A NEW exhibition in Chippenham is commemorating the centenary of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

It uses maps, articles and British Army and Anzac (Australian) uniforms to tell the tragic story of Wiltshire men who 100 years ago landed on the peninsula, now in Turkey but then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Some of them were part of the Wiltshire Regiment and others were joining Australian and New Zealand forces after emigrating there.

Britain and its allies wanted to knock the Ottomans, who were fighting alongside Germany, out of the First World War.

The plan was to land forces at Gallipoli, move inland and take the capital Constantinople (now Istanbul) - but the plan did not work.

The exhibition has been put together by Richard Broadhead of Wiltshire Soldiers, who said: “There is a man from Box telling us about the landing.

“The 5th battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment were led to what they were told was a safe place. They thought it was safe to take their packs off and bed down for the night. But at 3am they were attacked by 3,000 Turkish troops. There were only two officers left at the end of the day.

"Out of 600 men, there were only 276 left - in just one night in August 2015.

“It was a real black day, and the worst thing was people went down as missing and their folks didn’t find out until 2016. We’ve got letters here asking, what’s happened to my husband?”

The Gallipoli exhibition is free and runs in the Yelde Hall, 10am to 3pm, until next Wednesday, May 13 before it moves onto Trowbridge.