christine liava'a Posted 7 August , 2005 Share Posted 7 August , 2005 A tragedy for the Australians occurred early on 7 August, when the 8th and 10th ALH attacked the Nek. (It) was planned for first light. A bombardment by the Royal Navy that was meant to finish at 4.30 am actually ceased 7 minutes early. In the seven minutes before 4.30 am the Turks were able to return to their trenches and set up machine guns in anticipation of an attack. At precisely 4.30 am 2 waves, each of 150 Australians, climbed out of their trenches and dashed across the Nek, and within seconds of each charge not a man was left standing. The third wave suffered the same fate as the first two.Before they could be stopped, half of the fourth wave, either in panic or by some misunderstanding leapt to a similar fate. Fortunately the rest were stopped. The Australians suffered atrocious casualties; the 8th Light Horse (Victoria) lost 154 killed and 80 wounded, while the 10th Light Horse (West Australia) lost 80 killed and 58 wounded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christine liava'a Posted 7 August , 2005 Author Share Posted 7 August , 2005 By the end of August 7, the Indian Brigade eventually reached the Farm. A section of the Gurkhas reached the New Zealanders on Rhododendron Spur. The 4th Australian brigade held a line in Azmak Dere. After dark the whole of the offensive attacking force was reorganized into 3 columns. The right column was now comprised of the NZ Infantry Brigade, Auckland Mounted Rifles, Maori Contingent, 8th Welsh Regiment, 7th Gloucestors and the 26th Indian Mountain Battery. This column as ordered to attack Chunuk Bair at dawn of the following day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 8 August , 2005 Share Posted 8 August , 2005 Christine Thankyou for taking the time to post these and other references to Gallipoli. I for one, do appreciate them. Cheers Kim PS The fourth wave went when a hand signal was misinterpretted as the sign to go. Just to add, the length of time between the 2nd and third wave gave the men ample time to realize that they would be charging into certain death, not one man shirked his place when the call came to charge. There has been an interesting discussion on the Nek http://www.lighthorse.org.au/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1523 which takes a look at the role Anthill played in the Nek. It is very indepth research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Plummed Goose Posted 8 August , 2005 Share Posted 8 August , 2005 the nek and the farm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cobbers Posted 8 August , 2005 Share Posted 8 August , 2005 The possibility that the the fourth wave could be driven by panic is almost ludicrous. Think about it for a moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 3RAR Posted 8 August , 2005 Share Posted 8 August , 2005 Christine This is the action the film "Gallipoli" depicts-all in all a dark day for the Anzacs. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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