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GALLIPOLI
Following its embarrassment at Sarikamish, the Turkish army quickly had the opportunity to redeem itself. Alarmed by Turkey's incursion into his southern flank, Nicholas II, the Russian Tsar, called on his British and French allies to launch a diversionary attack on the enemy's western frontier. Seduced by Turkey's pre-war image as the 'sick man of Europe', Britain and France readily accepted the Tsar's invitation, but soon discovered that the invalid still had the capacity to surprise them.
The first attempt to knock Turkey out of the war took the form of a naval assault on the Dardanelles by British and French vessels on 18 March 1915. The Anglo-French fleet had expected an easy victory. However, the allies failed to knock out the Turkish guns, and the Turkish gunners were on good form that day, managing to sink three battleships, cripple three and damage four others. The 'sick man' still packed a formidable punch.
The Allies realised the navy alone could not win the Dardanelles for them. They decided to launch what was then the greatest amphibious landing ever. 70,000 troops went ashore on a section of coast known to the Turks as Gelibolu, but now known throughout the world as Gallipoli.
The Anzac troops were landed in the wrong place: a shallow beach hemmed in by steep hills. The men christened it Anzac Cove. The climb off the beach was hard, and their reception by the Turks at the top was murderous.
The problems at Anzac Cove weren't reproduced at most of the main landing beaches. Against their expectations, the British got ashore with comparative ease - except at V beach.
'The enemy troops were so frightened that they refused to disembark. Their commanders and officers had drawn their swords and were sending the men down the ramps. But they... could not escape the Turkish bullets. Our fire was very effective... knocking the enemy into the sea. The shore at V beach was full of enemy corpses, like shoals of fish... the colour of the sea changed with the blood from their bodies...'
Colonel Mahmut, courtesy of the IWM
Initial success was not exploited; poor co-ordination and the failure to follow-up fast where landings had gone well condemned the Allies to a stalemate echoing that on the Western Front. Both sides dug in to trench warfare.
As spring turned to summer, shortages of drinking water plus swarms of flies and intense heat made life miserable for both sides. Many Allied troops succumbed to disease.
'My old pal, he was smart and upright as a guardsman. After about 10 days, to see him crawling about, his backside hanging out... We were trying to lower him down into the latrine... I don't know what happened but he simply rolled into this foot-wide trench... we couldn't pull him out... we didn't have any strength. He'd drowned in his own excrement.'
Ordinary Seaman Joe Murray - IWM Sound Archive 10777/AC8202
In the end, 60,000 Allied troops died without securing any strategic advantages. On 20 December 1915, the Allies bowed to the inevitable and began to withdraw.
The Turks were too relieved and happy to fire on them as they slipped away.
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