"Gallipoli" 1915
By Bob Scott
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Operation Suicide! What a title I must confess!
But what of the numbers of human casualties”
Were they not grotesque?
As battle commenced to open the Straits of Dardanelles
The pathway to Istanbul, thereby to divide East from West
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A British blunder of the grandest scale
The Ottoman Turks; more prepared than at first thought?
As the British top brass failed to agree,
Because from the point of view? Of those who were all at sea
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Wrong place! Wrong time the Royal Navy went in
To start with some success! But to end up in an awful mess
Three battleships sunk… others laid a limping
Not the Royal Navy’s finest day
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Cannons and Shells rained down from above
British Expeditionary Forces were needed to answer the call
British – French – Australian and New Zealand Forces
Not forgetting men of the Indian Sub-Continent too
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Thousands upon thousands set sail from Egypt’s shore
Headed for Anzac Cove and other places along the coast
Most ships landed at the Cove, then by row boat
To be ferried ashore! As sitting ducks
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Many never made it that far whilst others became
Walking boards floating in the sea and toward the beaches lay
A toll of human misery, just had to be crossed
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The Ottoman Turks also paid the price
In their lives lost too, no winners came out of this war
Only that of broken Families’ left behind
So when you go home tell them of the pain and suffering
That was Gallipoli
Poem © Bob Scott 22nd March 2015
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