Tragic losses marked horrific campaign
The ill-fated Gallipoli campaign of 1915 was the brainchild of Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty. The Western Front was a bloody stalemate, mired in trench warfare.
A breakthrough was needed. Churchill's plan was to clear the Dardanelles Strait of enemy shipping and attack the Turkish capital of Constantinople from the sea. At the same time a supply line to Russia, an ally, would be opened up via the Black Sea. It was also hoped that some Balkan states could be recruited to the Allied cause and attack the Central Powers from the rear.
Ships of the Royal Navy (RN) went into action on February 19, 1915. But mines and mobile artillery on the cliff tops took their toll. The final naval attack with 18 warships was on March 8. Six were sunk or severely disabled. The continued losses were unacceptable and the War Council in London redesigned the campaign. It decided to commit troops to invade and occupy the Gallipoli Peninsula, thereby neutralising the coastal guns.
In addition to British troops, among the forces available were two divisions of Australian and New Zealand soldiers training in Egypt, under then Maj-Gen. Sir William Birdwood, in preparation for the Western Front.
The French also offered a division, bringing the total Allied force to about 70,000. In retrospect, the doomed nature of the campaign might have been obvious on one count alone. Previously, Lord Kitchener had told the War Council that even 150,000 troops would be insufficient against the Turks.
But as Caesar said crossing the Rubicon in 49BC - the die was cast. The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, under Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton, sailed for Gallipoli. At 3.30am on April 25, the Anzacs undertook their fateful landing on the narrow beach that would become known as Anzac Cove. The terrain was a nightmare of near sheer ridges and gullies. Turkish riflemen occupied the heights. There was chaos on the beach. It was only through courageous determination that the Turks were pushed from the high ground.
But they counterattacked relentlessly. In the first day of fighting, the Anzacs gained about 2.5sqkm of ground, precariously held, at the cost of 2000 killed and wounded.
The situation became so grim as the fighting wore on that eventually evacuation was considered. But when RAN submarine AE2 signalled it had sunk a Turkish warship in the Dardanelles Strait, a much-needed boost to morale, Gen. Hamilton signalled Maj-Gen. Birdwood and ordered the troops to dig in and hold on. Over the next three months little headway was made. But the Anzacs held.
Then in early August, a concerted offensive - one that would fail overall - was attempted at Lone Pine, the Nek, Hill 971, Hill 60, and elsewhere. Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded in the savage fighting at Lone Pine. At the Nek the all-WA 10th Light Horse was annihilated in a futile charge over open ground. At Hill 60, Lt Hugo Throssell of the 10th Light Horse, won the VC, the only Light Horseman to be so awarded during the war.
After eight months of gruelling combat an elaborate, and astonishingly successful, evacuation of the peninsula was carried out. Over a number of weeks, 80,000 troops, 200 artillery pieces, and much else, were removed. The very last troops left on the night of December 19-20, 1915.
The Gallipoli campaign cost the Anzacs 26,111 casualties, of whom 8141 were killed in action or died of wounds. New Zealand suffered 7571 casualties, with 2431 killed. The UK suffered 120,000 casualties, and France 27,000. Although the figure is speculative, the Turks suffered at least 220,000 casualties, dead and wounded.
Despite these horrendous sacrifices, historians appear to agree that the Gallipoli campaign had no major effect on the outcome of World War I.
