Read To Lead: Be Your Own Legend

Work through

During the awful conditions of the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War, troops were sent to invade beaches of a hot, arid, hostile peninsula of Turkey to prevent an enemy invasion of the south-east of Europe. Men from all over the world were sent, including Anzacs: troops from Australia and New Zealand.

For the British troops there, when in difficulty, they could call on the legends of their past to inspire effort; examples for emulation and heroes of inspiration of which engenders pride in the badge or unit that the new-breed could, should and would (often) compete to emulate.

Legends inspire action, traditions form behaviour and heroes breed courage. Collective spirit and bravery is born from such passed endeavours and achievements that encourage and inspire future ranks. Even personal experience, from previous endeavours, can breed confidence and acts of valour.

Not so for the Anzacs, though: Moorhead writes: “…few had ever come under fire before or had ever killed a man or seen death around them… In the case of the Australians and New Zealanders there was not even a tradition to guide them, for there had been no wars at all in their country’s past. They had no immediate ancestors to live up to-it was simply a matter of proving themselves to themselves, of starting a new tradition here and now.”

Their objective was the beach of Gaba Tepe. During the assault, the commanding officers, however, did not accompany them: they remained on their ships. Thus the battle was fought in the absence of their highest-ranked commanders and the troops were cut off from crucial information and strategic input. To make it worse they landed on the wrong beach and despite being the “most savage part of the peninsular” the area was “unmapped and unknown” to them. It was such a mess that “men got lost, units mixed up, officers lost touch, and signals failed altogether”.

“The unknown is the real destroyer of courage” writes Moorhead, “everything before the Allied soldiers was unknown: the sea, the enemy, the land itself” Even survival was not hopeful: General Hunter-Weston, in his wisdom, gave, probably, the worst “pep-talk” ever: he proclaimed before the battle: “heavy losses by bullets, by shells, by mines, and by drowning are to be expected”.

During the battle, however, no less than 5 VCs were awarded on that beach! Despite the lack of leadership, legends, inspiration or even proper instruction, the Anzacs proved “themselves to themselves” and “started their own tradition” there and then! They made their own legends for those who would follow them in the future