GALLIPOLI 1915
Anatolia has for centuries possessed an enormous
strategic importance as a result of the policies
adapted by powers in their attempt to reach the
high seas and warmer climates and other powers
who wanted to establish sovereignty over the
Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Indian
Ocean by means of a geo-political belt
stretching from the Baltic throughout the
Bosphorus to the
Persian Gulf.
The situation during 1.
World War
At the beginning of the 20th century the
political climate in Europe was extremely tense.
The great powers of Europe in order to gain
sovereignty in both the geo-political and
economic spheres had split Europe into two
blocs; Germano-Latin and Anglo-French.
Thus the Triple
Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and
Italy and the Triple Entente between Britain,
France and Russia were founded.
When the outbreak
of the 1st WW seemed imminent, the
Ottoman Empire
attempted to ally herself with the Entente under
the conditions that her borders were guaranteed
and that the economic capitulations were
abolished. Upon receiving a negative response,
the Empire found herself obliged to join the
Triple Alliance and signed the treaty of 2nd
August 1914.
The
Ottoman Empire
was not yet prepared for war though it decided
to keep the treaty secret.
The German
warships Goben and Breslau, then in the
Mediterranean were allowed to pass through the
Dardanelles on the 10th August. The
Ottoman flag
was raised and it was announced that they had
been purchased from Germany. The commander of
the ships, Admiral Souchon was appointed to the
Naval Command .
The Entente
declared war on the Empire as a result of the
naval operation: known as the "Black Sea
incident" carried out by the Turkish Navy in the
Black Sea.
The
Ottoman
Government actively entered the war after
this declaration, on 11 November 1914.
The Allied fleet
chasing the German warships blockaded the
Dardanelles ,began bombarding the Turkish
batteries at the entrance to the Straits on 3rd
November 1914. This bombardment continued
intermittently until 12th 1915.
Naval Battle
On 18th March 1915, at the beginning of the
Dardanelles campaign, the commander of the
Allied fleet, Admiral de Robeck divided the
fleet into three sections. The first section
entered the straits at 10.30 am. and penetrated
as far as the row of mines. The Intepe batteries
started a heavy fire.
The Intepe,
Erenkoy and Tengertepe batteries intensified
their fire and a fierce bombardment continued
for three hours. In the afternoon Admiral de
Robeck withdrew his ships in the third section
and threw forward six warships waiting in the
rear. During the withdrawal, one of the ships
hit a mine and sunk after a terrible explosion.
The naval battle
continued in all its intensity for seven hours.
In the face of the dogged resistance of the
Turkish Straits Defense, Admiral de Robeck
decided that nothing further could be done that
day. During this operation three ships from the
Allied Fleet had been sunk and three badly
damaged. It was under these circumstances that
Admiral de Robeck, at 17.30 brought the days'
operation to a close with the order, "All ships,
general withdrawal."
Land Battles
In spite of all the efforts in the Dardenelles
from 19th February to 18th March nothing had
been gained by the Allied Forces. Now, alongside
the Naval bombardments and amphibious operation
was under consideration in order to capture the
peninsula.
The Anzac Corps,
the 29th British Territorial Infantry Division,
the 1st Royal Naval Infantry Division, the 29th
Indian Infantry Brigade and the French 1st
Infantry Division were to take part in this
action. These forces were to be split into two
groups, the first group was to seize the
Seddulbahir area and open the Straits whilst the
second was to land in the Kabatepe region, seize
the Conkbayir area and obstruct the Turkish
Forces moving down from the north.
The Commander of
the Ottoman
5th Army had evaluated the defense of the
Gallipoli peninsula as of secondary importance.
Thus out of six divisions he allocated two
divisions and one cavalry brigade to the defense
of the Gulf of Saros, two divisions to the
defense of the area between Anafartalar and
Seddulbahir and the remaining two divisions to
the defense of the Asian coast.
Of the two
divisions deployed on the Gallipoli peninsula
one was the 19th division which served as the
Chief of Command Reserve Force in Bigali. The
commander of this brigade was
Mustafa Kemal.
At the beginning
of the 1st WW, Staff Lieutenant Colonel
Mustafa Kemal was
Military Attaché in Sofia. Preferring to
participate personally in the struggle of his
county against invading super powers of the
time, rather than watching from the sidelines,
he requested active military duty from the Chief
of Staff. Upon his insistence, he was appointed
to the 19th Divisional Command founded in
Tekirdag on 1st February 1915.
In less than one
month, Mustafa Kemal
had the division prepared for war. On 25th
February, his division was at Eceabat and ready
for combat.
The Seddulbahir Battles
At dawn on the 25th April, the Seddulbahir coast
was seen to be surrounded by several ships and
landing crafts.
At 5.30 am. a
hellish fire was opened from the allied
warships.
Bombardment from
the sea held the tip of the peninsula under fire
from three sides. The 29th British Infantry
Division attempted to move into the land.
The defending
forces broke the first wave of the invading
forces with success. Then, with the
reinforcements which were later brought in, the
operation was extended on the land without much
success.
The 1st., 2nd.,
and 3rd Battles of Kirte and Kerevizdere
continued from 25th April until the end of May
when it turned into chronic local clashes.
In June 1915 the
battle again intensified and after the bloody
Zigindere Battles which began on the 28th June
continued for eight days.
Ariburnu Battles
The area chosen by the Anzac Corps as a landing
area was the coast to the north of Kabatepe.
However, the Anzacs had landed in the steep,
inaccessible area of Ariburnu due to their boats
having been carried by the strong current. First
landing group consisted of 1500 men with the
same number again in a following wave. The first
target to be captured after the landing was the
"Karacimen Bloc."
One of the
battalions of the 27th regiment of the 9th
Turkish Division in Ariburnu was guarding the
coasts of the area. One company of the battalion
had spread from the Ariburnu hills to Agildere.
This company consisted squads; one on the
Ariburnu hilltops, one in Balikcidamlari and one
other in reserve on Haintepe.
The Anzac attack
began at 4.30 on 25th April. They landed at
Ariburnu in the form of a surprise attack. The
defending squad opened fire on the invading
forces, but the Anzacs advanced. The Turkish
company defending the coast immediately reported
the situation to 27 regimental Command to the
west of Eceabat.
While the
Regimental Commander was giving his report to
the 9th Division, at the same time he informed
the 19th Division. The 8th Company Commander
brought up reinforcements to counter the first
wave of attacks, however, the heavy losses
caused by the intense cannon fire from the ships
and the lack of ammunition led him to retreat.
Although Staff
Lieutenant-Colonel
Mustafa Kemal had sent reports to the army
and the Corps Command at Gallipoli, he received
no reply. Using his initiative he attacked the
Anzacs. Reinforcing the 57th Regiment with a
hill-top cannon battery, he advanced towards
Ariburnu via KocaCimen. In a critical moment
Mustafa Kemal gave
the order for a company to rapidly reach the
area and for the forward battalion to
immediately enter the fray. With their arrival,
the Turkish forces attained the initiative. The
57th Regiment completed their battle
preparations by noon and moved southwards from
Conkbayiri to the Anzac forces. This strike
could not advance any further than Duztepe
because of the effective cannon fire from the
ships. He arrived at Korucakoy and reported the
situation to the Army Headquarters. He met the
commander of the 3rd corps at Maltepe from whom
he received permission to deploy the entire 19th
Division after explaining to him the situation.
He moved those forces forward.
Mustafa Kemal's
decision, on the night of 25-26th April was to
take the command of the 27th Regiment and to
attack the Anzacs with two regiments from the
south and two regiments from the north and to
drive them that night at whatever cost into the
sea. Same night the attack was deployed. Since
the majority of the 27th Regiment which arrived
from Aleppo was composed of aged soldiers, the
action on the southern flank did not develop as
hoped. The 57th and 72nd Regiments forced the
Anzacs to retreat further south from the
Cesarettepe hill-top. The Anzacs were in great
difficulty to defend their positions with this
latest assault. The allied commander decided to
evacuate his forces into Hamilton.
Due to the lack
of necessary vehicles, the evacuation move was
suspended. Dig-in and defend order was given
instead.
As time passed
both sides were gradually reinforced. The 16th
Division was rushed from Thrace and the 2nd
Division from Istanbul.
Fierce Anzac assaults on Ariburnu continued
steadily and the fighting went on until the end
of May. Finally, from the end of May onwards it
turned into a French warfare.
The clashes of
Seddulbahir and Ariburnu in June and July of
1915 were typical of stationary warfare. The
opposing forces were extremely close to each
other, indeed as close as eight meters on
certain locations.
The Anafartalar Battles
General Hamilton, unable to achieve any success
on the Seddulbahir and Ariburnu fronts in the
past five months decided to open a third front
in Anafartalar bay in order to encircle and
destroy the Turkish Army from the rear. He
assigned this task to the 9th British Corps.
The aim was to
immediately seize the Conkbayiri and KocaCimen
blocs, advance from there and take control of
the Straits. During this landing limited action
was to be taken in order to keep the Turkish
forces in the Seddulbahir and Ariburnu regions
pinned down.
British Army
Corps began landing on the night of 6-7 August,
to start the final attack against the Turkish
troops aproximately on the 9th of August. They
landed to the south of the Buyukkemikli and
Kucukkemikli headlands. Due to the hot weather
and exhaustion of the British soldiers, 9th
corps spend a day on the beach front instead of
moving to the target hills immediately. During
this time two
Ottoman divisions were transferred to the
front with Mustafa Kemal
as commander. One of these divisions pushed the
9th corps into the sea while the other one
prevented the Anzacs to reach to the battle
front.
ldiers
The 12th Division attacked the 9th Corps front
lines. The most critical point was over for the
Turks. The 9th Corps, under the fire of the
Turkish Forces, fell in great numbers on the
beaches and were left totally ineffective.
Eventhough the 9th Corps, that was later
reinforced, attempted more flank attacks from
Ismailoglu Hill to Anafartalar and from Mt.
Karakol to Ece Harbour and Tekke Hill, they
could not succeed.
The pinning-down
and encircling action against the Northern Group
was halted but some sections did come within 25
meters of the crest-line. The 9th Turkish
Division, which had counter-attacked for two
days in order to alleviate this dangerous
situation was not able to achieve a success.
Then, Liman Von Sanders, Commander of the 5th
Ottoman Army
reinforced the 8th Division with two regiments
and put it under Mustafa
Kemal's orders.
Colonel
Mustafa Kemal arrived
at the headquarters of the 8th Division, the
night of 9-10th August and ordered his soldiers
to attack using only bayonets at down on the
10th of August. The attack succeeded and even
the British Brigade Commander was among the
dead. Upon the seizure of the land that would
guarantee the security of the defense line, the
order to dig-in and defend was given. The
British operation that had been carried out with
strong attack groups in high hopes on Ariburnu
and the landings at Anafartalar were paralyzed
and as in the other regions were brought to a
standstill.
Thus the allied
forces clearly saw that no possibility remained
either of breaking the Turkish defense in the
Dardanelles or of achieving any result in the
Gallipoli Campaign, above all of achieving their
ambition of taking
Istanbul. On 20th December 1915 they ordered
the evacuation of Ariburnu-Anafartalar and on
the 9th January 1916 Seddulbahir.
Over 33000 allied
and 86000 Turkish troops died in the eight-month
Gallipoli campaign which achieved none of its
objectives. A British royal commission later
concluded that the operation had been
ill-conceived. Gallipoli cost 8700 Australian
dead and 19000 wounded. Large numbers of the
dead have no known grave. The story of Anzac has
had an enduring effect on the way Australians
see themselves. Though the campaign was a
failure, Anzac has come to stand, in the words
of the official historian, C.E.W. Bean, "for
reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise,
recourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and
endurance". |
