Gallipoli: The Dardanelles

The Gallipoli Campaign was one of the great Allied disasters of World War I. The British wanted to open up a new front of fighting. A campaign in Turkey would force the Germans to split their forces in order to back up the badly rated Turkish army. Victory in the Dardanelles and the capture of the Ottoman capital of Istanbul would also open up a supply route to Russia.

Planning

In November 1914, First Lord of the Admirality Winston Churchill put forward his plans for an attack on the Dardanelles. The Royal Navy was to use a number of obsolete battleships not suitable to tackle the German Navy. These battleships would bombard the defences. This would be followed by a minimal landing force to secure the positions. This would open a route to Istanbul which would knock Turkey out of the war. However, the plan was far from complete. For example, there were no plans on how to resupply the naval fleet. Nonetheless, the plan was approved by the War Cabinet in January 1915.

Battle of Gallipoli

The bombardment of the Turkish defences at Cape Helles and Kum Kale on 19th February 1915. After a pause for a week for adverse weather, the bombardment continued but failed to silence the Turkish guns. On 18th March, the main naval attack was launched. 18 battleships led the fleet into the narrowest part of the straits which were just a mile wide. The battleships engaged the forts and minesweepers moved in to help clear the channels. However, British and French ships struck mines and were badly damaged, with two of them sinking. The losses stopped the Allies from trying to take the straits by naval power alone.

Landings were necessary to defeat the Turkish defences but a delay of 6 weeks allowed the Turks to prepare. The landings started on 25 April 1915 at Helles. The 5 beaches at Cape Helles were code named S, V, W, X and Y. The landings at Y were practically unopposed but at the other beaches, it was a very different story. At W beach, the Lancashires suffered 60% casualties and 6 Victoria Crosses were awarded. The recipients of the six VCs were chosen by ballot from the survivors as it was deemed all men of the batallion were "equally brave and distinguished".

At V beach, casualties rates were even worse at 70% and a further 3 VCs were awarded here.

The Allies failed to push inland and a stalemate was in place. In May, 3 more British ships were sunk and the battleship support was withdrawn. In August, further landings took place at Suvla Bay which were lightly opposed by again, nothing more than a beachhead was established. After a week, Lieutenant-General Sir Fredrick Stopford was dismissed and his performance was described as "one of the most incompetent feats of generalship of the First World War". Suvla Bay is also noted for "The Vanished Battalion".

The 1/5th Norfold or "The Sandringham Pals" became famous for three reason; most of them were employed by the Royal Family on the Sandringham Estate, their bodies were never found and finally after the war, 2 Gallipoli veterans claim they saw the Sandringham Pals march into a strange cloud that engulfed them before lifting and drifting away leaving no-one behind, thus, a legend was born.

Throughout the summer, the conditions in Gallipoli for both sides were appalling. The heat, poor sanitation and corpses left in the open were a recipe for disease. Dysentery spread through Allied trenches in ANZAC and Helles. It was at ANZAC Cove where Albert Jacka became the first Australian to win the Victoria Cross. On 19/20 May 1915, Jacka was holding a section of trench with 4 other men. They were attacked by 7 Turks and eventually, Jacka was the only Australian who wasn't killed or injured. Alone, he attacked the Turks, killing 5 by rifle and 2 by bayonet. He held the trench for the rest of the night until he was relieved in the morning.

Evacuation of the solders was first discussed in October but the task was expected to be difficult and heavy losses were expected. Evacuations began in December 1915 and the last British soldiers left on 9th January 1916. Remarkably, only two troops were lost during the evacuation which ironically turned out to be one of the most successful Allied operations of World War I.

Aftermath

Gallipoli was nothing short of a disaster for the Allies. Churchill was demoted and Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was recalled to London, effectively ending his career. Allied losses were around 220,000 (around 59%) and the defeat is still significant to Australians and New Zealanders as it was the first joint military campaign undertaken by the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).

2010 Tours

Escorted tours to Gallipoli are available throughout 2010. Call 0208 816 8789 for details, prices and availability or send an enquiry via the "Contact Us" page