ANZAC

Today is ANZAC day, both New Zealand & Australia commemerate the losses of their service personel in conflicts around the world.
Most attention though is focused on the campaign in Gallipoli during the first world war & the abortive allied attempt to invade Turkey.

As an ex pat Englishman living here I am sometimes dismayed by the way the media covers the anniversary & the myths surrounding the events. In no way do I want to detract from the sacrifice made by the Anzac volunteers on that day or their heroism, it seems to me Kiwi's are brought up to think that they were the only ones there. I quote :

" Few Australians & New Zealanders realise that 'the British, French and Indian causalities were far greater than those of the Anzacs, and that the British bore the brunt of the fighting - and the losses.'

Far from covering up British errors, British historians exposed them at every level, from Kitchener, Churchill, Fisher and Hamilton down. The indecisiveness of the naval commanders , the muddle at Imbros, the incapacity of Sir Frederick Stopford, and every other British failing, were laid bare to the world. This is as it should be, if anyone is to benefit from past errors, but British people, no more or less than Australians and New Zealanders, can take pride in heroic deeds at Gallipoli, as indeed can French, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people. We should not allow latter-day propagandists to sow seeds of unwarranted resentment between peoples whose ancestors fought with great courage in a common cause. "

Hopefully we will never go through this kind of carnage again.