The Gallipoli campaign of 1915 was devised to secure the Gallipoli peninsula, control the Dardanelles and then take Constantinople. When the naval operation failed to force the Narrows, ground forces were sent in.

In the early hours of 25 April 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed to the north of British and French troops on Gallipoli peninsula, at what became known as Anzac Cove. They came ashore on a narrow beach below steep, ridged slopes on which the enemy waited. The strength of Turkish forces had been seriously underestimated, and so the allied force’s strategy quickly shifted from taking territory to consolidating any ground gained.

On 19 May, Turkish forces orchestrated a counter-attack to push the Anzacs back to the sea. Lance Corporal Albert Jacka helped repel an assault at Courtney’s Post, for which he received Australia’s first Victoria Cross of the war. Later, in August, an allied offensive was ordered, during which the Australian 1st Brigade made a diversionary attack at Lone Pine. While the allied offensive was a failure, the men at Lone Pine secured a distance of Turkish trenches, so had some success to speak of.

Fatalities at Gallipoli were great on both sides, not only through combat but also through disease. Hospital ships were anchored offshore and makeshift ambulance marquees established at Anzac Cove; the wounded were also evacuated to hospitals on Lemnos (Greece) and Malta, and at Alexandria, in Egypt. In the early days of the campaign, stretcher-bearer Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick became legendary for tirelessly transporting wounded men from the head of Monash Valley to the dressing station at the beach, on the back of a little donkey, often working under fire. He was killed three weeks into his service at Gallipoli.

Following the August offensive, success at Gallipoli was deemed unachievable and withdrawal was recommended. In a carefully choreographed event, allied troops were withdrawn – the Anzacs on two nights over 18–20 December. Australia suffered 26,111 casualties during the campaign, with 8,141 men dying