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Jan
3 JANUARY 1916
On 2 and 3 January French forces were evacuated from Helles.
JANUARY 1916
On the night of 8–9 January, 17,000 British soldiers were evacuated from Helles, bringing the three-week evacuation, and the Gallipoli campaign, to a close. In just over a week, 35,000 soldiers, 3,689 horses and mules, 127 guns, 328 vehicles, and 1,600 tons of stores had been taken off Helles. Approximately 508 horses and mules were slaughtered or left behind. -
Feburary
6 FEBRUARY 1915
Two British Marine battalions were sent to the Aegean to provide landing parties to demolish the Turkish guns at the Dardanelles forts. 16 FEBRUARY 1915
Two British Marine battalions were sent to the Aegean to provide landing parties to demolish the Turkish guns at the Dardanelles forts. 19 FEBRUARY 1915
British warships began a naval bombardment of the outer forts of the Dardanelles but little damage was done to the forts. -
Period: to
Gallipoli Campaign
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March
1 MARCH 1915
Between 1 and 17 March, British fishing trawlers, equipped as minesweepers and with largely civilian crews, failed to successfully clear the Dardanelles of mines.
6 MARCH 1915
The Turkish navy minelayer Nusrat set a line of twenty mines in Erenkoy Bay. This row of mines was responsible for sinking three British and French ships during the naval bombardment of the Dardanelles on 18 March.
26 MARCH 1915
Between 26 February and 3 March detachments of Royal Marines were landed at Turk -
April/ May
28 APRIL 1915
On 28 April, one shrapnel shell from the battleship Queen Elizabeth, containing 24,000 bullets, wiped out a whole Turkish company as they charged against some demoralised British troops at Helles. 1 MAY 1915
The first Victoria Cross (VC) to be awarded at Anzac went to Lance-Corporal Walter Parker, a stretcher-bearer with the Royal Naval Division. He assisted the wounded in an isolated trench and, despite his own wounds, helped to evacuate the position. -
June/July
4 JUNE 1915
The British suffered more than 4,500 casualties, the French more than 2,000 and the Turks admitted to more than 9,000 dead and wounded. 11 JULY 1915
Death at Helles of Lieutenant-Colonel Hasan Bey, commander of the Turkish 17th Regiment, 5th Division. He was killed by a wounded French soldier and Hasan’s last words were supposedly: Don’t kill the Frenchman; he did his duty. -
August/ September
15 AUGUST 1915
British units advanced at Suvla against the Turks on Kiretch Tepe Ridge. Little progress was made and the attackers suffered more than 2,000 casualties. 6 SEPTEMBER 1915
The Kingdom of Bulgaria entered the war as an ally of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Turkey. This made it likely that the Turks on Gallipoli would be able to receive reinforcements from Germany along the Berlin. -
Nov
4 NOVEMBER 1915
Lord Kitchener, refusing initially to accept the advice to evacuate. Kitchener then left London to see Gallipoli for himself. 12 NOVEMBER 1915
On 12, 13 and 14 November Lord Kitchener inspected positions at Helles, Anzac and Suvla. 22 NOVEMBER 1915
Lord Kitchener advised that Gallipoli should be evacuated. This would involve taking off more than 93,000 troops, 200 guns and more than 5,000 animals as well as vast quantities of stores and ammunition. -
Dec
23 DECEMBER 1915
Gunner James Twamley, 22, died of wounds at Helles. On his grave his family placed this inscription: Only a boy but a British boy
The son of a thousand years. 27 DECEMBER 1915
The British Government ordered the evacuation of Helles. -
End of Campaign
10 JANUARY 1916
Turkish newspapers reported that ‘the whole of the Gallipoli Peninsula is now free from the enemy. They are driven out of Sedduülbahir (Sed-el - Bahr)’.