Anzac Day

[Geedee]

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[Vassili Zaitzev]

 

[Ferdinand Foch]

 

[RabidAlien]

 

[Lucky13]

Total respect and admiration!

 

[comiso90]

 

[Graeme]

Evan, (A4K), have you ever read "The Great Adventure: New Zealand Soldiers Describe the First World War" by Phillips, Boyack and Malone?

 

[phas3e]

Malone very outspoken andwas a hell of a guy,

refused orders and risked court marshal when ordered to attack Chunuk Bair in a suicidal daylight attack, instead taking it that night with relative ease.

Holding it from multiple Turkish attacks including counter bayonet charges when the Turks charged them, and waiting for relief that never came many of the kiwis including Malone were killed when British ships which were to soften up the hill for the attack the day before arrived late and pretty much blew the kiwis off the top of the hill.

It was the furthest the allies got on the peninsula.

 

[<simon>]

Interesting you mention that episode... Good old Kiwi's captured Chunuk Bair, the highest point in the surrounding hills, and had they been properly reinenforced, many experts believe the campaign could've been won with ease (as however controls the high ground therefore controls the low ground)...

ANZAC day has special significance for me as my great, great uncle was a Sergeant Major in the 8th Light Horse, and was in the first wave in the futile charge at the Nek...

 

[<simon>]

I believe there was another time when the allies could've won the campaign, when the British forces landed at Suvla bay when it was undefended... But the man in charge (sorry, forgot his name...!) ordered the troops to rest on the beach for several hours, giving the Turks time to get troops around to Suvla...

Another example of how the commanders were the reason the allies lost, not the enemy they were fighting...

 

[Graeme]

Malone very outspoken andwas a hell of a guy,

refused orders and risked court marshal when ordered to attack Chunuk Bair in a suicidal daylight attack, instead taking it that night with relative ease.

Holding it from multiple Turkish attacks including counter bayonet charges when the Turks charged them, and waiting for relief that never came many of the kiwis including Malone were killed when British ships which were to soften up the hill for the attack the day before arrived late and pretty much blew the kiwis off the top of the hill.

It was the furthest the allies got on the peninsula.

Thanks phas3e. Was Malone's opinion of Aussie troops and Officers isolated or was it commonly expressed by others? The paragraph above comes from Hew Strachan's book "The First World War" and I get the impression he wasn't impressed with Australia's performance. Hence my interest in the New Zealand "experience" book which he quotes.

 

[evangilder]

 

[Gnomey]