Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

1915 (1982)

play
clip
  • 1
  • 2
Shaking hands with the enemy education content clip 1, 2

Original classification rating: M. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

After only a few weeks at Gallipoli, the overwhelming stench of the dead soldiers strewn around the rocky coast triggered a most unusual event. A ceasefire in order to allow each side to bury their dead.

Curator’s notes

by Janet Bell

This is an incident based on fact. Only a few weeks after the Gallipoli landing, there was a ceasefire for several hours while both sides buried their dead. It’s apparently true that Turks and Allies shook hands and swapped cigarettes while only a few hours later it was back to shooting each other.

While the clip does show the bodies of the dead soldiers, it has none of the gory close-ups that are the norm for television today.

The combined effect of the costumes, the acting, the location and the music is powerful in these Gallipoli sequences. It’s interesting to note that at the time this series was broadcast, Anzac Cove had not yet become the place of pilgrimage it is now for thousands of young Australians who make their way there for the dawn service on Anzac Day each year, to honour the fallen at Gallipoli.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

The clip is from the television miniseries 1915 and shows an officer announcing the beginning of a temporary truce to allow Australian and Turkish soldiers to gather up the bodies of those who have been killed or injured in 'no man’s land’. The orders that prescribe the behaviour of participants during the truce are narrated. Wally accompanies the stretcher bearers who take away the body of a 'mate’. An Australian soldier exchanges cigarettes with a Turkish soldier. Mournful music accompanies the clip.

Educational value points

  • During the Gallipoli conflict an 8-hour informal truce was held on 24 May 1915. The truce was agreed to after a Turkish officer had been led blindfold through the Anzac lines to make the request that would enable both sides to collect their dead and wounded. This followed a major assault by the Turks on Allied troops at Anzac Cove on 19 May 1915. Some 10,000 Turkish soldiers and 628 Anzacs were wounded or killed in the assault.
  • The war correspondent CEW Bean observed and documented fraternisation between Turkish and Anzac soldiers during the period of the truce. Bean claimed this helped to cement in the Anzacs a changed attitude towards the enemy. The suffering of the Turkish wounded so close to them and the respect they felt for the bravery of the Turkish soldiers during the attack led to an identification with 'Johnny Turk’ as a worthy foe and fellow sufferer in war.
  • The demonstration of 'mateship’, seen as part of the Anzac spirit, is portrayed as Walter recognises and honours a fallen comrade. During the War the term 'mate’ became interchangeable with 'digger’, which had originated on the gold fields. Anzac troops used it to describe themselves, perhaps with reference to trench digging. Use of the terms signified a shared experience and mutual respect, and implied the obligation of unconditional assistance.
  • Anzacs frequently witnessed the death and maiming of childhood friends. This was due to a policy of drawing units from particular states, even from districts within a state. In some cases Australian country towns lost all their young men. The Dardanelles campaign cost the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) 8,000 dead and 18,000 wounded. Australia lost 60,000 men in the First World War out of a total population of fewer than 5 million.
  • The clip shows the red cross and the red crescent being worn to symbolise that during this truce the combatants on both sides were acting as non-combatants, taking care of their dead and wounded.
  • The human cost of Australia’s involvement in the First World War is glimpsed in this clip. A total of 331,814 Australians were sent overseas to serve. Of those who served in the AIF 18 per cent were killed. The total casualty rate, including killed or wounded, was 64 per cent. The financial cost of the War to the Australian Government has been calculated at £188,480,000, an enormous sum at the time. This excludes the cost of the loss of income to towns and villages across Australia.