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from Manchester
Evening New Tuesday 25 April 2000
Heroes who won six VCs before
breakfast time
BY SARAH LESTER
 TODAY
is the 85th anniversary of
the Gallipoli landings in which Lancashire Fusiliers fought so bravely
they were awarded "six Victoria Crosses before breakfast."
They were joined on
different beaches by soldiers from New Zealand and Australia who remember
their dead today, Anzac Day.
More than 600,000
Turkish and British Commonwealth soldiers died during the First World War
campaign in 1915.
Under heavy fire
from the Turks, more than 850 men from the Lancashire Fusiliers’ First
Battalion battled their way off the beaches. There were more than 500
Lancashire casualties on the first day alone.
Tony Sprayson,
custodian of the fusiliers regimental museum said: "The beach was
very small — 300 yds wide with steep cliffs. The Turks were dug in to
the side of the cliffs and the Fusiliers came under heavy fire.
"Six Victoria
Crosses were awarded because of their bravery."
The Lancashire
Fusillers will remember the landings with a service at St Mary’s Church
and a parade through Bury town centre on Sunday.
Picture: In memoriam. .
. Australian and New Zealand
soldiers pay tribute at a dawn service at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, today
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