But What Did The Jews At Gallipoli Drink?

News from an archaeological dig at Gallipoli:

Almost a century after troops were slaughtered at Gallipoli, evidence from a war that shaped Australia's national identity appears to be well-preserved under thick vegetation...Archaeologists spent two weeks assessing a 3.7-square-kilometre section of battlefield in October last year. They documented 12 cemeteries, seven collapsed tunnels, eight boundary markers and 36 dugouts.  The expedition uncovered 69 artefacts, which included bullets, shell cartridges, medicine jars and belt buckles.  This was the most significant study of the battlefield since official Australian war historian Charles Bean visited in 1919...The team will visit Gallipoli again in September 2011, as part of the $350,000 federal government program to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day.

An interesting element of the excavation was related to alcholhol:

...uncovered new evidence at the landmark World War I site [included] glass shards left in the Turkish trenches could explain the drinking habits of diggers as the centenary of Anzac Day approaches.  The Anzac legend has often been used to sell alcohol, but survey archaeologist Antonio Sagona said it was actually the Turks, and not the Australians, who downed beers in battle.  "The beer bottle shards were only on the Turkish side, that was just one small point that was rather interesting to me," Professor Sagona told reporters at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Sunday.  The Turks had a penchant for Bomonti and Constantinople beer. Conversely, Allied soldiers were given rum in April 1915.


What were the Jews given?

The Jew who fought in the Zion Mule Corps Regiment.  Yes, over 500 Jews organized into a serparate military unit, first initiated by Jabotinsky (who left after a true combat unit was rejected).  They arrived in late April 1915.:-

Commanding Officer Lt. Colonel John Henry Patterson, DSO, an Irish Protestant...later wrote: "Many of the Zionists whom I thought somewhat lacking in courage showed themselves fearless to a degree when under heavy fire, while Captain Trumpeldor actually revelled in it, and the hotter it became the more he liked it..."

Some stills in this clip.

Don't forget, Pesach was at the end of March and the first week of April that year, so some wine must have been left over.  Or did they polish it all off?

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