| Historical Information: |
The eight month campaign in
Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to
force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in
France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the
Dardanelles and the Black Sea. The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26
April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian
and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon
known as Anzac. On 6 August, further landings were made at Suvla, just north
of Anzac, and the climax of the campaign came in early August when
simultaneous assaults were launched on all three fronts. Early in August
1915, the Embarkation Pier area was occupied by the headquarters of two
divisions, and later by a casualty clearing station. The pier was made for
the purpose of evacuating wounded from the Battle of Sari Bair, but it came
under heavy rifle and shell fire and was abandoned after just two days.
Apart from five original burials, the cemetery is made up of burials brought
in after the Armistice from the cemeteries known as Chailak Dere Nos 1 and
2, Mulberry Tree, and Apex, and from isolated graves. There are now 944
Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 662 of the
burials are unidentified, but there are special memorials to 262 casualties
known or believed to be buried among them. |
