Fed: Dawn breaks at Gallipoli as thousands mark Anzac Day=2

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2007
Fed: Dawn breaks at Gallipoli as thousands mark Anzac Day=2

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters painted a moving picture of the Anzac campaign,
and urged a commitment to peace.

The Anzacs, who believed they were training for deployment in France, were pitched
into an-ill conceived campaign against Turkey for which few of them were prepared, he
said.

"They were to learn that courage and natural ability could not compensate for failures
in planning, leadership and logistics," he said in remarks broadcast live in Australia.

"Under constant fire from the start, many troops were hit before even making it to shore.

"The survivors found themselves pinned down on the cruelly exposed beach, which was
soon strewn with wounded and dead."

Mr Peters urged the thousands gathered in the morning dark to remember the hardships
and deprivations the soldiers endured during the eight-month campaign on the Gallipoli
peninsula, from food shortages to snipers, disease and the constant barrage of artillery.

"The human cost of the campaign was enormous, with over half a million casualties including
130,000 dead," he said.

"In remembering the suffering and loss on both sides, let us commit ourselves to working
for a world where differences between nations can be resolved without resorting to war.

"That is the way that we can best honour the men who fought and died here."

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KEYWORD: ANZAC GALLIPOLI 2 CANBERRA

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