What was Gallipoli's casualty rate?

Gallipoli's casualty rate was high but not the highest of the First World War. About 26,111 Australians were killed or wounded at Gallipoli (8,709 deaths and 19,441 wounded) out of about 50,000 Australian soldiers who served in the campaign, giving an overall casualty rate of about 52 per cent. The death rate alone was about 17 per cent of those who served.

These figures combine deaths in battle, deaths from wounds, deaths from disease, and wounded who survived. Disease was a major killer on the peninsula, with dysentery, enteric fever, jaundice, and septic wounds all common in the cramped conditions at Anzac Cove. The poor sanitation, limited fresh water, and continuous Turkish shellfire made the beachhead an extraordinarily difficult environment for the eight-month campaign.

New Zealand losses, proportionally heavier given the smaller force, totalled about 7,991 casualties out of about 14,000 troops who served (a casualty rate of about 57 per cent). New Zealand deaths were 2,779. British losses across the campaign totalled about 73,485 (21,255 dead) out of about 410,000 British and Commonwealth troops who served, a casualty rate of about 18 per cent. Indian troops suffered about 1,200 casualties. French and French colonial troops suffered about 47,000 casualties. Turkish casualties were the highest of any combatant, with about 250,000 to 300,000 Turkish soldiers killed, wounded, or made sick.

By comparison, the Western Front from 1916 to 1918 produced even heavier Australian casualties: the Battle of Fromelles on 19 to 20 July 1916 produced 5,533 Australian casualties in a single night, and the Battle of Pozières (July to September 1916) produced about 23,000 Australian casualties. The total Australian First World War casualty toll was 60,000 dead and 156,000 wounded out of about 416,000 who enlisted. Gallipoli therefore accounted for about 15 per cent of total Australian war deaths but remains the campaign most central to the country's memory of the war, partly because it was the first major engagement of Australian troops as a federated nation and partly because of the way the campaign was reported by Charles Bean and other war correspondents at the time. Anzac Day on 25 April remains the principal annual commemoration of all Australian war service.