1915 battle in the First World War
The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe and, to the Turks, as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the forces of the British Empire, which began the land phase of the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War.
The assault troops, mostly from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), landed at night on the western (Aegean Sea) side of the peninsula. They were put ashore north of their intended landing beach. In the darkness, the assault formations became mixed up, but the troops gradually made their way inland, under increasing opposition from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. Not long after coming ashore, the ANZAC plans were discarded, and the companies and battalions were thrown into battle piecemeal and received mixed orders. Some advanced to their designated objectives, while others were diverted to other areas and ordered to dig in along defensive ridge lines.
Although they failed to achieve their objectives, by nightfall the ANZACs had formed a beachhead, albeit much smaller than intended. In some places, they were clinging onto cliff faces with no organised defence system. Their precarious position convinced both divisional commanders to ask for an evacuation, but after taking advice from the Royal Navy about how practicable that would be, the army commander decided they would stay. The exact number of the day's casualties is not known. The ANZACs had landed two divisions, but over two thousand of their men had been killed or wounded, together with at least a similar number of Turkish casualties.
Since 1916, the anniversary of the landings on 25 April has been commemorated as Anzac Day, becoming one of the most important commemorative dates for Australia and New Zealand. The anniversary is also commemorated in Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Background.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire entered the First World War on the side of the Central Powers on 31 October 1914. The stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front convinced the British Imperial War Cabinet that an attack on the Central Powers elsewhere, particularly Turkey, could be the best way of winning the war. From February 1915 this took the form of naval operations aimed at forcing a passage through the Dardanelles, but after several setbacks it was decided that a land campaign was also necessary. To that end, the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was formed under the command of General Ian Hamilton. Three amphibious landings were planned to secure the Gallipoli Peninsula, which would allow the navy to attack the Turkish capital Constantinople, in the hope that would convince the Turks to ask for an armistice.
Intention.
Lieutenant-General William Birdwood, commanding the inexperienced Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), comprising the Australian Division and two brigades of the New Zealand and Australian Division, was ordered to conduct an amphibious assault on the western side of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The New Zealand and Australian Division normally also had two mounted brigades assigned to it, but these had been left in Egypt, as it was believed there would be no requirement or opportunities to use mounted troops on the peninsula. To bring the division up to strength, Hamilton had tried unsuccessfully to get a brigade of Gurkhas attached to them. In total ANZAC strength was 30,638 men.
The location chosen for the operation was between the headland of Gaba Tepe and the Fisherman's Hut, to the north. Landing at dawn after a naval gunfire bombardment, the first troops were to seize the lower crests and southern spurs of Hill 971. The second wave would pass them to capture the spur of Hill 971, especially Mal Tepe. There they would be positioned to cut the enemy's lines of communications to the Kilid Bahr Plateau, thus preventing the Turks from bringing reinforcements from the north to the Kilid Bahr Plateau during the attack by the British 29th Division which would advance from a separate beachhead further south-west. The capture of Mal Tepe was "more vital and valuable than the capture of the Kilid Bahr Plateau itself."
Birdwood planned to arrive off the peninsula after the moon had set, with the first troops landing at 03:30, an hour before dawn. He declined the offer of an old merchant ship, loaded with troops, being deliberately grounded at Gaba Tepe. Instead, the troops were to travel in naval and merchant ships, transferring to rowing boats towed by small steamboats to make the assault.
First ashore would be the Australian Division, commanded by Major-General William Bridges. The 3rd Australian Brigade, known as the covering force, were to capture the third ridge from Battleship Hill south along the Sari Bair mountain range to Gaba Tepe. The 2nd Australian Brigade, landing next, were to capture all the Sari Bar range up to Hill 971 on the left. The 26th Jacob's Mountain Battery from the British Indian Army would land next and then the 1st Australian Brigade, the division's reserve; all were to be ashore by 08:30. The New Zealand and Australian Division, commanded by Major-General Alexander Godley, followed them; the 1st New Zealand Brigade then the 4th Australian Brigade. Only after the second division had landed would the advance to Mal Tepe begin. The planners had come to the conclusion that the area was sparsely, if at all, defended, and that they should be able to achieve their objectives with no problems; Turkish opposition had not been considered.
Turkish forces.
The First World War Ottoman Turkish Army was modelled after the German Imperial Army, with most of its members being conscripted for two years (infantry) or three years (artillery); they then served in the reserve for the next twenty-three years. The pre-war army had 208,000 men in thirty-six divisions, formed into army corps and field armies. On mobilisation each division had three infantry and one artillery regiment for a total of around ten thousand men, or about half the size of the equivalent British formation. Unlike the largely inexperienced ANZACs, all the Turkish Army commanders, down to company commander level, were very experienced, being veterans of the Italo-Turkish and Balkan Wars.
The British preparations could not be made in secret, and by March 1915, the Turks were aware that a force of fifty thousand British and thirty thousand French troops was gathering at Lemnos. They considered there were only four likely places for them to land: Cape Helles, Gaba Tepe, Bulair, or on the Asiatic (eastern) coast of the Dardanelles.
On 24 March, the Turks formed the Fifth Army, a force of over 100,000 men, in two corps of six divisions and a cavalry brigade, commanded by the German general Otto Liman von Sanders. The Fifth Army deployed the III Corps at Gallipoli and the XV Corps on the Asiatic coast. The 5th Division and a cavalry brigade were on the European mainland, positioned to support the III Corps if required. The III Corps had the 9th Division (25th, 26th and 27th infantry regiments), the 19th Division (57th, 72nd and 77th infantry regiments) and the 7th Division (19th, 20th and 21st infantry regiments). The 9th Division provided coastal defence from Cape Helles north to Bulair, where the 7th Division took over, while the 19th Division at Maidos was the corps reserve. The area around Gaba Tepe, where the ANZAC landings would take place, was defended by the 2nd battalion of the 27th Infantry Regiment.
Anzac Cove.
On 19 April orders were issued for the ANZACs to stop training, and for all ships and small boats to take on coal and stores, in preparation for a landing originally scheduled to occur on 23 April. Weather conditions delayed their departure from Lemnos until dawn on 24 April. The Royal Navy battleships , , , , and , the cruiser , seven destroyers and four transport ships led the way carrying the 3rd Brigade. They were followed by the rest of the force who were embarked in their own transport ships.
First six companies.
At 01:00 on 25 April the British ships stopped at sea, and thirty-six rowing boats towed by twelve steamers embarked the first six companies, two each from the 9th, 10th and 11th battalions. At 02:00 a Turkish sentry reported seeing ships moving at sea, and at 02:30 the report was sent to 9th Division's headquarters. At 02:53 the ships headed towards the peninsula, continuing until 03:30 when the larger ships stopped. With 50 yards (46 m) to go, the rowing boats continued using only their oars.
Around 04:30 Turkish sentries opened fire on the boats, but the first ANZAC troops were already ashore at Beach Z, called Ari Burnu at the time, but later known as Anzac Cove. (It was formally renamed Anzac Cove by the Turkish government in 1985.) They were further north than intended, and instead of an open beach they were faced with steep cliffs and ridges up to around in height. However, the mistake had put them ashore at a relatively undefended area; at Gaba Tepe further south where they had planned to land, there was a strong-point, with an artillery battery close by equipped with two 15 cm and two 12 cm guns, and the 5th Company, 27th Infantry Regiment was positioned to counter-attack any landing at that more southern point. The hills surrounding the cove where the ANZACs landed made the beach safe from direct fire Turkish artillery. Fifteen minutes after the landing, the Royal Navy began firing at targets in the hills.
On their way in, the rowing boats had become mixed up. The 11th Battalion grounded to the north of Ari Burnu point, while the 9th Battalion hit the point or just south of it, together with most of the 10th Battalion. The plan was for them to cross the open ground and assault the first ridge line, but they were faced with a hill that came down almost to the water line, and there was confusion while the officers tried to work out their location, under small arms fire from the 8th Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, who had a platoon of between eighty and ninety men at Anzac Cove and a second platoon in the north around the Fisherman's Hut. The third platoon was in a reserve position on the second ridge. They also manned the Gaba Tepe strong-point, equipped with two obsolescent multi-barrelled Nordenfelt machine-guns, and several smaller posts in the south.
Men from the 9th and 10th battalions started up the Ari Burnu slope, grabbing the gorse branches or digging their bayonets into the soil to provide leverage. At the peak they found an abandoned trench, the Turks having withdrawn inland. Soon the Australians reached Plugge's Plateau, the edge of which was defended by a trench, but the Turks had withdrawn to the next summit inland, from where they fired at the Australians coming onto the plateau. As they arrived, Major Edmund Brockman of the 11th Battalion started sorting out the mess, sending the 9th Battalion's men to the right flank, the 11th Battalion's to the left, and keeping the 10th Battalion in the centre.
Second six companies.
The second six companies landed while it was still dark, the destroyers coming to within to disembark the troops, under fire. They also landed at Anzac Cove, but now as planned the 11th were in the north, 10th in the centre and the 9th in the south. The 12th Battalion landed all along the beach. This extended the beachhead to the north of Ari Burnu, and to the south. Landing under fire, some of the assaulting troops were killed in their boats, and others as they reached the beach. Once ashore they headed inland. In the south, the first men from the 9th and 12th battalions reached the bottom of 400 Plateau.
In the north, the first men from the 11th and 12th battalions started up Walker's Ridge, under fire from a nearby Turkish trench. Around the same time Turkish artillery started bombarding the beachhead, destroying at least six boats. The Australians fought their way forward and reached Russell's Top; the Turks withdrew through the Nek to Baby 700, away. Coming under fire again the Australians went to ground, having advanced only around inland. Some also dug in at the Nek, a piece of high ground between Malone's Gully to the north and Monash Valley to the south. Around this time Colonel Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan, commanding the 3rd