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Naval Attacks
A plan was devised by Winston Churchill with the hope of getting the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The idea was to invade the capital (Istanbul) by forcing open the dardenelles with attacks over all its costal forts. The French attacked the opening of the passage with almost no affect, however they were convinced that they had weakened the forces sufficiently for the main attack. -
Gallipoli Landings (British)
Hamilton's invasion plan on the 25th of April was to land their men stragically over 5 different beaches. From there they would then move up the peninsula and take the highground. On the day there were huge British casualties over half a battalion of men were lost. -
Gallipoli Landings (French)
The French's part in the landings was to create a diversion by landing on the other side of the Dardenelles in hope of drawing away Otooman troops from the main landing site. The French would then join the main group in the push to take the Gallipoli peninsula. -
Gallipoli Landings (ANZAC)
The ANZAC's were to land on the furthest beach inland north of Kaba Tepe, with the objective of advancing over the peninsula and capturing some of the highground. The attack was scheduled to take place at night to have the element of suprise on their side, however the Ottoman army was spread out along the peninsula in hope of covering the most likely landing positions. The ANZAs began their move to the landing beach at approximately 1.30am -
Battles of Krithia
Despite the heavy landing day casualties, Hamilton ordered a new attack on the village of Krithia. The French took the right side while the British and ANZACs took the south and left flank, but on the way encountered increasingly difficult terrain and Ottoman troops throughout the campaign. The front line of men occasionally moved forward a few inches, but in parts they wrere driven backwards due to exhaustion and numbers of casualties. -
The Second Battle of Krithia
On the 2nd of May NZ and AUS commander ordered an attack on the hill, Baby 700 from 2 front line posts. An initial advance took place over night but 1000's of men lost their lives and no ground was gained either side. Two brigades were then moved from Anzac cove as reserves for the 2nd battle of Krithia on the 6th of May. Using the same plan as the first, no more ground was taken and a third of the men who fought were injured or killed. -
The Third Battle of Krithia
Hamilton launched a 3rd attack on Krithia, as an attemp to capture Ottoman trenches 1000 yards infront. The attackers crept towards the front line under the cover of night. The plan was to bombard the trenches and then draw out the troops, however a huge 9000 Ottoman soldiers were killed and 6500 allies were lost as well for only a few metres gained. -
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August Offensive
With no advance at the Helles front, Hamilton ordered 2 more fleets to land at Suvla Bay, while ANZACs would make an attack on Hill 971 and then meet up with the advancing troops of which their objectives were to take the ridges along the north and east. As a diversion the ANZACs successfully captured an Ottoman trench at Lone Pine. -
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August Offensive - continued.
However the Ottomans were not fully decieved by these attepmts and meet the attacking force of the NZ Infantry Brigade, which prevented the capture of the summit until the next morning. The fighting continued until August 21st and the final British Offensive at Scimitar Hill and Hill 60. Successful capture of these points would have reunited the ANZAC and Suvla troops but this was not achieved and the August Offensive drew to a close. -
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Evacuation.
During the october winter many requests for evacuation were made. However it wasnt until the 27 November that a three day flood forced Hamilton out into the scene to survey the situation and order evacuation. Anzac cove and Suvla were evacuated on the 19 December and Helles on the 9 January.