57th Infantry Regiment Memorial
The 57th Infantry Regiment Memorial is a Turkish war memorial commemorating the men of the Turkish 57th Infantry Regiment who died during the Battle of Gallipoli.
The battles at Gallipoli were 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 Turkish 57th Infantry Regiment was the first defending unit to go into action following the Landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. On the first day, the 19 Division commander, Staff Lieutenant-Colonel Mustafa Kemal famously ordered the regiment, "I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. During the time before we die other forces and commanders will take our place."[1]
There is a largely symbolic cemetery containing the names of many servicemen randomly selected to be inscribed on headstones or plaques on the walls.[2] The complex contains a three-storey tower, the cemetery, a memorial panel, an outdoor mosque and a large statue of a Turkish soldier. According to a sign at the site, the names of 1,817 soldiers who lost their lives there, including 25 officers, have been identified.
The memorial was constructed in 1992 on top of a position called the Chessboard. In 1994 a statue of the last Turkish Gallipoli survivor, Hüseyin Kaçmaz, and his granddaughter, were added following his death.
Notes
- "Some of the monuments in Gallipoli Historical National Park". Governorship of Canakkale. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- "Turkish 57th Infantry Regiment Memorial Park". WW1Cemeteries.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-27. Retrieved 2008-08-06.