Rare documents and pictures from the aftermath of the Gallipoli Operation of World War I: Recognition and promotion ...

Rare documents and pictures from the aftermath of the Gallipoli Operation of World War I: Recognition and promotion for a sergeant who saved 1000 other soldiers.

Lot of interesting documents from the Gallipoli Operation. A. M. Oliphant, from the 5th Company, Royal Scottish Fusiliers of the British army, saved more than 1000 soldiers during the operation.

1. Document requesting the promotion of the sergeant to the rank of major, stamped and officially signed. 

2. Certificate of Recognition from the UK government, General Sir Allenby, signed by “Winston Churchill”. Includes the original envelope. 

3. Framed photograph, from a military inspection of the battalion in which this soldier served. 

4. Family photograph of the man among his family.

Background: The Gallipoli campaign, also known as the Dardanelles campaign, the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale, was a military campaign in the First World War that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu in modern Turkey), from 17 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and Russia, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the straits that provided a supply route to the Russian Empire. The Allied attack on Ottoman forts at the entrance of the Dardanelles in February 1915 failed and was followed by an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915 to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul). In January 1916, after eight months' fighting, with approximately 250,000 casualties on each side, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force withdrawn. It was a costly defeat for the Entente powers and for the sponsors, especially First Lord of the Admiralty (1911–1915), Winston Churchill. The campaign was considered a great Ottoman victory. In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the history of the state, a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire retreated. The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey eight years later, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli, as founder and president.

After his entire unit was decimated, this soldier and the remaining members joined another unit which conquered southern Israel including the battle at Nahal Og. After the war he managed the train line between Haifa and Cairo as part of his military duty. He received these certificates about a year after the end of the war. He was discharged from duty, like many soldiers, when he became infected with malaria. He was released home and received a lifetime pension from the government.