Sir this is a sheer waste of good men - joe ...
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2002
1
18
20
Trip End
Aug 22, 2002
Gallipoli,
Turkey
Saturday, July 20, 2002
It's a place every Australian and New Zealander has read about, studied at school, seen the Mel Gibson movie version, watched the Anzac parades, been indoctrinated to rile the English about. Gallipoli itself is more than this.
I was lucky enough to be on the AnzacHouse (Hassle Free) tour of Gallipoli, run by the garrulous Ali, eminent Turkish historian, comedian and guide. His motivation was to present the Turkish side of the Gallipoli campaign without taking away from our antipodean hero mythology. For sensitivity, humour and passion about his subject material, there could be nobody better.
Gallipoli
1. The Spinx
. Those steep, sandy cliffs so integral to the failure of the campaign are now overgrown with spiky undergrowth, not razed to dirt as they would ahve been by teh fighting. The ridges overlook the thin strip of beach without any of the menace they would have held for the ANZAC soldiers. All points along the first ridge have been given names - Walker's Ridge (named in honour of a Kiwi (or Aussie?) commander), Russell's Top, The Sphinx (obvious for it's formation) and Razor's Ridge. The beach is not as immense as I had imagined and the road built along Anzac Cove by the ANZAC's is still the main road for the site. Behind the ridges stretch miles of undergrowth and hills. Horrid terrain and even more horrid thoughts of what occurred here.The cluster of graves below the first ridge face toward the sea. However, for me the most moving aspects of the site were two memorials. The first to a Turkish soldier who showed incredible bravery by venturing into no man's land to rescue an Australian soldier. the Australian's comrades were not willing to crawl out and rescue him. This Turkish soldier waved his white flag for ceasefire, climbed out of his trench and carried the Australian soldier across to the Australian trenches. Australia's Governor-General Casey notes how he and the other Australian soldiers were too stunned by this man's selflessness to thank him. When he reached the safety of his own trench, the fighting began again
2. Ridge
. Such is the nature of war. Courage, a moment of reflection, then back to business. The second monument is the immense plaque set with Ataturk's words, promising that the fallen soldiers of all nationalities are now safe in Turkish soil and are as revered by the Turkish people as their own soldiers. Ataturk was a man of such forward thinking and humanity; it seems strange that he should have lived through an era when war was accepted as a part of life.
One thing that struck me as we toured Gallipoli is how 'no man's land' is so different in reality from my imaginings. In some places, the distance between N.Z. trenches and Turkish trenches were barely wider than the one-laned road. Passing between such sections was an opportunity for Ali to relate more anecdotes. Apparently the two sides realised how futile the war was becoming and only fought half-heartedly toward the end. They were more interested in bartering. N.Z. supplied chocolate and the Turks gave fresh tomatoes.
My favourite story is that of the tobacco trade. The Turkish government supplied their troops with great quantities of finely cut tobacco. The only problem was the lack of papers
3. Anzac Cove
. One day a turkish soldier waved his white flag in the air and wandered over to the N.Z. trench with a bag of tobacco and a note that read (and I repeat from ali's repetition of the event)"I tobacco
You Papier
every Day
Okay
????"
From then on, the New Zealanders would collect any paper they could obtain and every day would lob a bag of paper to the Turks, who would throw a bag of tobacco back. Instead of bullets flying through the air, clouds of smoke would rise from the trenches as they enjoyed the daily ritual. Much better than fighting.
Ali gave an intersting take on the 'escape myth' of the ANZAC's and it makes me wonder if the British and Australian authorities needed to have a heroic finale to the failed campaign and created the myth accordingly. I am not suggesting that the inenious device that allowed guns to fire whilst men retreated did not occur nor does it warrant acclaim. However, as Ali pointed out, with trenches so close the Turks definetly noticed the furtive retrest of the ANZACs, but it goes against the human codes of war to fire upon a surrendering side.
Ali related the Turkish proverb that one does not shoot his enemy when the enemy is facing away. It makes much more sense and is less one-sided to consider that the Turkish soldiers happily let their enemy retreat...
4. Trenches
. though the ramification for them was another shortage of tobacco papers.As an Australian it made me cringe to realise that nearly twice as many Turks died as ANZACs and these men died defending their homeland from us, the invaders, the so-called heroic Allies. Of course there were ANZAC heroes, but what needs to be equally recognised is the heroism of the 'enemy', of the Turkish people and the sensitivity of a nation to maintain such a place as Gallipoli.
Having ruffled a few feathers now, shall I rewrite the Australian High School history curriculum to reflect the Turkish story a little more favourably?
