Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Location

The Anzac and Suvla cemeteries are first signposted from the left-hand junction of the Eceabat- Bigali Road. From this junction, the cemetery will be found at 10.9kms. up a steep 200m path on the left of the road. This cemetery is on the track from the Wire Gully sector of the front line back to Anzac Cove and is not accessible by car.

History

The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.

The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac.

It is named after the 4th Battalion of the AIF, which buried 34 of its casualties there during May and June 1915.

The 4th Battalion AIF was the fourth battalion of the 1st Brigade in the 1st Division and its men were drawn from New South Wales. 

The cemetery was used by the 4th Battalion from the end of April to the beginning of June 1915. 

A total of 34 members of the 4th Battalion are buried here, along with another 82 souls recovered from nearby sites.

After the war, the remains of 44 men of the 3rd Battalion, most of whom died between 19 and 23 May, were brought in from the 3rd Battalion Parade Ground and the 22nd Battalion Parade Ground cemeteries.

There are now 116 burials in the cemetery, of which all but nine are Australian. Seven of the graves are unidentified.

Notable Figures

Colonel Henry Normand MacLaurin (/explore/people/315384)

Lieutenant Colonel Astley John Onslow Thompson (/explore/people/315318)

Lest we forget.

Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan.

April 2015.