The 57th Infantry Regiment Memorial is a Turkish war memorial commemorating the men of the Ottoman 57th Infantry Regiment who died during the Gallipoli campaign.
The battles at Gallipoli took place during an eight-month campaign fought by British Empire and French forces against the Ottoman Empire in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.
The 57th Infantry Regiment was a unit of the 19th Division. Together with the 27th Infantry Regiment it was the first to respond following the Landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. As it prepared to counterattack on the first day, the 19th Division commander, Staff Lieutenant-Colonel Mustafa Kemal famously ordered the regiment:
“I do not order you to attack, I order you to die! In the time which passes until we die, other troops and commanders can take our place”. [1] [2]
The regiment slowed the Allied advance and lost about half of its personnel. Mustafa Kemal later noted that the 57th Regiment was "a famous regiment this, because it was completely wiped out". [1]
The memorial is located on the eastern side of the Kabatepe-Conkbayırı road, on top of a position at the southern ends of Kılıçbayır (Sword Sur) and Edirne Sirti (Mortar ridge) which the ANZAC soldiers called the "Chessboard" because of the way that the trenches criss-crossed over it. [3] [4] Designed by architect Nejat Dinçel it was officially opened on 10 December 1992 by the Turkish Minister of Culture. The complex contains a three-storey memorial tower, the cemetery, a "namazgah" (outdoor prayer platform), a "sadirvan" (fountain) and a large statue of a Turkish soldier. [5] It is mainly constructed of "Kevser Stone", which features in Seljuk and Ottoman caravanserais. [4]
On the eastern wall of the cemetery is a 45m2 bas-relief created by the sculptor Metin Yurdanur, which depicts the regiment’s counterattack on the 25 April. [5] [6] The complex was damaged in the forest fire on 25 July 1994, it was repaired and reopened to the public on 11 November 1994. [6]
In 1994 a statue of the last Turkish Gallipoli survivor, Hüseyin Kaçmaz, with his granddaughter, were added following his death.
The complex was restored and reopened to the public on 18 March 2011. The largely symbolic cemetery contains the names of many servicemen randomly selected to be inscribed on headstones or plaques on the walls. [7] According to a sign at the site, the names of 1,817 soldiers who lost their lives are remembered, including 25 officers. Among those buried in the cemetery is the Greek doctor of the regiment, Captain Dimitroyati from Istanbul and the Imam of the regiment, Hasan Fehmi from Konya. The grave of Lieutenant Colonel Hüseyin Avni, the commander of the regiment, is located at a separate location.
During the construction of the complex the remains of two soldiers were found embracing each other, together with their pistol’s canteens, Identity tags and an amulet. From the identification tags and an amulet found on one of the bodies they were identified as Captain L.J. Walters (“Woiters” in the Turkish version) of the British Army and, First Lieutenant Mustafa Asım from Erzincan, the commander of the 6th company of the 57th Regiment. [5] Their bodies together with their identification tags and amulet were subsequently reburied in 1993 at the place where they were first found in the northern part of the cemetery, right in front of the monument.
To date no trace of an Allied officer with the name of Walters has been found in the CWGC records for this area. [5] Of the 50 burials under the name “Walters” in 1915 only two were for officers and these were not at Gallipoli. However a Lieutenant Leslie John Waters of the 15th Australian Imperial Forces was killed on 27 April 1915 and buried at Quinn’s Post. [3] Doubts have been cast on this story. [8]
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The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defense of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli peninsula from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and the Russian Empire, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the Ottoman straits. This would expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Entente battleships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. With Turkey defeated, the Suez Canal would be safe and a year-round Entente supply route could be opened through the Black Sea to warm-water ports in Russia.
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The Battle of Lone Pine was fought between Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and Ottoman Empire forces during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War, between 6 and 10 August 1915. The battle was part of a diversionary attack to draw Ottoman attention away from the main assaults being conducted by British, Indian and New Zealand troops around Sari Bair, Chunuk Bair and Hill 971, which became known as the August Offensive.
The Battle of Chunuk Bair was a World War I battle fought between the Ottoman defenders and troops of the British Empire over control of the peak in August 1915. The capture of Chunuk Bair,, the secondary peak of the Sari Bair range, was one of the two objectives of the Battle of Sari Bair.
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The 57th Infantry Regiment or simply 57th Regiment was a regiment of the Ottoman Army during World War I. In response to the landing at Anzac Cove of Australian and New Zealand forces on 25 April 1915 the 57th Regiment counterattacked, slowed the Allied advance and lost about half of its personnel. Mustafa Kemal later noted that the 57th Regiment was "a famous regiment this, because it was completely wiped out".
Hüseyin Avni Bey was the commander of the 57th Infantry Regiment of the Ottoman Army at the Battle of Gallipoli during which he led a counterattack that successfully stabilized the right flank of the Turkish defences on the 25 April 1915.
Esat Pasha Janina, known as Mehmed Esad Bülkat after the 1934 Surname Law, was an Ottoman general during the First Balkan War, where he led the Yanya Corps, and in World War I, where he was the senior Ottoman commander in the Gallipoli campaign.
Mehmed Şefik known as Mehmet Şefik Aker after the 1934 Surname Law, was an officer of the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army. He is best known for his service during the Gallipoli campaign and in particular the defense he led during the first day of the Allied landing on 25 April 1915. He subsequently served in a number of senior roles during the rest of World War I and during the War of Independence.
The 19th Infantry Division was a formation of the Ottoman Army, during the Balkan Wars and the First World War. Two thirds of the division was made up of Syrian Arabs, who faced the first wave of the Allied invasion during the Gallipoli campaign, and one third were Turks.
The 9th Infantry Division was a formation of the Ottoman Turkish Army, during the Balkan Wars, and the First World War.
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The 27th Infantry Regiment or simply 27th Regiment was a regiment of the Ottoman Army during World War I. It is best known for its response to the landing at Anzac Cove of Australian and New Zealand forces on 25 April 1915 during the Gallipoli campaign.