Battle of Gallipoli
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's 110 years since the end of the Battle of Gallipoli. It was one of the deadliest in World War One. Among the 40,000 dead was a large contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops who became known as the Anzacs. Soldier Rupert Westmacott was injured and shared his memories with the BBC. Professor of Australian history, Carl Bridge, spoke to Simon Watts in 2012.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: Soldiers landing at Gallipoli. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommashranganathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, |
| 0:27.9 | it's really all about the traitors uncloked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and |
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| 0:44.2 | Hi, this is Witness History from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:47.0 | Now, if this is one of your favourite podcasts already, |
| 0:49.0 | feel free to skip ahead a little bit. |
| 0:51.9 | But if you're listening for the very first time, welcome. |
| 0:55.2 | We're the podcast that takes you back to a moment in history by speaking to those who were there. Episodes are just nine minutes long and come out every |
| 1:01.1 | weekday. If that sounds like something you'd listen to, hit subscribe wherever you get your BBC |
| 1:06.9 | podcasts and turn on your notifications so you never miss an episode. It's 110 years since the end of |
| 1:14.3 | the Battle of Gallipoli, one of the worst campaigns of the First World War. In 2012, Simon Watts |
| 1:21.0 | went back through the BBC archive and listened to the memories of a New Zealand soldier who was |
| 1:26.1 | injured in the battle. It's April the 25th, 1915. Rupert Westmacott, a New Zealander born in Britain, is approaching |
| 1:34.0 | the coast of Turkey. He watches as the first wave of Australian and New Zealand troops, |
| 1:39.4 | known as the Anzac's, land on the peninsula of Gallipoli. |
| 1:43.6 | They were taken ashore in all sorts of luggers and fishing boats and God knows what. |
| 1:50.9 | It was rather like being in a cinema and I could see and hear the rifle shots |
| 1:58.7 | and I could see our men advancing up the hills and being mown down. |
... |
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