Two Anzac soldiers stand on either side of a captured Turkish sniper. Turkish snipers sometimes ...

Accession Number G00377
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white
Physical description Black & white
Maker Brooks, Ernest
Place made Ottoman Empire: Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli
Date made c 1915
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Two Anzac soldiers stand on either side of a captured Turkish sniper. Turkish snipers sometimes concealed themselves in bushes for camouflage. This scene could depict the capture of a Turkish sniper described in a letter from 1763 Private (Pte) Arthur Greenwood, 8th Battalion, Royal Victoria (RV) Hospital, Netley, Hampshire, to his family, dated 16 February 1916. Pte Greenwood's letter was written in response to his parents having seen a photograph of himself and another Anzac, identified by Pte Greenwood as "G. Clifton NSW" (possibly 1930 Pte George Clifton, 8th Battalion, later 5th Pioneer Battalion), escorting a camouflaged Turkish sniper. Pte Greenwood wrote: "That Black you see in the picture was concealed in the scrub decorated as you see him you could not see him in daytime he being exactly like a bush..." The sniper had been hiding in scrub for some time -- "He was getting a lot of our men all the time" -- before Pte Greenwood and Pte Clifton disabled him at dusk. Pte Greenwood noted that at least two photographs exist of the scene. However, the authenticity of this photograph remains uncertain. Charles Bean often drew attention to its uncertain origins. He wrote of it as "a complete fake. It was taken at Imbros. The Australians are from the Field Bakery, and the Turk is a prisoner from the camp there."