lest we forget...

[the0silent0alchemist]

on this day, 1915 ANZAC (Australian,New Zealand Army Corps) troops landed in anzac cove as part of an alled expidition to capture what is now known as istanbul, this became known very well as the gallipoli campaign and the experiences and deeds of those soldiers has reated what s now known as the anzac legend, and every year we celebrate anzac day to commemerate the sacrafices of these soldiers who, upon landing under heavy fire (somewhat similar to omaha D-Day landings), surrounded by hieghts, rushed up and took those cliff positions withou bullets, in fact i dont think they even primed their guns until that goal was taken.
-even though the gallipol campaign was ultimately a failure with anzac troops withdrawing on the 15th of december. the campaign is seen by many to be a 'baptism of fire' for th australian people who, when war broke out had only been a federation and a seperate country of the commonwealth for only 14 years. lets fac it 14 years isnt that lng, most of US have been around longer than 14 year (albeit not in that decade:smile1

today the qualities of the anzac spirit such as mateship, being a larriken (foolhardy, cheerful :thumbsup:, etc) as well as selfless determination are qualities that many australians swear by today. :worshippy:

although interestingly enough, today is ALSO good friday for the orthodox christian tradition, whos calander differs at points due to use of a different measuring system for religous events. and as a greek orthodox christan. i find that somewhat auspicious, (and annoying since i lose a 'true day off' since im in my holiday week)

 

[Verscha]

The British and French Empires should have never wrote off the Ottomans like they did.

Perhaps one of the most striking things about the First World War is that both sides were more or less as bad as each other. I don't think the same can be said for the Second.

 

[EmeraldsAndLime]

I think ANZAC Day has more of a significance for me now than it has previously. My grandfather passed away recently and I attended his funeral on the 24th. As a war veteran, there were plenty of vet's there and ANZAC Day was mentioned throughout the procession.

 

[Rissy]

I'm personally a bitch...
I'm more inclined to pity the ANZAC casualties rather than respect them. Maybe the ones who died outside Gallipoli, but still war is silly and in the case of Gallipoli it's just some poor suckers having to run at bullets... Sure the whole spirit of the soldiers is admirable but you find that kind of spirit anywhere people are facing hardships so it's pretentious to act like it's only something a fallen soldier can be remembered for. I'd have more respect for any soldier who told their commanders to go **** themselves when they were told to run at bullets only to be shot for disobeying the order.

 

[Aidy]

It's more respecting the reason behind their thinking Mysi. Would you respect them more if you thought of it as putting your life on your line for your family and friends instead of your country?
It was mainly their friends really. They went over the top because, if they didn't, their mates would have to, or their mates would go over without them and they won't be able to help them. I know that was the reason my grandad obeyed some absolutely retarded yanky orders at Guadalcanal. He wasn't allowed to fight because he was flat footed but he didn't want his mates to die without him there.

There are numerous accounts of Aussie soldiers turning to English officers and telling them to go f*** themselves because it was stupid order.
Best one was recorded in "A Fortunate Life," Albert Facey's autobiography.
Officer: "What is that god awful stench?"
Soldier: "The bodies in no man's land sir."
Officer: "You should send some soldiers to clean it up."
Soldier: "No sir. They will die."
Officer: "What's a few men?"
Soldiers walk away from officer.

The most important one was when the Australian commander disobeyed an English order to leave a whole Australian battalion on a beach. The English got really peeved off at us over that because it meant they had to use their own soldiers for something instead of it's colonies. That has repercussions today as our government now refuses to let any other country be in command of our troops. Our commanders command our troops and other countries can only request our soldiers to be sent in. But that has only come in in the last year or so due to us having a defense minister who knows history.

ANZAC Day was great for me. My mate just got back from serving in the Solomon Islands and so I went to the pub with him. He got free drinks for having a service medal, which is good. Funny what the modern soldier does today. He spent most of his time, as general infantry, rebuilding an orphanage, guarding a village that didn't have any men and trying to stop fights without being allowed to intervene.
"No stop it. Bad people. You have to stop beating each other up. No... don't strangle him. That's bad."

And the thing with ANZAC Day, it's not just about the soldiers. It's about the horror that was that battle. So many kids (cos that's what soldiers are... people our age... kids) killed for no reason. "Lest We Forget." We cannot forget that horror because, if we forget it, it will happen again.
ANZAC Day is about not forgetting how bad war is.

 

[the0silent0alchemist]

mmm i agree with pretty muh everything said.. and even though anzac day has passed ill say a line from lord of the rings, spoken by king theoden, to summ up the idea of anzac day

"...tonight we remember those who gave their bood, to defend this country..."

because the ANZAC's were peopl who TRUELY wanted to help, but the britsh comanders were stll SOO pompous at times.. NO common sense, at the attack on 'the nek' shown in the film "gallipoli" the artllery barrage was cut short so the idea was for the troops to run across when the turks still had ther heads down. they were slaughtered instead because the guns stopped early and th turks got prepared, any smart commander would have gone, "hey what just happened, WHAT, the turks are reforming, THATS IT postpone the attack," and then explain to the top brass later, four lines of 140 men from the lght horse battalion (didnt actually ride into battle) the frst line went down in 5 secs or so and the other 3 lines jst waited for their turn... at the end of gallipoli just before the las line goes over the top. they focuson the srgents whistle and it is tremblng so badly realisng what will happen,
main reason top brass couldnt be informed was that phone lines were cut.. and messnegers didnt make it in time to cancel thngs due to arrvel of british reenforcements BEHIND the turkish positon.


funnily enough the guy who stuffed things up and got the idea for the gallpoli campaign (what actually happened was a stuffup, they landed in the wrong place) was none other than good ol' winston churchill who became british prime minister in WW2..go figure.

and in ww1 it could be said that for, if only this reason the germans were a bit worse.. the use of chlorine gas and other gases. chlorine gas reacts with water to produce hydrochloric acid CONENTRATED acid. the fact that germans were more on the job of repelling allied attacks meant that they suffered fewer casualties in that manner BUT the allies caused more damage ecause they caused harm to ALL of germany. with their blockading, german food supplies at home and in battle were dwndling badly.. people would have ben SOO hungry.

 

[Aidy]

Oh, and Gallipoli goes down in the records as the best withdrawal of troops in any combat. Happened during the night and the Turks never knew we left. Some smart bloke invented a self firing gun that went off every so often.
Not 1 man was lost in the withdrawal.