Pilgrimage to ANZAC Cove

Today was a very early start. The alarm sounded at 5.40am as we were getting picked up at 6am for a day trip to the battlefields and war graves of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

After a seamless pick up and an hour and a half driving around Istanbul it was then still a four and a half hour drive to Eceabat for lunch and the start of the tour. Luckily we both slept most of the way and there was a stop for breakfast. Eceabat itself certainly knows the significance of the history of the peninsula as there are plenty of NZ and Australian themed bars and hotels and people selling ANZAC t-shirts and singlets.

The tour itself was run by Crowded House tours, no NZ music unfortunately. As soon as we were on the bus our guide, Balant, got straight into it and gave a great history of why there was a war, who was involved and what the main objectives of the Gallipoli campaign was. This was great as at lunch we were debating with two Australians as to why our countries were involved in invading the Ottoman Empire in

the first place.

Our first stop was Kabatepe, or Brighton beach. Many places on the peninsula were given English names by the ANZACs and as a mark of respect, they have remained alongside the Turkish names, however I think this is the 4th or 5th Brighton beach we have been to around the world. Here we heard about the logistics of the campaign. This is thought to be the intended landing place for the invasion, but that is up for debate as in 1915 there was no tree cover at all, just knee high scrub so perhaps they wouldn’t have had any advantage landing here. This is why the other train of thought is that the beaches further north, where the troops landed, were indeed the intended landing place because of the cover of the cliffs. We then headed to ANZAC cove, Ari Burnu and North Beach where the actual landings took place. Standing at the spot where 1500 men started

coming ashore at 4am and looking up at the cliffs they were faced with was seriously daunting. The fact that they took the first plateau in half an hour and nearly made it to Chunuk Bair by 10am on the first morning is amazing. The first Commonwealth cemetery we saw was here at Ari Burnu and North Beach is where the ANZAC Day Dawn Service is held. Being there in the flesh to see the ANZAC sign on the wall that you see every year on the news was a crazy experience.

Back on the bus and it was up to the battlefields. The first stop was Lone Pine. This was the sight of the bloodiest fighting of the whole campaign. The Australian forces were instructed to attack the Turkish trenches, which were about 15 meters away, as a diversion for the real assault on Chunuk Bair. Running into enemy trenches knowing that the point of your attack is to keep the whole Turkish force (including the reserves) busy must have been daunting. Especially

as when you charged them they were not where you expected in open trenches but underground with camouflaged covers! As such this is the main memorial to the Australian soldiers and is also the cemetery where a relation of Crom’s has his name on the memorial. Sadly he was one of the missing whose body was never found.

Onwards to Johnston's Jolly, which is named after the Australian commander who was based here. The trenches are so close the ANZAC and Turkish troops used to joke with each other and throw chocolate and cigarettes over no man’s land into each other’s trenches during the three month stalemate. The next stop was the main Turkish Memorial to the 57th battalion of the Turkish army who were stationed here. They defended their land with such bravery and most of the battalion was killed during the campaign. Out of respect for their heroism and sacrifice there is no longer a battalion named the 57th in the Turkish Army.
The last stop on the tour was Chunuk Bair, the main memorial to New Zealanders. Their memorial is on the highest point of the whole peninsula to mark the fact that the Wellington Battalion actually held the hill for two days and two nights from the 7th-9th of August. It is a sombre place and while we were there the call to prayer was playing from a local mosque. It all added to the realisation that the ANZACs were a long way from home.

Also at Chunuk Bair is a memorial to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Commander of the Turkish troops at Gallipoli and also the man who went on to defeat the Greeks, establish Turkey as a nation and became the first president. His nickname is the Father of Turks. He was a seriously impressive man and also wrote the speech in 1934 when New Zealand and Australian leaders visited the peninsula for the first time saying that there were no differences between all of us and we are all friends. The Turks are extremely proud him and rightly so!

Back on the bus to start our five hour trip back to Istanbul. The drive was broken up by the driver stopping to buy melons at the side of the road and for dinner. Dinner was highly confusing as five different people took our orders and then some food come out, not sure it was what we ordered but it was great! We finally made it back to the hostel about 11pm to find a really social evening going on. The hosts were cranking up their music and keeping the place awake. Their mate even turned up and was teaching salsa dancing. This place is more like their flat with some beds where people can stay! We must have crawled off to bed around 2.30am...Late night after an early start, but such an awesome and emotional day finally making it to Gallipoli.