Gallipoli movies

[ErrolC]

mobile.todayszaman.com/news-351197-ottoman-pilots-in-battle-of-gallipoli-to-be-remembered-in-new-film.html

The lives of the Ottoman pilots who served in Çanakkale during the Battle of Gallipoli will be brought to the big screen in an upcoming feature film that has received TL 1.75 million from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as part of the ministry's recent cinema funding.

Produced and directed by Özhan Eren, who made his directorial debut in 2007 with the historical film “120,” the movie “Son Mektup” (Last Letter) is expected to hit movie theaters in March 2015, on the anniversary of the war.
The film stars young actors Tansel Öngel and Nesrin Cavadzade in the leading roles. “Son Mektup” particularly focuses on the love story between pilot Salih Ekrem and nurse Nihal, who meet in the northwestern province of Çanakkale and try to protect an orphan named Fuat after volunteering to serve there during the war. Fuat, who is saved by Ekrem during a British air raid, helps the pilot and nurse connect more closely with each other.

Four airplanes used by the Ottomans in 1915 have been reconstructed according to their original models for the movie, whose aerial scenes will be filmed in Çanakkale using the most up-to-date technology.

The Battle of Gallipoli has recently been an attractive topic for filmmakers, with New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe filming a movie about the war with Turkish actors. Titled “The Water Diviner,” the first feature by the actor follows the story of an Australian father who comes to Turkey following World War I to look for his three sons who went missing during the war in Çanakkale.

[nuuumannn]

Looking forward to someday seeing this. An overlooked aspect of the Dardanelles campaign. The Turks had little in the way of aviation during the campaign, which they call Çanakkale Savaşı, or the Chanak war. The city of Çanakkale on the Asiatic bank of the Dardanelles Strait was known as Chanak at the time and was a strategic port at the entrance to the Narrows, with forts on both sides of the strait overlooking the water. The Turks had a single squadron based at an airfield near Chanak, this was 1 Tayyare Bölük, or to use its German name Fliegerabteilung Eins, which was commanded by Oberleutnant Erich Serno, who was sent to Turkey as an advisor on aerial matters. Serno's unit had four aircraft, three Albatros B 1s and a single Rumpler B 1, which on 18 march 1915 was flown by Serno himself on a crucial recon sortie over the Dardanelles to assess the size of the Allied fleet. On this day, three battleships were sunk by mines and others badly damaged by gunfire from Turkish forts and mines. This caused the Allies to have a change of heart and withdraw their ships from the Dardanelles proper. A later flight on the same day by Serno and his observer confirmed that the ships were retreating from the straits. Throughout the campaign, the Turkish squadron's aircraft engaged in bombing raids against Allied positions on the Gallipoli Peninsula post 25 April landings, and although there were casualties during these raids, little was achieved owing to the small numbers of the force. Attacks were also made against No.3 Sqn RNAS airfields, which led to an attack by 3 Sqn aircraft against the airfield at Chanak on 18 April, which caused the Turks to abandon it.

[errolmartyn]

There was at least one New Zealand casualty on Gallipoli caused through enemy aerial 'bombing' . . .

'Coming events cast their shadow before. Then on Thursday night the 5th August [1915],we fell in, in fighting order, packs and tunics left behind, valises alone being carried. To No. 1 Outpost, which was held by the Maori contingent, we went, and slept the night with the Maoris.
On the corner where you turned from the main trench to approach their position, they had done some typical Maori carving in the bank. First thing next morning [6th], before we had risen from the ground, a Maori was standing by some of his machine gun ammunition, talking to us. High
overhead sailed a Taube, and suddenly the Maori flopped to the ground grabbing his boot. A dart had pierced his ankle and disappeared into the ground. He shed tears of disappointment at missing the fight [on Chunik Bair] but he had need to be glad. What a near thing for his head, and what a strange way to be wounded? Not many get it thus. What a strange war this is ...'

(Source: The Volunteers (journal of the New Zealand Military Historical Society [Inc]), Vol 26/3, March 2001.)

The author was Harry E Browne, a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on Gallipoli and one of the lucky few to survive unwounded from the terrible and crucial battle of 9 August 1915 on Chunik Bair. He survived the war but died in 1928 at the early age of 41. His memoir had lain in the family archive trunk with other papers for over 80 years. I don't recall before seeing a first hand account of a 'dart' - a flechette - casualty. Unusual.

Errol

[nuuumannn]

Great, Errol. Thanks for sharing that. Being hit by flechettes would have been an extremely painful way of being wounded.