Events marking 100 years since Gallipoli campaign that saw hundreds Hampshire troops fighting

The Queen and her family will be present at a series of solemn services, both at home and abroad, marking the sacrifices of Australian, New Zealand and British forces, and other nations, who fought and died at Gallipoli.

The Gallipoli land campaign against Turkey – which began 100 years ago today – was one of the major engagements of the First World War, involving more than 400,000 British and around 140,000 Commonwealth and Irish servicemen.

• Click to find out the role Hampshire troops played in the campaign 

At dawn on April 25 1915, waves of Allied troops launched an amphibious attack on the strategically-important peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles straits, the crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia.

But the plan by Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, was flawed and the campaign, which faced heroic defending by the Turks, led to stalemate and eight months later, withdrawal.

Around 58,000 Allied troops died, including 29,500 from Britain and Ireland, over 12,000 from France, 11,000 from Australia and New Zealand and 1,500 from India.

Conditions were hellish as more than half a million Allies faced heat, flies, dysentery and eventually, extreme cold. An estimated 87,000 Turks were also killed, with 300,000 casualties.

Today is also Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day which not only commemorates the Antipodean troops who fought and died at Gallipoli, but remembers all those killed in subsequent conflicts.

The Princess Royal will attend the annual Dawn Service at London's Wellington Arch which is expected to attract a congregation of thousands - larger than in previous years.

On the Gallipoli peninsula itself the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry are guests at a number of commemoration events along with world leaders and relatives of those who served in the campaign.

In London the Duke of Edinburgh, Patron of the Gallipoli Association, will join the congregation at St Paul's Cathedral for a service of remembrance.

Later the Queen, joined by Philip and the Duke of Cambridge, will lead a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph and afterwards the monarch and Philip will join the congregation at Westminster Abbey for a service of commemoration.

• Click to find out the role Hampshire troops played in the campaign 

The Metropolitan Police have reviewed security arrangements for today's major events after five Australian teenagers were arrested last week on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack as part of the Anzac Day celebrations in Melbourne.

Yesterday the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry met a Hampshire relative of a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign who 100 years ago were on the eve of what turned out to be one of Britain's worst military disasters.

 The royals were on the flight deck of the Royal Navy's flagship HMS Bulwark in Turkey's Dardanelles straits, the same crucial waters that the Allies in the First World War hoped to control.

 The ship is to be sent to assist operations in the Mediterranean Migrant crisis.

 The idea to knock the Ottomans out of the war and open a sea route to Russia was Winston Churchill's but because of hopeless planning, hostile conditions and heroic defending, eight bloody months later the operation was halted, having cost 58,000 Allied lives.

 Some 87,000 Turks died defending their home soil. The amphibious assault started at dawn on April 25 1915 as wave after wave of British and Irish, French, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops attacked heavily defended beaches, through barbed wire, and raced up cliffs through scrub.

Many were cut down before they reached the shore and the sea turned red from the blood. Although Gallipoli is synonymous with Australian and New Zealand heroism, three times as many British and Irish troops were killed as Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).

 Some descendants feel the British involvement has been overlooked by history, perhaps because it ended in failure.

 The royal party met 15 descendants of veterans who were selected to join the commemorations on the beautiful peninsula and ceremonies at Commonwealth War Graves Commission sites.

 Ben Goddard, 37, was there to honour his great-grandfather Private Alfred William Goddard, of 2nd Hampshire Regiment, who landed on V Beach on April 25 1915.

 He was hit on the elbow by shrapnel 11 days later but survived the hostilities and was discharged in 1918.

 Mr Goddard, from Ropley, Hampshire, knew nothing about the Gallipoli Campaign until he researched his family tree and found out about his ancestor's war record.

 He said: ''So many men fought and did not come back. That should be remembered, whether the campaign was a disaster or not.

 ''I am really proud and honoured to have been chosen, representing the Hampshire Regiment, and be there for the people who did not come back.''

 Hugh Gillespie, 72, from near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, made the journey for his grandfather Lt Col Franklin Gillespie, who was killed by a sniper while leading a daring raid. He was 42.

 He said: ''Our soldiers behaved so exceptionally and fought extremely well in difficult conditions. I think it is an object lesson in making sure the strategy is right in the first place.

 ''Perhaps we could have (succeeded) with better intelligence and I think we underestimated the enemy. I think it turns out it was an impossible task we set ourselves there.''