Post by KG on Apr 25, 2019 7:07:38 GMT
Anzac Day is observed on 25 April every year and honours members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) who lost their lives in foreign conflicts.
Originally inaugurated to mark the anniversary of Anzac troops entering the fray against the Ottomon Empire at Gallipoli in the First World War, the scope of this national day of remembrance has since been broadened out of respect for those killed during the Second World War and on subsequent peacekeeping missions around the globe.
In addition to Australia and New Zealand, Anzac Day is also marked in the Cook Islands, Niue, the Pitcairn Islands and Tonga and by ex-pats across the world.
The Gallipoli campaign in 1915 saw 8,709 Australian troops and 2,721 New Zealanders killed in the Allied attempt to recapture the peninsula and open up the Black Sea en route to claiming Constantinople and disabling a key German ally.
The fight against Kemal Ataturk’s forces was brutal and both sides endured terrible hardships.