(Note to Second Edition.)
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I | |
| THE ORIGIN | |
| PAGE | |
| Naval Bombardment, November 1914—Causes of German-Turkish Alliance—Germany’s Eastern aims—Mistakes of British diplomacy—The Goeben and Breslau—The position of Greece—Turkey declares war | [1] |
| CHAPTER II | |
| THE INCEPTION | |
| Mr. Churchill first suggests attack on Gallipoli—Russia’s appeal for aid—A demonstration decided upon—The War Council—Lord Kitchener—Mr. Asquith—Mr. Churchill—Objects of his scheme—Lord Kitchener’s objections—Admirals Fisher and Arthur Wilson—Their duty as advisers—Lord Fisher’s opinion—Admiral Jackson’s view—Admiral Carden on the scheme—War Council orders a naval attack—Lord Fisher’s opposition—He gives reluctant assent—Decision for a solely naval expedition | [12] |
| CHAPTER III | |
| THE NAVAL ATTACKS | |
| Council’s hesitation renewed—A military force prepared—The 29th Division detained—Description of the Dardanelles—Mudros and the islands—Formation of the fleet—Bombardment of February 19—Renewed on February 25—Further attacks in early March—Effect on Balkan States—Mr. Churchill urges greater vigour—Admiral de Robeck succeeds to command—The naval attack of March 18—Losses and comparative failure—Purely naval attacks abandoned | [40] |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| THE PREPARATION | |
| Sir Ian Hamilton’s appointment—His qualifications—Misfortune of delay—Transports returned for reloading—Sir Ian in Egypt—The forces there—The “Anzacs”—Possible lines of attack considered—The selected scheme—Chief members of Sir Ian’s staff—Available forces—Sir Ian’s address—Rupert Brooke’s death | [64] |
| CHAPTER V | |
| THE LANDINGS | |
| The Start from Mudros—Landing at De Tott’s Battery—Seddel Bahr and V Beach—The River Clyde—Landing at V Beach—Night there—W Beach or Lancashire Landing—Landing at X Beach—Y2 and Y Beaches—Landing at Y Beach—Its failure—Landing at Anzac—The positions won there—Feint off Bulair—Captain Freyberg’s exploit—French feint at Kum Kali | [88] |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| THE TEN DAYS AFTER | |
| Sir Ian’s decision to hold Anzac—Advance from V Beach—Death of Doughty-Wylie—The French at V Beach—Position of Krithia—Advance of April 28—Turkish attack of May 1—Reinforcements arrive—Position at Anzac—Casualties—Underestimate of wounded—Unhappy results | [123] |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| THE BATTLES OF MAY | |
| State of Constantinople—Our submarines—Sir Ian’s reduced forces—The guns—May 6 at Helles—May 7—May 8—The Australian charge—The 29th Division—Trench warfare—Death of General Bridges at Anzac—May 19 at Anzac—Armistice at Anzac—Loss by hostile submarines—G.H.Q. at Imbros—Hope of Russian aid abandoned—Mr. Churchill and Lord Fisher resign | [144] |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| THE BATTLES OF JUNE | |
| Situation on Peninsula—June 4 at Helles—French Colonial troops—Arrival of General De Lisle—June 6 to 8 at Helles—Losses—Want of guns—June 28 at Helles—The Gully Ravine—Turkish proclamations—Position at Anzac—June 29 at Anzac—Discouragement—General Gouraud wounded—The war in Poland and Italy | [171] |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| THE PAUSE IN JULY | |
| Local Turkish attacks—Turkish reinforcements—Our attacks of July 12 and 13 at Helles—General Hunter-Weston invalided—General Stopford’s arrival—Description of Helles—Rations—Description of Anzac—The Aragon at Mudros—Arrival of General Altham—The Saturnia—Arrival of Colonel Hankey—The monitors, “blister ships,” and “beetles”—The 10th, 11th, and 13th Divisions—The 53rd and 54th Divisions—Total forces in August—New scheme of attack considered | [195] |
| CHAPTER X | |
| THE VINEYARD, LONE PINE, AND THE NEK | |
| Feints and arrangement of forces—August 6 at Helles—August 7 to 13—Fight for the Vineyard—Leane’s trenches at Anzac—Lone Pine—Assault of August 6—Continuous fighting till August 12—Assault on German officers’ trenches—Assault on the Nek, August 7 | [224] |
| CHAPTER XI | |
| SARI BAIR | |
| Description of the range—Nature of the approaches—General Godley’s force—His dispositions—Evening August 6 to evening August 7—Capture of Old No. 3 Post—Capture of Big Table Top—Capture of Bauchop’s Hill—Ascent of Rhododendron Ridge—General Monash on Aghyl Dere—Evening August 7 to evening August 8—Fresh dispositions—Summit of Chunuk Ridge reached—Death of Colonel Malone—Attempt at Abdel Rahman—Evening August 8 to evening August 9—Error of Baldwin’s column—Major Allanson on Hill Q—View of the Dardanelles—Party driven off by shells—Turks regain the summit—Baldwin at the Farm—Party on Chunuk Ridge relieved—Evening August 9 to evening August 10—Fresh party on Chunuk Ridge destroyed—Turks swarm over summit—Fighting at the Farm—Death of General Baldwin—Turks driven back to summit—Causes of comparative failure | [247] |
| CHAPTER XII | |
| SUVLA BAY | |
| Description of the bay and surrounding country—General Stopford and IXth Corps—Divisional Generals—Evening August 6 to evening August 7—The embarkation—Work of the Navy—The landing beaches—Capture of Lala Baba—Ill-luck of 34th Brigade—Delay and confusion of Brigades and Divisions—Hill’s Brigade (31st)—Its advance round Salt Lake—Capture of Chocolate Hill—General Mahon on Kiretch Tepe Sirt—Evening August 7 to evening August 8—Silence at Suvla—Failure of water distribution—Sir Ian visits Suvla—His orders to General Hammersley—Scimitar Hill abandoned by mistake—Evening August 8 to evening August 9—Turks reinforced return to positions—Failure of our attack on Scimitar Hill—Sir Ian proposes occupation of Kavak and Tekke Tepes—He sends his last reserve to Suvla—Evening August 9 to evening August 10—Renewed attack on Scimitar Hill—Its failure—General Stopford ordered to consolidate line—Evening August 10 to evening August 11—Landing of 54th Division—Confusion of front lines—Battalions reorganised—Evening August 11 to evening August 12—Sir Ian again urges occupation of Kavak and Tekke Tepes—Disappearance of 5th Norfolks—General Stopford’s objections—The 10th Division on Kiretch Tepe Sirt (August 15)—Failure to maintain advance—General De Lisle succeeds General Stopford temporarily in command of IXth Corps—Other changes in command | [286] |
| CHAPTER XIII | |
| THE LAST EFFORTS | |
| Causes of the failure in August—Advantages gained—Approximate losses—Adequate reinforcements refused—Arrival of Peyton’s mounted Division—Renewed attempt against Scimitar Hill (August 21)—Mistakes in the advance on right—The 29th Division in centre—Advance of the Yeomanry—Failure to occupy the hill—Attack on Hill 60 from Anzac—Kabak Kuyu (August 21)—Connaught Rangers—Slow progress of attack—Second attack (August 27)—Third attack (August 29)—Last battle on the Peninsula | [333] |
| CHAPTER XIV | |
| SIR IAN’S RECALL | |
| Sickness increases during September—Monotonous food—Regret for dead and wounded—New drafts—Fears of winter—Sir Julian Byng commands IXth Corps—Events in France, Poland, and the Balkans—Attitude of Bulgaria and Greece—The 10th Division and one French sent to Salonika—Bulgaria declares war—Venizelos resigns—Serbia invaded—Salonika expedition too late, but destroys hope of Dardanelles—Lord Kitchener inquires about evacuation—Sir Ian’s reply—He is recalled | [356] |
| CHAPTER XV | |
| THE FIFTH ACT | |
| Sir Charles Monro arrives—His report—The advocates of evacuation—Lord Kitchener visits the Peninsula—General Birdwood appointed to command—Storm and blizzard of November—General Birdwood ordered to evacuate Suvla and Anzac—Estimate of Turkish forces—Our ruses—Arrangements at Suvla—Risks of the final nights—Embarkation at Suvla—Problem at Anzac—Final arrangements—Evacuation of Anzac—Uncertainty about Helles—Evacuation ordered—Turkish attacks—Final withdrawal (January 8, 1916)—Recapitulation of causes of failure—Concluding observations—The end | [374] |
| INDEX | [413] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| General Sir Ian Hamilton | [Frontispiece] | |
| From a portrait by John S. Sargent, R.A. | ||
| FACING PAGE | ||
| Service on Board the Queen Elizabeth | [24] | |
| General Sir William Birdwood | [44] | |
| The River Clyde, “V” Beach, and Seddel Bahr | [94] | |
| Lieut.-Col. C. H. H. Doughty-Wylie | [128] | |
| Anzac Cove | [138] | |
| French Dug-out at Helles | [174] | |
| General Gouraud standing with General Bailloud | [194] | |
| Water-Carriers at Anzac | [206] | |
| A “Beetle” | [214] | |
| General Sir Ian Hamilton (1918) | [228] | |
| Monash Gully | [244] | |
| Major-General Sir Alexander Godley | [256] | |
| Big Table Top | [260] | |
| Ocean Beach | [284] | |
| Anzac in Snow | [384] | |
| Scene on Suvla Point | [394] | |
| MAPS | ||
| FACING PAGE | ||
| Helles and the Straits | [78] | |
| Positions at Anzac | [112] | |
| Suvla Landing | [286] | |
| 32nd Brigade, August 8 | [316] | |
| 11th Division, August 21 | [341] | |
| At End of Book | ||
| [1.] The Peninsula, the Straits, and Constantinople. | ||
| [2.] British and French Trenches at Helles. | ||
| [3.] Positions at Anzac (end of August). | ||
| [4.] Positions at Suvla (end of August). | ||
THE DARDANELLES
CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN
On November 3, 1914, the silence of the Dardanelles was suddenly broken by an Anglo-French naval squadron, which opened fire upon the forts at the entrance of that historic strait. The bombardment lasted only ten minutes, its object being merely to test the range of the Turkish guns, and no damage seems to have been inflicted on either side. The ships belonged to the Eastern Mediterranean Allied Squadrons, commanded by Vice-Admiral Sackville Carden, and the order to bombard was given by the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill being First Lord. The War Council was not consulted, and Admiral Sir Henry Jackson, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, in his evidence before the Dardanelles Commission described the bombardment as a mistake, because it was likely to put the Turks on the alert. Commodore de Bartolomé, Naval Secretary to the First Lord, also said he considered it unfortunate, presumably for the same reason.[1] Even Turks, unaided by Germans, might have foreseen the ultimate necessity of strengthening the fortification of the Straits, but at the beginning they would naturally trust to the long-recognised difficulty of forcing a passage up the swift and devious channel which protects the entrance to the Imperial City more securely than a mountain pass.
War between the Allies and Turkey became certain only three days before (October 31), but from the first the temptation of the Turkish Government to throw in their lot with “Central Europe” was powerful. It is true that, during three or four decades of last century, Turkey counted upon England for protection, and that by the Crimean War and the Treaty of Berlin England had protected her, with interested generosity, as a serviceable though frail barrier against Russian designs. But the British occupation of Egypt, the British intervention in Crete and Macedonia, and perhaps also the knowledge that a body of Englishmen fought for Greece in her disastrous campaign of 1897, shook Turkish confidence in the supposed protection; while, on the other hand, Abdul Hamid’s atrocious persecution of his subject races proved to the British middle classes that, though the Turk was described as “the gentleman of the Near East,” he still possessed qualities undesirable in an ally of professing Christians. Besides, within the last eight years (since 1906), the understanding between England and Russia had continually grown more definite, until it resulted in open alliance at the outbreak of the war; and Russia had long been Turkey’s relentless and insatiable foe. For she had her mind steadily set upon Constantinople, partly because, by a convenient and semi-religious myth, the Tsars regarded themselves as the natural heirs of the Byzantine Emperors, and partly in the knowledge that the possession of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles was essential for the development of Russia’s naval power.
HOW GERMANY WON TURKEY