Four months after the organization of the ANZAC corps, troops of the young nations of Australia and New Zealand joined together to face their fate at the Dardanelles. Combat against the Ottoman troops under the fearsome Mustapha Kemal, founder and first president of the future Turkish Republic, was harrowing, and the Allied forces suffered huge losses. Since then, to commemorate the fallen, Anzac Day has been celebrated every year on this date in Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, and even in the French territory of New Caledonia.
