Of the 582 names on the Fermanagh War Memorial, 53 belong to men who were killed in just one campaign; Gallipoli.

Today (Saturday, April 25) marks 100 years since the initial army attack on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

A new exhibition at The Inniskilling's Museum called 1915 The Death of Innocence' examines the impact of World War 1 on Enniskillen, including the failed campaign against the Turkish Empire in Gallipoli, in which three battalions of the Inniskillings suffered heavy casualties.

Strategically important, the Dardanelle Straits are a narrow stretch of water linking the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean, simultaneously separating the continents of Asia and Europe. In the First World War, gaining access to Asia via this route became increasingly important in order to work effectively with the Russians. It was also hoped that by gaining this territory other neutrals might be encouraged to join the Allied Forces, namely Italy, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

Demolition parties began to arrive from February 1915, sending a small band of marines and sailors into the Turkish territory to destroy the Turkish forts. The Turkish army, though not expecting them, responded with great ferocity to these landing parties, and it soon became apparent that a stronger force was needed.

On March 18 began a large scale Naval Attack, a brainchild of Winston Churchill, the then First Lord of the Admiralty. This too was an unmitigated disaster, falling prey to the heavy fortifications and myriad of howitzers firing from the Turkish vantage points high above the waterway. Not least of these fortifications were the dense minefields which took down three battleships, and caused severe damages to a further three.

It was decided that only an infantry attack would bear any fruit, and the regular soldiers returning from garrison outposts around the world were to be the first to arrive along with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).

The campaign was long, arduous and bloody.The Gallipoli peninsula would become the final resting ground of over 47,000 Allied soldiers.

The name “The Dardanelles” became a familiar one to people in Enniskillen. An area of densely packed residential houses, workshops, grocery shops and lodging houses, adjacent to the military quarter of the town, received so many dreaded telegrams announcing death and injury in 1915 that the area gained the moniker of “The Dardanelles”.

This area has now mostly been demolished and replaced by the Library, the Housing Executive, and the Jobs & Benefits offices, as well as car parking.

Amongst the men named on the Fermanagh War Memorial on Belmore Street are two brothers from this area; Daniel and Patrick Gilmore. They were born on Abbey Street to John & Mary Anne Gilmore. The younger of these, Daniel, had worked as a carter on the High Street in Enniskillen, and was called up at the outbreak of war leaving for France on 2nd November 1914. He was killed with the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on 16th May 1915 in the Battle of Festubert on the Western Front. Patrick, a whitesmith, served with the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. On 21st May 1915, just days after his brother’s death, he embarked to join the 1st Battalion in Gallipoli. On June 30th 1915 he was Killed in Action in the Battle of Krithia at Gurkha Bluff. These are just two of the stories from the Dardanelles area of Enniskillen, and of the 160 men from Fermanagh killed in 1915 and named on the Memorial.

In total almost 500,000 men were killed, wounded or missing in the Gallipoli Campaign – 213,000 from Britain and her Empire; 251,000 from Turkey.