Sunday Photo - The Gallipoli Landings

On the 25^th of April 1915 the Allied powers launched the Gallipoli campaign, an attempt to take control of the Dardanelles and secure the sea route to Russia. All that stood in their way was the Ottoman Empire, known colloquially as ‘the sick man of Europe’ due to the dishevelled state it found itself in at the start of the 20^th century. It was thought that a naval assault followed by amphibious landings would be enough to take them out of the war, but the fierce fighting that took place over the next eight months showed that the Ottoman Empire wasn’t done yet.

In the below photograph, taken on the 25^th of April 1915, men from the Australian 4^th Battalion (1^st Brigade) and Jacob’s 26^th Indian Mountain Battery can be seen landing at Anzac Beach. At the water’s edge lies the body of Sapper R Reynolds, one of the first men to be killed at Gallipoli.

To read more about the campaign take a look at Gallipoli: Command Under Fire, in which Edward J. Erickson investigates one of the greatest ‘what if’s of the First World War. There are also discounts on related eBooks and PDFs, with Campaign 8 - Gallipoli 1915, Men at Arms 473 - The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War I and Men at Arms 478 - The Australian Army in World War I available at 99p in the UK and $1.99 in the US and Canada.

The original image can be found here.