What+was+the+Gallipoli+Campaign+and+what+was+it+supposed+to+achieve?

=Gallipoli campaign= http://www.allaboutturkey.com/gelibolu.htm

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 * [|World War I]
 * [|Gallipoli Campaign]
 * [|Naval Battle]
 * [|Land Battles]
 * [|The Seddulbahir Battles]
 * [|Ariburnu Battles]
 * [|The Anafartalar Battles]
 * [|Some Words about the War]

Why was Turkey in World War I?
[|Turkey] ([|Ottoman Empire] ) came into the war by the end of October 1914.

[|Turkey]'s treasury (government money) was empty.

Its leader, a thirty-three year-old military officer and national hero, Enver Pasha, saw the war in Europe as an opportunity for [|Turkey] to take back lands that had been absorbed by the Russian Empire in earlier years.

Enver dreamed of reinvigorating (putting new life into)[|Turkey]'s empire.

Enver feared that if Britain, France and Russia won against Germany and Austria-Hungary, they might take more land off [|Turkey.]

So Enver decided to take [|Turkey] into the war on the side of Germany.

The [|Ottoman Government (Turkish)] ordered two battleships from England just before the war broke out and paid for them. But close relationship between [|Turkey] and Germany scared the Allies and thus Britain decided to not to deliver those battleships which have already been paid. This caused an uproar among the [|Turks] against Britain and their friends.

Enver Pasha decided that siding with Germany in WW1 against the Allies (Britain, France and Russia) would be a great opportunity against the Allies.

So [|Turkey] cooperated with two German warships in the bombardment of two Russian seaports: Odessa and Nikolayev.

Russia responded three days later, on November 2, by declaring war on [|Turkey].

France declared against [|Turkey] on November 5, and so too did Britain. And Britain found this an opportune time to annex [take the territory or land] of Cyprus and Egypt, lands that had been part of [|Turkey]'s empire even though they had been being controlled by British authority.

[|Turkey] closed the straits ([|Bosphorus] and [|Dardanelles]) between the [|Mediterranean] and [|Black Seas.]

This prevented Russia from exporting her wheat or receiving shipments of materials from her allies in the war.

To protect its oil wells in the Middle East, Britain moved a military force up the Persian Gulf to Iraq, where it began engaging Turkish forces.

And in December, [|Turkey] began an assault into Russia's Caucasus Mountains which they lost. In a five-day battle ending January 3, the Russians smashed [|Turkey]'s offensive, and of the 95,000 men that [|Turkey] sent on the offensive only 18,000 returned, about 50,000 of them having frozen to death. The shocked Turkish people wondered who to blame for this disaster.



Dreaming up the Gallipoli Campaign
this bit is from Charles Bean: " the fleet would crush the forts by its heavy guns alone. The sequence of events, given in the British Ofiicial History, was as follows: On Aug. a7 M. Venizelos. the Greek Premier, had placed the naval and military forces of Greece at the disposal of the Allies About the same time the Russian Minister at Athens asked the King of Greece if he would, in certain circumstances, supply an army to assist in the seizure of the Dardanelles. The King had assented, and this information was passed on by the British Amhassador to his Government The propossl was discussed by Churchill and Kitchener-on Aug. 31; and on Sept. J.

Kitchener being absent in Paris, Churchill asked the Chief of the Imperial General Staff to work out the plan above referred to. Britain would not, however, come to an agreement with Greece unless Turkey entered the war, and Greece afterwards first modified and then withdrew her offer, which was then also opposed by Russia.

Since Turkey had closed the Dardanelles, Russia had been to all intents completely isolated from France and Great Britain. Her grain-ships were locked in the Black Sea;French and British ships carrying supplies and ammunition could not reach her ; the Allies could not send troops to her, nor she to them. The forcing of the Dardanelles and the capture of Constantinople would enable munitions [bullets and weapons] to go to Russia and Russian grain and oil to come out. It would shut out Germany from the east, would put Turkey out of the war,and would prevent Bulgaria from joining the enemy. It would possibly cause Bulgaria, Roumania, and Greece to join the Allies. It was precisely the kind of action which the British It would put heart into Russia, which had made great sacrifices for the Allies and now awaited some proof that they were ready to undertake serious risks for her. There is little doubt that, if the Dardanelles could have been forced by the unaided fleet and Constantinople taken, the war would have been shortened by a year, if not by two. The only question was-could it be done? "

Winston Churchill was responsible of the British Empire's navy at that time. He planned an offensive against Gallipoli to capture [|Dardanelles] so that this would open a secure/safe passage for the navy ships on their way to [|Istanbul], capital of the [|Ottoman Government].

Allies gathered their battleships in front of [|Dardanelles Straight] under the command of Admiral De Robeck.

The Allied fleet began bombarding the Turkish batteries [forts with guns in them] at the entrance to the Straits on 3rd November 1914. This bombardment continued intermittently until 12th March 1915.



Naval Battle
On 17th March the Allies sent some boats into the Straight and their military intelligence reports said that there were no sea-mines laid by the Turks that the British ships might knock into and make the bomb explode, thus blowing up the British ships and ruining their attack.

But that same night a small Turkish mine-laying ship, the Nusrat, laid many sea-mines into the [|Dardanelles].

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 Turkish batteries [guns] at Intepe started to fire heavily on the Allied ships.

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 nd threw forward six warships waiting in the rear.

During the withdrawal, one of the ships did 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.". The Allied assault on the Turks was stalled, and the British withdrew to Egypt to prepare for another, bigger assault.

On 18th March eighteen battleships entered the straits. The fleet included Queen Elizabeth, Lord Nelson, Agamemnon, Inflexible, Ocean, Irresistible, Prince George and Majestic from Britain and the Gaulois, Bouvet and Suffren from France.

At first they made good progress until the Bouvet struck a mine, heeled over, capsized and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Soon afterwards two more ships, Irresistible and Ocean hit mines. Most of the men in these two ships were rescued but by the time the Allied fleet retreated, over 700 men had been killed. Overall, three ships had been [|sunk] and three more had been severely damaged.

Good Grief they were going to have to attack the Turks another way! **Land Battles**

In spite of all the efforts in the [|Dardanelles] from 19th February to 18th March nothing had been gained by the Allied Forces.

Now, alongside the Naval bombardments [ shooting at the Turks from their ships] an amphibious [sea and land] 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] so that the Russians could get their wheat out and war resources in, 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 country 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 (across [|Çanakkale]) 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 (later it was called as Anzac Cove) 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. Mustafa Kemal 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.

Since the majority of the 27th Regiment which arrived from Aleppo (Halep) 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.

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 trench warefare.

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 (25 feet) 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 approximately 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.

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. Even though the 9th Corps, that was later reinforced, attempted more flank attacks from Ismailoglu Hill to Anafartalar and from Mt. Karakol to Ece Harbor 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 dawn on the 10th of August.

The attack succeeded and even the British Brigade Commander was among the dead.

The seizure of the land would guarantee the security of the defense line and so 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. [|Mustafa Kemal] was stationed at [|Edirne] and [|Diyarbakir] after the [|Çanakkale] wars and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on 1 April 1916.

__** POINTS OUT OF 10? 0 **__

Over 33.000 allied and 86.000 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. [badly thought through] 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 and New Zealanders see themselves.

The Turkish nation, who lost about 253.000 men at battle, had managed to emerge in honour against the Allied forces. According to the Turks, the fate of the Turks changed when [|Mustafa Kemal] addressed his soldiers with the words "I am not giving you an order to attack, I am ordering you to die!". The Turks consider [believe / think] that this was the biggest failure of Churchill and of the Allies. They underestimated the military skills of [|Mustafa Kemal Atatürk] and his brave soldiers. Both sides suffered heavy loss of lives.

Today Gallipoli (Gelibolu) peninsula is a [|national park] nearby [|Canakkale] and there are many war memorials and cemeteries belonging to [|Turks], Australians, New Zealanders, British and French. Every 25th April war veterans (few left today) from both sides and their children meet here to commemorate the [|Gallipoli Campaign]. It is also possible to dive at the [|shipwrecks] along the shores. Many [|tours] also passes from this area.



Some Words about the War
[|Kemal Ataturk]; (Inscription on [|Gallipoli] Memorial put up by [|Turkey] in 1934, also on [|Ataturk] Memorial at Tarakina Bay, Wellington.)

> "Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well."

Russell Weir; (Tolerton, In the shadow of war p. 202)

> "We landed, I suppose, somewhere about nine or half past nine in the morning. On the Sunday morning, Sunday the 25th of April. And through a mistake made by the navy, we played into the [|Turk]'s hands beautifully. Because you can imagine a narrow strip of beach, nothing but stones, no sand, and from that narrow stretch of beach straight up were high cliffs composed of clay and rock. And the [|Turks] had the machine guns and the rifle fire and the full view of the beach, and the only protection we could get when we advanced was to get in close to the cliff and hug it."

Alexander Aitken; (Aitken, Gallipoli to the Somme p. 33-34)

> "... I slid the rifle-sight to '450', aimed and fired.[...] The [|Turk] plunged into the trench in a swirl of dust ... This, of course, was what I was there for, but it seemed no light matter, and kept me awake for some time. I would come to no conclusion except that individual guilt in an act of this kind is not absolved by collective duty nor lessened when pooled in collective responsibility. I further found that I bore the [|Turk] no trace of enmity - nor for that matter did any of us; he was to us "Johnny [|Turk]" or "Joe Burke", almost a fellow sufferer. We were not indoctrinated against him, as we had been against the Germans by propaganda, the cartoons of Louis Raemakers, and tales of atrocity. But I saw, still further, that this [|Turk], at the moment of shooting, had not even been a person; he might have been big game. It was a single step to the thought that certain 'colonial' campaigns, not infrequent in our annals, might have been conducted in almost this game-hunting spirit. Here I balked; to become analytical might lead to doubt of the cause for which we were fighting; for this had been called, in those early years, the 'war to end war'. I was far from such doubt then, and would have repudiated pacifism."

Major General Godley; (in a letter to the NZ Minster of Interior, Ronald Graham, July 1915, Boyack p. 59)

> "I hear that Winston [Churchill] has arrived, and suppose we shall see him within the next few days. He certainly is a plucky fellow, and I think he ought to be given a V.C. and then taken out and shot. I wonder what sort of reception he will get if he comes among the troops, whether they will cheer, or shoot him. I think the former."