Thousands honor fallen soldiers of Gallipoli at dawn service

Thousands gather on Gallipoli Peninsula for an Anzac Day dawn service to mark the centenary of the landing of Allied troops Leaders and dignitaries from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey led thousands at dawn ceremonies on Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula on April 25 to mark the 100th anniversary of a World War One battle that helped shape their nations. 

The Gallipoli campaign has resonated through generations, which have mourned the thousands of soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) cut down by machinegun and artillery fire as they struggled ashore on a narrow beach. 

The fighting would eventually claim more than 130,000 lives, 87,000 of them on the side of the Ottoman Turks, who were allied with imperial Germany in World War One. 

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Britain's Prince Charles laid wreaths as bagpipes played at Anzac Cove, just north of where the landings occurred, in front of more than 10,000 people. 

Abbott told the crowd, many of whom spent a cold night in their sleeping bags to secure a place at the crowded grounds, about the lives lost during the campaign, which helped forge Australia's identity. 

"Like every generation since, we are here on Gallipoli, because we believe that the ANZACs represented Australians at our best," Reuters quoted him as saying. 

"It's the perseverance of those who scaled the cliffs under a rain of fire. It's the compassion of the nurses who attended to the thousands of wounded. 

"And it's the greatest love anyone can have: the readiness to lay down your life for your friend." 

"We aren't here to mourn a defeat or to honor a success, although  there was much to mourn...