20th December. On this day in 1915, the ANZACs and allied troops were all evacuated off the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey, marking the end of one of most disastrous campaigns of World War One. The Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales holds many personal accounts written by the men who had survived some 8 months on the Turkish peninsula.
The order given in December was for ANZAC troops to leave the Gallipoli Peninsula, re-embark and proceed to the Greek Island of Mudros. The troops were evacuated over a period of days.
By the 20th of December the evacuation of Anzac and Suvla was completed with hardly a casualty. To maintain complete silence, the men wrapped their feet in blankets and empty sandbags to prevent any noise that might warn the Turkish forces of their departure.
Preparations were made by the Medical Service to accommodate 40% of the garrison as casualties, but the discipline of the force was so high, and the staff work so excellent, that only one man actually entered hospital, and he sprained his ankle. (Neg. No. G18).
‘Good-bye, Anzac’ shows the big explosion at Walker’s Dump just before daybreak. This photo was taken from on board the Swiftsure, one of the warships covering the evacuation.
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales. Public Domain
The evacuation, ‘Good-bye, Anzac’, hand-coloured photograph, Colart’s studio, ca. 1920, PXD 481/131
http://bit.ly/2kNVF3l
Archie Barwick, serving in the 1st Battalion wrote;
‘Before we left the trenches to go to the beach everyone had to wrap bags round their feet so as to muffle the sound, we looked a comical lot of soldiers I can tell you, we had no trouble at all and soon were aboard, the planks on Watsons pier were all covered with bags, so we got aboard pretty quietly …
I can tell you most of us watched the old hills disappearing from sight, the hills among and on which thousands of brave men were killed and where good colonial blood was simply poured out “all for nothing” except a name which should make every Australian feel proud of his country … for never I should think did men fight more bravely, stubbornly, and in such a self-sacrificing spirit as our boys did there, and against a stubborn enemy who fought well and fairly …
We felt like cowards sneaking away at dead of night with bags round our feet…’
Finis, 20 Dec 1915 by Leslie Hore, PXE 703 http://bit.ly/2CGaOew
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Captain Aubrey Wiltshire, an officer in the 22nd Battalion was one of the last to leave;
‘The evacuation was a thorough success and the enemy completely bluffed. The cost was large. We left behind in Anzac hundreds of good shells, millions of rounds of SAA and thousands of pounds worth of stores.
A lot was destroyed by us but they acquired a lot of valuable munitions and provisions … All the way down the tracks and gullies were pads of blankets and strips of cloth that had come undone from the mens boots … Still dark we clustered on the after deck of a slate coloured steamer about 6000 tons.
From Suvla came the sight of a large fire which was their tents burning and stores fired … We weighed anchor before dawn and I rolled up in a blanket I had carried over my arm from the trenches and dozed till 0600 when the biting cold woke me.’
Aubrey Wiltshire diary, MLMSS 3058
‘Operation order No. 3 from Headquarters, OLD No. 3 Post, ANZAC, 16th Dec. 1915’, from Charles Frederick Cox newspaper cuttings, 1898-1919, MLMSS 7903 http://bit.ly/2yZsI9R Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Charles Frederick Cox, soldier, railway auditor and politician, was born on 2 May 1863 at Pennant Hills, Sydney. He was appointed C.B. while still a major, an uncommon decoration for so junior an officer, and was mentioned in dispatches.
In two years in the field he had won a reputation as a spirited leader and had earned the affectionate nickname of ‘Fighting Charlie’. Cox returned to the railways in June 1902 and in 1912 was appointed an inspector in the traffic and audit branch.
His heart, however, remained with the Lancers, now named the 1st Australian Light Horse, which he commanded in 1906-11. On the outbreak of World War I he resigned from the railways and, in the rank of lieutenant-colonel, raised the 6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Australian Imperial Force.
They fought dismounted on Gallipoli in the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. Cox was wounded on 21 May and did not resume duty until 1 July.
From late September to early November he was temporary commander of the brigade then, as an honorary brigadier general, succeeded Brigadier General H. G. Chauvel in command of the 1st Light Horse Brigade which he led until the end of the war.
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