Tracing Your Great War Ancestors
Page 11
War diaries for many Indian units that served at Gallipoli are in series WO 95 at Kew.
Further Reading
Emma Jolly, Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2010).
NEWFOUNDLAND
The Newfoundland Regiment was at Gallipoli between 20 September 1915 and 9 January 1916. Library and Archives Canada holds many records for men and women who served in the Canadian and Newfoundland forces during the First World War at Collections Canada portal (www.collectionscanada.ca). Unfortunately, the databases are not always easy to use and the information available is partial, but there is help at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-909.006-e.html.
Surviving service records of the Newfoundland Regiment are online at www.therooms.ca/regiment/part3_database.asp. War diaries are at The National Archives in Kew in WO 95/4312. There is also a website devoted to the history of the Newfoundland Regiment, with more about the part it played at Gallipoli: www.rnfldr.ca/history.aspx?item=41.
Chapter 8
VISITING GALLIPOLI
Almost since the end of the First World War the battlefields of Gallipoli have been attracting tourists, although for decades visitors were few in number, put off by its remoteness and inaccessibility. Alan Moorhead, the first modern historian of the campaign, observed:
The cemeteries at Gallipoli are unlike those of any other battlefield in Europe … There is no sound except for the wind in the trees and the calls of the migrating birds who have in these places the safest sanctuary on the peninsula … Often for months at a time nothing of any consequence happens, lizards scuttle about the tombstones in the sunshine and time goes by in an endless dream.
Since the 1980s this has changed as Turkey has modernised. Modern roads were built into the area and there has been considerable development, mostly for the better, with many new hotels and restaurants. If possible, you should try to visit Gallipoli and the Dardanelles to see the battlefields and the cemeteries. Without doing so, it is almost impossible to visualise the battles and the sacrifices made by the men of both sides.
ORGANISED TOURS
Many visitors prefer organised tours where everything is provided, and they are probably worth it if you are either nervous about organising your own tour or want to explore the area thoroughly. There are, however, far fewer tours than to the Western Front and they sell out quickly. Listed below are five companies that organise one or more trips a year from Britain to the area, but no doubt there are others. The Gallipoli Association (www.gallipoli-association.org) also runs a couple of tours a year for members.
• Battlefield Breaks – http://battlefield-breaks.com
• Battle Honours – www.battle-honours.eu
• Holts Tours – http://holts.co.uk
• Leger Holidays – www.visitbattlefields.co.uk
• Spirit of Remembrance – www.spiritofremembrance.com
To get the most out of your trip, make sure that the tour is led by a member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides, as these guides are extremely knowledgeable and are used to dealing with groups.
It is possible to do day trips to Gallipoli from Istanbul. If you are visiting the city on holiday and your time is short, such a trip may be worth considering, but inevitably you will only get the broadest of overviews. TripAdvisor members recommend Gallipoli Tour (www.gallipolitour.com), which offers two-day tours, and RSL Tours (www.rsltours.com). Again no doubt there are other companies in the field but you should try to check them out before booking.
If you stay in Çanakkale, across from Gallipoli on the Asian side of the Straits, then there are also several companies which offer day tours, including Lutars Travel (www.gallipoliexperience.com/en).
SELF-GUIDED TOURS
If you are comfortable with driving in Turkey, you might wish to hire a car in Istanbul and drive down to the peninsula. The D3 motorway west from Istanbul speeds up the journey somewhat. The advantages are that you get to go to the places you want to go to, and can take as long about it as you like. (One disadvantage with organised tours – particular the short one- or two-day ones – is that they have a tendency just to visit the cemeteries.)
According to Nigel Steel, the best time to visit is in the early summer – late April, May and early June – when it is not too hot but the ground is firm enough to walk across with ease. Even so, you will need a stout pair of boots and trousers capable of resisting prickly pear thorns. As the soldiers, of course, found during the summer of 1915, it can be fearsomely hot in the sun so it is important to take adequate supplies of water and sun cream.
In Peter Hart’s history of the campaign, Gallipoli (2011), he suggests a three-day itinerary, based on staying in Eceabat or Çanakkale. There is also an interesting article by Geoff Moran about visiting the peninsula by car at www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/moran/morangallip.htm.
There are a few walking routes, but because of the terrain they are not suitable for novices. The official Anzac website has one which covers the area around Anzac Cove at www.anzacsite.gov.au/2visiting/walk_intro.html.
Technically you don’t even need a car. It is possible to get around the area using local buses and a pair of legs. TripAdvisor member ‘Micool’ wrote:
You won’t get the real Gallipoli experience in a tour bus. From Eceabat I caught the local bus near the ferry terminal to ‘Anzac’ for only 3 TL. The bus takes 20 mins and drops you at the Gabatepe museum, which features a fascinating 3D simulation of the campaign. From Gabatepe you can walk 2–3km to Anzac, following the coast-line, which is littered with many WWII-era machine-gun bunkers … What you want to do is walk around the entire battlefield area, a distance of about 22 km (including Hill 60.) It is exactly 11 km from Gabatepe to Chunak Bair. To get the real experience you must walk from Shrapnel Gully Cemetery near Pluggie’s Plateau up Monash Valley to the terraces behind Second Ridge, where the main Anzac defences were located. It’s really tough going in dense scrub. One guy died from a heart-attack doing it in 2012[!] On the slopes I found many trenches that were once the Anzac front line. I was at Gallipoli for 8 days and it wasn’t anywhere long enough to explore the whole battlefield, even though I did manage a day at Seddel Bahr where the British landed. A bus runs from near the fort at Khilid Bahr every Saturday morning. The entire peninsula is really beautiful, especially in summer. Walking also provided me with the opportunity to meet many Turks who were there sight-seeing. The only downer is that the entire battlefield is covered with thick scrub so it is hard to gain an understanding of the fields of fire. Make sure you have a swim at Anzac Cove but watch out for the fishing nets. It’s easy getting back to Eceabat, as the buses run every hour. Exploring Gallipoli this way was one of the greatest adventures I have experienced.
However you travel, the most important thing, as the Australian visitor to Gallipoli reminds us, is:
But no matter what the starting point, every visitor will learn something and feel something. What is important, I think, is not the rigour of your preparation, or the seriousness with which you approach the pilgrimage. What is important is that you think enough of those who served and fought and suffered there to want to visit and see for yourself what they saw and experienced.
KEY SITES
Cemeteries
The main cemeteries are:
• Beach Cemetery at ANZAC, which Peter Hart says is ‘probably the most beautiful cemetery in the world’
• Helles Memorial to the Missing
• Lone Pine Memorial and Cemetery
• Shrapnel Valley Cemetery
You can find more about them, and the other British and Anzac cemeteries on the peninsula, from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website: www.cwgc.org.
Museums
• Eceabat Visitors Centre, Eceabat (near Anzac Cove)
• Gallipoli War Museum, Gallipoli Historic National Park, Sahil Yolu, Gelibolu (no website, tel +90-286-566-1272)
• Kabatepe Visitors’ Centre/Museum, Route 17–75, Kabatepe (www.historvius.com/kabatepe-museu
m-58, tel +90-286-862-0082)
• Suvla Bay War Museum, Biyuk Anafarta (no website, telephone +90-286-834-7076)
Other Attractions
At Anzac Cove where the landings were made there is a short memorial service each day at dawn. There are some preserved trenches at Chunuk Bair. Suvla Bay is interesting, and Cape Hellas, on the tip of the peninsula, is less visited than the area around Anzac.
Further Reading
Tonie and Velmai Holt, Major and Mrs Holt’s Battlefield Guide to Gallipoli (Pen & Sword, 1999), although somewhat dated, is still the best guide to the area. Also of interest is Nigel Steel, Gallipoli (Pen & Sword, 1999), which concentrates much more on the battles.
There is also an interesting description of a visit to Gallipoli on the Walking the Battlefields website at www.curme.co.uk/index.htm.
TripAdvisor has information about most of the attractions at Gallipoli with comments by visitors. There are, for example, seventy-three things to do in Gallipoli at http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Turkey/Canakkale_Ili/Gallipoli-1842353/Things_To_Do-Gallipoli-TG-C-1.html#page=1&tgCount=0&themes=35. Sadly, many of the entries are rather dated.
VISITING TURKEY
Foreign Office advice for British visitors to Turkey can be found at www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey. The Turkish Tourism Board website at www.gototurkey.co.uk also has lots of useful information, although strangely there is nothing about visiting the battlefields.
Visitors will need a visa, which can be applied for online and costs roughly £12 (2014). Details at www.evisa.gov.tr/en.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
There must be several hundred books about the Gallipoli campaign and the men who fought there. The first came out within weeks of the landings, and no doubt many more will be published to coincide with the centenary. As well as editions in hardback or paperback, most of these titles are also available as e-books, ideal for taking along to the battlefields.
Pen & Sword, the publishers of this book, have produced a number of books on Gallipoli. You may find them in museum bookshops and at the excellent bookshop at The National Archives, but in general it is best to order them online at www.pen-and-sword.co.uk. And, of course, your local bookshop should be able to obtain them for you.
Gallipoli and the Dardanelles 1915–1916: Despatches from the Front (2014)
Camilla Cecil, Kira Charatan, Under Fire in the Dardanelles (2006)
Stephen J. Chambers, Gully Ravine (2002)
Stephen J. Chambers, Anzac – The Landing (2008)
Stephen J. Chambers, Suvla: August Offensive – Gallipoli (2011)
Edward Erickson, Gallipoli: The Ottoman Campaign (2010)
Michael Forrest, The Defence of the Dardanelles: from Bombards to Battleships (2012)
Major and Mrs Holt, Major and Mrs Holt’s Battlefield Guide to Gallipoli (1999)
Nigel Steel, Gallipoli (1999)
Ray Westlake, British Regiments at Gallipoli (2004)
Here is a selection of recently published books on the campaign from other publishers:
Peter Doyle, Battle Story: Gallipoli 1915 (Spellmount, 2011)
Philip Gariepy, Gardens of Hell: Battles of the Gallipoli Campaign (Potomac Publishers, 2014)
Peter Hart, Gallipoli (Profile Books, 2011) – the best general history of the campaign. If you only read one book, make it this one.
Robin Prior, Gallipoli: The End of the Myth: The Final Story (Yale University Press, 2009)
Tim Travers, Gallipoli 1915 (Tempus, 2001)
The Gallipoli Association has a list of books about the campaign, published during the war or just after it, that can be downloaded to your Kindle or equivalent free of charge. See www.gallipoli-association.org/content/books-free-online.
There are several general histories of the war that are worth looking at if you want to put the Gallipoli campaign into context:
Peter Hart, The Great War 1914–18 (Profile, 2014)
David Stevenson, 1914–1918: The History of the First World War (Penguin, 2012)
Hew Strachan, The First World War (Simon & Schuster, 2014)
The illustrations used in this book, unless otherwise indicated, were derived from the following titles:
Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, The Uncensored Dardanelles (Hutchinson, 1928)
C.E. Callwell, The Dardanelles (Constable, 1919)
John Masefield, Gallipoli (Heinemann, 1916)
Henry Nevinson, The Dardanelles Campaign (Nisbet, 1918)
Norman Wilkinson, The Dardanelles (Longman, 1916)
WEBSITES
There are numerous websites that can help your research or understanding of the campaign. These are mentioned in the appropriate place in the text. There are also some general sites that may be of interest. Wikipedia, for example, has some very good pages on the campaign. For all aspects of the British Army and its organisation Chris Baker’s Long Long Trail site is superb. It also includes a section devoted to Gallipoli, with links to Sir Ian Hamilton’s despatches and various e-books (www.1914-1918.net/Gallipoli.htm). The best website devoted specifically to the Gallipoli Campaign is maintained by the Gallipoli Association at www.gallipoli-association.org.
Aspects of the war at sea can be studied at the Royal Navy and Naval History Net site (www.naval-history.net), which includes material on the key naval involvement at Gallipoli.
There is also an excellent IWM website with a lot of background information based on a study tour that their staff undertook in 2000: http://archive.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/2/gallipoli/navigate.htm.
The Gallipoli Association
If you want to know more about the Gallipoli Campaign, then it is probably worth joining the Gallipoli Association, which was established in 1989 with the intention of studying the events at the Dardanelles and preserving the memory of the men who fought there. You can find out more at www.gallipoli-association.org.