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ANZAC Day, April 25, 2014

Australia and New Zealand marked the 99th anniversary of the first major military action involving their forces during the First World War

The Disastrous Gallipoli Campaign

The Gallipoli or Dardanelles Campaign took place during the First World War by allied forces against the Ottoman Empire between April 1915 and January 1916. The operations consisted of a joint British and French mission to capture the capital of Istanbul and secure a sea route through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea to supply Russia.

On 25 April, at approximately 4:15 am on a still spring night, with the sea mist rising, members of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) landed at Gallipoli together with troops from New Zealand, Britain, and France. It was shortly after this landing that the high command realized that the men had disembarked in the wrong position. Instead of facing the advantageous topography south of Anzac Cove, they faced the precipitous area of the north.

Inhospitable terrain, miserable conditions and horrendous casualties were characteristic of the campaign, which ended disastrously with the withdrawal of allied troops. Overall, the Allies suffered a quarter million casualties, with Aussies accounting for nearly 30,000 of those. For the Turkish people, Gallipoli was a defining moment in their history; Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish state, was a commander during the campaign.

Likewise, the Gallipoli campaign resonated profoundly among Australians. The campaign marked the first major battle undertaken by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and is considered a landmark in the development of the Australian national identity. To this day, ANZAC Day, April 25, remains a deeply significant commemoration, honoring the military service, suffering and sacrifice of those involved.

Historical photo of Australian and New Zealand army members landing on the beach at Anzac cove during the invasion of Gallipoli in 1915.

Australians soldiers embarking at Melbourne to fight in World War One in December 1914. Some 8,000 Australian soldiers died at Gallipoli

A trawler packed with British troops on their way to the British landing at Cape Helles, on the southern tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Unidentified men from the 1st Divisional Signal Company being towed towards Anzac Cove on the morning of 25 April 1915.

Troops lowering themselves into tow boats for the landing at Anzac, 6am, 25 April 1915.

Allied troops at what would eventually become known Anzac Cove in the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. From this point many Anzac forces were sent into battle along the ridges of the area. Soldiers can be seen looking up at the hillside they would never capture

Troops landing at what would eventually become known as Anzac Cove in the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915

Australian and New Zealand forces landed on Turkish soil at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915

Gallipoli, Turkey, 1915-04-25. Australian troops landing at Anzac Cove.

 Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915.

Anzac Cove Beach, Gallipoli. 1915. Members of Anzac Corps on the beach after coming ashore from troopships.

A Turkish shell bursting among the stores of the 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, September 1915.

Two soldiers sit beside a pile of empty tins cutting up barbed wire for jam tin bombs.

Wireless Station W.5 operated by the 2nd Signal Troop, 2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade, on the beach at Anzac Cove, a few days after the landing.

Australian soldiers asleep in a trench during a respite in fighting at Gallipoli.

Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick, 3rd Field Ambulance Brigade assisting an unidentified British soldier, wounded in the leg, being carried by a donkey.

Australian troops in the Turkish Lone Pine trenches

Three unidentified 7th Battalion men standing at a bomb stop at the old Turkish firing line in Lone Pine.

Australian troops relax inside a captured Turkish trench at Lone Pine.

A sniper uses a periscopic rifle while his comrade observes for him through an improvised periscope.

A gun position of the Hughes Battery in the front line at ANZAC.

A scene in the front line Anzac trenches in May 1915.

An Australian soldier carries a wounded comrade down from the ranges to a dressing station near North Beach.

Stretcher-bearers at work during the August offensive in the Sari Bair Range. They are probably members of the 4th Australian Field Ambulance at Walden Grove.

Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey. 1915. Three Australian Army soldiers attending to a wounded comrade at Gallipoli.

Australian soldiers man the trenches at Gallipoli, where Private Alexander Sast was captured by Turkish forces

Anzac Area, Gallipoli. 1915. Two Anzac Corps soldiers resting in a communications trench on the right flank of the force.

Gallipoli, Anzac Beach, 25 April 1915

A crowd of Australian soldiers listens to an address by a chaplain on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Australian soldiers receiving treatment at a Field Dressing Station at Anzac Cove.

Scene just before the evacuation at Anzac. Australian troops charging near a Turkish trench. When they got there the Turks had flown. Dardanelles Campaign, circa 1915.,

The bodies of Australian dead in the trenches following fierce fighting with Turkish forces at Gallipoli in 1915.

A trench at Lone Pine on 8 August 1915.

An Australian officer visits a comrade's grave on Gallipoli.

Evacuation of wounded from Gallipoli

This wooden cross was erected in one of the Gallipoli battlefield cemeteries by soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, AIF, who fought at the Battle of Lone Pine, 6-9 August 1915.

A British soldier visits a comrade’s grave at sunset on the cliffs above Cape Helles, Gallipoli, 1915.

Anzac Day 2014

Solemn services have been held around the world to mark Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day.

A veteran wearing service medals bows his head in the rain during a service to mark Anzac Day in Sydney.

A boy holds his relative's army hat as he participates in the annual Anzac Day march through Sydney

A veteran protects his medals from the rain during the Anzac Day parade in Sydney

Spectators gather on Sydney's George Street to cheer servicemen and war veterans during the Anzac Day parade

A veteran takes part in the Anzac Day parade on Bathurst Street in Sydney

A former soldier takes part in a dawn service in Christchurch, New Zealand

Soldiers take part in a dawn service at the cenotaph in Wellington, New Zealand

Members of the Mudgeeraba light horse troop take part in a dawn service to mark Anzac Day at Currumbin Surf Life Saving Club on Australia's Gold Coast

Crowds gather at the cenotaph in Auckland, New Zealand

Members of the Albert Battery fire their rifles to welcome the dawn at Currumbin Surf Life Saving Club

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge place poppies into the World War One Wall of Remembrance at the Australian National War Memorial in Canberra

The faces of servicemen are projected onto a wall in Martin Place, Sydney, during a dawn service

A war veteran makes his way down Bathurst Street in Sydney during the Anzac Day parade

Images of Australian servicemen are projected onto the facade of the Australian National War Memorial in Canberra

The shadows of Australian soldiers are cast on a monument to fallen soldiers at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, northern France

An Australian soldier bows his head at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, northern France

Soldiers take part in a dawn ceremony marking Anzac Day at the Kranji War Memorial in Singapore.

A man clad in a first world war uniform walks among the graves at the Australian National Memorial during wreath-laying ceremonies in Villers-Bretonneux, northern France

A child wearing an Australian flag walks past graves at the Australian War Memorial in the northern French town of Villers-Bretonneux

A man places a poppy on a headstone at the Jakarta War Cemetery.

Soldiers in uniforms for the Anzac Day parade in Brisbane, Queensland

Second world war veterans Jack Langrell, left, and Charlie Sheen shake hands as they strike up a conversation in Sydney

Services were also held around the world to commemorate the fallen soldiers. This ceremony took place at the Cenotaph in Hong Kong.

A elderly veteran is driven in a vintage army vehicle during an Anzac Day parade in Brisbane. 

A veteran is pushed in a wheelchair during the Sydney Anzac Day parade. 

Members of an Ottoman military band attend a ceremony celebrating the 99th anniversary of Anzac Day in Canakkale, Turkey

Military veterans take part in the Anzac Day Parade in Sydney, Australia

A veteran from Papua New Guinea marches with fellow veterans in Sydney as tens of thousands of Australians and New Zealanders gathered to honour their war dead

Members of the Mudgeeraba light horse troop take part in an Anzac Dawn service at Currumbin Surf Life Saving Club, Gold Coast, Australia

Two Australian soldiers attend a dawn service at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, northern France

A member of the Australian Army stands in silence near the Cenotaph in Alice Springs. 

A member of the Mudgeeraba light horse troop takes part in the Anzac dawn service at Currumbin Surf Life Saving Club

RAAF Roulettes fly over the shrine of remembrance during the march in Melbourne. 

The Haka is performed during a dawn service in front of the New Zealand War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, London

Veterans during the Anzac Day Parade in Sydney, Australia

People mourn during a dawn Anzac Day service in Canakkale, Turkey, on the 99th anniversary of the ill-fated Gallipoli landings

A couple embrace during a dawn remembrance service at Wellington Arch

Wreaths are laid at the Australian War Memorial at Hyde Park Corner during a dawn remembrance service

A bugler sounds the Last Post on top of Wellington Arch

end

cast Anzac Day 2014

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