Gallipoli

Catalogue Reference:(IWM) Q13447

A soldier from the 10th Division of the Royal Irish Fusiliers cautiously raises his rifle on the barrel of which is what looks like a pith helmet - a special type of sun helmet made of cloth-covered cork - in Gallipoli, Turkey in 1915 or 1916. Raising a target like this was a way of attracting enemy fire and so determining their position, in this case possibly a single sniper. The man in the background whose head can be seen above the level of the trench is probably trying to determine the location of a shot. Gallipoli was the scene of one of the worst disasters for the Allied forces in World War One.