The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1919. ANZAC DAY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16423, 25 April 1919, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1919. ANZAC DAY.

When the main body of the Yew Zealand Expeditionary Force left the Dominion about the end of 1914 few of the men, it may be assumed, realised how very great an adventure it was upon which they were' embarking, and still fewer even dreamt that they were about to take a leading part in a military operation which will bo inserted in history as one of the most remarkable ever undertaken. Yet such is the fact. The story of the Gallipoli campaign, whether the undertaking was a blunder or not, already fills some of the brightest pages in the annals of our race and it will go down to

posterity as one of the finest possible examples of British endurance and pluck. On April 21, 1915, General Sir lan Hamilton issued a general order to the troops under his command, worded thus:—"Soldiers of France and the King,—‘Before us lies an adveidure unprecedented in modern war. Together with our comrades of the Fleet, we are about to force a landing upon an open beach in face of positions vaunted by our enemy as impregnable. The landing will he made good bj the help of God and the Navy. The positions will be stormed and the war brought one step nearer a glorious close. ‘Remember/ said Lord Kitchener, when bidding adieu to your commander, ‘remember, once you set foot upon the Gallipoli Peninsula you must fight through to a finish. The whole world will be watching your progress/ Let us prove ourselves worthy of the great deed of arms entrusted to us.” Two days later General Birdwood addressed his men, telling them they were about to undertake one of the most difficult tasks any soldier can be called on to perform and that they were going to have a real hard and rough time of it..

Tlioir commanders, it will be seen, were under no illusions as to the nature of the. enterprise. On April 25 the landing was effected on a narrow strip of beach exposed to the enemy’s fire. Everyone is familiar with the story. The men more than justified the confidence placed in them, for although they did not “fight the thing through to a finish” thev held on to a position of extraordinary difficulty with that bull-dog tenacity for which the British soldier is unrivalled. One of New Zealand’s poets, Miss Jessie Mackay, has described the landing in four linos:—

We leaped like lovers from the ships: Red thunder smote us on tho lips: No more! My sword and I were blown, Vain thistledown, before the Throne!

Many a brave man fell during the landing and while scaling the heights above Anzac Beach, but many more “went West” from disease and the enemy’s fire before the order was given to evacuate the narrow strip of territory which for eight months had been held so bravely and so vainly. But their names arc recorded on the roll of heroes who have given theix lives for their country and the memory of their heroism will never die. Whether the occupation of Gallipoli was justified as a military undertaking is a matter upon which great difference of opinion exists. It cerainly “contained” a large force of the enemy

and quite possibly saved a worse disaster further East. But this is not the time or place to discuss that question. To-day, the anniversary of the landing, is a day set apart to commemorate the noble self-sacrifice and heroism of our men and it is to be hoped that it will always he so, not boastfully nor yet regretfully, but in order that their memory may be kept green an'd that their example ma T ' be held up before succeeding generations as one to be followed in holding it as their first duty to serve their country in just whatever way presents itself. Let us hope that New Zealanders will never again he called upon to embark upon such another undertaking, but there are other duties which every young New Zealander can perform and so serve his country and his fellows. Just one word more. In celebrating Apzac Day may it never he forgotten in New Zealand that there were others than our own men who shared the dangers and toils of Gallipoli and who should he in our thoughts also On each, succeeding anniversary. The Anzacs were the Australians and New Zealanders, but French and British soldiers —notably the heroic 29th Division—did equal service and must share the glory.