Trench at Lone Pine after the battle, showing Australian and Turkish dead on the parapet, August Australian Troops were involved in the Gallipoli campaign from 25 April until the majority of troops were evacuated in December You will have read information about this campaign in the Defining Moment in Australian history: Australian troops land at Gallipoli.
But to understand the nature of the experience for the people involved we will need to look at information from people at the time. Look at the following evidence to help you develop more detailed knowledge and understanding of Gallipoli, and what it was like for those who experienced it. The evidence has been divided up into 9 themes.
Explore the evidence for each theme and answer the questions that follow. You might look at all the evidence, or divide it among your class and report back on what you have discovered.
You must not imagine that life in one of the modern battles consists of continuous bomb fighting, bayoneting and bombarding all the time.
The carrying of biscuit boxes and building timbers for hours daily, the waiting in weary queues, of thirty half-dry wells, for the privilege of carrying endless water cans for half a mile uphill War consists of a long series of what seems at time to be endless delays, interspersed by short bursts of frantic activity. I reckon we would have starved you should have seen some of the tracks they had to climb and talk about slippery, every bit of food, ammunition, clothing and nearly all our water had to be carried by the mule teams up to the trenches it was a task I can tell you and it had practically all to be done at night time for the Turks could see them in daylight.
The Indians were responsible for all this work and deserve a heap of praise, there were a good few of them chaps killed at Anzac. I wrapped my overcoat over the tin and gouged out the flies, then spread the biscuit, then held my hand over it and drew the biscuit out of the coat.
But a lot of flies flew into my mouth and beat about inside … I nearly howled with rage … Of all the bastards of places this is the greatest bastard in the world. In that terrible weather, with wind travelling a hundred miles an hour, and rain and sleet, all seems so pitifully hopeless Thousands have been taken to Alexandria Egypt , hundreds, the boys say, were drowned because their feet were so paralysed they could not crawl away to safety in time.
They endured agonies. Sentries were found dead at their posts, frozen and still clutching their rifles And some we have in hospital are losing both feet, some both hands.
For a couple of hours, to rest our nerves, they say. There forty-eight of us in this particular spot, just an eighteen-inch-wide trench with iron overhead supports sandbagged as protection against bombs.
Hell and tommy! Maggots are crawling down the trench; it stinks like an unburied graveyard; it is dark; the air is stagnant; some of the new hands are violently sick from watching us trying to eat. We are so crowded that I can hardly write in the diary even.
My mates look like shadow men crouching expectantly in hell. Bombs are crashing outside, and — the night has come! The constant noise, cramped unsanitary conditions, disease, stenches, daily death of comrades, terrible food, lack of rest and thirst all contributed to the most gruelling conditions.
The Anzacs were literally clinging onto the edge of a cliff with the sea at their backs and the Turks occupying the higher ground. They were forced to dig extensive trench and tunnels systems and to endure a semi-subterranean existence of cramped and filthy living and working conditions under constant shellfire.
Incessant noise from shelling, bombing, artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire caused psychological and physiological problems for the soldiers. These included shell shock, stress from unceasing exposure to loud mechanical noises, hearing impairment and lack of sleep.
The cramped conditions and steep terrain left few safe places for men to rest in the front line on Second Ridge above Anzac Cove. Food was a major concern to Anzac soldiers. Much has been written about the food rations provided for the Anzacs at Gallipoli, including the dark, humorous odes to bully beef and impenetrably hard army biscuits in The Anzac Book.
The diet was varied sometimes by sugar, condensed milk, rice and cocoa, but there was a distinct lack of fresh fruit or vegetables for the Anzacs. These rations were intended to be lived on for only short periods of time by British army divisions, not for extended months as was the case at Gallipoli. Living on these rations caused major health problems for the soldiers. So prevalent on the Anzac battlefields were the food cans in which these rations were issued that their remains can still be found around the sites of Anzac trenches and dugouts.
The Turkish forces were provided with a wider variety of food. This was centrally prepared by cooks and consisted of fresh local foods, although it was often lacking in meat. French and Indian divisions had much better rations than Anzacs, with more vegetables and bread.
He was Mentioned in Despatches , along with several other stretcher-bearers, for his exemplary courage and devotion to duty. Simpson working in Shrapnel Gully at Anzac Cove, assisting a wounded soldier. There was little variety in food rations, with bully beef and hard tack biscuits as the staple of most meals.
These staples were supplemented with bacon, onion, jam, and cheese. Charles Bean described the monotonous rations:. Dysentery and paratyphoid broke out in an environment where water and sanitation were rudimentary at best. Swarms of flies carried infection from refuse, latrines, and rotting corpses to food being eaten in unwashed mess tins. Disease was just as much a threat to the troops as the enemy.
The combination of poor nutrition, unsanitary living conditions and lack of rest took their toll. By late July, hundreds of tired and poorly fed men were succumbing to sickness each day, though many refused to be evacuated. Two unidentified soldiers stand amid boxes of bully beef stacked in a supply depot on the beach at Anzac Cove. The cans in the foreground were used for carrying kerosene or water. Sometimes the biscuits were grated or ground up to make porridge or thicken a stew made with bully beef and onions.
Last updated: 17 October Daily life. Accession Number: C Accession Number: PS Charles Bean on Gallipoli.
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