Lone Pine Tour Gallipoli

25 April 1915 was the day that Australian and New Zealand troops stepped onto the world stage. They landed at what is now known as ANZAC Cove, centre of Z Beach. Not the single companies of 100 under foreign officers that had been deployed in South Africa sixteen years before, they were now arrayed in battalions making up two full divisions of 20,000 men to fight together. On 25 April 2018 at Gallipoli and wherever in the world Australians and New Zealanders have fought and paid the supreme sacrifice, we will remember them.

6-10 August 1915, just two kilometres away from ANZAC Cove on the crest of the ridge that rises from Z beach, Australians and New Zealanders fought the battles where most of their casualties incurred. But for the incompetence of the Allied High Command, the competence of Turkish commanders, and the dogged determination of the Turkish soldiers, the allies would have been victorious in these actions. Those actions by Australians at Lone Pine and New Zealanders at Chunuk Bair were the closest the allies came to a victory on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.

The Lone Pine Anniversary Tour will let you honour those Australians at the sites where those heroic actions took place 106 years ago. Unlike the chill of an April day at the ANZAC Day commemorations, the weather is warmer and the sites are not flooded with politicians and their attendant bureaucrats. Warm (30 ) sunshine cooled with just a wisp of breeze from the Aegean makes the conditions ideal to see where the actions took place and the Peninsula is less crowded than in April. Our expert Australian guides, all former soldiers who served in later generations of the units that were there in 1915, will take you through the campaign in detail. Our expert local guides will imbue you with the culture that spawned modern Turkey. A visit to the new Gaba Tepe Museum with its 4D displays will take you back in time to 1915.

We will stary with a tour of Historic Istanbul then to Gallipoli, then to Troy, Kusadaci and Bursa, cradle of eastern and western civilisation.

Do not forget to let Military History Tours know if you have a relative who served in the Gallipoli campaign. We will conduct a record search and ensure you visit the locations where they fought, and if they paid the ultimate price, organise a service at their grave site, or where their name appears on the monument to those with no known grave.

10 memorable days, 9 nights.

Price: TBC. (Price may vary due to volatility of the Australian Dollar on the international currency market.)

Included in the tour price:

• Turkish guide and Australian military historian
• Transport by air conditioned coach
• Accommodation
• Tour of historic Istanbul
• Bosphorous cruise
• Museum admissions
• Airport transfers
• Most Meals as per programme below

Not included in tour price:

• Alcohol
• Laundry, dry cleaning phone calls
• Insurance (see Booking Terms and Conditions)
• Other items of a personal nature
• Air travel to/from Australia
• Visa cost $60 for Australian Passport holders (New Zealanders are exempt) must apply and have eVisa 3 months before departure from Australia CLICK HERE for details.

Itinerary

Day 1: Saturday 1 August - ISTANBUL

Arrival at Istanbul AtatÜrk Airport where you will need to present the visa you obtained over the internet CLICK HERE for details (can only be obtained three months before travel). You will then be met and transferred to the hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure.

Day 2: Sunday 2 August - ISTANBUL

Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Enjoy a free day for personal activities. In the evening we depart from the hotel for a cruise on the Bosphorus by private motor yacht. During the cruise you will have the opportunity to admire the old wooden houses (yalis) and the Fortresses of Rumeli and Anadoluhisari. Following the cruise we will have dinner before returning to our hotel. (B/D)

Day 3: Monday 3 August - ISTANBUL

Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards departure from the hotel for a full day city tour - visit the highlights of Istanbul. The Blue Mosque, famous for its six minarets and blue Iznik tiles, then visit the Saint Sophia, originally a Byzantine Cathedral converted into a mosque after the conquest of Istanbul and later into a Museum. Next stop will be to the Underground Cistern. We then move to the Topkapi Palace for lunch and Palace visit. In the afternoon we visit the Bazaar. The dinner will be on your own. (B/L)

Day 4: Tuesday 4 August - ISTANBUL, GALLIPOLI, The Situation Brief

Depart your hotel at 0900, lunch at Eceabat on the Peninsula followed by a situation brief at Chunuk Bair, which gives us a very good view from high ground and allows us to ponder the actions of Monash's 4 Brigade on the slopes of Hill 971 and the action where the New Zealanders held this. We then drive back to Eceabat and take the ferry across the Dardanelles to our Hotel near anakkale giving us time to settle in before dinner in the Hotel. (B/D)

Day 5: Wednesday 5 August - GALLIPOLI, The Landings

After an excellent Turkish breakfast, we start our tour of the Battlefields by crossing again to the peninsula then driving south to Morto Bay where we will visit the Turkish Memorial on the Dardanelles headland. Over the last few years Turkey has built an addition to the Memorial that has all the names of those Turkish soldiers lost in the Campaign who have no known grave. To the west of Morto Bay, we stop at the headland overlooking 'V' Beach from where we can see where Turkish machine gunners were able to site three weapons that destroyed a brigade from the British 29^th Division as they attempted to land from the converted collier the 'River Clyde' on 25 April 1915. Nearby we will visit the Helles monument to the United Kingdom soldiers sacrificed here and then the Turkish memorial and cemetery where you will be impressed with the ages of these young patriots who died defending their homeland.

After lunch, we will visit where the Australians landed on the 25 April 1915. We will drive to the North Beach, site where every year the ANZAC landings are commemorated and walk around the shore to ANZAC Cove via Ariburnu Cemetery and AtatÜrk's message plinth. Your historian/guide will take you through the actions of that fateful day. We will then proceed to Beach Cemetery, visit Simpson's grave, then walk via Shrapnel Valley Cemetery to Plugge's Plateaux where you are able to survey our countrymen's first day achievements.

On our way back to Eceabat and the ferry, we will drive north pausing at the site of the ill-feted Hill 60 Encounter then past the shoreline of Suvla Bay where in August 1915 due to poor leadership, the initially successful British landing was not exploited negating the success at Lone Pine and the sacrifices at Chunuk Bair, the Nek and Pope's. (B/D)

Day 6: Thursday 6 August - GALLIPOLI, Lone Pine and The Nek:

Our plan is breakfast at our hotel, then travel by bus and ferry to the western end of Artillery track. From there we will walk the 800 metres up to Lone Pine via Shell Green Cemetery. A pause at Shell Green to honour Private Preston who survived the Wilmansrust disaster in the Boer War only to die on 25 April 1915. We will stand where the cricket pitch was located as part of the ruse to hide the fact that we were evacuating the Peninsula. Our historian/guides will then take you through the battles in detail and you will see where the trenches were, see the land beyond where lives were lost and we may visit the 4^th Battalion Parade Ground Cemetery where the soldiers gathered for the forthcoming battle. From there we will move along the road past Quinn's Post taking in the Turkish 57^th Regiment Memorial, Pope's Post and the Nek.

After a late lunch, we will be standing in the late afternoon at the Lone Pine Memorial, at 17:30 hours the exact time when 106 years before the 1^st Australian Division rose from their trenches to attack the Turks, very close to where we will be standing. The fighting continued for six days and seven Victoria Crosses were awarded.

The ground captured in this battle was held until our troops withdrew from the peninsula on 20 December 1915. The service will be moving, special tribute will be paid to those with ancestors that took part in the campaign. We will be back at the Hotel in time for dinner. (B/D)

Day 7: Friday 7 August - GALLIPOLI, Troy

After breakfast at our hotel, we will drive to Troy the place of legends from all those years ago.

Lunch in Eceabat.

After lunch, we will a visit the magnificent Gaba Tepe Museum. The re-built museum now designed to reflect the shape of a warship of the period opened in 2012, it has 11 multi media experiences that chronicle what happened at Gallipoli in 2018; these are supplemented by state of the art displays of artefacts from the time. A visit to Gallipoli is not a visit without going through this museum.

Dinner in our hotel (B/D).

Day 8: Saturday 8 August - GALLIPOLI - PERGAMUM - KUSADASI:

After breakfast we leave the Peninsula and drive to Pergamum. Visit the Asklepion, the Zeus Altar and the Red Basilica. Lunch will be served at a local restaurant.

After lunch drive to Kusadasi. Dinner at the hotel. (B/D)

Day 9: Sunday 9 August - KUSADASI:

Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Departure from the hotel for our Ephesus tour.

Visit the ruins of the antique city, the Basilica of Saint John, the House of the Virgin Mary and The Archaeological Museum. Lunch will be served during the tour. Dinner at the hotel. (B/L/D)

Day 10: Monday 10 August - KUSADASI - BURSA:

Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Depart from the hotel and drive to Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. Lunch will be served at the Kebab House. After lunch we visit the Grand Mosque, the Green Mausoleum and the silk bazaar. Dinner at the hotel. (B/D)

Day 11: Monday 11 August - BURSA - ISTANBUL: Buffet breakfast at the hotel, then depart from the hotel and drive to Istanbul. We arrive in Istanbul by lunch time, lunch on your own and rest of the day at leisure. Dinner on your own. (B)

Day 11: Monday 11 August - ISTANBUL:

Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Morning free time to buy those last souvenirs, then transfer to the airport for your homebound or onward flight. (B)

Your Tour Leader Lieutenant Colonel John Howells OAM RFD

John is a retired Army Reserve Armoured Corps officer who served 32 years in the Defence Force Permanent and Reserve. In civil life he worked for the National Archives as a manager then major Banks managing IT systems.

He has worked on and led battlefield tours since 2008 to locations including Turkey, France, Greece, South Africa and the Solomon Islands.