The Gallipoli Campaign

Introduction

From the outbreak of war in 1914, thousands of Australian men volunteered to fight. The first major fighting for these men was in what would come to be known as the failed Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. It was in Gallipoli that the Australian and New Zealand soldiers first fought united under the ANZAC name. The title later became a legend.

What was the Gallipoli Campaign?

In the hope of bringing down Germany through the downfall of her allies, thus bringing the war to a quicker and more victorious close, Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty in the British government, decided to launch an attack on Turkey. His plan was to begin by gaining control of the Gallipoli Peninsula. By seizing the Peninsula the Allies would be able to control the 67 kilometre stretch of the Dardanelles waterway. This would then enable them to invade and occupy Constantinople in the hope that with the downfall of her capital, Turkey would soon follow.

Churchill was aware that control of the Dardanelles would not only allow them to reach Constantinople but would also enable them to transport supplies through to the British Empire's ally, Russia.

The last phase was to launch a new attack on Germany's other main ally, Austria-Hungary. Churchill calculated that while fighting was taking place on the Western Front, by taking down Germany's allies, the war would be shortened and, with any luck, give the Allies' an advantage. It did not, however, all go to plan. See image 1

Who participated in the Gallipoli Campaign?

Churchill initially called upon some 21 000 Australian troops who were from the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and 10 000 New Zealand troops, who had been combined in 1914 and who were training in Egypt. These soldiers came to be known as the ANZACs (an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).

Aside from the ANZACs, the British 29th Division and a French Army Corps were the other two main landing forces to go to Gallipoli.

The landing

Even before the actual landing disaster struck and the campaign did not proceed as proposed. In the previous month there had been another failed attempt by French and British forces to penetrate the Dardanelles. This failure prompted the decision to make a land attack. The problem was that the Turks had prior knowledge that a land attack was imminent and they had prepared themselves accordingly.

No one is exactly sure why on 25 April 1915, rather than landing at Cape Tepe which was the ANZACs' scheduled landing spot, they set down two kilometres north of their intended destination, in a place that was later to be called Anzac Cove. It is speculated this error may have been the result of any number of factors such as strong ocean currents, faulty navigation by the naval officers in charge of the ships, miscalculations on the part of the British and delays in the communication of changes of orders. See image 2, see video

Although they were only a few kilometres away from their intended landing place, the soldiers found themselves in territory which was the complete opposite of what they had prepared for and had expected. Rather than a flat land assault to the Dardanelles they were surrounded instead by steep, high, cliff faces and incessant Turkish machine-gun fire. With uneven ground and nowhere to find cover, the troops scattered, neglecting to stay in their units, thus making themselves easy targets for the Turks who were quickly asserting their dominant position from high up in the cliffs.

After their first day, the men had suffered 2300 casualties and had covered only 900 metres. Despite this, the soldiers obeyed orders and held their ground. See image 3

The Battle of Lone Pine

On 6 August at 5:30pm, with the sun behind them, the ANZACs launched the Battle of Lone Pine. Hoping to take advantage of the sun shining into the Turks' eyes, the ANZACs were themselves surprised to find that the frontline of Turkish trenches were concealed by pine logs and earth. This ploy enabled the Turks to fire at the ANZACs at close range, while the ANZACs were forced to attempt to remove logs. The ANZACs, however, managed to enter the frontline trench through the communication trenches that were connected.

Owing to the narrow and dark trenches in which the battle was being fought, the men had to abandon their rifles and grenades and resort to hand-to-hand combat.

While the main Turkish trench was taken in half an hour, the troops still had to endure counterattacks by the Turks for another four days. ANZAC casualties from the battle reached around 2000. See image 4

The Battle of The Nek

Similar to the Gallipoli landing, the attack at the Nek on 7 August 1915 was yet another infamous moment in the campaign where, through either an error of judgement or a breakdown in communication, the lives of many men were compromised.

The Allies had been bombarding the Turkish trenches with shellfire, yet seven minutes before the ANZACs were to charge at the Turks, who were only 50 metres away, for some unknown reason, the Allied artillery assault ceased. This small period of time allowed the Turks to regroup in their trenches. When the ANZACs were ordered to bayonet charge with their unloaded rifles, they were annihilated by the Turkish lines of machine-gun fire.

Several hundred men were killed in half an hour, many of them only metres from their trenches. It was, however, the courageous actions of these men who continued to uphold their duty by charging forward into the Turkish fire when they had seen their comrades go down only moments before, which sealed the reputation of the ANZACs and created the Anzac legend. See image 5

The evacuation

Without any gains being made, fighting continued until a change of command led to orders being given to evacuate the troops from Gallipoli between 8 December and 20 December 1915.

The order was met with mixed reactions amongst the soldiers. While they were relieved to be leaving (a heavy blizzard was settling in), they felt that they were giving in on something for which they had fought hard. They felt particular remorse for having to leave their fallen comrades behind. Men who had given their lives to the cause would be left behind at the mercy of the Turks. Nevertheless, the soldiers knew that this was their chance to leave this grim place.

The men had learnt from past mistakes made during the campaign so knew they had to remove themselves quickly and carefully. It is said that the evacuation, unlike the rest of the campaign, was prepared by Australians who wanted what was in the best interest of their men. The evacuation became one of the great military deceptions in history, in part owing to the innovation of the ANZACs. One example of innovation was the design of a self-firing gun. The contraption consisted of a can that dripped water into another can which, in turn, was attached by string to the trigger of the Anzac's gun. The weight of the water which filled the can then caused the gun to fire. These self-firing guns positioned along the trenches gave the impression that the soldiers were still there. See animation

Without a single loss of life, the evacuation was undoubtedly the most successful part of the Gallipoli Campaign. It was, however, too late for many. Just over 10 000 ANZACs were killed and 33 500 injured, not to mention the thousands of other soldiers from the British Empire and her opponents.