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7th Field Ambulance Cemetery

Audio Guide

Passing immediately after the Damakçılık Bayırı (the first ridge of Ağıldere), first Ağıl Dere and then Üç Tepeler (The Three Hills) (an elevation like a hillock) will be seen on the left in the shape of a small flat terrain extending inwards and surrounded by various elevations. The elevation known as “The Three Hills” on Turkish maps was called “Walden Grove” by the Anzacs.

This elevation served as a natural barrier against Turkish fire from the Chunuk Bair-Hill 971 line (to the east). After August 6, 1915, the date of the opening of the Suvla Bay Front, the 7th Field Hospital was built on September 1915, on the slope of the hillock by the Australians. The hospital treated soldiers wounded during combat.  

Soldiers who lost their lives during treatment at this hospital were interred in the plain in front of it. Nearby graves were also transferred here as a result of regional studies conducted by the British in 1919 and afterwards. The rectangular-shaped cemetery measures 52 × 35 m and covers an area of 1,820 m2 . The cemetery, located almost 120 m from the road, can be accessed by a trail. It can be accessed by means of the steps built into the retaining wall situated to the west. There are 640 soldiers buried at the cemetery: 288 British, 68 Australian, 20 New Zealand, 2 Indian and 262 unknown soldiers. 
 

Memoirs of an Anzac Soldier 
“Decaying bodies on all sides, no time to rest. After the dawn, a long day began, and there was no stop even for a moment. We yearned for the night to fall! We were worshipping for the end of such a horrific day! We were all itching to see the first shade of darkness”.