19/05/2026
Today marks the anniversary of the third attack at Gallipoli, the counter offensive by the Ottoman Empire to attack and destroy the entirety of the ANZAC line. The results at lines such as Quinns Post, and other lines held by the ANZACs were telling. At approximately 03:30hrs, caped in darkness, the counter attack by the Ottoman forces began, but the ANZAC’s lay waiting.
Each soldier, friend and foe fought tremendously hard, and it was a credit to them all, the conditions and the tenacity of the ANZAC’s to hold off such a bombardment by the Ottoman’s resulted in over 948,000 rounds of ammunition being fired at the Ottomans, leaving thousands of them killed and many wounded. The ANZAC’s held their lines.
The attacks were horrendous. Over 42,000 Ottoman soldiers stormed the ANZAC lines, 3000 lay dead, their bodies left to rot in the baking sun. 10,000 were wounded. The ANZAC’s lost 168 of its men with 468 wounded. Most of the ANZAC’s that died, were due to head and neck gunshots.
On the May 24 both the Turks and the ANZAC’s arranged a truce to remove the bloating, decaying bodies from the battle fields, they worked together to bury the fallen. Together under such sadness in loss the voices were universal, the translation unneeded, they shared ci******es and gratitude for the temporary peace between the soldiers. The truce held for nine and a half hours.
The war in Gallipoli continued until December 20th 1915 when the evacuation of ANZAC’s was completed. 58,500 ANZAC troops had been involved in the Gallipoli campaign. In almost eight months over 11,000 died, and 24,000 were wounded. The Ottoman’s lost more than 66,000 with more than 213,000 wounded. The campaign ended when the British forces completed the evacuation of Cape Helles on the 9th January 1916.
Lest We Forget all those that have died to find us peace, and remember the braveness, and the gratitude that can be found amongst all those that suffer.
