ANZAC is the acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the formation created in December 1914 by grouping the Australian Imperial Force and New Zealand Expeditionary Force stationed in Egypt. Some time later it was taken on as the telegraph code word for the Corps. The Corps made its operational debut, together with forces from Britain, India and France, at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, where they landed against stiff opposition from the Turks. In this fighting about one in five of the 3,000 New Zealanders who landed on the first day became casualties. The small cove where Australian and New Zealand troops landed was quickly designated “ANZAC Cove”, and the word was soon being used to describe all Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought on the peninsula, and eventually any Australian or New Zealand soldier.
There were eight months of bitter and bloody fighting on the steep hillsides and narrow gullies of the peninsula. The Gallipoli expedition twice failed to reach the objective. In London, demands for more men in the aftermath of the failure of the August offensive brought into question the futility of persisting at Gallipoli, especially in light of needs on the Western Front. The British Secretary of War, Lord Kitchener, visited Gallipoli in November and caused many deaths among the exposed troops on both sides, the authorities in London reluctantly agreed to evacuate Suvla Bay and ANZAC Cove.
In a well-planned operation, which contrasted sharply with those mounted earlier in the campaign, the withdrawal was carried out successfully on the 19 and 20 December. It was soon decided to evacuate the British and French forces from Helles as well. This was completed on the night of 8/9 January, again almost without casualties.
The expedition had been costly and the total allied casualties were 146,000 men. Of the 7,463 New Zealand casualties, there were 2,721 dead, one on four of those who landed.
Australia’s 26,000 casualties included 8,000 fatalities. For the Turks, casualties probably numbered as many as 250,000, including 87,000 dead. Nevertheless, the fighting at Gallipoli was always less murderous than on the Western Front, where most of the Australians and New Zealanders would shortly head.
The institution of ANZAC Day, the day of the landing, ensured that the campaign would retain a special significance. It has since been the custom each year on this day, 25th April, for the people of both Australia and New Zealand to commemorate the sacrifices made by men and women of their countries in all wars. The occasion also has a wider significance in these countries in marking a milestone in the development of their nationhood.
One the Western Front there were two ANZAC Corps, with the New Zealand Division serving in the 2nd ANZAC Corps until early 1918. During the Sinai-Palestine campaign the combined Australia and New Zealand Mounted Division was more commonly called the ANZAC Mounted Division. In World War II a new ANZAC Corps was briefly formed during the campaign in Greece in 1941.
Australians and New Zealanders have been fighting side by side in most of the conflicts they have been involved in. In Vietnam in 1968 Victor and Whisky Companies of the 1st Battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment merged with the 2nd Royal Australian Regiment to form 2nd RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion. New Zealand officers and soldiers were integrated at all levels throughout the ANZAC Battalion. Pilots of the Royal New Zealand Air Force also flew in Vietnam with Royal Australian Air Force squadrons in both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.
More recently members of the Australian and New Zealand Armed Forces have worked closely together in East Timor, firstly on their own to restore peace to the region when Indonesian Guerrilla forces were murdering and intimidating the inhabitants, and then as members of the United National Peacekeeping Forces.
WHY WE WEAR RED POPPIES
In the summer of 1914 the First World War broke out. Soldiers, sailors and airmen went from many countries around the world to take part. New Zealand was one of these countries. Once of the many thousands of men who went to the First World War in France was a Canadian soldier by the name of John McCrae. He was in charge of a forward first aid post. During a quiet time in the battle he ripped a page from his dispatch book and wrote a poem. He called it “In Flanders Fields” and talks of the red poppies that grew on the battlefield.
This is the poem that he wrote:
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, through poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Near the end of the war in 1918, author John McCrae was badly wounded in battle and was taken to a hospital where he died. But the poem he had written was published and quickly became famous.
At the end of the First World War and American woman named Moira Michael replied to John McCrae’s poem with one of her own. She called this poem “The Victory Emblem”. It talks about people wearing poppies in honour of the dead soldiers:
Oh! You who sleep in Flanders fields
Sleep sweet – to rise anew
And now the torch and Poppy red
Wear in honour of our dead.
Moria Michael, who worked for the YMCA, bought 25 poppies two days before the end of the war. She wore one herself and sold the remainder to raise money for wounded servicemen from the war. One of her friends suggested that she make paper poppies and sell them to help the families of mem who had died in the war. This idea was picked up by a Friench YMCA worker, who visited various countries suggesting that artificial poppies be made and sold to help ex-servicemen and needy dependents. The tradition of poppies was born.
The poppies that we wear on ANZAC Day are worn in remembrance and honour of all the New Zealand men and women who have fought and died in the service of their country in the many wars and conflicts since the original ANZAC Day.