Study Source A. Do you agree with this interpretation of Anzac soldiers at Gallipoli? Use source A and your own knowledge from your studies to explain your answer.

Source A shows two pictures of Anzac soldiers. The pictures show the soldiers to be battered, not well organised, and not very motivated but always smiling. Above one of the pictures it has the title ‘The Hopeless Dawn’ this gives the impression of hopelessness and heroism, this is because even though there seems to hope in the soldiers winning the battle or even staying alive, they still keep going.

The source suggests that it agrees with the interpretation of Anzac soldiers to be heroes. It shows them to be heroes because they’re always smiling. An example of a hero of the Anzac troops was John Simpson Kirkpatrick. He was seen as the personification of the Anzac sprit. He was known as “man with donkey” he was a field ambulance stretcher-bearer and only the strongest men were chosen for this job. He was known as “man with donkey” because he used a donkey to carry men to the medical tents. This meant putting himself in danger, as the Turkish troops would have a clear shot at him, as he couldn’t duck down out of the way. This shows that even with the high casualty count the Anzac’s didn’t give up hope of completing their mission and helping one another. It shows that even though there seems to be no hope they haven’t given up. This is also shown in the effort they put in to holding their positions for eight months. As well as holding their positions, which they were able to do despite not being very well organised. They weren’t well organised because when the ships were packed all the important equipment was at the bottom, this was because they weren’t expecting the Turkish troops to be so well equipped, organised and well prepared for trench warfare.

Source A is a cartoon. An Australian artist drew it in 1916. This therefore means that the cartoon could be used for propaganda, and as it’s a cartoon it would be exaggerated. However it was made for the Anzac book, so it would have to the Anzac soldiers in a truthful image. Even though it still could be used to show an extra positive image of the Anzacs, so could still be biased. I know this because the Anzacs are still celebrated as heroes and are thought very highly of by the Australians and New Zealanders.

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