Gallipoli’s "Dunkirk" Overlooked in WW100 Celebrations

new-zealand-first-party

Sat Dec 19 2015 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Gallipoli’s “Dunkirk” Overlooked in WW100 Celebrations

Saturday, 19 December 2015, 2:22 pm
Press Release: New Zealand First Party

Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
19 DECEMBER 2015

New Zealand First is disappointed that the government has forgotten to nationally commemorate the centennial of Gallipoli’s evacuation this Sunday, 20 December.

“The evacuation of ANZAC and Suvla is nothing less than a WW1 Dunkirk,” says the Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Like Dunkirk, it was miraculous that 105,000 British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers, 300 guns and thousands of animals were evacuated almost without loss.

“How many New Zealanders alive today can give thanks for the evacuation’s success? The great Australian General, Sir John Monash, sums up why it deserves commemoration: “a most brilliant conception, brilliantly organised and brilliantly executed”.

“Yet the Prime Minister and his Cabinet has planned nothing to mark the end of New Zealand’s tragic Gallipoli experience. Wars are not won with retreats, but like Dunkirk, it was brilliantly executed and thousands of New Zealand families back then was grateful for it.
“The only official reference on the WW100 website is this: “In 2016, WW100 marks the retreat of the NZEF from Gallipoli to Egypt”.

“The evacuation was everything that the landing was not and it was commanded by our own “forgotten general” - Hawke’s Bay’s Major-General Sir Andrew Russell. His actions deserve a tribute alone.

“We need to mark 20 December and honour the memory of veterans and their families on the centennial of Gallipoli’s evacuation,” Mr Peters said.

ENDS

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