First Ww1 War

People who have given their lives for a cause grater than themselves should always be commemorated. More should always be done for these people but I don’t believe the efforts from soldiers on the Western Front in the First World War have been overlooked. There are monuments and ceremonies all over the world recognizing the huge sacrifice that has been made by these remarkable individuals.

The war is now described a devastating period of time where battles were won and lost, where soldiers marched to protect their family and country, where heroes were made and lives were lost.

Gallipoli was not just Australia’s first ww1 battle it was Australia’s first battle as a united nation. It is a battle that has left a permanent imprint in our nation.
It has moulded our modern society and has a role in our daily life. It represents a time where Australia did not hesitate when following the British, our mother country, into war. All of Australia had embraced the British request, with thousands of men enlisting all around the country. The Gallipoli campaign was initially led by the British and French to maintain connection with Russia. This position would also allow the allies to attack and remove turkey from the war. Australia and New Zealand were call upon by the British Empire to fight as a part of the Commonwealth. Australia suffered a huge loss form this costly campaign, losing 8,705 troops.

As dawn approached on the 25th of April 1915 the first men of the units of the 3rd Australian Brigade stormed the beach from rowboats and attempted to push inland as fast as possible. The half lit landscape allowed the Turks to identify the incoming ANZAC attack before they reached the beach. The Turks Rained down bullets from defensive positions located in the hill above. As bullets hit the wooden boats men jumped from them into the water and ran up the beach towards the hills. Soon hundreds of Australian and New Zealand men were on the accent. Bayonets were used as holds to climb the rugged landscape. Turkish soldiers kept up constant fire as the Australians overcame enemy trenches. The front line was a two kilometre long stretch of beach and jagged cliff. Although the valiant efforts from the Australian and New Zealand troops, the landing never brought them close to their initial objectives. The Australian troops held their position, they dug trenches and took over enemy encampments. On the 20th of December 1915 the last ANZAC left the cove, the mission a failure.

The battle of Fromelles begun on the 19th of July 1916, fought in northern France. The objective of this battle was to prevent the German forces form pursuing a larger allied attack that had begun two weeks prior, further south. The battle was fought against a well-positioned, strong German army. There were over 5,500 Australian casualties, resulting in around 2,000 of them were fatalities.
No mans-land was 200 meters on average and 400 metres at sugar loaf, a heavily defended German position. The assault began a 6pm with 3 and half hours of day light remaining. After British shelling on sugarloaf as an attempt to disable or slow the enemy machine guns. The Germans had survived this shelling and had quickly mounted their machine guns making light work of the incoming stampede of allied soldiers. The Australians who did however manage to storm over the 200-meter wide no-mans land, through the first and second trenches, pushed on in search of the supposed third trench and final trench. This last line didn’t exist and the Australians began making small outposts along the original objective positions. Other divisions focused on sugar loaf and both the Australians and the British made attempts. All attempts resulted in the suffering of heavy losses regarding the allies. A call was made by the British for a conjoined attack but was later cancelled, the message was too late and the Australians went out unassisted, again suffering heavy losses. In 24 hours Australia has suffered more than 5,500 casualties. This is regarded as Australia’s worst 24 hours in military history.

The cost that the battle of Pozières had on Australian troop is devastating.
The battle consisted of a two-week struggle for the French village of Pozières and strategic ridge that of which the town overlooked. Over a thirteen-day period the 1st Australian Division captured the French town and the ridge. The defending Germans responded with constant devastating artillery into the town and the narrow approaches. By the 27th of July the 2nd Australian Division joined the 1st and assumed control. The 2nd division had orders to push on and take control of the crucial ridge located 500m east of the village. Just after midnight on the 29th of July the 2nd Australian Division commenced its attack on the ridge, but the German troops were ready, they were ambushed. This event took the lives of over 3,500 Australian casualties. The commander of the 2nd division asked that his men attach again rather that withdrawing the troops the mission a failure. The remainder of the exhausted 2nd division took up arms again and attempted to assume control of the ridge. Subsequent of an intense artillery bombardment the Australian troops emerged victorious. The 2nd Division relieved of duty following a horrific battle the, 4th Australian division assumed control of the ridge and pushed north and after ten day of constant war they reached Mouquet Farm. In less than seven weeks three Australian divisions lost more than 6,800 men and around a further 16,500
casultuies.

There are many reasons why Gallipoli is featured as Australia’s most prominent event of the First World War.
Not only was Gallipoli Australia’s first ww1 battle it was Australia’s first battle as a nation. This battle shaped our proud nation into what it is today. Australia did not hesitate when following the British into war, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher offering the young nations full support. All events, decisions and battles in history are important. The difference between each is prominence. Prominence is not made by what we believe is most important but it is history, a sense of the thinking at the time, something for us to remember something. Prominence is created over a period of time, it is something to be proud of or something to regret, it is something that may influence they we think and act, prominence is the reason why Gallipoli is still a household name. Gallipoli is not more important than any other battle that was fought around its time such as Pozières or Fromelles, it has just become more prominent. It is more prominent because it is the first, the first time for Australians to be proud of their country, the first time Australia left as a country,
united.

The prominence of battles fought in WW1 shouldn’t be changed or distorted to suit our society today. Therefore I believe that Gallipoli should always feature as Australia’s most prominent WW1 battle.