Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.
Special Edition 5 - Gallipoli Campaign, Australian Army Officer 1910s
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, Jul 14, 2015 at 09:55 AM (7295 Views)
Attachment 24553
“When the empire is at war, so also is Australia”
Prime minister Joseph Cook spoke for many fellow Australians and thousands joined the volunteer Australian Imperial Force and fought in Europe and the Middle East. They were joined by troops from New Zealand and were formed into the Australia and New Zealand Army Corp, the ANZAC.
On 25th April 1915 16,000 ANZAC troops were landed on the shore of the Gallipoli peninsular in Turkey in support of an allied landing further south. The intention was to quickly overwhelm Turkish forces and push on east to the capital Constantinople.
The strength and ferocity of the Turkish forces combined with harsh terrain soon meant that lines became fixed and reverted to the trench warfare found on the battlegrounds of Europe.
Thousands were to die on both sides in futile attempts to make headway, the harsh terrain, logistical problems supplying troops, as well as serious errors on the part of commanding officers, caused a series of infamous losses.
The news regarding the failure of the allied forces was kept from the public, and even the British and Australian governments were not aware of how badly the campaign was going.
Despite being arrested in the attempt, journalist Keith Murdoch was eventually able to get a letter delivered to the Australian prime minister describing graphically the huge losses in Gallipoli, copies were then sent to British ministers. Within weeks the British Commander Sir Ian Hamilton was relieved and preparations for evacuation were made.
The carefully planned withdrawal was carried out without further losses however ANZACs suffered 24,000 casualties during the 11 months of the campaign and over 11,000 brave men lost their lives.
Attachment 24554
Attachment 24555
Attachment 24556
Case
Polished 38.1mm case, 41.4 including crown, 46.8mm lug to lug. 12mm deep. 32.6mm interior aperture.
5mm rounded grooved crown, 31.5mm flat glass. Case backs embossed with Eaglemoss logo and description of the watch.
Cross hatched removable guard cage.
Dial
With 32.5mm dial, black ‘rail track’ minute scale, Hours indicated with antique style yellow Arabic numerals.
Small seconds sub dial at six position, with circular groove pattern finish, printed black scale.
Cathedral style black finish hours and minutes hand with antique yellow infill, black seconds hand.
Sunon PE45 movement.
Strap
12mm black leather strap with lizard effect finish, narrows to 10mm polished buckle, aprox 185-225mm fitting.
Attachment 24557
There are a couple of nice touches.
The Crown is rounded
Attachment 24558
The is some nice texture detail on the sub dial.
Attachment 24559
The leather strap is long but quite narrow, this is a 16 mm nato
Attachment 24560