Anzac Cove is the name of an inconspicuous street located on Taupo Airport where the Bazflyers are based...but there is a whole lot more to the street name.
One hundred years ago....men from Australia and New Zealand (ANZAC forces) were on ships heading north across the Aegean Sea for an amphibious landing on the Dardanelles Peninsula. We can only contemplate what might have occupied their thoughts at this time but there is one thing we can be sure of, none of the men had the slightest idea of the 'hell' that lay ahead.
Today the Bazflyers travelled from the town of Cannaklkele by ferry across the Dardanelles strait and then to a beach on the western side of the peninsula known as Anzac Cove. It was here the ANZAC's alighted on Turkish soil just before dawn on the 25th April 1915. Many stories surround this landing and one of these is that the landing at Anzac Cove, with its steep hinterland of rough gullies, was never intended. Todays historians have proved otherwise. The landings went largely as planned and with hardly any opposition.
However, almost immediately the ANZACs began their push inland they found themselves under increasing pressure from the Turkish defenders. We will never know the exact number, but at the end of the first day it is estimated some 900 ANZACs lay dead and over 2000 were wounded. Losses on the Turkish were similar. Sadly, this was only the beginning.....
No comments:
Post a Comment