068 ANZAC SOLDIER vs OTTOMAN SOLDIER: Gallipoli and Palestine 1915-18

1-972068

Examines the fighting men on both sides who fought at three battles: Lone Pine (Gallipoli), Chunuk Bair (Gallipoli), and Beersheba (Palestine). Supported by the usual plethora of specially commissioned artwork and mapping plus carefully chosen archive photographs

The Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16 pitched the Australian and New Zealand volunteers known as the ANZACs into a series of desperate battles with the Ottoman soldiers defending their homeland. In August 1915, the bitter struggle for the high ground known as Chunuk Bair saw the peak change hands as the Allies sought to overcome the stalemate that set in following the landings in April. The ANZACs also played a key part in the battle of Lone Pine, intended to divert Ottoman attention away from the bid to seize Chunuk Bair.

The Gallipoli campaign ended in Allied evacuation in the opening days of 1916. Thereafter, many ANZAC units remained in the Middle East and played a decisive role in the Allies' hard-fought advance through Palestine that finally forced the Turks to the peace table. The fateful battle of Beersheba in October 1917 pitted Australian mounted infantry against Ottoman foot soldiers as the Allies moved on Jerusalem.