ANZAC Day / Easter Monday

Peter Wu

29 April 2011

ANZAC stands for Australia and NZ Army Corps. It coincides with Easter Monday but there is nothing religious about it. It’s a public holiday both here and in Oz, to commemorate a disastrous World War I battle in the Gallipoli Peninsular in Turkey where thousands of Oz and Kiwi soldiers (the Australian and NZ Army Corps) lost their lives (needlessly I must say) over horrific six months.

The day is also commemorated with a dawn service (I think at 5 am) to signify the time when the armies started the landing at the Peninsula. I never thought much about this (other than to take advantage of it as a day off) until we went on a tour of the battle fields several years ago. We then realized how much the soldiers suffered. We immediately saw the other side of the story behind ANZAC. We realized just how pointless war is.

Both the Oz and Kiwis took part in the battle because of the mantra ‘wherever Britain goes, we go’. It was also for ‘King and Country’, except that it is not for our country but their country. How blind were we?

The chief architect for this disaster? It’s none other than Winston Churchill. He was also the one who not only blundered big time but who, through procrastination, prolonged the battle and therefore the sufferings of the soldiers. My view about him took an abrupt turn after I came back from this tour (and read a few books about it). He kind of redeemed himself at the Second World War but his name is forever tainted by the Gallipoli disaster. It’s very interesting, and unfair to those who died, that this disaster is toned down in many of the books written about him.

We realized for the first time that the Turks (who defeated the allies forces at the Peninsula. Bravo!) are not the hated enemies as portrayed by numerous ANZAC stories, but merely patriots defending the invasion by the Brits, French, Oz and Kiwis. We were invading their country for the flimsiest of excuse and it was only right and proper that they took up arms and defended their mother land. And defend they did, brilliantly. I would do exactly the same if I were the Turks.

I believe this battle was a complete waste of time, money and most importantly human lives. The entire battle field is a mass grave and about a quarter of a million people may have died. Numerous Turks were simply un-accounted for. I really feel for the innocent soldiers – Oz, Kiwi, French, and Brits – who were sent to the pointless death for the total incompetence and flippant attitude of their political masters. I feel even sorrier for the Turks who died simply because they wanted to stop some imperial aggressors trying to barge their way into their homes.