Remembering Gallipoli

Tens of thousands of Australians and New Zealanders on Monday took part in a moving dawn service on Turkey's historic Gallipoli Peninsula, where 90 years ago scores of their compatriots died in some of the bitterest fighting of World War I.

Britain's Prince Charles, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark joined participants at Anzac Cove, named to commemorate the ill-fated landings by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) on April 25, 1915.

The landing marked the start of a deadly nine-month campaign to wrest the strategic Dardanelles Strait from Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, which was then allied to Austria and Germany.

A tragedy of many nations

It ended in the defeat and withdrawal of the Allied forces and the deaths of some 86,000 of the defending Turks along with more than 35,000 Allied troops, including 11,410 Anzacs, as well as Britons, Frenchmen and Indians.

"No joy can be found on the killing fields of Gallipoli," Clark told the gathering, describing the campaign as a "tragedy" and hailing the "triumph of bravery, ingenuity and endurance" of ANZAC troops.

"It is our responsibility now to reflect on their sacrifice to make sure the world does not face the horrors that these men faced," she said, speaking before Australian and New Zealand flags flying at half mast.

Howard praised the courage of the ANZAC troops who "forged a legend whose grip on us grows tighter".

"Those who fought here forever changed the way we saw our world," he said. "They bequeathed us a lasting sense of national identity."

Remembrance on the beaches

Prince Charles recited Psalm 121 before an emotional crowd sang hymns and said prayers for those slain on the beaches of Gallipoli. "The Lord will keep you from all harm; He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore," the Prince of Wales intoned.

As dawn began to break, a lone bugler sounded his horn before the mourners observed a two-minute silence as frigates sailed along the Dardanelles in front of the landing beaches.

There were emotional scenes as some participants, draped in New Zealand and Australian flags, wept and embraced each other.

Generations in Turkey to grieve

"I started feeling moved as the sun was coming up, thinking of them arriving here, trying to picture what they had to go through," 25-year-old Australian Brianna Slait said, teary eyed and holding on to her boyfriend. "This is something we are taught about since primary school and I am glad to have had the opportunity to come here," she said.

Many of the tourists come hours before the ceremony to spend the night in sleeping bags or wrapped in blankets under a full moon shining on the Dardanelles, braving strong winds and cold temperatures. "This is our heritage and it is a sign of respect to come out here. It feels very different and touching rather than sitting at home watching it on television," Steve Santoromito, a 24-year-old chef, said.

Large numbers pay their respects

Officials said they were expecting some 20,000 Australians and New Zealanders to this year's services and announced rigid security measures, including a ban on private vehicles on the peninsula and thorough checks of visitors coming in.

Following the dawn service, Prince Charles made a personal pilgrimage to lay a wreath at the Commonwealth Memorial, a monument at the very southern tip of the Gallipoli peninsula dedicated to all slain British soldiers with no known graves.

The heir to the British throne also visited nearby V Beach, the main landing point of British and Irish forces on April 25, 1915. He was later to attend separate memorials at the Australian Lone Pine monument, the Turkish monument dedicated to an entire regiment killed in Gallipoli and the New Zealand service at Chunuk Bair.