On 25 April 1915, 20,000 Australian and New Zealand Army (ANZAC) troops landed under heavy fire on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. They fought against the Ottoman in brutal conditions for eight months alongside Allied forces, in an attempt to capture the Dardanelles and open a sea route to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. 130,000 soldiers lost their lives, including 2779 New Zealanders, about a sixth of all those who landed on the peninsula.
It was New Zealand’s first major battle of WWI, leaving a deep and lasting impact on the nation.
Anzac Day services will be running again this year at the Waiheke RSA on Friday 25 April.
• Katherine Kearsley
Full story in this week’s Gulf News
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