by Paphitis » Fri Apr 28, 2023 1:36 pm
ANZAC Day is NOT just a day of commemoration for the Gallipoli Campaign. It is for all campaigns, even the most recent Afghan War where Australia has had 45 KIA.
It is called ANZAC Day because Gallipoli was the first engagement by Australian Armed Forces as an independent nation.
ANZAC Day or Galipoli has taken a more legendary recognition however, to celebrate the valor of Australian Troops, the mateship between Australian and KIWI Troops, the loss of innocence, and as LR said, brotherhood, and endurance through shared adversity with other nations like the UK, France, Ireland and so on.
later on, similar bonds were formed, more-so with Americans in Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (Coral Sea). Not to mention, Vietnam and everything else since.
At Galipoli, 16000 Australian and Kiwi Troops landed on the beach on the first day. The ocean became red. 2000 of them became casualties before the Australian Sappers were able to form a beachhead for another 100,000 or so troops to follow in relative safety.
They were led by General John Monash who later became Field Marshall of the entire Western Front that eventually defeated the Germans. John Monash was a sapper (engineer) and later became Melbourne Universities Chancellor and also was the head of the ZIONIST movement in the 40s for the establishment of Israel.
The Turks would have you believe they won this war. An attempt to re-write history of course. But the actual fact of the matter is that Turkey lost the war irrespective of the fact that the Dardanelles Campaign failed to meet all its objectives which were to secure the straights so that the allies can re-supply the Russians through Crimea so that they can sustain their efforts against Germany's AXIS allies.
Turkey, was forced to sign the Treaty of Lausanne and cede territories to Greece, and Bulgaria. The spoils to the victors and the cucumbers to the losers of course - as it should be.
And the Dardanelles Campaign was part of the overall picture of at least keeping the Turks very busy and grinding them down which of course must have contributed to Germany's overall defeat in WW1. A campaign that involved soldiers from many regions and countries such as UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, India, and Nepal.