Day 4 – Suvla, Green Hill, Krithia and the French, by Kate

We have reached the fourth day in the 2013 Spirit of ANZAC Study Tour. As the aim of the tour is to enhance our knowledge, I shall begin this entry by telling you of the first lesson we learn today. Bitzi, our wealth of Turkish knowledge, taught us the correct way to say “hello” in Turkish. Most of us have been pronouncing ‘merhaba’ as meerhubba, however, today we learnt that the correct pronunciation is ‘mer-aba’ (aka the H is silent.) So it is with a silent H that I greet you merhaba and prepare to inform you of today’s events.

 Our first stop was the sunken landing barge at North Beach, before we headed to Number 2 Outpost cemetery where many New Zealand soldiers are buried. However, before we could enter the cemetery we were treated (or subjected) to a vivid, loud and rather terrifying Hukka by the male contingent. From here we headed to the Suvla (introduced by the singing of ‘The Band Played Waltzing MAthilda’)  to visit the wreck of the ship, the Beatle. From Anne and Michelle we learnt that amphibious landings are the most difficult, as the tides and currents cannot be controlled and the navy and army must work together in unison. We remembered that although many Australians see Suvla Bay as our campaign, it was really the British, as well as other countries such as Ireland and Canada, who made the biggest sacrifices here.

 
At Green Hill we commemorated the fallen British soldiers, in the first cemetery we have visited with gates surrounding it. Bruce encouraged us to think about the importance of gates surrounding the graves; for grieving mothers back it England it was a way of replicating the British cemeteries where many wished their beloved could rest as well as reinforcing we were entering a sacred place. It was confronting to visit the grave of Private Harry Salter, who was executed by his fellow British comrades after he left his camp to meet up some new Australian mates. This instance showed the loneliness that soldiers would have felt, fighting so far away from home, and the importance of mate ship in keeping up morale.

The boys at Helles

As we reached Hill 10 the rain came down, giving us an idea of the drizzly and wet Gallipoli which the ANZACs experienced the day of the landing. Due to the downpour we viewed our next stop, Hill 60, from the bus and returned back to the Kum for hot chocolate.

Lunch provided proof that Gallipoli has begun to influence our group relations. A small joke (which we thought was funny) escalated into theft amongst the group and soon the outbreak of war between girls and the boys was inevitable. It took six hours for the conflict to be resolved (as segregation on the bus provided no chance of a peace treaty) when the ‘Treaty of Kum’ was signed by both the males and females; promising the upholding of peace, trust, respect and honesty.

After lunch we travelled South to Krithia where the British fought side by side with the French in April (This was brought to life by Bruce’s French accent.) Bruce taught us of the “sheet of lead” which faced the allies as relentless Turkish fire rained down. Australians fought here too, in the third attack at Krithia on the 8^th of May, after leaving ANZAC. 

Bayley, Kate and Whitney at the
officers' memorial French Cemetery

Our next stop was the British memorial at Helles, where Whitney commemorated her Adopt-A-Digger, Lt. Philip. G Wale from her hometown of Benalla. Whitney gave us a moving presentation of Wale’s life and war experience, leaving us inspired by his courage and mate ship. 

 Our last stop for the day was French war memorial, where Tric and I helped brighten the damp weather with our rousing rendition of the French National Anthem, ‘La Marsielle.’ (If I do say so myselfJ) It was very interesting to see the difference in graves from the Australian to the French graves; the French graves all have vertical, black crosses, and the epitaph ‘mort pour la France’ (died for France). 

Overall, it was another interesting and action packed day and the impact of the graves we saw and places we visited will not be forgotten. United as comrades once again, the Soapies look forward to another exciting and memorable day tomorrow.

A descendant of the French at
the French Cememtery

Kate (still faithfully devoted to the girls side of our war) signing off from Gallipoli!

Jasmine and Laura at Cape Helles