MAN POSING FOR A PHOTOGRAPH WITH SKULLS OF FALLEN SOLDIERS AT GALLIPOLI, 1921.

 Man posing for a photograph with skulls of fallen soldiers at Gallipoli, 1921.

A ghastly image indeed, though these skulls were just a couple of dozens of the thousands of soldiers who perished on the hills of Gallipoli in 1915.

In the Battle of Gallipoli the British, Australians and New Zealanders had suffered some 163,000 combat casualties of whom 49,500 died. Another 90,000 were evacuated sick.

The French had suffered 27,000 casualties of whom 9,798 died, with another 20,000 evacuated sick.

The Ottomans suffered some 164,000 combat casualties of whom 56,000 died, with another 69,000 evacuated sick, of whom 21,000 died.

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German soldier sharing a beer with some thirsty comrades, ca. 1914.

The following is excerpts of 20-year-old Danish-German artilleryman Frederik Tychsen's letter home, detailing of a drunk Russian prisoner of war in Flanders on December 27, 1917 - today 106 years ago. Translated by myself:

"The following days, December 26 and 27, were fairly quiet and calm. We only fired a little bit, so a lot of time was spent inside the house smoking tobacco, reading newspapers, writing letters, playing cards, chess etc.

On December 27, a Russian prisoner of war entered through the door. The Russians were put in barracks in the rear and worked on the roads to and fro the frontlines. It was not uncommon for one of these prisoners of wars to be killed by a British shell.

This Russian had approached to ask for some food. We each gave him a spoonful of our already scarce soup, which he ate with much desire.

Once he was done eating I gave him my schnapps (1/10 L brandy) which made him very happy. He drank it in one swig, patted his stomach and said: "Ahh, Wutki gut für Ruski". The others thought it was so hilarious that they too gave him their schnapps, and each one he drank with a more violent gesture. Eventually the Russian got so drunk, he sang and then fell asleep. 

In the meantime our battery commander entered and when he saw the Russian and was told he was drunk, we were immediately ordered to bring him back; but since he couldn't walk we had to put him on a stretcher, and then we were four who had to carry him back to the camp.

It took the entire afternoon since the POW camp was around 20 km behind our positions. It was a sour ordeal, and had we known that we were to transport him back ourselves, we probably wouldn't have given him so much 'Wutki'.

We tried multiple times to get him on his own feet, but he couldn't walk - he was almost dead-drunk."

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