KEY POINTS:
It is just one sheet of paper, but a map currently on display at the National Library in Wellington speaks volumes about the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign.
The map, a standard 1:40,000 scale printed map of the Gallipoli area, is one of many issued to staff officers from the
New Zealand, Australian and British armies before they landed on Turkish territory on April 25, 1915.
However, this map was the one used by Major General Alexander Godley, who commanded the New Zealand Division. A junior officer hand-coloured the map to give an idea of the steep terrain of the peninsula and depth of the surrounding water, and Godley himself annotated the map to indicate the type of terrain, the foliage on it, and where the Turkish defences were believed to be strongest.
It even has "possible landing site" written beside a smaller bay a few hundred metres further south of where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps actually did land - an area labelled "Fisherman's Hut"on the map, today known as Anzac Cove.
For a few days, the map was used by Godley to command his troops. Close examination shows erasings and re-markings of how far advanced the general thought his men were, and a worrying gap between the New Zealand and Australian soldiers which needed to be plugged.
A few days later, when it became apparent the Anzacs were not going to sweep the Turkish soldiers from Gallipoli, Godley's map was carefully folded away and replaced by more detailed maps of the smaller area where thousands of Allied and Turkish soldiers died.
Fortuitously the map, which bears Godley's signature, was not lost. Its penultimate owner, an English collector, offered it to a dealer who recognised its historical significance and contacted the National Library.
Military historian Chris Pugsley viewed the map, and told the library while it did not reveal any hitherto unknown secrets about the campaign, it allowed modern-day viewers to imagine how the first few days of the battle for Gallipoli unfolded, and gave a sense of the information available to Godley in the crucial early days after the landing.
National Library cartographic collection curator Dave Small said the context of Godley's annotations gave the map great significance for New Zealanders. "We don't actually have much Gallipoli material from the mapping world," Mr Small said.
"There are a few at the National Archive, I'm sure there are some with the Army, and there may be a few in private hands."
The map was bought for the Alexander Turnbull Library collection, for an undisclosed sum. It is currently on show at the National Library.
