Zealand and Australia
landed before dawn. The soldiers lost their direction in the
dark as they paddled their landing boats to an area one mile north
of the designated landing zone. What they faced now was a
steep cliff and bombardment by the Turkish batteries from the
hilltop. This advance unit was annihilated on the beach even
before seeing their enemy, turning the color of the nearby coast
water into red. The beach was later named Anzac Cove in
commemoration of the
Australia-New Zealand
Army Corps
Several years ago I read an article, “Bridge of Remembrance,” by
Prof. Qi Bangyuan, who wrote about her troubling visit to a bridge
in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. I was moved by her
writing and made a special trip to see the bridge when I was in New
Zealand, though at the time I didn’t know where the event of
remembrance had occurred. Now, being in Gallipoli, I realized
that the remembrance was meant for the men who fought and died in
battle here!
Why did the allied forces want to capture the Gallipoli peninsula?
It was because the peninsula was in a military strategic position
for controlling the Dardanelles
strait. The control of the strait,
as it was the only path to reach the Black Sea seaports in Russia
(an Entente power), would make it easy to capture Istanbul, thus
enabling the supply line of the allied forces to reach Russia
without resistance.
It was the British Secretary of Navy, Winston Churchill, who
advocated the attack on Gallipoli. The peninsula was 60-mile
long and 4 to 13-mile wide, in a mountainous wilderness region where
the allied forces knew little about. On the other side of the
battle, the commander of the Turkish force was Mustafa Kemal.
On January 9, 1916, the allied forces withdrew from the Gallipoli
peninsula, after nine months of failed campaign. Record shows
that the allied forces committed a total of close to 500 thousand
troops in succession, with more than 260 thousand casualties. Turkey
also committed 500 thousand, with about 250 thousand casualties.
My travel companions from New Zealand said, after visiting the
museum here, “They died for nothing! Our country doesn’t
maintain a combat force anymore.”
(Translated
by Paul Ho)
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