World War One By Josie

Facts About World War One All the soldiers lived in trenches to avoid being shot by their enemies. The soldiers wore their drink bottles on their belt. They covered their bottles that were made out of tin in wool so the bottle wouldn’t make any noise while the soldiers moved. Lots of soldier’s feet rotted because they couldn’t take showers.

Enlisting Lots of young men wanted to enlist to become a soldier because they thought it was going to be great adventure. They had no idea how terrible it was going to be. Many of them had been born in Britain and thought they would have a chance to see their friends and family while they were there. To enlist they had to be at least eighteen but some men faked their age so they could join the army.

Anzacs Leaving New Zealand The Anzacs left New Zealand and sailed to Egypt to train for 5 months. There were 30,000 soldiers who sailed to Egypt in total. There were 8417 New Zealand soldiers and they met up with 20,000 Australians at Albany in Western Australia.

At Gallipoli The Anzacs wanted to land at Gallipoli and take over the Ottoman forts that controlled the passages of Dardanelles Strait so more supplies could reach Russia. The Anzacs had wrong maps so they landed on the wrong beach. The beach was surrounded by high cliffs and Turkish soldiers were at the top of them firing down at the Anzacs. The Anzacs dug trenches to try and survive.

Simpson And His Donkey Simpson’s real name is John Simpson Kirkpatrick. He found a stray donkey and he realised a donkey would come in handy. He named the donkey Duffy and used him to carry wounded soldiers to the medical stations. Simpson worked day and night, not seeming to care about the bullets all around him. On 19 May 1915 he was struck by a bullet and died.

Armistice By May the stench from the dead people was unbearable. The Turkish soldiers wanted to bury their dead friends so they sought an armistice. There was no fighting that day and the Turkish soldiers and Anzacs collected bodies and buried them. Lots of soldiers who were believed dead were actually alive and would’ve died without armistice. When all the dead were buried the soldiers went back to their trenches and the battle resumed.

Chunuk Bair In August 1915 the Anzacs captured the hill Chunuk Bair. They held the hill against a lot of Turkish soldiers. After a few days the Turkish soldiers got Chunuk Bair back. If the Anzacs were able to keep Chunuk Bair they could’ve won the war at Gallipoli.

Rat Infestation Millions of rats infested the trenches. They were feared and could grow to the size of a cat because they had so many dead bodies they could eat.

Daily Boredom There were snipers guarding each side so the fighting didn’t occur until night time. This meant the soldiers didn’t have a lot of things to do except for reading and writing letters home. They were also assigned boring tasks.

Evacuation The fighting went on at Gallipoli for eight months. The generals finally realised they were going to lose so they decided to sneak the soldiers away. To distract the Turkish soldiers the Australians played cricket and pretended everything was normal.

Armistice The Allies and Germany signed an Armistice on 11 th of November 1918 and World War One is over. Armistice is still celebrated by many towns and cities around New Zealand.

Anzac Day Anzac Day is where many New Zealanders remember the soldiers who died at World War One. Some people attend the Dawn Parade, wear poppies, say prayers and have a minute’s silence.

In Flanders Field In Flanders Field the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders Fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders Fields.

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