Battle of Gallipoli centenary marked with services

 

Events are due to take place to commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign - one of the bloodiest of World War One.

Prince Charles and Prince Harry will be among those attending services at the site of the battle at Cape Helles on the Turkish peninsula later.
Leaders from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey will also attend the events.
About 141,000 died in the campaign, including 10,000 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) soldiers.
The series of events - to mark the 100th anniversary of the landings - will begin with a Commonwealth and Irish commemoration.

• The Allies and Germany had reached a stalemate on the Western Front just months into World War One
• Britain and France thought they could help Russia on the Eastern Front by defeating Germany's Turkish allies - the Ottoman Empire
• After a failed naval attack, the Allies tried to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) via the Gallipoli Peninsula by land assault
• British, French and their dominions' troops - including soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, India and Newfoundland - took part
• They faced months of shelling, sniper fire and dysentery, before abandoning the campaign
• 55,000 Allied troops died for no material gain, although the Turkish Army was tied down for eight months
• 86,000 Turkish troops died. Commander Mustafa Kemal survived and went on to found modern Turkey

Warships from Allied nations will fire a salute in honour of the sailors who died.
Prince Charles and Prince Harry will lay wreaths, before meeting descendants of veterans who fought at Gallipoli on board the Royal Navy's flagship, HMS Bulwark.
There will also be an international ceremony organised by Turkey and a service to mark France's participation in the battle.
The events will commemorate the World War 1 campaign when allied forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in modern-day western Turkey - then part of the Ottoman Empire - in April 1915.
However, the invasion failed, with the Allied forces unable to advance more than a few kilometres inland.
A bloody stalemate ensued which lasted until Allied troops evacuated the peninsula eight months later in January 1916.