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On the 7th of August 1915 four waves of men from the 8th & 10th light horse attacked the Nek. The Nek was one of three attacks used as a diversion to enable a British landing at Suvla bay. The other objective of the attack was to capture higher ground at Baby 700 which Turkish soldiers held.
But what occurred was a disaster.
This attack was one of the most infamous ever made by the ANZAC's at Gallipoli. It was because of a lack of communication that the Allied artillery bombardment ended early. This allowed the Turks to reoccupy their trenches and they were well prepared and ready for the attack. As a result of this the ANZAC's were mown down as they left their trenches.
The amazing thing is that 4 waves of soldiers attacked over a period of 45 minutes. Each wave saw clearly the carnage that went before them, however no man shirked his duty and bravely charged when the order was given.
Points of Interest
The 8th light Horse were comprised of men from Victoria and the men from the 10th Light Horse were originally from Western Australia.
The 8th & 10th Light Horse fought the Gallipoli campaign dismounted.
Each wave had the strength of 150 men.
The width of the area in which the campaign was fought was no larger than two tennis courts.
Lt Col J.W. Springthorpe said to the 3rd wave of the Light Horse, "Boys you have ten minutes to live and I'm going to lead you."
To this day there are only ten marked graves at the Nek cemetery. This is because the men who died at the Nek were not buried until after the war in 1919. Therefore a positive identification could not be carried out for the majority of men that were killed at the Nek.
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ianmac/nek.html
But what occurred was a disaster.
This attack was one of the most infamous ever made by the ANZAC's at Gallipoli. It was because of a lack of communication that the Allied artillery bombardment ended early. This allowed the Turks to reoccupy their trenches and they were well prepared and ready for the attack. As a result of this the ANZAC's were mown down as they left their trenches.
The amazing thing is that 4 waves of soldiers attacked over a period of 45 minutes. Each wave saw clearly the carnage that went before them, however no man shirked his duty and bravely charged when the order was given.
Points of Interest
The 8th light Horse were comprised of men from Victoria and the men from the 10th Light Horse were originally from Western Australia.
The 8th & 10th Light Horse fought the Gallipoli campaign dismounted.
Each wave had the strength of 150 men.
The width of the area in which the campaign was fought was no larger than two tennis courts.
Lt Col J.W. Springthorpe said to the 3rd wave of the Light Horse, "Boys you have ten minutes to live and I'm going to lead you."
To this day there are only ten marked graves at the Nek cemetery. This is because the men who died at the Nek were not buried until after the war in 1919. Therefore a positive identification could not be carried out for the majority of men that were killed at the Nek.
http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ianmac/nek.html
