Current Information:

Born-Camberwell

Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt

Gallipoli 1915

On 25 April, British, Australian and New Zealand forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula hoping for a quick campaign that would knock Turkey out of the war. But it was not to be. The Turks fought bravely, the terrain was a maze of ravines and very soon the stalemate of trench warfare had set in. Add to this the summer heat, water shortages, dead bodies lying around and millions of flies and the place took on nightmarish proportions. By January 1916, all British, French, Indian, Australian and New Zealand forces had left Gallipoli, leaving only behind the dead, over 56,000 of them.

68 Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery were attached to 13th Division which landed at Gallipoli in mid July, 1915. Whilst in action they had been hampered by two important factors. First was the acute shortage of shells which meant that their support for infantry attacks and counter battery activity were sorely limited. But even if there had been plenty of ammunition it may not have made a great difference because the positions held by the Turks were largely unknown. Nevertheless they fired away whilst at the same time being vulnerable themselves to the enemy artillery and snipers. Thomas Davies died on 7^th August, 1915 after having been sent back to Egypt but it is not known if he died from wounds or from illness, both of which took their toll of the men on active service in Gallipoli.