Salih Yucel/ Charles Sturt University
The
Gallipoli Campaign is considered by many as the greatest war in Australian and Turkish
history. The stories of veterans have been passed down from generation to
generation in the form of oral and written history. Some might say Gallipoli
war stories are the most honoured and published in Turkish history. These
stories vary in nature. Some provoke and bewilder the reader, others make the
reader smile while many make the reader become lost in deep thought or weep.
While the stories are plenty, below are a few unforgettable examples:
Ali from the town of Off recounted a memory that would haunt him.
“Our lieutenant
told us that we were to fight soon. The other squad currently fighting with
enemy’s soldiers had heavy casualties. Knowing this, we were all making shahadah
(creed of Islam) and dhikr. The lieutenant told us that we were going to be martyred, but suggested that we should die
pure with ablution. There was no water so we performed tayammum (dry ablution using
sand or earth). His final command was for us to perform our own funeral prayer.
We lined up in the trench and prayed. On that day, the lieutenant and most of
the soldiers in our squadron were killed.
ANZAC soldier L.H
Brett recollects an encounter with a Turkish solider. “I was
wounded during an attack at night. I took a torch from the pocket of a
severely wounded soldier and tried to help other wounded soldiers. Suddenly, a wounded
Turkish soldier appeared before me. He didn’t attack, nor did he seem to want
to attack. He too was wounded and exhausted. He saw my wounded state and
indicated to my wounds. Through a few gestures, we understood each other and
wrapped each other’s wounds. We shook hands and parted as I returned to the
trenches for proper medical assistance.”
Haji Ahmed
shows that fire was not always fought with fire. “A French soldier threw something
dirty to the Turkish trench at night. The Turkish soldiers put hazelnuts in
a handkerchief and threw it to the French soldiers’ trench. In return,
the French soldiers threw biscuits in a handkerchief
to Turkish soldiers’ trench. After that,
the French soldiers never fired from this trench to our soldiers.”
There was a
trench that had little ammunition remaining. Not wanting to waste any, one
Turkish solider took it upon himself to waste the enemy’s ammunition. He stuck
his hat on his rifle and lifted that rifle above the trench. The ANZAC soldiers
shot at the hat. Once his hat was no longer useful, the Turkish solider would
make rude hand gestures and taunt the ANZACs in hope of getting a laugh and
wasting their ammunition.
During the campaign, the nights were generally quiet as the soldiers
would rest. One night, an ANZAC soldier played a song on his guitar. As soon as
he finished, there came an applause from the Turkish soldiers’ trenches
followed by a song by one Turkish soldier who had an astounding voice. The
ANZAC soldier applauded in return. In time, ANZAC and Turkish soldiers would
write their song requests on paper, wrap it around a rock and fling in to each
other’s trenches. One night, however, there was no answer or song from the
Turkish trench. The ANZACs kept up the communication as they wanted to know why
the solider with the astounding voice would not sing. The Turkish soldiers
threw their response note which indicated, “The man you ask of? You killed him
two days ago”.
Lest we forget
