PINK FARM CEMETERY (HELLES)
Gallipoli
Turkey
Location Information
Follow the road to Helles opposite the Kabatepe Museum. At 14.2km's take a right turn at the 'T' junction and at 14.3km's take the left fork. After a total of 18.2km's, Pink Farm Cemetery will be found down a short track on your left. Pink Farm was a building about 1800 metres south-west of the Redoubt, on the road from Sedd el-Bahr to Geoghegan's Bluff.
Visiting Information
The Cemetery is permanently open and may be visited at any time.
Historical Information
The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.
The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac.
On 28 April, following the landings at Helles, the first attack was mounted towards Achi Baba, the ridge which dominates the southern part of the peninsula. Fatigue, however, brought the assault to a halt some kilometres short of the objective, near the village of Krithia. Turkish counter attacks followed but were repulsed and during the period 6-8 May, the 29th and French Divisions, reinforced by the 2nd Australian and New Zealand Infantry Brigades, carried out a renewed attack on Krithia, making some gains but suffering heavy casualties.
Between 1 May and the beginning of June, the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade and 42nd (East Lancashire) Division landed on the peninsula. With these reinforcements, the Allied force at Helles pushed forward once more on 4 June, but again to little effect. A further attack between 28 June and 5 July at Gully Ravine inflicted heavy casualties on the Turks, but despite local gains - at one point the line was pushed forward more than a kilometre - there was no breakthrough. By 13 July the advance at Helles was effectively over and the position remained unchanged until the evacuation in January 1916.
Pink Farm (properly Sotiri Farm) took its name from the red soil of the area. Three cemeteries eventually grew up round the farm, the first began after the First Battle of Krithia (28 April 1915). After the armistice, the three cemeteries (Pink Farm Nos. 1, 2 and 3) were combined on the site of No.3 (Plot III and part of Plot IV of the present cemetery are the original graves from No.3) and graves from the following smaller cemeteries were added:-
29th Divisional, 52nd Divisional, Aerodrome, Oak Tree, Gully Beach and Gully Farm.
There are now 602 servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 250 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials commemorate 219 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
Identified Casualties
United Kingdom 339
Indian 9
Australia 2
New Zealand 2
Cemetery pictures © Geerhard Joos
Follow the road to Helles opposite the Kabatepe Museum. At 14.2km's take a right turn at the 'T' junction and at 14.3km's take the left fork. After a total of 18.2km's, Pink Farm Cemetery will be found down a short track on your left. Pink Farm was a building about 1800 metres south-west of the Redoubt, on the road from Sedd el-Bahr to Geoghegan's Bluff.
Visiting Information
The Cemetery is permanently open and may be visited at any time.
Historical Information
The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.
The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac.
On 28 April, following the landings at Helles, the first attack was mounted towards Achi Baba, the ridge which dominates the southern part of the peninsula. Fatigue, however, brought the assault to a halt some kilometres short of the objective, near the village of Krithia. Turkish counter attacks followed but were repulsed and during the period 6-8 May, the 29th and French Divisions, reinforced by the 2nd Australian and New Zealand Infantry Brigades, carried out a renewed attack on Krithia, making some gains but suffering heavy casualties.
Between 1 May and the beginning of June, the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade and 42nd (East Lancashire) Division landed on the peninsula. With these reinforcements, the Allied force at Helles pushed forward once more on 4 June, but again to little effect. A further attack between 28 June and 5 July at Gully Ravine inflicted heavy casualties on the Turks, but despite local gains - at one point the line was pushed forward more than a kilometre - there was no breakthrough. By 13 July the advance at Helles was effectively over and the position remained unchanged until the evacuation in January 1916.
Pink Farm (properly Sotiri Farm) took its name from the red soil of the area. Three cemeteries eventually grew up round the farm, the first began after the First Battle of Krithia (28 April 1915). After the armistice, the three cemeteries (Pink Farm Nos. 1, 2 and 3) were combined on the site of No.3 (Plot III and part of Plot IV of the present cemetery are the original graves from No.3) and graves from the following smaller cemeteries were added:-
29th Divisional, 52nd Divisional, Aerodrome, Oak Tree, Gully Beach and Gully Farm.
There are now 602 servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 250 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials commemorate 219 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
Identified Casualties
United Kingdom 339
Indian 9
Australia 2
New Zealand 2
Cemetery pictures © Geerhard Joos

Captain
Robert Clive Crocker
6th Battery, 2nd Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
12th July 1915, aged 27.
Special Memorial 22.
Inscription "Who Died Before His Time But A Soldier And For His Country"
Click on image to enlarge
Son of Henry Sayers Crocker and Margaret Eleanor Crocker, of "Winfield," 31, Riversdale Rd., Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. Native of Windsor, Victoria.
Studio portrait of Lieutenant Robert Clive Crocker, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade (2 FAB). A solicitor from Hawthorn, Victoria, and with three years’ experience in the Army Service Corps plus two years with the Australian Field Artillery prior to enlistment, he embarked with 2 FAB from Melbourne on 18 August 1914 aboard HMAT Shropshire (A9) for Egypt. The brigade landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He was promoted to Captain (Capt) on 31 May 1915. Capt Crocker was killed in action at Cape Helles on 12 July 1915 and is buried in the Pink Farm Cemetery, Helles, Turkey. He was aged 27 years.
Robert Clive Crocker
6th Battery, 2nd Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
12th July 1915, aged 27.
Special Memorial 22.
Inscription "Who Died Before His Time But A Soldier And For His Country"
Click on image to enlarge
Son of Henry Sayers Crocker and Margaret Eleanor Crocker, of "Winfield," 31, Riversdale Rd., Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. Native of Windsor, Victoria.
Studio portrait of Lieutenant Robert Clive Crocker, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade (2 FAB). A solicitor from Hawthorn, Victoria, and with three years’ experience in the Army Service Corps plus two years with the Australian Field Artillery prior to enlistment, he embarked with 2 FAB from Melbourne on 18 August 1914 aboard HMAT Shropshire (A9) for Egypt. The brigade landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He was promoted to Captain (Capt) on 31 May 1915. Capt Crocker was killed in action at Cape Helles on 12 July 1915 and is buried in the Pink Farm Cemetery, Helles, Turkey. He was aged 27 years.

1610 Private
James Dow
5th Bn. Highland Light Infantry
19th December 1915.
Plot III. C. 13.
Picture courtesy of Alaistair Saunders of Bundanoon, New South Wales, Australia.
Remembered by all his family.
James Dow
5th Bn. Highland Light Infantry
19th December 1915.
Plot III. C. 13.
Picture courtesy of Alaistair Saunders of Bundanoon, New South Wales, Australia.
Remembered by all his family.

459 Private
Harold Fawcett
Royal Army Medical Corp 1/1st ELFA
Killed 3rd November 1915, aged 20.
Plot Sp. Mem. 143.
Lived at 44 Peart Street, Burnley, Lancashire.
Harold Fawcett
Royal Army Medical Corp 1/1st ELFA
Killed 3rd November 1915, aged 20.
Plot Sp. Mem. 143.
Lived at 44 Peart Street, Burnley, Lancashire.

Major
John Brier Mills
2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery
30th May 1915, aged 45.
Plot IV. A. 13.
Inscription "From Beyond You Shall Smile Back and Never Know Regret"
Click on image to enlarge
Son of George Alfred and Maria Mills; husband of Mrs. B. Mills, of Claremont Avenue, Claremont, Western Australia. Of New South Wales.
Studio portrait of Major John Brier Mills, 2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery of North Perth, WA. A barrister prior to enlisting, he embarked from Melbourne aboard the HMAT Shropshire (A9) on 20 October 1914. He was wounded in action at the Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Turkey and died of his wounds on 30 May 1915, aged 45. He is buried in Pink Farm Cemetery Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey
John Brier Mills
2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery
30th May 1915, aged 45.
Plot IV. A. 13.
Inscription "From Beyond You Shall Smile Back and Never Know Regret"
Click on image to enlarge
Son of George Alfred and Maria Mills; husband of Mrs. B. Mills, of Claremont Avenue, Claremont, Western Australia. Of New South Wales.
Studio portrait of Major John Brier Mills, 2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery of North Perth, WA. A barrister prior to enlisting, he embarked from Melbourne aboard the HMAT Shropshire (A9) on 20 October 1914. He was wounded in action at the Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Turkey and died of his wounds on 30 May 1915, aged 45. He is buried in Pink Farm Cemetery Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey