Burnt remains of Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III (SMLE) Rifle : ANZAC Ordnance Depot, North Beach, Gallipoli

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield No I Mk III (SMLE) Rifle. Woodwork burnt off, bolt and rear sight missing. Part of the trigger guard magazine plate has broken off. Manufacturer marks unreadable and serial number faint.

This rifle is one of many hundreds burnt at the ANZAC Ordnance Depot on North Beach during the evacuation from the ANZAC area in December 1915. While some stores and equipment were removed from Gallipoli, a large amount was destroyed or left behind.

The Allied forces did not want to burn large quantities of supplies, as this might alert the Turkish forces to the evacuation, so items were dumped in the sea, sabotaged or doused with oil.

However, at 2 am on 18 December, the combined Ordnance Depot and Army Service Corps supply dump at North Beach accidentally caught fire and a large number of stores were destroyed, including this rifle. Luckily, while the Turks did shell the area in response to the fire, they did not seem to think anything unusual was occurring in the ANZAC lines.

This rifle was collected in January 1919 by members of the Australian War Records Section (AWRS). The small party of AWRS staff, led by Lieutenant William Hopkin James, worked on Gallipoli from December 1918 to March 1919, taking photographs and collecting items for the national collection.