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Gallipoli is a wonderful land of Apulia
Gallipoli. Virtually unheard of prior to 1915, the very name of the Turkish peninsula bordering the Dardanelles - the narrow waterway linking the Mediterranean with the Black Sea - now conjures up visions of privation and hardship and death which even surpass the horrors of the trench warfare on the Western Front.
The barren landscape - of no value itself other than for its command of the seaway - was the backdrop to an horrific campaign between April 1915 and January 1916 in which upwards of 100,000 men lost their lives. For the Allies it was a battle fought in vain for the invasion forces were withdrawn for no gain, but for the Turkish Army it was a marvellous victory in what they refer to as their Canakkale War.
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