GALLIPOLI 



3406 



GALLIPOLI 



and fighting a way over its series of 

 rocky heights, which were covered 

 with thorny scrub, and almost 

 waterless in summer. 



The landing of the expeditionary 

 force could not be carried out 

 promptly, after the failure of the 



Gallipoli. General map of the 

 district 



naval attack, as the transports 

 had not been loaded hi such a man- 

 ner as to permit a rapid disembar- 

 cation on a hostile coast. Sir Ian 

 Hamilton had no appliances, and 

 his picked regular division, the 

 29th, had not arrived. He de- 

 cided to withdraw the transports 

 to Egypt, there to reload them. 

 The First Landing 



Not till April 23 were they back 

 at the Dardanelles, and on April 25 

 the landing took place, with a 

 total force of about 90,000 British 

 and French. No attempt was 

 made to seize the Bulair isthmus, 

 the most vital point if Gallipoli 

 was to be secured. Feints were 

 made by the French on the Asiatic 

 coast, and by the British at several 

 other points, but the main landings 

 took place at open beaches on the 

 Gallipoli peninsula. By great 

 heroism, and in spite of very heavy 

 losses, under cover of the fire of 

 the fleet, the Allies established 

 themselves ashore. 



They found themselves short of 

 artillery and ammunition, and 

 still shorter of water, confronted 

 by a superior Turkish force who 

 were well entrenched, amply sup- 

 plied with machine guns and ar- 

 tillery, and protected by barbed 

 wire, holding a succession of six 

 parallel ridges. 



At the southern tip of the penin- 

 sula by May 5 the Allies were less 

 than a mile S. of Krithia, but the 

 British loss to that date had been 

 13,979, and ammunition was run- 

 ning very low. On May 6 a second 

 French division began to arrive, and 

 the second battle of Krithia opened, 

 but it brought only a trifling ad- 

 vance, purchased with heavy loss. 

 The Australians, who had been 

 landed at an isolated beach lacking 

 land communication with the rest 

 of the Allied force, were violently 

 counter-attacked by the Turks on 

 May 10, and again on May 18-19, 

 but these attacks were repulsed, 

 though not without difficulty. The 



Allies, in fact, were everywhere 

 held in a siege war for which they 

 lacked the necessary ammunition 

 and equipment. The appearance 

 of German submarines at the Dar- 

 danelles on May 25 endangered the 

 whole expedition, but, fortunately, 

 the German boats were very timidly 

 used. On June 4 a general attack 

 was delivered on the Turkish de- 

 fences at Krithia, and was repulsed 

 with severe loss, though on June 21 

 the French made a small advance. 

 A week later, on June 28, the Aus- 

 tralians improved their position, 

 carrying five lines of trenches. 



On July 12 the Allies, who had 

 now been reinforced by a fresh 

 British division, delivered a frontal 

 attack on the Turkish defences at 

 Achi Baba, which was continued on 

 the following day with no result but 

 a small gain of ground and heavy 

 losses. The British government 

 had now, however, reluctantly de- 

 cided to send out strong reinforce- 

 ments which would raise the total 



Gallipoli. Map showing the scene 

 of the campaign 



strength of Sir Ian Hamilton's 

 army to 100,000 effective infantry. 

 These reinforcements were to be 

 employed mainly in an advance 

 from Suvla Bay, which, if success- 

 fully carried out, would turn the 

 Turkish defences in the southern 

 part of the Gallipoli peninsula, and 

 in a vigorous attack from the Aus- 

 tralian positions on the Turkish 

 entrenchments about Sari Bair. 



On Aug. 6 the Allies attacked in 

 the S. of the peninsula to hold 

 the Turks, and fighting there con- 

 tinued for six days with little 

 result ; simultaneously, the ad- 

 vance was begun from the Aus- 

 tralian front on Sari Bair ; and a 

 landing was successfully effected 

 at Suvla Bay, the Turks there 

 being completely surprised. But 

 at every point the operations mis- 

 carried. By Aug. 10 the Suvla at- 

 tack had completely failed ; it was 



renewed on Aug. 21 without a 

 gleam of success. Before this last 

 attack Sir Ian Hamilton tele- 

 graphed a request for 45,000 drafts 

 and 50,000 new formation troops 

 in addition, which the British 

 government was unable to grant. 

 Lord Kitchener's hope that the 

 Turks would run when British sub- 

 marines passed up the Dardanelles 

 had proved quite chimerical. 

 Recall of Sir Ian Hamilton 

 On Oct. 11 the government 

 asked for an estimate of the losses 

 likely to be involved in the 

 evacuation of the peninsula, and 

 when Sir Ian Hamilton replied 

 that " we might have a veritable 

 catastrophe," he was recalled and 

 replaced by Sir C. C. Monro. The 

 Allied force had fallen to 50,000 fit 

 men ; sickness was growing ; the 

 daily wastage was nearly 1,000 ; 

 the enemy was being strongly re- 

 inforced, and with the German 

 advance through Serbia there was 

 every probability that at an early 

 date heavy guns would reach the 

 Turks and blow the Allies out of 

 their positions. After great hesi- 

 tation, on Dec. 8 the British cabi- 

 net ordered the evacuation of the 

 Suvla and Anzac positions, which 

 was carried out without any loss 

 on Dec. 20, by a most brilliant 

 operation. On Dec. 27 the evacu- 

 ation of the position at Cape 

 Helles was sanctioned and was 

 carried out on Jan 8-9, 1916. 



Thus ended the disastrous Galli- 

 poli expedition. In it from first to 

 last 468,987 men were employed by 

 the British, with losses of 33,522 

 killed, 7,636 missing, and 78,420 

 wounded, in addition to an enor- 

 mous total invalided. The French 

 force employed was probably over 

 80,000, with proportionate casual- 

 ties. The causes of the failure were 

 inadequate strength for the Allied 

 forces were thrown in piecemeal, 

 and there were never more than 

 100,000 infantry available; de- 

 fective ammunition supply ; and 

 the defiance of all principles of 

 naval and military strategy. 

 These operations had an unfor- 

 tunate effect on the campaign 

 in France, diverting men and 

 munitions from it at a critical time, 

 and they certainly encouraged 

 Bulgaria to throw in her lot with 

 the Germans. The Allies attacked 



GallipolL The Cape Helles sector, where 

 the principal landings were made 



