Godley’s Map Of Gallipoli Bought By Turnbull

Godley’s Map Of Gallipoli Bought By Turnbull Library

The Alexander Turnbull Library has recently purchased a map that was used by Major General Godley, commander of the New Zealand and A Divisions, at Gallipoli during the landings at Anzac Cove. The map was purchased from a private source in the United Kingdom.

The map itself is the standard 1:40 000 scale printed map of the Gallipoli area that was issued to staff officers before the landings. This particular map, however, has been signed by Godley and has the high ground and contour lines hand-coloured. Superimposed on the map in neat handwriting is information about Turkish troop positions that was available up to the 24th of April 1915.

Other annotations show that the map was used as a working command map and records Godley’s thoughts on where the Anzac front line was during those first few days.

The map has been viewed by Dr Chris Pugsley, military historian and currently senior lecturer in war studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in the UK. He believes that, while the map does not add new information to our existing knowledge of the campaign, it does allow us to imagine and access how the situation unfolded in those first critical days ashore.

A low resolution image of the map is available on the National Library Catalogue (http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz or click on Search catalogues and databases on the National Library website (www.natlib.govt.nz). It is also available for viewing at the Library.

ENDS

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