"The toughest part of the war was lack of sleep"
Coupled with the lack of shelter or water and a very poor diet, Australian and New Zealand soldiers on Gallipoli found the lack of sleep almost impossible to get used to. The cramped conditions, noise, heat and flies made a good night’s rest a rare luxury. Men often fell asleep where they were sitting – or standing, as New Zealand veteran Jerry Duffel recalls in this radio interview recorded in the 1960s.
Year:1915 [Recorded 1960s]
Location:Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
"The toughest part of the war was lack of sleep"
Coupled with the lack of shelter or water and a very poor diet, Australian and New Zealand soldiers on Gallipoli found the lack of sleep almost impossible to get used to. The cramped conditions, noise, heat and flies made a good night’s rest a rare luxury. Men often fell asleep where they were sitting – or standing, as New Zealand veteran Jerry Duffel recalls in this radio interview recorded in the 1960s.
Year: 1915 [Recorded 1960s]
Length: 01:39
Source: Radio New Zealand Collection, Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Catalogue Reference: 245789 [Jerry Duffel recalls Gallipoli]
People: Jerry Duffel (Alan George Duffull)
Location: Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Image Title: P01116.014
Image Source: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P01116.014/
Malnourished, diseased, traumatised and exhausted, soldiers on Gallipoli found it nearly impossible to get a good night’s sleep. Modern medical studies have shown that prolonged sleep deprivation can be fatal by leading to poor physical performance, lack of focus and co-ordination, and impaired judgement.
Tragically, one New Zealand soldier learnt this at first hand. Private Jack Dunn of the Wellington Infantry Battalion, who had just returned from hospital after suffering from dysentery, fell asleep on sentry duty at Quinn’s Post in July 1915. He was court-martialled and sentenced to death for endangering his unit by falling asleep.
General Sir Ian Hamilton, the British officer who headed the Allied Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, overturned the death sentence in early August, but Private Dunn was killed in the Battle of Chunuk Bair a few days later. His story features in Te Papa's exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war.