The Anzac bond

We had a chat about the similarities and the differences between the Australian and the New Zealand flag. 

It was interesting for us to learn that the ANZACs played a cricket match at Anzac Cove to fool the Turks. We also learnt that there was a time in the 1950s when sports, entertainment and shopping were banned on Anzac Day. These days Australian and New Zealand sportsmen hold special sporting matches on Anzac Day based upon the bond of friendship begun at Gallipoli. 

Commemorating the sacrifice of the ANZACs

Since the first Anzac commemoration in 1916, we remember the sacrifice of all our servicemen and women who have served our country, and particularly remember those who died during the Gallipoli campaign. Many people choose to attend Anzac Day services all around New Zealand and Australia. Some even travel to Turkey to take part in events held at Anzac Cove, the site of the Gallipoli landings.

Here is a video of the Anzac Day dawn service held at Anzac Cove, Turkey last year.

The Gallipoli campaign

Here is a video showing a reinactment of the landings of the ANZACs on 25 April 1915.

We found the video very interesting. It helped us realise how soldiers were killed or wounded. It must have been terrible if your friend was shot right in front of your eyes. 

We were also amazed at how noisy a war is. With guns firing constantly it sounded like popcorn popping, only much louder!

We watched the video below and were reminded that Germany, at the time, were trying to control the world while Britain and their allies fought to maintain freedom. 

Why New Zealand went to war...

We didn't get time to watch the videos below, but perhaps we can watch them at home with our families. 

What was the Anzac landing like?

What was it like on the front line at Gallipoli?

The Turkish push, and armistice

Since the Cricket World Cup is being held in Australia and New Zealand at the moment, it is the perfect time to discover how the ANZACs tricked the Turks by staging a cricket game while planning a secret evacuation of the penninsula.

Here are some Australian cricket players talking about the ANZACs.

The ANZACs were very clever in their ways of fooling the Turks at the time when they were really secretly evacuating the penninsula! We saw some photos of dummy soldiers and artillary that fascinated us. Click here to see them.

True or False

We thought about some statements and tried to decide if they were true or false. 

There are two statements we're not sure about yet. 

Le Quesnoy

We read an interesting story of how New Zealand soldiers liberated the French town of Le Quesnoy. 

We thought that the town looked beautiful before the war. The walls and moat around it made it look quaint. We could feel the pain of the French citizens who lived there during the war. When the New Zealand soldiers cleverly snuck up on the Germans holed up inside the town we felt relieved. 

Before the battle of Gallipoli

In our session today Miss Bland showed us a blog that she has made about her uncles who served in World War 1. She explained to us that after Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, they asked New Zealand to send some soldiers to help them. The first soldiers that New Zealand sent were called the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Miss Blands Uncle John was one of the first soldiers from New Zealand to sign up for the war. These soldiers were the ones that landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

We watched six minutes of a long documentary about the battle of Gallipoli. We learnt that when the war wasn't going well on the western front in early 1915, the British decided on another tactic. They wanted to open up the Dardanelles to enable their ships to have access to Russian ports. This proved disastrous as three naval ships were sunk by the Turks who had stationed huge guns in the banks of the Dardanelles. The British decided then, to send ground forces to the peninsular.

We learnt that the Anzacs had two enemies on the Gallipoli peninsula - the Turks and the terrain. The documentary showed Turkish trenches overlooking the beaches. It would have been easy to mow down the arriving enemy. What hard work it must have been for the Anzac soldiers to hike uphill with their enemy firing down on them. We talked about how the Anzacs were invading another country and that the Turks were simply trying to protect their country. 

It was surprising to see some old war relics that had turned up in a farmer's fields. Apparently, every year items from the battle of Gallipoli are found, including old water canteens, shells, and sometimes, human bones. 

The documentary that we have begun to watch can be found below...

Anzac Landing at Gallipoli

Rafael brought some war toys for us to look at. He had a helicopter, some tanks, a frigate and a couple of soldiers.

We learnt that the ANZAC soldiers sailed on ships when they went to fight on the Gallipoli peninsula.

Today we are learning what it was like for the ANZAC soldiers as they landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

We looked at a map and saw that Gallipoli is beside Europe and above Africa. 

We watched a video using lego that explained the story.

We learnt that the Anzac forces arrived in ships early in the morning of April 25. The Australian soldiers landed on the beach first as the Turkish soldiers fired down on them. We were surprised that many soldiers died as the boats landed. 

In the video, the soldiers with the brown hats are the Allied forces, comprising the Australians and New Zealanders while those with white hats were the Turks. We noticed that soldiers used bayonettes and that the trenches were filled with sandbags. 

We were surprised that the Anzac soldiers failed in their attempt to conquer the ridges of Gallipoli. When we saw the drip rifle go off and saw the secret evacuation we felt proud of the cleverness of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers.  Here is a picture of a drip-rifle. 

We did a little work in our booklets. 

Here are some key ANZAC words that we practiced sounding out. 

Avondale's Roll of Honour

Last week we were discussing what a Roll of Honour is. Here is a picture of the Roll on Honour in Avondale. On it are the names of the brave men from Avondale who died in World War 1.

I wonder if we can find some other war memorials around our community?

How do we remember the fallen?

We know that ANZAC refers to Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and that April 25 is an important date to remember fallen soldiers from both countries.

We found Australia and New Zealand on the map. 

We talked about ways we remember and honour fallen soldiers on ANZAC Day. 

Wear a poppy

Listening to special music

Listening to the bugle call

Attend an ANZAC service

Watch the ANZAC parade

Have a dove release

We watched a short video of part of an ANZAC service heldat the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 2008. 

Some of us remembered hearing the sound of The Last Post which we heard last year on Armistice Day when we had our Remembrance Ceremony. We were reminded that the Last Post is to signify the end of a soldier's duties.

What surprised us in the video was seeing some veterans wearing lots of medals. That got us thinking. We want to know ...

• How come some soldiers have lots of medals while others have just a few?
• How do soldiers win their medals?

Can you help to answer our questions?

World War 1 (in One Take)

We found this video so interesting. It is a dramatization, explaining the main events of the war. It helped us understand how the war started and which countries immediately took sides. We had a good talk about how the other countries decided which side to be on in the war. We noticed a map at 1:22 in the video which showed us that Germany and the Austro-Hungarians banded together at the start of the war. Those countries were marked in red. The opposing side consisted of the French, the Russians, and Great Britain. They were marked in yellow. 

We noticed that several countries were not coloured, like Belgium and Romania, and had a think about how they would decide which side to be on in the war. At first we thought that a country like Belgium should join the Germans because the Germans had the biggest land mass. We also thought that countries could decide which side to be on depending on how many casualties there were. We thought the losing side might need reinforcements. 

Finally, after re-watching the video from the start we began to realise what Germany was saying to the rest of the world. We decided that we should choose sides based on what is being said.