Anthems For Doomed Youth

(Anthems For Doomed Youth)


What Passing Bells for those who die as cattle ?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out hasty orisons."

Wilfred Owen

1893=1918


Wilfred Owen served on the Western Front during the First World War and could see first hand the waste. He composed Anthems For Doomed Youth because he was witness to the absolute futility of attacking into prepared positions. Owens himself fell in the last year of the War. In any event, on both sides of the front, commanders largely considered their troops expendable. There were recurrent episodes of leadership malice that occurred throughout the War. One of the more egregious was the Gallipoli Campaign.


Before he was British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty, equivalent to the Secretary of the Navy. As the stalemate persisted in France, and Ottoman Turkey having just joined the Central powers, Churchill had the idea that Turkey could be forced from the War with the capture of Constantinople. The troops to be used in this operation would be largely comprised of Australian and New Zealand forces (ANZAC).


However, the Gallipoli mission was compromised almost from the start. A naval expedition, the attempt to force the Dardanelles was aborted when several ships sailed into an un-swept mine field. After several delays, the ANZACS were finally put shore on the Gallipoli Peninsula on the April 25, 1915, which has since been referred to as ANZAC Day. In any event, the operation mis-carried and surviving ANZAC forces were taken off the following January.


As today is April 25th, ANZAC Day, and it has been customary for all those down under to remember the travails of their forebears. There are remembrances globally but, in a sense, ANZAC Day is unique. As "soldiers of the British Empire," ANZACS went to this deployment but the responsibility for its failure lies with those who ordered the operation. It are ANZAC veterans who know Owens' Anthem for Doomed Youth, more than most.


Finally, regards to Sonia and Rob, and if it is not too late, congratulations on your nuptials. I would have sent a gift, but you live in Australia.

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