The Chaos Of The Gallipoli Campaign | Great Battle Of The Great War | Timeline

this narrow strip of water is the Dardanelles lying at the northern end of the Aegean Sea it separates mainland Europe from Asia over the centuries many desperate battles have been fought here in 1915 the forces of Britain France and their empires clashed with the Turkish army at a place whose name is forever connected with hardship and death it would become known as the Battle of Gallipoli [Music] this is the ancient city of Troy strategically built on an outcrop of rock it guards the entrance to the Dardanelles straits and mainland Turkey nine separate cities have been built on this site the earliest dating from 3,000 years BC in the 12th century the epic war between the Trojans and the Greeks was fought across this land all for the love of the beautiful Helen according to legend Ajax and Achilles led the Greek armies against King Priam and the Trojan army of Hector and Paris after 10 years of siege and bitter fighting it was the Greeks who broke the stalemate gaining entry to Troy by hiding inside the fabled wooden horse this romantic history was soon to have another chapter added as the storm clouds gathered over early 20th century Europe as tension grew among the major continental powers the spark that ignited the inferno came on June the 28th 1914 when the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo within a few weeks a newly formed a land stand as a triple entendre tween Britain France and Russia had ranged itself against Germany and Austria in the months before the outbreak of the war the Turkish capital of Constantinople modern-day Istanbul smelled it with intrigue all the great powers sent missions here but the Turks took care not to commit themselves to either side the ancient Ottoman Empire was suffering from years of poor and oppressive rule in 1909 the sick man of Europe as it had become known underwent a change of leadership with the emergence of the Young Turks a youthful group of assorted revolutionaries politicians and adventurers they were led by talat Bey whose political intrigues ensured that no one knew which side they might join next in line and by far the most dangerous was Enver Pacha the Minister for war he was a powerful figure almost universally hated by other political groups and by the army he'd cultivated relations with the Germans after a period as military attache in Berlin in 1914 he agreed to the establishment of a German military mission in Turkey Mustafa Kemal was another of the original Young Turks given command of the 19th division at Gallipoli he was destined to emerge as one of the most significant figures of the campaign the Young Turks first task was to help reorganize the army under the leadership of the German General Liman von Sanders and his team of advisors he started by strengthening the defences surrounding the Dardanelles building up the number of mobile artillery units both on the peninsula and the Asian coast the infantry were also put through a series of intensive exercises in 1914 Turkish troops were considered inferior to their European counterparts but this opinion would soon change as their courage and tenacity in defending their homeland became apparent the legend marked out on this hillside reminds passing travelers of the sacrifice that was made here by thousands of soldiers who died to give Turkey her freedom the location of the Dardanelles was vitally important the channel separates mainland turkey from the Gallipoli Peninsula and was the main supply route to get weapons into Russia and grain out on the 4th of August 1914 Britain and France finally declared war on Germany the previous day Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty confiscated two turkish battleships being built in British yards one of them the Sultan Osman the first was nearing completion at Armstrong's on Tyneside a guns had been tested and the Turkish crew were waiting to take possession this seizure outraged the Turkish people pushing them closer to an alliance with Germany traditionally the Turk and the Britain had good relationships relationships which had seen British support for Turkish interests and of course British interests in this area but that balance was being changed despite all the endeavours Britain was making with her own intrigues in Constantinople with diplomatic maneuvering but then the final pieces of jigsaw come into place first Britain requisitions to ships which the Turks had felt quite legitimately they had bought and bought by the people's endeavour as well as the government's endeavor turkish women's wedding rings and hard-earned savings of commercial enterprise of Turks had been invested in these ships which sure soon should have been seen in the Golden Horn wearing their new Turkish colors and instead they were kept by the Royal Navy however that serious loss to British prestige and respect for Britain was worsened still further by the fact that the Germans appeared to be giving a replacement almost for those ships with the arrival in Turkish waters of gurbin a very modern very powerful battle cruiser and her consort they like cruiser Breslau and with the arrival of these ships the Turks had it seemed compensation for their losses all of these factors change what had historically been a good relationship between Turkey and Britain into one where the balance has swayed towards the Germans Enver Pacha as Minister for war had been stalling for time even hinting at an alliance with Russia but he now chose instead to welcome the German warships which were soon seen murdered in Constantinople confirming Turkey's alliance with Germany the gurbin and Breslau then steamed into the Black Sea where they attacked the Russian ports this while flying the Turkish flag the Allies issued an ultimatum to the Turks which was ignored and on the 31st of October war was declared meanwhile on the Western Front the lines of trenches that would become a feature of the European landscape to the next four years had become established stretching some 600 miles from the North Sea to Switzerland on the Eastern Front the Russians had suffered huge losses and fearing their total collapse the Allies devised a plan to assault and capture the Dardanelles this was the brainchild of Winston Churchill before war broke out he'd hatched the idea with the Secretary of State for war Lord Kitchener now that the Russians were in desperate need of help Churchill's plan was resurrected it called for a fleet of aging British dreadnought battleships to force their way through the Dardanelles Churchill hoped of the Turkish shore batteries would be quickly overcome the fleet would then steam on into the Sea of Marmara through the Bosphorus and into the Black Sea the Allies were optimistic that the appearance of a battle fleet in front of Constantinople would cause panic turkey's only two munitions factories were with an easy range and the threat of a naval bombardment in this hoped would cause the Turks to surrender the British would lead the Allied attack with 12 battleships reinforced by the Queen Elizabeth the most modern and powerful ship in the British fleet the French contributed six battleships while the Russians lacking any effective Navy of their own were happy to support the plan the main dissenting voice was the First Sea Lord Admiral Fisher he argued that while the dreadnoughts were expendable their crews were not they would be needed to fight the Germans in the North Sea despite his reservation as the plan went ahead to prepare for the assault Royal Navy battleships bombarded the Turkish forts guarding the southern entrance to the Dardanelles in February and March 1950 following the final bombardment parties of Marines were landed at the entrance to the Dardanelles here at the village of come Kali on the Asiatic side of the Straits and at said lbar and the European coast at Cape Helles severe damage was inflicted on both forts and many of their guns were destroyed some of the Marines even penetrated inland behind the forts that come Kali these attacks gave ample warning to the Turks and they prepared their defenses accordingly at said el bar the large guns of the British battle cruisers had caused considerable damage lying only a few miles offshore the Navy poured a torrent of high explosives onto the Turkish defenses some of the shells penetrated the ammunition stores causing massive damage others hit the shore batteries knocking out the large guns designed to protect the entrance to the Straits ironically the destruction inflicted here was to be greater than at any latest stage of the campaign [Music] allied submarines are also being used to good effect in attacking Turkish shipping in the Dardanelles the crew of submarine b11 were particularly successful as a fishermen are knew that despite the strength of the current in midstream if I crept close in to the shore there would be slack water we dive 260 feet at the Narrows waited a while and then moved up and through I came up to periscope depth and saw on the starboard quarter a large old Turkish battleship I fired one torpedo and then had to reduce speed because the lights were getting low and our batteries were failing by using full revs we got off but I couldn't see the way out of the bay I looked for the furthest bit of land through the periscope but the Coxon said the spirit compass lenses had packed up and all he could see were black spots I told him to follow them and at full speed in 20 minutes a sea horizon appeared on our port head the stunt was very amusing and full of excitement I here I send 100 Turks and many Germans to sleep I'm afraid it lies very lightly on my chest in the event of troops being committed a commander would be required Sir Ian Hamilton was called upon as one of Kitchener's most trusted commanders he had served under Kitchener as an aide in the Sudan but like most of the general staff was very much in awe of the great man he was after all K of K Kitchener of Khartoum this led to a reluctance on Hamilton's part as with many of his contemporaries to question any of Kitchener's directives Hamilton was a Scot aged 62 at the time of his appointment he was a career soldier who many regarded as the most gifted military commander of the age he was an intellectual with a passion for writing and poetry he was good-natured and sensitive he preferred to suggest causative action to his subordinates rather than enforce a strategy that would ultimately prove disastrous Hamilton's leading generals displayed contrasting styles leftenant General William Birdwood was loved by the Australian and New Zealand troops he came to command but Sir Alma Hunter Weston in command of the superb 29th division regulars gained a reputation for repeating mistakes and suffering heavy casualties Hamilton's unwillingness to impose his will on his staff resulted in many missed opportunities and while he was much admired for his bravery and charm it was Drive and speed of action that were required here meanwhile as the Turks continued to strengthen their defenses around the Dardanelles the battle to take the Straits was about to begin [Music] this is the town of shinnok le on the Asian side of the Dardanelles it overlooks the point known as the Narrows here the two coastlines are less than a mile apart it was from the naval base here that the Turkish Navy sent out it's mine layers to block the channel on the night of the 7th of March the mine layer news red slipped undetected down the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles Thule 20 mines parallel to the coast this was a change to the normal strategy of laying a series of mines at various points across the Straits the news rets mines had been placed in an area where allied battleships had been seen on the news a previous day it was here that the Turkish trap was set it was to have devastating consequences North Sea trawlers had been requisitioned and sent to the Dardanelles and an attempt to clear the minefields but they were slow-moving and made easy targets for the Turkish shore batteries the civilian crews suffered many casualties Royal Navy ratings were drafted in to help stiffen the resolve of the trawler crews but this also failed leaving many of the mines intact on the 18th of March the British and French fleets steamed past here heading north its mission to subdue the Turkish defenses at the Narrows as the Allied fleet sailed in formation into the narrow confines at the Dardanelles they were subjected to intensive shell fire a vicious firefight began between the ships and the many forts and mobile gun batteries as the exchange of gunfire grew in intensity the ships on the right of the fleet were less than a mile from the Asiatic Shore as they neared the coast end their attack they turned for home confident that the route ahead was clear this played into the hands of the Turks strategy and deploying the news Reds mines now appeared to be working as the huge ships swung around tragedy struck the French battleship Bouvet which had been damaged by shell fire and was listing badly and then hit one of the new threats Mines and sank in only 30 seconds for the loss of 690 of her crew I couldn't rise to the surface because of the tag of the water I wasn't there for some time then when the ship touched the bottom of the sea I came straight her either because of the impact or because the burner exploded I couldn't breathe blood was coming out of my mouth my ears and my eyes if I had not found a piece of food I should have been a goner when I was on the surface again I could see one or two other men who were being machine gunned from the shore and killed this was just the beginning of what would be a disastrous day for the Allies the British battleships irresistible and ocean both hit mines and sank the inflexible was also hit and badly damaged that managed to limp away as sailors Manning the pumps in an attempt to keep her afloat a second French battleship the Suffern had sustained several hits and had to be run aground to stop their sinking the Allies were stunned by the ferocity and accuracy of the Turkish fire the British flagship Queen Elizabeth was ordered to withdraw the Navy could ill afford to lose its finest and most modern battleship such sudden losses and severe damage stunned the Allies and they abandoned the attack this joke to their confidence was to have grave repercussions when they failed to press home the assault the following day following this defeat the Navy was never to enter the Dardanelles in such force again this was the first perhaps the most serious blunder of the campaign if not the entire war Admiral de Robeck in command of the fleet and wanted to call off the attack but many like the brilliant Commodore Keys both of the Navy should continue to press for a breakthrough fate was destined to play its part in the campaign as Hamilton dispatched to the peninsula by fast Cruiser arrived just in time to see the Navy routed one of the Turkish Gunners was destined to become a national hero that day following his efforts in feeding the big guns the Navy's failure to follow up the attack of the 18th provided the Turks with a morale-boosting victory one seemed destined to mirror so much that was to follow one of the main objectives of the attack had been the Fort Hood killing bar and Shalaka lay on either side of the Narrows both had been heavily shelled the defeat caused consternation in London but despite this the War Cabinet supported Durov X decision to withdraw it was clear now that the army would have to be brought in to join the Navy and a combined operation the army though it was dispersed was there ready and its commander-in-chief had viewed these operations and Ian Hamilton had no doubt in his mind that there needed to be a combined operation of course he must have been aware that the burglar had as it were knocked on the door and advertised his presence and it would take quite some time to get his force ready for such a major operation as a combined operation landing against opposition of course we can see today from our comfortable armchairs that to give the whole operation any chance of success a combined operation would have had to have been assessed as to whether it was possible had you got the resources for it given the need to beat the Germans where they were placing their main forces on the Western Front such a measured consideration that was necessary but war sometimes doesn't allow such a measured consideration as we like to think today it was typical of the campaign that little regard had been paid to any forward planning the assault on Gallipoli had been seen as a naval attack now that the army was to be brought in it was found that little attention had been paid to any previous intelligence about conditions on the peninsula reports from officers who had served here were ignored now the troops were to be committed units of the Royal Naval Division from the 29th division regulars prepared to leave up to now we did not know our destination but we thought we were bound for the Dardanelles as we were part of the 29th division and had some of the finest British soldiers with us the officers arranged a boxing competition for the troops they all fought very well showing all the best characteristics of the British soldier manliness fairness bulldog tenacity and gentlemen leanness these two young stowaways were found going on to join the two French divisions sent to divert the Turks attention with the attack had come Colley on the Asian Shore Australian and New Zealand troops enroute to the Western Front were diverted to Egypt where they encountered British units the Arab quarter was out of bounds of course we went there we seemed to get on particularly well with the Anzacs and there like the rnd men a friendship seemed to grew up and this remained throughout the campaign many thousands of Allied troops were assembled in the Egyptian port of Alexandria this would become the main base for supplying men and materiel to Gallipoli and for bringing casualties out the destination for these troops was the island of Lemnos which lays 60 miles southwest of the peninsula hundreds of ships of every kind were now headed in its direction we continued loading operations during the day and embarked at 4:30 p.m. we lay in the stream until next day it was a site of a lifetime to see so many vessels and a port must have been over 200 many of them carrying french troops every kind of ship is arriving battleships battle cruisers light cruisers torpedo boats and submarines a seaplane was launched from the aeroplane ship and circled around the harbor a great sign of the potency of the appurtenances of our forces while the Allies continued their preparations the Turks under German orders were busy strengthening their defenses Liman von Sanders had 80,000 troops under his command comprising six divisions he sent two of them to come Kali on the asian shore where a major Allied landing was expected the other four was stationed on the peninsula one of them commanded by Mustafa Kemal was given the key role of acting as a mobile force the Allied commanders now decided that the landings would take place on the 25th of April it would be the largest amphibious assault the world had seen nothing like this had been attempted before getting such a large force ashore in the face of what was hoped would be only token resistance Hamilton would attack with a force of almost 75,000 men at last the time had come for the troops to leave Lemnos heading towards the peninsula many look forward to the landing with a sense of foreboding others saw it as the experience of a lifetime some wondered how they would cope with the coming ordeal we are off in the quiet afterglow Lemnos lies to the west tomorrow we are to land in Gallipoli I have been looking at my lasses photograph but eager eyes challenging me to manliness as she praying for me tonight on the morning of the 25th of April 1915 some 75,000 British and French soldiers were landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Turkish mainland they were part of the biggest seaborne assault of world had ever seen following the disastrous naval battle in the Dardanelles straits the decision had been taken to put trips ashore it was the start of an eight and a half months campaign one from which many thousands of these soldiers would never return in the early hours of April the 25th a fleet of ships laden with 75,000 Allied soldiers approached the Gallipoli Peninsula heading for two main landing points the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps or Anzacs as they were known were to be landed halfway up the peninsula while the Regular Army soldiers of the crack 29th division were to be put ashore at six beaches around Cape Helles the Anzacs went in at first light but landed further south of the wrong place not at GABA Tepe as had been planned but here at Anzac Cove a mile further north this was blamed on a combination of strong currents and navigational errors by the Navy the troops were confronted by a confused landscape of cliffs and Razorback ridges due to the nature of the terrain the area was lightly defended realizing this the Anzacs took off in furious pursuit of the Turks even as more men and equipment were being rushed ashore to consolidate the beachhead Mustafa Kemal the Turkish commander was sent into action in an attempt to stop the Anzacs taking the high ground of the sorry bear Ridge and show Nach bear this was the key to capturing the peninsula dozens of bitter fights broke out with many men getting lost in the maze of gullies the Anzacs over-enthusiasm led to chaos and heavy casualties but some of them had advanced far enough to gain a glimpse of the distant Dardanelles on the far side of the peninsula Kemal summoned up every man he could find and threw them into action desperate fighting continued throughout the day resulting in the Anzacs being kept off the sorry bear Ridge a great chance had been lost further south at Cape Helles the British troops met with mixed fortunes at vnw beaches the turks had plenty of warning the beach was to provide one of the most enduring images of the campaign as the steamer river-clyde packed with 2,000 troops was run aground in the face of the enemy's artillery and concentrated machine-gun fire as the ship ground ashore hatches cut into her boughs were opened and the troops poured out to confront a hail of machine gun fire it was 6:30 a.m. as the troops dashed down the specially constructed gangways hundreds of casualties were sustained as the men were caught in the narrow field of fire an aircraft flying overhead reported the sea ran red with blood 50 yards out from the shore this unique photograph was taken from the river Clyde soon after the landing it shows soldiers in a very thrall of battle many lie dead or wounded unable to move while units of the Munster Dublin and Hampshire regiments can be seen taking shelter from a concentrated Turkish machine-gun fire four of their number are crawling towards the enemy barbed wire in an attempt to get off the beach many more remain trapped on the shoreline these men would remain pinned down till nightfall when under cover of darkness they and the remaining troops on board the river clyde were able to advance without further loss w Beach had been heavily fortified it was ringed with barbed wire and machine guns the first Lancashire Fusiliers came ashore here as they began to leave the cutters their ranks were ripped apart by gunfire some of the soldiers who'd reached the shore were mystified when their mates remained motionless in the boats they had been shot where they sat the pressure of their bodies keeping them upright their gallantry in forcing their way ashore of the regiment six VCS before breakfast commander-in-chief's in Hamilton was so moved by their sacrifice that he named WB CH Lancashire landing only a few hundred yards to the east of V Beach at s Beach the South Wales Borderers had managed to dig themselves in this would be one of the few successes of the day here the casualties had been few this thanks to the Navy for once its covering fire had been effective in dealing with the defenders Eck's beach was no more than a strip of sand faced by rugged cliffs here units of the second Royal Fusiliers engaged a few Turkish defenders quickly capturing the clifftop when the Turks counter attacked the border regiment who had just landed scaled the cliff and together with the Fusiliers drove the Turks back six hundred yards with a furious bayonet charge but the opportunity to break out and helped Lancashire's who were taking heavy casualties only a few hundred yards away was not taken but it was @y beach that some historians consider a real opportunity was missed a force of two thousand men were landed at this lightly guarded spot the top was reached with little difficulty but incredibly neither of the commanding officers could agree who was senior who should be in command the resulting fast sought troops sitting on the cliff tops while the advantage slipped away a request for orders from the local commander Hunter Weston were ignored as he remained separate from the action on board his command ship well view about why beach is that however imaginative it may have been to try to outflank the Turkish defenses at the toe of the peninsula from krithia if you're like looking southwest words that the the beach from which such a landing could be made was very small and with a narrow cliff path up which I really think that despite the lack of opposition they did well to get 2,000 troops but can we really expect 2,000 troops to hold or cut off the roads and communication across the toe of the peninsula which would I think there be about four or four and a half to five miles and I think that was perhaps over optimistic so perhaps we put too much accent on the failure at why Beach determining any chance of success at Cape Helles the objective of all this effort was to capture the hill of achi baba and the nearby town of krithia from the summit of the hill the Turks had a clear view of the Allied positions below as the day progressed much time had been wasted battering at a barbed door hunter western had become transfixed by the slaughter and V and doubly beaches and it ignored or missed the opportunities at X&Y beaches it is said that officers from Y Beach had been able to stroll a mile inland critter itself at that time undefended such lost opportunities were typical of the campaign the Turks took advantage of the Allies delay and quickly garrisoned krithia turning the place into a fortress [Music] at Cape Helles three days after the landings on the 25th Hunter Weston undertook the offensive known as the First Battle of krithia concentrated artillery fire heralded the start of a series of major actions intended to take the town in the nearby hill of Archie barber in the following months thousands of lives would be lost in futile attempts to capture them of the 14,000 troops who attacked on the 28th 3,000 were killed at Anzac the situation remained critical a maze of trenches were built at some places there were less than 10 yards away from the enemy the Australians dug themselves in while fending off repeated Turkish bayonet charges following their efforts here and on the Somme they were given the nickname diggers the fighting in these confined spaces was often of the most desperate nature with more than 7,000 casualties in the first three days these rapidly growing numbers of wounded were in urgent need of evacuation as an increasing number of barges and craft were used to ferry them to the waiting transports it was among these gullies that one of the most celebrated characters of Anzac and of the whole Gallipoli campaign was to emerge John Simpson Kirkpatrick came from a coal mining family in South Shields County Durham he joined the Merchant Navy and jumped ship when it reached Australia changing his name to John Simpson when war broke out he enlisted in the field ambulance corps as a stretcher bearer soon found himself posted to the peninsula as part of the Australian third division it was in the confused and dangerous landscape of Anzac that Simpson was to achieve immortality in an attempt to cope with the ever-increasing flood of wounded he befriended one of the many donkeys put ashore to haul supplies he soon became a familiar sight to the Troops as the fighting raged among the chaos shells and gunfire life expectancy at Anzac could be very short through it all Simpson could be seen bringing back the badly injured men he became known to everyone as the man with a donkey three weeks after he landed Simpson was killed while bringing in yet another wounded man in his time at Anzac he'd saved the lives of more than 300 soldiers including Turks he remains one of Australia's most treasured heroes meanwhile in front of krithia a bitter struggle developed as the British tried to wrest control from the Turks some initial success was achieved with the troops gaining nearly 600 yards of no-man's land to follow up this advantage Hamilton suggested a night attack but hunter Weston thought otherwise with the result the following daylight raids ended in carnage despite the losses he attacked again next day losing six and a half thousand troops in the process Hamilton now changed his mind about the direction of the assault switching the emphasis from Helles to Anzac but before he could act the Turks attacked [Music] the positions at Anzac have become the stuff of legend features of the landscape were given names this sandstone escarpment became one of the most familiar known to the troops as the Sphinx the increasingly ragged Australians occupied an area of feech had less than three-and-a-half thousand yards long than only twelve hundred yards inland many of the trenches had been named after soldiers who fought there places like Russell's top Quinn's post or Walker's Ridge became associated forever with sudden and violent death Johnson's jolly was so called after Brigadier General Johnson who called for the Turkish trenches near Lone Pine to be shelled this - jolly up the defenders the name Anzac was born when the divisional name of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was shortened in an attempt to speed up the paperwork life here if you could cling on to it was miserable the men were often short of water and wracked by dysentery that came with the constant clouds of corpse flies so they seized any opportunity to enjoy a game or a bit of horseplay hygiene was essential and any chance to get a haircut or to delouse their bodies or their clothing was welcomed on the 19th of May the Turks assaulted Anzac with 30,000 men the densely packed hordes swept across this open ground to be met with concentrated rifle fund the diggers fought each other for a place on the fire step but the days of taking it was now better and additionality soon the narrow area in front of the trenches was choked with more than 10,000 dead and dying Turks the carnage was to create a further problem the stench from so many corpses was unbearable and the threat of disease from the bodies prompted a truce on the 24th of May both sides emerged from their trenches into no-man's land to bury the dead the unwonted quietness of the day was almost uncanny the Australians and Turks are only six yards apart and at the end of the truce they shook hands and wished each other luck they've been retired to their trenches tried to blow each other's heads off war is a curious business it was at this time that a grudging respect for the Turks fighting abilities was acknowledged Johnny Turk was seen to be a good and dedicated fighter who behaved honorably as the summer wore on the costly attacks at krysya continued Hunter Weston was determined to maintain the offensive this culminated in the third battle of krithia which began on the 4th of June 30,000 troops were committed this time with the help of the French they sent two divisions of troops and six batteries of their famous 75 millimeter guns their accuracy and firepower were renowned and during the attacks on Krisha they had a heartening effect on the British troops on their left flank the French are sometimes referred to as the Forgotten army of the Gallipoli campaign this even though they held and maintained a vital position on the right flank at Halas these troops showed great valour in holding their ground suffering many casualties in the process a stalemate settled over the Peninsula Hamilton now ordered a new battle plan the objective was to seize the summit of Shawn at bear above Anzac Cove a series of diversionary attacks would take place at Suvla Bay the neck Lone Pine and south of krithia the main assault would be launched from the coastal plain north of Anzac and involved climbing up a series of steep gullies to capture shun at bear this job fell to the thirteenth division made up from soldiers of kitchens new army this force of more than 10,000 men had been brought ashore undetected under the cover of darkness a remarkable feat in itself they will be joined by the New Zealanders and the Gurkhas the battle plans success hinged on wiggling out the Turks on the evening of the 6th of August the troops advanced up the maze of unrecognized gullies they knew Kemal and his men occupied the heights but had no idea how many Turks there were or how well dug in we moved into the creek but the Turks must have had wind of our intended attack just as we got there they opened fire we didn't fire a shot as we went out without any cartridges and our rifles we were told to take the place with the bayonet and by Jove we did and great style to Turks came around a bush and I got them both two days later British and Gurkha troops reached the crest while on the right the New Zealanders took the summit itself they held on there for two days before the Turks eventually drove them off Kemal personally leading the attack some of the most desperate fighting of the campaign took place here the Allies it ended in failure at Anzac the diversions began watched by Kemal from a nearby Ridge the attack here at learn pine began at 4:00 p.m. on the 6th of August the Turks were well dug in their trenches covered with heavy pine logs at 5:30 p.m. three Australian battalions surged forward in four lines it would be two days before the Australians finally took the place the tension as we waited for the whistle was unbearable we had some 70 or 80 yards to go and as the fire grew hotter we might have been doubling over crisp straw and this was the impression the noise of the firing made on me we had to go straight to the third line trench over the top of the others I got to this trench absolutely exhausted and was regaining my breath when a big turk came charging along pursued by two Australians as he passed me I shot him in the back adorned the next day the 8th and 10th Australian Light Horse assaulted the Turkish lines at the neck the Turkish lines were only 60 yards away most of the first wave was annihilated within the first five yards two more attacks suffered the same fate well the right of the line did go over the top and brother was killed we were not ordered out of our trenches has orders to cancel the fourth line attack and view of the massacre reached us just in time I was soon told that my brother had been brought in dying I didn't get to him in time and all that was left for me to do was to bury him and write to his wife further north at Suvla Bay the diversion here had the potential to be decisive in its own right the plan was to get the troops ashore and moving inland as quickly as possible more of Kitchener's new army were now committed the 10th and 11th divisions were landed in purpose-built craft known as beatles on the night of the 6th of august and the following morning getting ashore was not too bad we lined up on the beach and gutter orders no firing Benidorm me I saw Captain Morgan look at his wrist compass and point in the direction of la la Barba as he went towards the hill firing broke out and I heard Turks screaming allah-allah a lot of our men were killed including Captain Morgan the wounded were crying out and in the darkness it was all confusion the commander of the Scylla attack general Stopford was largely responsible for the confusion failing to move his men quickly off the beaches this gave the Turks time to bring in reinforcements the result was heavy allied casualties for no ground gained two weeks after the landing on the 23rd of August as the troops advanced across the silver plane the battlefield caught fire many of the wounded crawled under the scrub in search of shelter only to be burned to death if a true hero was to emerge from the confusion of the Gallipoli campaign it was Kemal his ruthless determination that his bravery on so many occasions was a major factor in the Turkish victory it made him a national figure going on to become the father of the Turkish nation while Kemal stamped his authority on events city in Hamilton often only reacted to them as they occurred as the Allied situation on the peninsula deteriorated so that is standing in London the writing was on the wall non October the 16th he was recalled he had lost the confidence of his generals and the War Cabinet and had been further undermined by newspaper criticism at home it proved to be the last straw following this Kitchener himself visited Gallipoli what he saw led him to recommend evacuation even against the advice of some of the generals on the spot he was convinced the position was hopeless and the troops utterly worn out in December the War Cabinet agreed in a final twist of the campaign the baking heat of the Turkish summer now gave way to storms floods and in November blizzards there were 16,000 cases of frostbite and 300 men died from the cold as the order was given to evacuate many from W and V beaches the rear guards left Suvla on the 20th of December 1915 and from Helles on the 7th of January 1960 more than 100,000 men in their equipment were to be taken off in stages leaving only small detachments Manning the frontline all the support troops having left many ruses were set up to mislead the enemy periods of silence guns fired by delayed action and some unlikely new recruits the Turks were completely fooled not a man was lost due to excellent planning the skill of the Navy and the self-discipline of the men as the departing ships watched the fires ashore the final irony of the campaign was that the evacuation was the most successful part of it the fighting on Gallipoli cost more than 58,000 allied lives Turks lost at least as many the exact number is still unknown the British sustained the greatest losses with over 21,000 dead French with 13,000 the Anzacs with nine and a half thousand the Indians more than seven thousand there were many others among the Gurkhas Canadians and even the Jewish Zion mule Corps those suffering from wounds and disease numbered more than 200,000 with ominous foresight poet Rupert Brooke of the Royal Naval Division composed one of the most memorable of all war poems he died of blood poisoning on the eve of the April the 25th landings his words would set the tone for bloodletting of the next three years if I should die think only this of me but there's some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England there shall be in that rich earth a richer dust concealed a dust whom England bore shaped made aware gave once have flowers to love her ways to roam a body of England's breathing English air washed by the rivers blessed by the sons of home you

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Length: 47min 4sec (2824 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 03 2017