Light Horses to the slaughter
When Thomas Anderson Kidd looked over the top of the trench at Gallipoli that morning he knew only too well that what was about to occur would be brutal.
Kidd was with his mates in the WA-raised 10th Light Horse Regiment and preparing for the tragic dismounted charge at the Nek on August 7, 1915.
The charge was to take them across a narrow bridge of land dominated by Turkish trenches above.
Kidd wrote in his diary that "looking over the parapet before the charge impressed one with the immensity of our job".
"To my mind it looked an utter impossibility that we could succeed.
"We knew the enemy possessed numerous machineguns covering every piece of ground which we would have to traverse."
The 8th Light Horse went over the top first. Kidd wrote they were met with devastating fire from the Turkish line, "which mowed the men down like corn".
The second line of the 8th then "climbed on top and went forward to meet a similar fate as their comrades".
"Then our turn came . . . troops on the right were practically annihilated before they had advanced five yards," he wrote.
The pace of the advance was slow because of "heaped- up dead, rubble, bush and wire".
Kidd found a slight depression in the ground and as he was advancing beyond it, the order came to halt and dig in.
"We lay as we were for about an hour with the deadly fire just brushing over our heads," he added.
Kidd survived, and part of his chilling account is on public display as part of the revamped World War I galleries in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The $32 million redevelopment was officially opened yesterday.
Considered one of the most significant WWI exhibitions in the world, it draws on the war memorial's unique collection of artefacts, technology, uniforms, medals, photographs, film and personal items such as letters and diaries.
Visitors will be able to see collections never before displayed, including rare components of a tank used at Bullecourt and Diggers' belongings discovered at Pheasant Wood as well as iconic dioramas and the HMT Ascot landing boat.
A small ribbon of portraits of servicemen and servicewomen, and the families and communities that supported them at home, are laced through the galleries.
War memorial director Brendan Nelson said the exhibition was the memorial's major contribution to the Anzac centenary commemorations.
