Accoring to Wiki, Australia lost 7594 men at Gallipoli, as opposed to 21,255 Britons. The generals responsbile for this particular sad tragedy did not sit there doing the maths as to which percentage of whom would suffer the most casualties. There is no evidence whatsoever that Australian lives were valued less - it's part of the great myth of Gallipoli that's trotted out every year for no other reason than to give Australians a sense of common indentity in the abscence of any other notable history. And of course, it's all the more powerful if you can claim you were wronged by somebody else, and who better to blame than as usual, the British. Trouble is, it appears as though the writers of Australian history have selective memories:

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10191

The fatal orders to persist with the attacks were actually given by another Australian, Colonel J. M. Antill.Further, the fatal attacks were not delivered to support British troops -- who in the film are said to be "drinking tea on the beach" as the Aussies die for them -- but to support a New Zealand attack that had also bogged down. In fact a British regiment incurred heavy casualties trying to support the Australians once it was realized they were in trouble.

From the wiki page: "The scale of the tragedy of the Nek was mostly the work of two Australian incompetents, Hughes and Antill." (Les Carlyon, "Gallipoli", p.410, 2001.)

It annoys me that every year the Aussies use this as a stick to beat us with just because of their own insecurity. In the second world war, Britain lost countless lives, had our cities bombed flat and it took our economy years to recover, fighting a battle which turned the war - a victory without which the world today would be quite different. But all we ever hear during Anzac day is how weak the "British" are. One of the many benefits of not living in Aus any more is that I don't get subjected to this nonsense in the media every year.

Well said, I wish we could convey this message to the Australian media, they are the ones adding to the myth of Gallipolli , they seem to have hijacked April the 25th. I'm really tired of hearing from your average Aussie " you poms were a waste of space at Gallipoli " or something similar.It really is very rude and disrespectful to the ordinary English (British) soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice. It really boils down to ignorance and an ill-informed Australian nation.

I get really tired of the way the Brits are portrayed and villified at every opportunity.
Lets just remember who was fighting on the same side shall we?!!
I find it really strange how you rarely hear condemnation on the scale attributed to the British towards the Germans and Japanese! The way the Australians carry on you would think the British were the enemy.

Their immature, selfish, inconsiderate and one eyed attitude to the world sickens me at times. My dad was away from home for 5 long years in the middle east during WW2. I refuse to watch the Anzac parades and stuff. Not because i do not have the greatest respect for the Australains who gave their lives, but because of Australias ungraciousness to acknowledge their allies suffering as well as their own.

Good point Flea! I do watch the Anzac Parades because my granddad was at Gallipoli - it is him I am thinking of when it happens and I gloss over the Australians only focus of the day. Mind you, my granddad never had a good word to say about Winston Churchill - it was quite a b*lls up from all accounts

Exactly.

i'll be right beside you doing ALL of those things. The sausages ARE rank i agree.

[QUOTE=saveme;6268183]. At least Aussies do not have to pay a licence fee for their TV.

The mind boggles.

Haha, I've just read the funniest thing. A headline in the Brisbane Times:

Former Brisbane schoolgirl Miranda Kerr shows off her new bo at Randwick

I'm confused now. Whenever I watched the ANZAC parades through Sydney there always seemed to be units of other allied armed forces and they were always applauded by onlookers in just the same way as the Australian units.

Perhaps I was wrong and the British units always refused to march lest they be booed?

It is a shame that there is so much meanness about death of soldiers,many different nationalities were involved. My grandfather was in the British Army in WW1, at the Somme. It was grim and many ordinary British service men didn't have it any easier , than the other allied service men.

The 'real' bitterness that Aussies feel is towards Japanese treatment of Allied soldiers in Jap POW camps where the death rate was 1 in 3 (compared to 1 in 30 - I think - in German/Italian ones.

There may be Aussies who fall for the myth of the movie Gallipolli but there is no real bitterness. When I start hearing about nasty exchanges involving Brit/Aussie troops on exchange postings, or major fights between Brits and Aussies in RSL clubs I might start believing it. In most theatres of war Aussies and Brits were united against the common foe. I can't remember my father ever telling me of any bitter feelings he harboured towards Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans during 'his' war.

I don't know why people are so angry about Australians celebrating 'Aussie-ness' on ANZAC Day either. What do you expect? St Patrick's Day must be a bitter disappointment for you too!

I just believe the Aussies over do it when it comes to celebrating 'Aussie - ness"
I've just so had this Austrailianess pushed in my face to the point where it is very irritating . When I lived in the UK I didn't push Englishness on people ...you often hear the phrase here in Oz that someone is "un-australian", the media use it often.It's almost like they are trying to create this mythical aussie..but there is good and bad in all races not just aussies.It's not proud it's obsessive (jingoistic)As regards St Patricks day no problem I enjoy a Guinness or two with anyone who's not up them self.

It's supposed to be a day of rememberance. They have Australia Day for telling everyone how great they are.

I LOVE OZ Day too - thanks for reminding me as I get 'out of the loop' here in the UK. Two hundred and twenty years since the British (not the French, Dutch, Spanish, Portugese, et al) set foot at Circular Quay. I look around Sydney now and I'm amazed at how it's grown from such inauspicious beginnings. Who cares if the Aussies don't appreciate 'our' input. They are only our 'wayward' children after all!

Try watching the Olympic or Commonwealth games here in Aus.....you are shown an Aussie coming 5th rather than who came 1st,2nd,3rd...I have watched an Aussie being awarded a Bronze but not shown who won the Gold and Silver......as for the Olympic Tourch....the Aussie's learnt from the the U.K and France (with our fair coverage of news in Europe....well maybe not fair)...but the Aussie's did not inform the rest of the world about the heavy Police coverage (Police were brought in from other States to help) and the closing of roads in a wide radius of the tourch relay.......makes the Aussie's look very good......everyone is happy here, no crime, no violence.....Utopia.........NOT