CRAVES OF GALLIPOLI.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15047, 15 April 1919, Page 3

CRAVES OF GALLIPOLI.

A NUMBER IDENTIFIED. ,

Apart from the Graves Registration Unit which visited Gallipoli at the beginning of this year, some1 work of a similar nature was undertaken by the Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment, which has submitted a detailed report of its .discoveries. This was forwarded to New Zealand,.and the Defence Department will send to the next-of-kin of any soldiers Avhose graves have been identifier] all particulars regarding location which this- report contains. A certain number of the graves had to be reported as •(kunnof\vn," but where there was definite information; the exact location was noted with compass bearings and reierences to landmarks. One working party attended to tho fencing of graves wherever this could be done, and a slip or paper was placed in a shell case of other receptacle, with all details of identification on each grave found A copy of the report was handed to the brara Registration Unit to assist them in their move comprehensive operations Identification of graves, states the report, is difficult- owing to the lapse of time, and m some isolated cases, dese-l cration by marauders, though there is1 nothing to indicate this has been made i at the instigation •of the Turkish authorities. Jhe work of re-fortification °fthe Peninsula b7 the Turkish forces after the evacuation necessitated th« building of roads, trenches, gun positions, and extensive wiring of all positions. Ihis undoubtedly obliterated tho ' traces ot many burial places, but as far as can bo ascertained, ft was purely a work of military necessity