#GallipoliFlashback: Herald to tweet opening hours of Gallipoli campaign

GALLIPOLI: An all too-familiar sight stretcher-bearers coming in with a casualty.

On Anzac Day we'll use the power of social media to recreate the opening hours of the Gallipoli campaign.

Our #GallipoliFlashback initiative will tell the story of the landings through more than 100 illustrated tweets.

According to Gallipoli authority Christopher Pugsley, 3100 New Zealand troops landed at what became known as Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915. Some 1500 saw action and there were 600 casualties.

From the Herald Twitter account @nzherald we'll tweet, in real time, many of the major events that happened within the first 24 hours of the brutal campaign.

The tweets are based on multiple military records, including a comprehensive breakdown of the opening day collated by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage from Pugsley's book Gallipoli: The New Zealand story.

Other sources include diaries kept by Anzacs and the Alexander Turnbull Library's war diaries project.

The landings began at dawn. We've converted local times to New Zealand times. So #GallipoliFlashback will start at 11am on Saturday with the first sightings of the Anzac ships by Ottoman troops on the peninsula.

Follow the landings via @nzherald or search under #GallipoliFlashback.