Gallipoli
Trip Start
May 20, 2008
1
2
73
Trip End
Sep 15, 2008
Gallipoli,
Canakkale,
Turkey
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Today our small group drove several hours south along the European side of the Sea of Marmara to the Gallipoli battlefields. I had read Birds Without Wings before the trip which made the history of the area much more significant to me than it would have been otherwise. We stopped for lunch and picked up our private guide, Captain Ali, who is an expert in the history of the area. His grandfather and uncle were both killed there.
Gallipoli was the sight of a key battle in World War I as the Allied forces from Australia, New Zealand and Britain tried to capture the Dardanelles so they could get access to the Black Sea from the Mediterranean. There was a 286 day battle in horrendous conditions with primarily hand-to-hand combat resulting in more than 500,000 injured soldiers and more than 100,000 deaths. After the long campaign, where neither side really made any progress, both sides eventually realized the futility of the battle with the Allied troops eventually abandoning their campaign
A beautiful area was scene of such suffering
. What is astounding to me is the tremendous respect the Turks had, and still have, for their Australian and New Zealander enemies. ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand)Day is a huge holiday here where tons of visitors from both countries come to see the battlefields. The Turks are extremely welcoming and consider people from both countries to be their friends.
There are several dozen different battlefields on the Gallipoli peninsula and the history of many were explained to us. Dozens of monuments are scattered around the grounds to the individual units that fought there. A huge statue of Mustafa Kemal (later named Ataturk) is on the highest hill since he was the hero of the war for Turkey and became the first president of the Republic of Turkey.
After our tour we took a ferry for the short 15 minute ride across the Dardanelles to Canakkale on the Asian side. It is a small town but offers the closest lodging to the battlefields. We stayed at the pleasant Yellow Rose Pension.
Wikipedia has a good, detailed explanation of the Battle of Gallipoli.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gallipoli
