BİZE ULAŞIN
This failure led to the decision to force the Straits by a landing on the Gallipoli peninsula. Once the Turkish forts and batteries had been seized, the Royal Navy could steam on to Istanbul. A Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) composed of British Empire and French troops was hastily assembled in Egypt. Among the British Empire forces were the men of the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and the NZEF (New Zealand Expeditionary Force) who had been training in Egypt when the decision to invade Turkey had been taken. They were now combined into one army corps, known as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), and the men who fought in the corps became known as Anzacs. At dawn on 25 April 1915, the Gallipoli campaign began. Australians and New Zealanders landed on the rugged and mountainous western side of the peninsula. The small area captured that day became known as ‘Anzac’ and the little beach where most Anzacs came ashore after the initial attack was soon called Anzac Cove. The aim of the landing was twofold – to capture the heights of the Sari Bair range which dominate this part of the peninsula and to force a way inland to a hill known as Mal Tepe, overlooking the Straits and the Turkish lines of communication to the south. That same morning, around Cape Helles, the British landed at a number of different locations. Their objective was the high point of a plateau about 11 kilometres from the cape, which ran across the peninsula, known locally as Alçitepe (Achi Baba to the British), and then to progress north from there to join up with the Anzacs. Across the Straits, the French mounted a diversionary landing at Kum Kale. The British position in the south became known as ‘Helles’. But strong and unexpected Turkish resistance held off both these attacks and by the evening of 25 April the landing forces clung to small gains at both Anzac and Helles. Over the next few days, during the Battle of the Landing, and despite terrible casualties on both sides, the Turks were unable to drive the Anzacs back into the sea. Conversely, the Anzacs made little or no headway against the Turks, and by 5 May 1915 they were left holding a slice of Turkey 1.5 kilometres from north to south and 0.5 kilometres at its widest point. This position was held, with additions of territory to the north during the ‘August offensive’, until the end of the campaign. During May and June the British undertook a number of operations at Helles, designed to push their line towards Achi Baba and hopefully to break out to the north. All of these actions – the First Battle of Krithia (28 April), the Second Battle of Krithia (8 May) and the Third Battle of Krithia (4 June) – failed. For the Second Battle of Krithia, the 2nd Brigade (Victoria) AIF and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade (about 8000 men) were sent to Helles. On the morning of 8 May, the New Zealanders gained about 360 metres of ground with considerable losses. Late that afternoon, the Australians made a charge over open ground towards the village of Alçitepe (Krithia), suffering similar losses without even reaching the front line. This was the only occasion when Australian and New Zealand infantry fought at Helles, although artillery units also served there. At both Anzac and Helles things settled into the stalemate of trench warfare – exactly what the Allies had come to Turkey to avoid. The most sensitive part of the Anzac line lay along the ridge (Second Ridge) from the Lone Pine position in the south to Quinn’s Post in the north. At Quinn’s Post, Anzac and Turk faced each other over a few metres of bullet- and bomb-blasted landscape. If the Anzac line gave way here the Turks would look down the valley, Shrapnel Gully, all the way to the sea, and the whole Anzac position would be untenable. Quinn’s became a constant battleground, with endless bomb attacks by both sides. On one occasion the Turks broke into Quinn’s but were quickly driven out. On 19 May 1915, the Turks mounted a major attack all along the ridge. An estimated 40 000 Turkish soldiers had been assembled to drive the invaders back to the beaches, but the Anzacs received warning of the attack and were ready. Despite their desperate courage the Turkish soldiers were shot down in their hundreds by rifle and machine-gun fire as they charged across the narrow ridge. That morning an estimated 3000 Turks died in this fruitless attack and a further 7000 were wounded. By comparison, there were few Anzac casualties. So great became the stench from the rotting corpses in no-man’s-land that a truce was arranged for 24 May 1915 to allow both sides to bury their dead in pits and trenches between the lines.
