VK100ANZAC Commemorates The August Offensive in Perth

Preceded by a special news broadcast around VK6 Land on Wednesday 5th August, the Western Australian Amateur Radio News team will activate the VK100ANZAC special event callsign over six days to commemorate the August Offensive at Gallipoli.

The August Offensive was the last major attempt made by the Allied forces at Gallipoli to break the stalemate that had persisted since the landings on 25 April 1915. The plan involved a series of thrusts being made out of the ANZAC position to seize high points along the Sari Bair range, which dominated the Gallipoli peninsula. These operations would be supported by several diversionary attacks along the existing ANZAC frontline.

The offensive began with a diversionary attack at Lone Pine on the afternoon of 6 August 1915, which succeeded in taking a heavily defended complex of Turkish trenches but cost the lives of 2,000 men of the 1st Infantry Brigade. The main attacks - directed at Chunuk Bair, Hill Q and Hill 971 - followed that night, but although the first two features were held for short periods of time, the attacks had failed by 10 August.

Several smaller diversionary attacks were mounted on the morning of 7 August and all ended in heavy casualties. The most costly was the attack on the Nek, immortalized by the film Gallipoli, in which in 375 of the 600 attackers became casualties.

On 7 August British forces were also landed at Suvla Bay to establish a base area to sustain the ANZAC position throughout the coming winter. When they had secured Suvla Bay, the British had planned to assist the main attack, but after suffering heavy casualties they were unable to take the heights above Suvla. The need to link the positions at Suvla and ANZAC resulted in the last phase of the August Offensive - the attacks on the Hill 60 area that took place between 21 and 27 August.

This commemorative activation will be operating from sites around Perth with significant relevance to World War One.

The activation will begin and end at Anzac Cottage in Mount Hawthorn, which was built in one day on February 12, 1916 by the community of Mount Hawthorn as a home for a returned wounded soldier and his family and as a memorial for those who lost their lives in the tragic Gallipoli landing. The ambitious project was initiated by the Mount Hawthorn Progress Association and supported eagerly and enthusiastically by the community with donations and contributions made to ensure that the cottage that was to be built would be a suitable memorial for the Gallipoli veterans.

On Friday the team will operate from the Mandurah ANZAC War Memorial in its beautiful setting on the estuary.

On Saturday VK100ANZAC moves to Blackboy Hill at Swan View. Blackboy Hill was a training camp, set up a short time after the outbreak of the war in 1914.

On Sunday we take a pause for HAMFEST, and in the afternoon will operate from King’s Park. King’s Park is the site of the State War Memorial and several other campaign and regimental monuments, as well as a large number of trees planted along the roadways dedicated to the memory of individuals who perished in wars.

On Monday the activation moves to Stirling Square in Guildford. St Matthews Church, which is in Stirling Square became the first and only garrison church in Western Australia when the 38th Battery Field Artillery of the Australian Army marched into Stirling Square on 1st November 1913. The Battery was housed at South Guildford, across a suspension bridge on the Helena River. Britain announced it was at war on 5th August 1914 and the 38th Battery was combined with the 37th Battery to form the 8th Field Battery of the 3rd Australian Field Artillery Brigade, based at South Guildford. Men trained at Blackboy Hill (Swan View) and lived at Guildford.

Tuesday 11th August, the last day of this activation, we return to Anzac Cottage.

We are preparing daily news bulletins reporting on the events of the august Offensive as they unfolded, which we will put to air at convenient times each day

The activation commences Thursday 6th August, at 0000 UTC. We will be calling on or near to these frequencies:
On 80 metres 3.605, 40 metres 7.125, 20 metres 14.250 15 metres 21.240 10 metres 28.460 2 metres 144.200 SSB, Vertical.

The operators will advertise where the station can be heard, and to assist in this, we ask you to post on the clusters, facebook, email etc, when you do hear us.

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