Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am Albert George McGuire, Captain of the first Australian infantry battalion. On the 25th April 1915, we arrived in the port of Dardanelles. Part of the D squadron, we sailed up to the shore. I could tell that all the blokes were excited, and so was I. This had been my first time in a real ambush. My mate, Arthur Selman, sat next to me gripping his gun. I clearly remember his ghostly white knuckles reflecting the dim moonlight. Then they started shooting at us. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel L Dobbin, we pushed through. Bullets whipped past us, piercing our skin. It was by chance that I had made it to land. We immediately faced cliffs 10 times the size of a man, and in some places as steep as a …show more content…
Bully beef was the staple food, and even that was rationed. Every morning, men were sent down to the cliff to collect water from the ships. Medical supplies were limited; I had been lucky that they had managed to get the bullet out. The grimmest part of all this would be the morning roll call. There would always be soldiers who didn’t reply. We all knew what became of them. On the 6th of august, we made an offensive attack on the Turkish trenches. At 5:30am, we climbed over no-man’s land. Instead of climbing into the trenches, the Turks had covered their trenches in a thick log roof. Together as mates, we pulled apart the roof by hand. The Turks emerged and this resulted in hand to hand combat. In the midst of the battle, I felt overwhelmed with the close-proximity of the battle. The Turks were pushed back. It was a victory for us, but that couldn’t make up for the lives of my mates which were lost in the battle of Lone Pine. In early December 1915, we evacuated form Anzac cove. I didn’t know how to feel knowing that we would be leaving the unburied behind, yet I was relieved that this ordeal was over. The dawn of 19th December, my footsteps echoed down the empty trenches. I was one of the last few to