For the last 3 days we have been staying in Ecebat, near Gallipoli. Pete has been very
excited about visiting this part of Turkey. He has done the Gallipoli tour
twice. The night we arrived Pete did a google search for any Cammock's who might have served at Gallipoli and came across
William Rowland Cammock, who we think may be a cousin or Uncle of Great Grandad Cammock. William was a school teacher and died at 21 in a Malta hospital of wounds received in the attack on Chunuk Bair August 8, 1915. We are
dedicating our blog entry today to some of his story. Here is some of his official record.
| NEXT OF KIN |
| Charles Cammock, Kiritaki, Dannevirke, New Zealand |
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| ENLISTMENT ADDRESS |
| Hawke's Bay High School, New Zealand |
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| EMBARKATION UNIT |
| Wellington Infantry Battalion |
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| LAST UNIT SERVED |
| Wellington Infantry Battalion |
|
| CEMETERY NAME |
| Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta |
|
| BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES |
William Cammock was the son of Mr and Mrs Charles Cammock, of Kiretaki, Dannevirke, New Zealand.
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Pete standing at Anzac Cove where William and the Allied forces landed on April 25, 2015. There was a navigational error that caused them to land here rather than the much flatter terrain of Brighton Beach, which was just down the coast.
This is the kind of country the allied troops had to advance into after landing at Anzac Cove ... they were exposed to Turkish fire right from the start. The British High Command thought they would take the Gallipoli Peninsula in two days ... nine months later they had advanced less than a kilometre. Around 10,000 NZ soldiers fought at Gallipoli ... casualties, dead and wounded numbered 7,473, William Cammock was one of the 2,721 who were killed!
William served in the Wellington Infantry Battalion under the legendary Colonel William Malone. On August 8 they were ordered to take the hill Chunuk Bair in broad daylight (to the right of the photo). After seeing the Auckland Battalion go before them and get virtually wiped out Malone refused to send his men in daylight and they took the hill that night. His troops advanced up the ridge line in this photo.
This is the NZ Memorial to the soldiers who were killed while trying to hold Chunuk Bair, which is one of the highest points on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Colonel Malone and the Wellington Battalion (including William Cammock) successfully took Chunuk Bair (the only real success of the entire campaign), but holding it was much more difficult. Unfortunately Malone was killed by allied gunfire soon after their success. This, plus the lack of reinforcements, meant that most of the Wellington Battalion were killed trying to hold their position against 1000's of Turkish soldiers. Of the 760 men in the Battalion who reached the summit, 711 were casualties. William Cammock was shot in the back hip area. Gravely injured, it took him two days to crawl down to the beach where he was evacuated to Malta and died from his injuries on August 16, 1915. It is hard to imagine how much he must have suffered before his death.
Pete is standing in Turkish trenches captured by William Cammock's battalion. These trenches were designed to protect the Turkish soldiers from attacks coming up the ridge, when the NZ soldiers took the trenches from the Turkish they were having to defend themselves from attacks coming down the hill towards them. The New Zealanders were sitting ducks.
It is important to mention that the Turkish casualties were even higher than the Allies. Their casualties were 163,650 with over 56,000 dead. Given their losses they have been incredibly gracious in the years since WWI and have made these sites freely available to the increasing numbers of visiting New Zealanders and Australians. Ataturk's statement above acknowledges the terrible losses of the Gallipoli Campaign and says something of the generosity of spirit of the Turkish (something we have experienced as we have been travelling through Turkey). One of the guides observed that Gallipoli was the birthplace of 3 nations. New Zealand and Australia came to see themselves for the first time as nations, distinct from Great Britain, while Gallipoli laid the foundations for the formation of the modern Turkish Republic in 1923.
2015 is the one hundred year anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign. Sixty thousand people have applied to come from Australia and New Zealand to be part of this memorial ... eight thousand spaces are open for Australians and two thousand for New Zealanders. The decision is being made by ballot. Over the years the number of people that have become interested in Gallipoli has increased by thousands both in Turkey and Australia/NZ. We have found our experience here very moving, all the more so given our connection with William Cammock. Such a tragic loss of young lives. The stories we have heard of courage and comradeship including between Turkish and ANZACs during times of truce have been very poignant. As we have wandered through the gravesites and spent time looking at the headstones with messages of love for these young men who died so
heroically we have felt a sense of loss for these families. We really
missed Rob here ... he would have loved it, he and Pete would have spent the whole time talking about what happened, where and why.
Wow, it's amazing to think of all the lives that continue to be touched through the actions of heroes. I smiled at the thought of Rob and Pete discussing their surroundings in great animated detail. Those two are heroes to me in so many ways. Thanks for sharing the story of William and the imagery of Gallipoli.
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