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Anzac Day 2007 Gallipoli Turkey
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| The
Landing ? |
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At about 3.30 a.m., Queenslanders from the 9th
Battalion of 3rd Brigade finished transferring |
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from ship to small boats which were
first towed and then finally rowed towards the beach at what was to
become ANZAC Cove. 30 to 40 infantrymen laden with packs, ammunition,
rations, water and weapons were crammed into each boat. Due to tidal
currents and navigational error, the landing was further north than
planned, not onto an open plain as was intended but across a narrow
strip of beach at the foot of scrub covered hills, hills where movement
was difficult, where targets were very hard to spot, and where
co-ordination and control of assaulting troops was almost impossible. At
4.29 a.m. the first ANZACs leapt ashore.Initially only two or three
hundred Turks opposed them with small arms and machine gun fire, but by
4.45 a.m. Turkish shrapnel was exploding over ANZAC Cove and Turkish
reinforcements were being rallied. The remaining battalions of 3rd
Brigade were landed into a constricted area of confusion but the men had
been told that they were the covering force for their division so they
dropped their packs and commenced to force their way upwards and inland
searching for Turks. Between 5.30 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. the 2nd and 1st
Brigades began to move ashore however by 7.00 a.m. 3rd Brigade could be
seen from the ships at sea to be digging in on the first and second
ridges beyond the beach. As the day progressed the New Zealand Infantry
Brigade and the 4th Australian Brigade were landed but by as early as
9.00 a.m. the first of the Turkish reinforcements had begun to press
onto the Australians furthermost advanced. Savage fighting followed. For
almost a week there were sudden assaults, bombardments, bayonet fights
and sniping duels. Trench lines formed. Casualties increased.
By 30 April 1915, of the 23,292 ANZACs actually landed, some 5,000
Australians were dead or wounded and the Turks still held the high
ground above ANZAC Cove.
But the landing had been made.
The ANZACs had not broken.
They had proved their courage under fire.
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