Çanakkale War(A.Zaak) Çanakkale War or Gallipoli (Gelibolu) is one of the First World War's most disastrous and tragic campaigns along the 45km length and 1–2km width Dardanelle's strait of Turkey. Its cruelty has nothing to do with the mythical Dardanos, son of Zeus and Electra and ancestor of the Trojans.
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On 3 November 1914, the United Kingdom declared war on the Ottoman Empire and decided to invade its capital.

In January 1915, the British War Council approved naval operation with the French to force the Dardanelles. They sought to weaken the Ottomans by controlling the strait, exposing the capital at Constantinople (Istanbul) to bombardment and cutting it off from the Asian part of the Empire.

Their battleships launched a series of separate attacks, but the majority were repelled.

On 18 March 1915, (Turkey) defeated the final wide-scale attempt by the British and French to force the straits as they lost one-third of the fleet. Out of the 18 allies' heavy vessels, the Ottomans sunk three battleships and severely damaged another three in addition to a battlecruiser.

Following the naval retreat, the allies decided to make an immense amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April.

Some 560,000 allied personnel were committed during the whole campaign, of whom 420,000 were British troops, 50,000 Australians, 9,000 New Zealanders and 80,000 French.

The Ottomans were ready for them.

The landed British and French forces suffered 4,000 casualties for little gain in their first battle.

After prolonged battles for months, the campaign became a deadlock. It was trench warfare as neither side could dislodge the other. The allied forces were dug in, and the Ottomans were mainly on high ground above them.

Turkish attempts to drive them out failed, and the allies could make no headway during the eight-month stalemate.

Both sides had massive casualties, with no hope for the invaders to breakthrough.

The allies gave up the invasion and began an evacuation in the end. The last British troops departed the Gallipoli peninsula on 9 January 1916.

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Lieutenant Rajab, the Ottoman officer in the Gallipoli Front, witnessed a one-day truce on 24 May 1915 that enabled both sides to walk free on the battlefield, separating them, to bury the dead scattered in and between the trenches.

He wrote about a memorable incident in the field on that day.

He was supervising the evacuation of the causalities with other Ottoman officers when a group of five junior officers from the allies' side approached and saluted them in a friendly gesture.

"They talked to us in simple English, simple French and simple Turkish starting with "Al-Salam Alaikum." We replied similarly, "Wa Alaikum Al-Salam."

"Do you know the meaning of the word Al-Salam?" Lieutenant Rajab asked them.

"Yes, it means peace, and here in this place, we wish it prevails," they answered.

"You can make it happen, stop your invasion attempt and go back home to your faraway families." the Lieutenant replied.

"We wish it were that simple," they said.

Lieutenant Rajab knew it could be simple, but political and economic greed motivated their superiors.

He said we exchanged simple food gifts such as nuts, dried figs, and apricots.

That was the only human compassion of an ugly war. Both sides resumed fighting and killing each other the day after.

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The allies had over 250,000 casualties, of whom around 58,000 died, including 12,000 French and 11,000 Australian and New Zealand troops. Approximately 196,000 were wounded or sick, including 25,000 from Australia and New Zealand. Just over 11,000 Allied troops have known graves on the Gallipoli peninsula.

Casualties to Ottoman forces numbered over 300,000, including 87,000 died.

Whereas both sides rewarded their survived heroes with War Medals, many unknown graves were rested on the peninsula, annually commemorated.

* Image from Major & Mrs Holt's Battle Map of Gallipoli https://www.guide-books.co.uk/

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