ANZAC day

At dawn today, services were held across the globe to commemorate ANZAC Day in memory of the Australian and New Zealand troops who gave their lives to help win the First World War.

On 25th April 1915, soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on Gallipoli, Turkey, as part of a task force that also included the 4th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. The aim of the expedition was to capture the Gallipoli Peninsular in order to open up the Dardanelles to the allied navies, and end with the capture of Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany.

The attack soon became a stale mate and the campaign was to drag on for 8 months. Both sides suffered enormous loses and endured great hardship. The summer heat conditions became intolerable; sickness was rife, food quickly became inedible, water was in short supply and there were vast swarms of black corpse flies. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated from the peninsula. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers died during the campaign.

Gallipoli had a profound impact on Australians at home as it was the first time ANZAC troops became involved in military action in the war. The first Anzac Day commemorations took place as early as 1916, but it was in the 1920s that it became established as a national day of remembrance for the more than 60,000 Australians who had died during the course of the war.

Anzac Day 2018 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Australian Army Battle for Villers-Bretonneux which saw Australian Brigades leading British forces against the German Army and was a turning point of the war.