THIS weekend the nation makes its annual act of remembrance, on the day the guns fell silent at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.

Former Ledbury man Andrew Taylor has been researching the history of the Herefordshire Regiment for around 20 years and recently visited the battlefields at Gallipoli in Turkey, where soldiers from the regiment fought during the First World War.

His grandfather served with the regiment, although he missed Gallipoli through being wounded. He later fought in France with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.

THE Gallipoli campaign, the idea of the First Sea Lord Sir Winston Churchill was an audacious attempt to break the stalemate of trench warfare in France and Belgium.

Germany had secured the support of Turkey, and its strategic position astride the narrow Dardanelles made it the gatekeeper to the approach to the Black Sea and the supply route to Russia from her French and British allies.

Turkey had been described as the weak man of Europe and if the narrow sea passage could be forced, and an allied maritime force able to anchor off Constantinople (now Istanbul), it was expected Turkey would surrender, changing the cou-rse of the war in favour of the allies.

In early 1915 an allied naval force shelled the forts which guarded the narrow seaway in an attempt to 'force the narrows'. The naval force ran into a minefield and several ships were lost with great loss of life.

It was concluded the forts would need to be taken from the land before the battleships could advance further on Constantinople. In this land battle just over 1,000 soldiers of The Herefordshire Regiment gained their baptism of fire.

The first landings were at the southern tip of the Peninsula at Cape Helles and on the Western coast at a small bay whose name is now synonymous with bravery and adversity - Anzac Cove.

The Herefords landed on August 8, 1915, at Suvla Bay about three miles to the north of Anzac Cove. Their journey had started from England on the troop ship Euripedes on July 16, 1915, from where they sailed to Egypt and then Gallipoli. Landing was delayed a day because their ship ran aground on a sand bar and they transferred to the Snaefell, an old Isle of Man packet steamer to land.

Once ashore on the beach under the shadow of the hill named Lala Baba, the inertia which typified the campaign soon became apparent; there was no clear plan, the situation was confused, no clear orders were issued and some of those which were issued were countermanded.

Lt Col Gilbert Drage, the commanding officer of the battalion said later he had not even been told about the Anzac position.

"I can say with certainty that bar the vague position of the Sherwood Foresters, no information as to the operations and plan of action was mentioned, and no information given as to what our side was trying to do," he said.

The Battalion was eventually ordered to advance about two miles to the Azmak Dere - a dry river bed - and make contact with a battalion of the Sherwood Foresters.

After advancing and reaching Azmak Dere, they did not find the Foresters, but they were ordered back to the beach, only to be ordered to advance again the next day!

Under artillery fire Lt Col Drage was injured and the conduct of the battalion was brought to the notice of the Force Commander, General Sir Ian Hamilton, who specifically commended it.

Life on the peninsula settled down to a routine of trench life, fatigue parties and occasional rest periods. Nowhere on the peninsula was out of Turkish artillery range and there was a constant flow of battle casualties to the field hospitals. Insanitary conditions exacerbated by heat, flies, lack of water and poor diet of bully beef and biscuits led to large numbers of casualties from dysentery and other debilitating illnesses.

Realisation dawned that far from breaking the stalemate, the campaign had developed into a stalemate of its own, and evacuation was the only sound course of action. While this was being planned winter arrived and in late November the peninsula was subject to a freezing rain and snowstorm.

The Herefords were literally washed out of their trenches, they huddled together, their summer uniforms soaked through and frozen stiff. Hundreds of troops suffered from frostbite and exposure and some soldiers froze to death.

On December 7 the remnants of the battalion, less than 100 fit men, were evacuated from Suvla Bay; the campaign had been another bloody failure.

Captain Ashton of the battalion later said: "By a strange coincidence we left from identically the same bit of beach as we had landed on just 18 weeks before. As I had been the first ashore I was the last to leave. It was impossible not to help noticing the contrast - that brilliant August morning, the battalion full of fight, high endeavour and 750 strong! Now this dark December night, slinking away, under 100 strong, weary, dirty, blas, disillusioned and yet I was sorry to go."

The battalion left over 100 of its ranks on the peninsula, many with no known grave who are commemorated on the Helles memorial, a splendid white obelisk, which when Mr Taylor visited was bathed in bright sunshine overlooking the deep blue of the Aegean Sea.

The grave of each Herefordshire sodier was visited and without exception the cemeteries were all beautifully tended with the scent of rosemary, a symbol of remembrance in the air.

The campaign had a massive impact on the county and the individual soldiers who took part, the title 'Landing at Sulva' was emblazoned on the Regimental Colours, and those comrades which had shared so many experiences met annually close to the anniversary of the landing to carry out personal acts of remembrance, until after 64 years time took its toll on their ranks as well.

Andrew Taylor is a keen researcher of The Herefordshire Regiment and would be pleased to hear from anyone who might have knowledge of them. His address is Gallwey House, Gallwey Road, Aldershot, Hampshire, GU11 2DD.