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GALLIPOLI GRAVES

BRITISH PILGRIMAGE DOMINION GIRL'S ACCOUNT COURTESY OF THE TURKS The shell-scarred ridges of Gallipoli, marked here and there with the white crosses of scattered cemeteries and the memorials to an Empire's dead, were the scene of a British pilgrimage two months ago.' The liner Duchess of Richmond steamed into the entrance to the Dardanelles in the dawn of a 'late April morning, bearing- on board men who had been present at the. historic landing 19 years and the scenes, both on sea and ashore, have been described in a letter to her parents by a New Zealand girl, whose brother lies buried 011 the slopes of the peninsula.

"We woke at 1.30 in the dawn," she writes, "and saw the lighthouse of Cape Hclles on our left and then a little, low, dark piece of land with an obelisk —the Helles Memorial — silent and lonely on the highest point. The cape looked so small and the famous and terrible beaches so close together and the Turkish forts so near. At 6.30, with Chanuk Bair on one side of us and the tiny little village of Maidos on the other, and Khelia Bay just beyond, we cast anchor." An Unexpected Greeting "Everyone was very excited and talkative at breakfast. It was interesting to see the effect on the men who were here 19 years ago—middle-aged now, with families' and dull jobs and perhaps monotonous lives. They Tvere remembering how they went through a terrible and heroic adventure." The writer describes the scene which greeted her after breakfast in the drawing room, where several distinguished British generals and their wives sat round with strange gentlemen in black morning clothes and a few Turkish officers. A polite Turkish deputation had come from Chanak to pay their respects, quite unexpectedly. They drank coffee and smoked cigarettes and conversation was carried on in halting French.

General Davies made a speech through an interpreter. He said the greeting of the Turkish officials was a most pleasant surprise and that the British liked to think of their once brave opponents as their friends. He , recalled the fact that the Turks never shelled the British forces while they,, played football, and added: "We were really very sorry we had to leave." Flowers in the Cemeteries "We left the ship in a Turkish boat, spread with lovely carpets for us to sit 011," the letter proceeds. "She was. flying an old Australian flag. A party..of us got into a sort of post office van, very low and hot and overcrowded, and the journey across the peninsula was awful. We stopped at one of the many beautiful little cemeteries, with its small pylon of white stone, seats and low walls and lovely flowers, mostly tall purple irises. I walked on round the corner and found myself in Anzac Cove. " 'Cove' is a misleading word.. It suggests shelter and here there, is practically none. I started climbing the ' orange, sandy cliff on my right and got up to the top of a small'ravine — Plugge's Plateau —which, 1 think, was ' the first place the New Zealanders held. "Later we came to another cemetery on some rising ground. Hill 60, where the Norfolk Yeomanry had been. The cemetery was surrounded, 7 as they all are, by small ' pine trees, " and we could smell the scent of the pine needles and the wild thyme and the irises. It all looked most quiet and peaceful, and then two little Turkish i soldiers, in grey-green uniforms and carrying rifles, popped up from the scrub and sat peacefully on a knoll,, smoking cigarettes. • . ,1 " Sun is Merciless " "After lunch a friend showed us * where the New Zealanders went up—' more to the north of where I had been —so I went up for part of the * way. I could not or did not get far, • hut sat for a time before scrambling <• down. 1 remembered that the men .* had three days' food, firewood and 200 rounds of ammunition extra to carry when they went up. They never got right to the top that first day. Theplace looks so lovely, and was so ghastly. The sun is merciless; the blue - sea below drowned thousands and the orange cliffs and beautiful scrub were just a death trap, swept by Turkish bullets.

"Someone said that the best troops . in the world—men with the physique, daring and courage of the Anzacs and.with the discipline and training of the" best British regiments—could not have:, gained their objective in manoeuvres, with no opposition, under three days. And those men were expected to do it in one. The Lone Pine Memorial "We turned up to the Lone Pine memorial —a large cemetery and pylon, standing on top of a neck of land, so that the view all round is superb.There were large beds of brilliant red stocks and small round beds of pale ~ mauve irises, all just coming out, and small clipped hedges of rosemary and rambler roses against the low white walls, with lines of taller cypresses standing up against the blue-sea. "In front of the pylon there was a poppy wreath and a wooden cross that the Australians had placed, there in the morning. In front of it I laid the flowers I had brought. We stayed there about half an hour. I realised what a terrible and merciless land it is and we left the cemeteries absolutely lonely and alien in this strange land. "On the morning of May 2 we drove up to the New Zealand memorial. It is 111 a magnificent position. I can imagine the feelings of the men who got there and saw the Narrows. We also saw Shell Green on our way back and went to look again at the Lone Pine. We went to the Turkish memorial and laid a wreath there, and in the afternoon the Turks went with General Davies and placed one at Lone Pine. I wish I could have gone with them."

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19340720.2.138

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21857, 20 July 1934, Page 13

Word Count
993

GALLIPOLI GRAVES New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21857, 20 July 1934, Page 13

GALLIPOLI GRAVES New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21857, 20 July 1934, Page 13