Postcard drawing of Suvla Bay

Postcard featuring a drawing of Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, accomplished by a medical orderly [SP] with materials he had in his medical kit. It shows a view seen from his dugout at the peninsula. In the foreground is a destroyer which went aground in a squall.

Australian troops first landed at the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915. Fighting on steep terrain, the Allies attempted to break through the strongly defended Turkish lines. A stalemate persisted in the following nine months, and Australian troops were evacuated 19-20 December. With over 8,000 deaths and 26,000 casualties, the Gallipoli campaign had a profound effect on Australian society.

Leo Terrell sent this postcard, dated 12 November [1915], to his girlfriend.

Terrell embarked on HMAT Port Macquarie from Melbourne on 4 June 1915. He was an Able Seaman Sapper of the First Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train and served at Gallipoli. He survived the war and returned to South Australia. In 1929 Leo left his job in the Railways and took his family to live at Cherry Gardens in the Adelaide Hills, joining other members of the family in the area. He passed away in 1973..

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