Thought for this Day: Remembering Krithia

Thursday, 21 May 2015, 12:36 pm
Article: Keith Rankin

Thought for this Day: Remembering Krithia
Keith Rankin, 21 May 2015

We heard much in April about the ANZAC soldiers landing and fighting at ANZAC Cove on Turkey's Gallipoli Peninsula. And we went through the 'Lest we Forget' and "We shall Remember' rituals. But we have forgotten, and we don't remember. We are very selective about what we remember and when we remember.

One of New Zealand's worst disasters ever happened on 8 May 1915, and most of us have never heard of it. It was the Second Battle of Krithia, New Zealand's second most traumatic battle in 1915, after Chunuk Bair on 7-8 August. The battle was fought on mainly on flat land near Cape Helles, and the military target was the hill of Achi Baba. I looked through Newztext Plus – New Zealand newspapers – for references to Helles, and only got a response from the Timaru Herald which is listing all known fatalities with local connections, on the 100th anniversaries of their deaths. 15 burials at Helles – mostly at Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery.

Why does nobody know about this? Just over a week after the landings the two most capable brigades at Anzac Cove (New Zealand Brigade; 2nd Australian Brigade) were shipped 25km down the coast, to the sites of the British and French landings. This might once have been a pleasant place; it was a place of olive groves, grapes, and wheatfields. The Ottoman troops dug in at Achi Baba. Krithia was a Greek village that had been ethnically cleansed.

After a disastrous First Battle of Krithia, with massive British losses (many Irish), the generals decided for a repeat. General Hamilton sent most of the New Zealanders and many of the Australians to re-enact the British disaster of late April. The New Zealanders formed the left flank of the 8 May battle. The Australians were the central reserve, behind the British. When the British advance halted, the Australians were called in. Many were shot dead behind British trenches. By then many of the New Zealanders were already dead, and another lot of New Zealanders died that evening, sort of alongside the Australians.

In May 2015 there were over 1500 casualties, half of them dead or missing. May 8 was by far the biggest day of losses that month. Chunuk Bair, several months later, has been called a 'glorious disaster'. Achi Baba was, at best, an inglorious disaster. Hardly anyone visits the Twelve Tree Copse memorial. We have forgotten. Most New Zealanders, and indeed Australians, never knew. We are so selective in our historical awareness, latching onto a myth or two here and there, and forgetting the rest.

Krithia: The forgotten Anzac battle at Gallipoli.
Australian account: The Second Battle of Krithia: 100 Years On.
The 2779 who died at Gallipoli: stuff.co.nz.
NZ Gallipoli casualties by month: nzhistory.net.nz.

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Keith Rankin

Political Economist, Scoop Columnist

Keith Rankin taught economics at Unitec in Mt Albert since 1999. An economic historian by training, his research has included an analysis of labour supply in the Great Depression of the 1930s, and has included estimates of New Zealand's GNP going back to the 1850s.

Keith believes that many of the economic issues that beguile us cannot be understood by relying on the orthodox interpretations of our social science disciplines. Keith favours a critical approach that emphasises new perspectives rather than simply opposing those practices and policies that we don't like.

Keith retired in 2020 and lives with his family in Glen Eden, Auckland.

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