The Battle of Albert began on September 25, 1914 as part of the Race to the Sea during World War I. It directly followed the First Battle of the Marne and the First Battle of the Aisne as progress toward advancing the trench lines to the sea continued.
The French Tenth Army began to assemble at Amiens from mid-September and on September 25 began to push eastwards. De Castelnau, under the command of Joffre, launched a frontal attack on the German lines near Albert after attempts to stretch the line northward failed. De Castelnau was met with immediate resistance and counterattack as the German Sixth Army had reached Bapaume on September 26 and advanced to Thiepval on the 27th, in the midst of what was to become the Somme battlefield of 1916. The German aim was to drive westward to the English Channel, seizing the industrial and agricultural regions of Northern France, cutting off the supply route of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and isolating Belgium.
Neither side was able to make any decisive ground and the battle around Albert ended around September 29 as the fighting moved northwards towards Arras and Lille and into West Flanders. This confrontation and those to follow were deemed draws as the fighting settled into prolonged trench warfare.
Battle of Aqaba was the seizure of the Jordanian port of Aqaba by forces of the Arab Revolt, led by Auda ibu Tayi and T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") in July 1917.
Background
Following an unsuccessful attack on Medina, forces of the Arab Revolt under Emir Faisal I were on the defensive against the Turks. Lawrence, sent by General Archibald Murray, commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, to act as a military advisor to Feisal, convinced the latter to attack Aqaba. Aqaba was a Turkish-garrisoned port in Jordan, which would threaten British forces operating in Palestine; the Turks had also used it as a base during their 1915 attack on the Suez Canal. It was also suggested by Feisal that the port be taken as a means for the British to supply his Arab forces. Though he did not take part in the attack itself (his cousin Sherif Nasir rode along as the leader of his forces), Feisal lent a large number of his men to Lawrence. Lawrence also met with Auda ibu Tayi, leader of the northern Howeitat tribe of Bedouin, who agreed to lend himself and a large number of his men to the expedition.
Aqaba was not in and of itself a major military obstacle; a small village, it was not actually garrisoned by the Turks, though the Turks did keep a small garrison a short way from the town to protect from landward attack via the Sinai Peninsula. The main obstacle to a successful landward attack on the town was the large Nefud Desert, believed by many to be impassable.
Crossing the Nefud
The expedition started moving towards Aqaba in May. Despite the heat of the desert, the seasoned Bedouins encountered few obstacles aside from occasional harassment from small bands of Arabs paid off by the Turks; they lost more men to attacks by snakes and scorpions than to enemy action. During the expedition, Auda and Lawrence's forces also did severe damage to the Hejaz Railway.
Auda and his men reached the Wadi Sirhan region, occupied by the Rualla tribe. Auda payed 6,000 pounds in gold to their leader in exchange for allow his men to use Wadi Sirhan as a base.
Lawrence's plan was to convince the Turks that the target of his attack was Damascus, rather than Aqaba. At one point in this expedition, he went on a solitary reconnaissance expedition, destroying a railroad bridge at Baalbek. Lawrence did this largely to convince the Turks that the Arab force - of which they had received vague reports - was moving towards Damascus or Aleppo.
The expedition then approached Daraa, and captured a railroad station nearby. This action confirmed for the Turks, who had heretofore been misled as to the Arab army's intentions, that Aqaba was indeed their target. A squadron of 400 Turkish cavalry was sent after them, but Auda's men were easily able to avoid them.
Battle
The actual battle for Aqaba occurred for the most part at a Turkish blockhouse at Abu el Lissal, about halfway between Aqaba and the town of Maan. A group of separate Arab rebels, acting in conjunction with the expedition, had seized the blockhouse a few days before, but a Turkish infantry battalion arrived on the scene and recaptured it. The Turks then attacked a small, nearby encampment of Arabs and killed several of them.
After hearing of this, Auda personally led an attack on the Turkish troops there, attacking at mid-day on July 6. The charge was a wild success. Turkish resistance was slight; the Arabs brutally massacred hundreds of Turks as revenge before their leaders could restrain them. In all, three hundred Turks were killed and another 150 taken prisoner, in exchange for the loss of two Arabs killed (a small number were also apparently wounded in the action). Lawrence was nearly killed in the action; he accidentally shot the camel he was riding in the head with his pistol, but was fortunately thrown out of harm's way when he fell. Auda was grazed numerous times, with his favorite pair of field glasses being destroyed, but was otherwise unharmed.
Meanwhile, a small group of British naval vessels appeared offshore of Aqaba itself and began shelling it. At this point, Lawrence, Auda, and Nasir had rallied their troops; their total force had been quadrupled to 2,000 men by a local Bedouin who, with the defeat of the Turks at Lissal, now openly joined Lawrence's expedition. This force manuveured themselves past the outer works of Aqaba's defensive lines. approached the gates of Aqaba, and its garrison surrendered without further struggle.
Aftermath/Consequences
The seizure of Aqaba allowed for the transport of Feisal's army further north, where it could again begin operations with the logistical support of the British military. It also relieved pressure on British forces in Palestine and effectively isolated the Turkish forces in Medina, and opened a pathway for possible military operations into Syria and Jordan.
The battle was depicted in the film Lawrence of Arabia, though the film's depiction of a sweeping charge by the Arabs against Aqaba itself is quite false.
The Battle of Arras (also known as the First Battle of Arras), which began on October 1, 1914, was an attempt by the French Army to outflank the German Army to prevent its movement towards the English Channel during the Race to the Sea.
The French Tenth Army, led by Louis Maud'huy, attacked the advancing German forces on October 1, initially experiencing success until they reached the town of Douai. There, the German Crown Prince Rupprecht's Sixth Army launched a counter-attack. Along with additional attacks from three corps of the German First, Second and Seventh Armies. The French were forced to withdraw towards Arras.
France's failure to hold back the German Army resulted in the loss of Lens on October 4, and allowed the Germans to move further northwards towards Flanders. The French, however, were able to hold Arras.
The Battle of Asiago or Battle of the Plateaux (in Italian: Battaglia degli Altipiani), nicknamed Strafexpedition ("Punitive expedition") by the Austrians, was a counteroffensive launched by the Austro-Hungarians on the Italian Front on May 15, 1916, during World War I. It was an unexpected attack that took place near Asiago in Trentino (now in northeast Italy, then part of Austria-Hungary) after the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo (March 1916).
The idea came from Conrad von Hötzendorf, who had been maintaining for years (even before the outbreak of the war) the need of a punitive action against Italy, distrusting Italian loyalty to the Triple Alliance. Now, after Serbia's collapse and a series of Russian defeats on the Eastern Front, he had been allotted the resources to put that idea into practice. His plan consisted in a quick attack from Trentino toward the Adriatic Sea, cutting off Venetia and ensnaring General Cadorna's army in a giant trap.
It was not so easy, however, because the Italians had deployed in the area about 250,000 troops (General Brusati's First Army and part of the Fourth Army). Hötzendorff had asked Germany for help, but his request was denied because Germany was not yet at war with Italy (which would declare war on Germany three months later), and because redeploying German units on the Italian Front would have diminished German offensive capability against Russia.
Italian intelligence had been gathering information about an impending enemy offensive in Trentino — and a big one — for about a month, but Cadorna dismissed those reports, persuaded as he was that nothing could happen in that region.
On May 15, 2,000 Austrian artillery guns opened a heavy barrage against the Italian lines, setting Trentino afire. The Austrian infantry attacked along a 50km front. The Italian wings stood their ground, but the center yielded, and the Austrians broke through, reaching the beginning of the Venetian plain. With Vicenza about 30 km away, all the Italian forces on the Isonzo faced outflanking.
Cadorna hastily sent reinforcements to the First Army, and deployed the newly formed Fifth Army to engage the enemy in case they succeeded in entering the plain. The situation was critical.
However, on June 4, the Russians unexpectedly took the initiative in Galicia, where they managed to enter Austrian soil. Although they were effectively countered by German troops, Hötzendorf was forced quickly to withdraw half of his divisions from Trentino. With that, the Strafexpedition could no longer be sustained and the Austrians retired from many of their positions. Italian troops in the region were increased to 400,000 to counter the Austrian positions.
Although the Strafexpedition had been checked, it had political consequences in Italy: the Salandra Cabinet fell, and Paolo Boselli became the new Prime Minister.
The Battle of Baku was a battle of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I that took place in the vicinity of Baku, in 1918 . The Ottoman-Azerbaijani forces of the Army of Islam led by Nuri Pasha won the battle against a coalition of British, Armenian and White Russian forces led by Lionel Dunsterville.
The Battle of Bash Abaran was a battle of Caucasus Campaign of World War I that took place in the vicinity of Bash Abaran, in 1918. The Turkish divisions attacked on May 21, but after three days of fierce combat the Armenians remained firm and the Turkish regiments were defeated.
Battle of Bitlis was a battle between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I. The first conflict was in July 1915 which the Ottoman forces hold on the city. The second conflict began in February - 3 March 1916 which ended with Russian forces capturing the city. The city was captured by the 1. Armenian battalion of the Armenian volunteer units under the command of Andranik Toros Ozanian. The city was the last defense point for the Ottoman Army to prevent the Russians moving central Anatolia and Mesopotamia. After the capture, Ottoman Army asked Mustafa Kemal to organize the defense in the region. The forces under Mustafa Kemal's control built a resistance between 1 - 8 August 1916, which 9 August the region was recaptured.
The Battle of Bolimov was an inconclusive battle of World War I fought on January 31, 1915 between Germany and Russia and considered a preliminary to the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes.
The German Ninth Army led by August von Mackensen attacked the Russian Second Army, under General Smirnov, near the Polish town of Bolimov, laying on the railway line connecting Łódź and Warsaw.
The Battle of Bomilov was the first attempt by the Germans at a large-scale use of poison gas; the several thousand gas shells they fired proved unsuccessful when the xylyl bromide—a type of tear gas—was blown back at their own lines. The gas caused few, if any, casualties, however, since the cold weather caused it to freeze, rendering it ineffective.
The failure of the xylyl bromide caused the German commanders to call off their attack. In response, the Russians sent 11 divisions, led by Vasily Gurko to launch a counterattack; German artillery repelled the Russian troops, who suffered 40,000 casualties.
The Battle of Bukoba was the first victory for Entente forces in German East Africa, coming after the disastrous battles of Tanga and Jassin. The British objective was the destruction of the Bukoba wireless station. Due to Bukoba's location on the shore of Lake Victoria, it was decided that the raid should take the form of an amphibious assault.
The Battle and aftermath
The raid was launched from Kisumu in British East Africa on June 21, 1915. Amongst the units chosen for the attack were the Loyal North Lacashires and the 25th (Frontiersmen) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, more commonly known by the their nickname the 25th 'Frontiersmen'. This unusual unit had been created by Colonel Daniel Patrick Driscoll as an irregular skirmish force shaped by his experiences during the Second Boer War, and drawn largely from his peacetime paramilitary group, the Legion of Frontiersmen. A number of big game hunters were recruited to the force by Driscoll—most notably Frederick Selous, who was 64 when he joined and who died in action at the age of 65.
Upon reaching the objective at Bukoba the attackers were accidentally landed in a large swamp and were pinned down by fierce rifle and machine gun fire from the German positions. Finally managing to escape the swamp, the British force was then held up by snipers—who succeeded in stalling the attack until a Capt. Meinertzhagen advanced towards them and opened fire, killing one and driving the rest away. The attack continued for a further two days in the town; however, casualties were light on both sides. The Frontiersmen took the town on June 23. An Australian member of the unit, Lieutenant Wilbur Dartnell, climbed to the top of the town hall and removed the German Imperial Ensign from the flagpole as a symbolic gesture of victory.
Bukoma fort and the wireless station were destroyed, the British also captured rifles and 32,000 rounds of ammunition. Due to their status as an 'irregular' unit, the Frontiersmen were granted permission to loot the town by General Stewart. This predictably turned into a disaster, with the 25th robbing and burning much of the town with such ferocity that the incident became known as the "Sack of Bukoba". It was later claimed by an embarrassed high command that no looting had taken place.
The aim of the raid, the destruction of the wireless station, was counterproductive for the British as it deprived them of the possibility of intercepting German transmissions. Bukoba was abandoned.
Wilbur Dartnell
After the battle, the 25th Battalion was ordered to guard the Uganda Railway between Nairobi and Mombasa, which was coming under heavy attack from German forces. During this period Wilbur Dartnell was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for an action which took place near Maktau on September 3, 1915.
The 1918 Battle of Cambrai was an engagement fought between troops of the Canadian Corps, British First, Third, and Fourth Armies, the American Corps, and German Empire forces. The Battle of Cambrai was one in a long series of battles across the Hindenburg Line. The Battle took place October 8 - 10, 1918. The Battle incorporated many of the newer tactics of 1918, namely tanks, meaning that the battle was an overwhelming success with light casualties in an extremely short amount of time.
Battle
Although there were three German lines, spanning some 7,000 yards, the sector has been quiet for some time so it was lightly garrisoned: the 20th Landwehr and the 54th Reserve, supported by no more than 150 guns. The German defenders were unprepared for the "hurricane bombardment" by 324 tanks.
On October 8, the 2nd Canadian Division entered Cambrai and encountered sporadic and light resistance. However, they rapidly pressed northward, leaving the "mopping up" of the town to the 3rd Canadian Division following close behind. When the 3rd entered the town on October 10, they found it deserted. Less than 20 casualties had been taken.
Aftermath
Although the capture of Cambrai was achieved significantly quicker than expected, German resistance northeast of the town stiffened, slowing the advance and forcing the Canadian Corps to dig in.
The Battle of Caporetto (or Battle of Karfreit as it was known by the Central Powers), took place from 24 October to 9 November 1917, near Kobarid, in what is now Slovenia, on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian army, which had practically no mobile reserves. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics developed in part by Oskar von Hutier.
Rommel
Erwin Rommel added lustre to his military career leading a company of Wuerttemberg mountain troops during this battle and capturing 3,000 Italians, winning a Pour le Mérite in process. His genius was shown by capturing Monte Matajur, southwest of Caporetto. He led 300 men high up into an Italian stronghold to capture a gun battery, then swinging around and capturing 2,000 troops. Rommel was ordered to defend his captured territory, but did not hesitate and captured 1,200 more Italians by convincing them that his force was the mere vanguard of thousands more. For an entire defence line knocked out he had 132 Italians dead and 4,000 captured. Rommel, on the other hand had lost no men. Despite not having slept for 45 hours Rommel did not stop there, pushing on to take a garrison held town of Longarone. This involved charging across a booby-trapped bridge and removing the explosives before they could go off and then capturing 8000 more men. It was said "Rommel always remained the lieutenant, making snap decisions and acting on the spur of the moment." The Italians were sent to POW camps, accompanied by only two men, which would be later repeated in WWII in Tobruk, when 27,000 Italians were accompanied by the same number of Australians. He had to attend military court to get his medal however, because another officer claimed he had taken the hill.
Losses
Italian losses were enormous: 11,000 were killed, 20,000 wounded and 275,000 were taken prisoners; also 2,500 guns were captured by the Austrians. Austro-German forces advanced more than 100 km in the direction of Venice, but they were not able to cross the Piave River, where the Italians (aided by French, British and American allies) established a new defensive line, which was held for the rest of the war.
The battle led to the conference at Rapallo and the creation of a Supreme War Council, with the aim of improving Allied military co-operation and developing a unified strategy.
The bloody aftermath of Caporetto was vividly described by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms.
Luigi Cadorna was in charge of the Italian forces and was forced to resign after the defeat. He was replaced by Armando Diaz and Pietro Badoglio.
The debacle was not the result of a lack of repression or coercion. In fact, 870,000 Italian soldiers came to be denounced by authorities with 210,000 sentences in military courts; 15,000 were sentenced to life in jail and 4,000 to death. There were rumors of illegal decimations taking place after the fashion of Ancient Rome to attempt to terrorise the remaining soldiers into fighting to the death. The failure of the Italian army was most likely because of the preponderance of peasants in an army which fought through terror. Many of these soldiers could not understand the national language or their battle orders.
This led governments to the realization that terror alone cannot adequately motivate a modern army. After the defeat at Caporetto, Italian propaganda offices were established and cynically promised land and social justice to soldiers. Italy also accepted a more cautious military strategy from this point on. Just one fifth of the total 650,000 Italian casualties during the war occurred after Caporetto.
After this battle, the term "Caporetto" gained a particular resonance in Italy. It is used to denote a terrible defeat - the failed General Strike of 1922 by the socialists was referred to by Mussolini as the "Caporetto of Italian Socialism".
The Battle of Cer was one of the first battles of the World War I. The battle is also known as Battle of Jadar, because the main operations were held near the estuary of the river Jadar. The battle was fought between the Austro-Hungarian Army and Serbian forces; it marked the first Allied victory in the war. The battle improved Allied-Serbian relations because western faith in the competence of the Serbian Army was much improved. Austro-Hungarian troops fought under the command of General Oskar Potiorek and Serbian troops under the command of General Stepa Stepanović.
Battle Summary
When the First World War started the Austro-Hungarian Army under the command of General Oskar Potiorek pushed into Serbia across the Sava and the Drina. Šabac fell. The Serbian Second Army under the command of General Stepa Stepanović advanced towards Cer, the Šumadija Division towards Šabac and the Cavalry Division towards Mačva. On the left flank the Third Army under the command of General Pavle Jurišić Šturm entered the battle. The Austro-Hungarian Army walked right into the area where Serbia's artillery trained many of their gunners and thus Serbs could use their artillery with great accuracy and effectiveness, while in the same time Austro-Hungarian Army had no bearing or coordiantes for the general area where the battle was fought, thus they couldn't bring to bear their advantage in artillery pieces.It is also important to note that Serbian Second Army was, due to its position in the middle of the northwestern cordon formation, strongest of the three armies, not in term of numbers (largest was the first army which was assigned to protect the entrance to the Morava river valley, this being the best possible approach to Serbia due to the lack of natural defences, unlike the mountanous northeast and northwest approaches) but in terms of quality of its divisions. It consisted only of the divisions of the first call, thus of soldiers in their 20's and with best training and matériel. These were Šumadijska, Moravska, Dunavska (which, being responsible for direct defence of Belgrade, had additional regiments attached) and Kombinovana (combined) divisions. This organisational structure was applied by Field Marshal Putnik not just to have a strong center, but also, because of their central position, Second Army's divisions could at any time be attached to either First or Third army if the strategic development dictated such an action. Thus, when all doubts about the direction of Austro-Hungarian invasion were cleared (Putnik strongly held to his belief that the northwestern advance was a demonstrative attack conducted in order to move Serbian forces out of the positions on Danube river, guarding the entrance to Morava valley, even though reports from the Drina and Sava fronts were indicating the area where major battle was about to take place), Serbian cordon conducted a regrouping (movement of app. 90 degrees counterclockwise) of all of its armies and Second Army faced von Franck's Fifth Army (only Austro-Hungarian Army which had crossed into Serbia in full strength) at Cer and Jadar valley. Another thing of great importance during Cer battle was Putnik's unwillingness to conduct aggressive offensive maneuvers (this was also the case in the First Balkan War) due to his fear of unnecessary risk which could lead to higher casualties in already undermanned Serbian army. An evident example was his overruling of General Stepanović's proposal on the eve of the third day of the battle. Stepanović sensed that Austro-Hungarian forces on Cer an Everk were beginning to crumble, so he suggested a bold maneuver in which his Kombinovana and Moravska divisions would conduct a forced frontal pursuit of opposing troops on Cer and Everk ridges, whilst the Cavalry and Timočka (this division was hardly used during the entire course of the battle, to significant dissadvantage regarding the outcome) divisions would conduct a parallel pursuit on the northern slope of Cer towards Lešnica, with orders to attack both the enemy's flanks and to reach the pontoon bridges on Drina river and therefore cut Fifth Army's main line of retreat. If this maneuver was conducted, possibillity of a catastrophe for Austro-Hungarian arms was significant. Yet, Putnik ordered Stepa to pursuit enemy force frontally and not to conduct any sort of flanking attack, which would, in itself, cause far larger casualties upon retreating enemy. Third Army's loss of contact with enemy on the third day of the battle also helped Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army to withdraw in a more orderly fashion. Considering this information, it is obvious that the invading force could have suffered a far costlier defeat and shows Putnik as a superb organiser (his mobilisation plans for both Balkans wars and World War I were excellent, considering the low quality of roads in Serbia and lack of a significant railroad network), yet overcautious in the conduct of battles.
During August 1914 a battle was waged in the area of Mt. Cer, in which around 200,000 Austro-Hungarians fought against 180,000 Serbs. The main battle at Cer lasted from August 16 to 19. The Serbian Army won the victory, pushed the Austro-Hungarian Army back across the Drina, and completely thwarted their war plan.
Outcome
Around 25,000 Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers were killed and wounded, and around 4,500 were captured. The Serbian Army lost around 16,000 and 250 officers. As a result of the battle Austria-Hungary withdrew from Sandzak, delaying their offensive into Serbia. Austria-Hungary continued offensives into Serbia for the rest of the autumn of 1914 without much success. Cer also gave the Entente their first victory of the war against the Central Powers.
The Battle of Dobro Pole was a World War I battle, fought on September 15, 1918. The battle resulted in a decisive Anglo-French victory, with a defeated Bulgaria left to sign an armistice, which removed it from World War I.
The battle was fought at Dobro Pole, in present day Macedonia, then part of Bulgaria.
Prelude
Once the Bulgarian advance into Romania and Greece had been halted, conditions at the front deteriorated rapidly and political support for the war began to wane. Bulgaria had now achieved all its war aims, but was compelled to continue fighting in order to assist its Central Powers allies. With little manpower available for farming, serious food shortages affected both civilians and soldiers while rampant inflation damaged the economy. In 1917 food riots broke out and opposition to World War I propaganda became widely circulated.
On June 17, 1917, Greece joined the war on the side of the Entente (having issued a declaration of war on 23 November 1916). In September 1918, the Entente forces launched a two-pronged offensive into Bulgarian-occupied Macedonia.
Bulgaria was able to defeat Britain and Greece at the Battle of Doiran decisively, but Anglo-French forces did not halt their advance, and the two forces finally met at Dobro Pole.
The Battle
Bulgarian forces met a more powerful and larger army at Dobro Pole. The large majority of the Allied Powers consisted of the 122nd French Infantry Division. The Bulgarians were prized for losing no battles to this point in the war, and Ferdinand I decided to stay and fight. The machine gun companies, the 10th and 30th Bulgarian Infantry Divisions dug in. However, the Anglo-French force was drastically superior. Before the battle began, the Bulgarians were surrounded. Being outmanned and strategically inert, the Bulgarians were unable to stop the Allied advance. Even when asked to surrender, as victory was hopeless, the Bulgarians refused to give up, ignoring the Allied requests. The Allies continued to advance, and eventually their flamethrowers inflicted devastating damage upon the Bulgarians, who soon were soundly defeated.
Revolt
After the humiliating defeat at Dobro Pole, other Bulgarian soldiers began to revolt, and the Bulgarian front lines were abandoned. The rebels headed towards Sofia in order to negotiate with the government. When the rebels reached Sofia, they were crushed by Bulgarian loyalists and German troops.
Aftermath
10 days after the battle, with the front lines abandoned by the Bulgarian Army, the Entente advance in Bulgaria met little resistance. Bulgaria signed an armistice with the Allied Powers, officially leaving the war. Immediately after, a peasant-led "Agrarian" government took control.
In November 1919 the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine awarded Thrace to Greece, depriving Bulgaria of access to the Aegean Sea. The newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes took Macedonia and Southern Dobruja went back to Romania. Severe limitations were placed on the size of the Bulgarian Army and enormous war reparations in goods and money were to be paid to the Allies.
The Battle of Doiran was fought from 18 September to 19 September 1918, with the Greeks and the British assaulting Bulgarian positions near Lake Doiran. The battle was part of World War I and took place in the Balkan Theatre. The battle ended with Bulgarians repulsing all attacks, but then retreating.
Prelude
The Greeks and the British set off from their base at Thessaloniki at the same time as the Serbians and the French. The Greeks and the British under George Milne set off the attack on the Bulgarian positions at Doiran while the Serbians and the French under the command of Franchet d'Esperey went to penetrate the Bulgarian defences in the Vardar Valley. The Greeks and the British were aiming to capture the Bulgarian positions in the hills above Lake Doiran.
This wasn't the first time the allies had attacked Doiran; the British had twice failed to capture it in 1917. The fortifications were well built, the Bulgarians having spent the first months of 1916 and early 1917 strengthing the positions. The terrain around the area was rough, the fortifactions being surrounded with three miles of scrub and rocks. Part of the defences were the dangerous Pip Ridge and the Grand Couronné.
The Battle
The first assault on the hills was by the 22nd and the 26th Divisions of the British army with support from the a Cretan Division of the Greek army. As they were advancing up the hills they were caught in a crossfire coming from the slopes and were driven back with heavy losses. They then assaulted the Pip Ridge, with the 12th Cheshires leading the attack. The bunkers on the hills that had machine guns in them opened fire and had a horrific effect on the allies; only 20%-30% of their soldiers reached the trenches, but those that remained continued on and captured the first two Bulgarian trenches. But by this stage the attack had become a massacre, and those that remained alive were going to an almost certain death.
While this was happening a Greek regiment was knocked back on the right. The South Wales Borders had reached Grand Couronné, the last line of defence. The bravery of the Welsh was extreme; they charged up the hill trying to get over the defences of the Grand Couronné, only to be cut down. Of the whole battalion only one officer and eighteen men made it back to the camp. The Bulgarians showed great bravery against the enemy, whose forces were 6 times larger than theirs.
Casualties
The Allies' losses were enormous: they lost around 20,000 soldiers, while the Bulgarians suffered only 2,000-5,000. The reason for this was that in the night of September 16th the allies bombarded the Bulgarian positions with heavy artillery fire (the total weight of the bombs is estimated to have been 30,000 t). The Allies believed that there would be few survivors, but due to the well-constructed bunkers the Bulgarians lost only 9 killed and 40 injured. Thus the Allied attack proved to be a complete disaster, as the Greek and the English soldiers were easy targets for the hidden Bulgarians.
Retreat
After a day of fighting all the allies had accomplished was a small gain on the right by the Greek forces. The next day the 65th Brigade attacked Pip Ridge. The assault was another defeat, with only half of the men returning alive, but the assault gained the town of Doiran and a few hills above it. All these meant nothing to the Bulgarians, however, who only had a small garrison there. After a while the Bulgarian fortifications went quiet and the Greek and British armies advanced only to find the Bulgarian positions abandoned. The Serbian and French armies had defeated the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian army in the Vardar valley and were advancing towards Doiran. When the Bulgarians' German advisors heard of this, they ordered the Bulgarian army to retreat so that they would not be cut off from the rear.
Aftermath
The allies continued to advance deeper into Bulgarian territory and some said the army had mutinied and were threatening Sofia. On September 30, the Bulgarians surrendered to the allies in Thessaloniki. The war was costly for Bulgaria, which lost 87,500[citation needed] soldiers killed and 275,000 civilians[citation needed]. The Bulgarians also lost all their land on the Aegean Sea to Greece and some territory in the northwest to Serbia.
When General Vladimir Vazov arrived in London to meet veterans from the war he was welcomed with great respect by his hosts, with the flags of all their regiments who participated in the battle lowered in his honour in Victoria Station.
The Battle of Erzincan was a Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
The Turkish commander, Enver Pasha launched an offensive in May, 1916 intending to recapture the ground lost to Nikolai Yudenich earlier that year. In February, Yudenich had taken the cities of Erzurum and Trebizond. Trebizond had provided the Russians with a port to receive reinforcements in the Caucasus. Enver, ordered the Third Army, now under Vehip Pasha to retake Trebizond. Vehip's attack failed and General Yudenich counterattacked on July 2. The Russian attack hit the Turkish communications center of Erzincan forcing Vehip's troops to retreat as well as losing many POWs. As a result the Third Army was rendered ineffective for the rest of the year.
The Erzurum Campaign was a modest Russian victory over the Turks along the Caucasus Front during World War I. The Erzurum Campaign is often known as the Battle of Erzurum.
Background
Russia had won a significant battle at Sarikamis (1914) and had captured parts of the Turkish Caucasus but lacked the resources to exploit their victories. In August 1915 they lost Van to the Turks (though they recaptured it one month later) and in September Grand Duke Nicholas arrived as Russian viceroy in the Caucasus. The Grand Duke kept General Yudenich in command of the army and he proved his worth in the 1916 campaigns. General Yudenich planned an offensive aimed at the fortress of Erzurum which had been the launching point for the Turkish offensive in 1914.
The Battle of Gallipoli was ending and the Ottoman victory would free some divisions for redeployment elsewhere. Eight of these divisions were designated for the Caucasus Front. Yudenich believed he could launch an offensive before these divisions could be ready for battle.
The Campaign Begins
On January 11, in the middle of winter, Yudencih moved his army out from winter quarters in secrecy. The Russian Army was split into two columns, the first column would attack Erzurum from the north, and the second column from the south. The Russian Army had been issued winter weather gear before the campaign started and was better equipped then their Turkish opponents. For three days the Russians advanced with no resistance, it wasn't until the Battles of Koprukoy and Tafta on January 14 that here was any fighting in the Erzurum Campaign.
The Battle of Koprukoy
The first Russian column advanced towards Erzurum and encountered Turkish troops outside the city of Koprukoy on January 14. The Russians immediately launched attacks against the chain of Turkish forts around Koprukoy. Most of the forts were captured by the Russians on the 14th, and the rest of the Forts were captured by the Russians on January 15. The Turks retreated from the town, but were surrounded by Russian troops outside of Koprukoy. After three hours of intense fighting outside of Koprukoy, the Turkish troops surrendered to Russians and the Russians continued their advance on Erzurum.
The Battle of Tafta
The second column of the Russian offensive arrived at the town of Tafta on January 13. The Turkish troops had retreated from the town when the Russians arrived, and now the Turkish troops were gathering for an attack on the Russians in the town. The Turkish attack began on January 14 with the Turks beginning a bombardment of the town. during the night of January 14 the Russians slipped out of the town and encircled the Turkish forces. On January 15 the Turks found themselves surrounded by Russians. After a two hour battle where the Turks attempted to break out of the Russian encirclement, the Turks surrendered to Russians, who resumed their march against Erzurum.
The Battle of Semirum
The Second Russian column arrived on the outskirts of Erzurum on January 17. The entrance to the city was guarded by the fortress of Semirum. The Russians began bombarding the fort on January 17, and on January 18 the Turks advanced from the fort to the Russian lines, only to cut down by machine gun fire. After the failed Turkish attacks the Russian were able to easily storm the fort and resume their advance on Erzurum.
The Capture of Erzurum
After taking Semirum (January 18), the second Russian column camped outside the city of Erzurum. The Russians decided to wait for the first column to arrive before attacking the city. When the first Russian column arrived outside Erzurum on January 19, Kerim Pasha, the commander of the ottoman forces inside Erzurum, lost his nerve and decided to retreat from Erzurum rather than risk a battle with the superior Russian forces. The Russians marched into Erzurum unopposed on January 20.
Results
During the nine days of fighting and conquest the Russians captured some 13,000 prisoners and 323 guns. As a result of the Erzurum Campaign, the Ottomans lost an important fort, supply base and strategic position. With the Third Army once again broken and demoralized the Russians were able to advance deep into Anatolia. In the southern area of Armenia, Muş and Bitlis were captured in early March. In the north, Trebizond fell in April. As a result of this defeat, Kerim Pasha was replaced by a new commander Vehib Pasha.
Battle of Festubert was an attack by the British army on the Ypres salient of the western front during World War I. It began on May 15, 1915 and continued until May 25. This is sometimes also called the battle of Aubers.
The attack was made by the British First Army under Sir Douglas Haig against a German salient between Neuve Chapelle to the north and the village of Festubert to the south. The assault was planned along a three mile front, and would initially be made mainly by Indian troops. This would be the first British army night attack of the war.
The battle was preceded by a 60 hour bombardment by 433 artillery pieces that fired about 100,000 shells. This bombardment failed to significantly damage the front line defenses of the German Sixth Army, but the initial advance made some progress in good weather conditions. The attack was renewed on the 16th, and by the 19th the British 2nd and 7th divisions had to be withdrawn due to heavy losses.
On the 18th the Canadian Division, assisted by the 51st (Highland) Division, renewed the advance, but this made little progress in the face of effective German artillery fire. The British forces then entrenched themselves at the new front line in conditions of heavy rain. The Germans now brought up more reserves to reinforce their lines.
From May 20 until the 25th the attack was renewed, resulting in the capture of the village of Festubert. However the total offensive had only netted 1 km of advance, at a cost of 16,000 casualties.
The Battle of Gallipoli took place at Gallipoli from April 1915 to December 1915 during the First World War. A joint British and French operation was mounted in an effort to eventually capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and provide a safe sea route for the transportation of arms to the Russians, and export of Russian grain. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides.
In Turkey, the campaign is known as the Çanakkale Savaşları, after the province of Çanakkale. In the United Kingdom, it is called the Dardanelles Campaign or Gallipoli, and in France, Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland it is also known simply as “Gallipoli.”
The Battle of Gallipoli left marks in the psyches of Turkey on the one side, and both Australia and New Zealand on the other. Even to this day, ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day is commemorated in Australia and New Zealand, and it is considered that the battle marked the birth of the collective national identities of both those nations, replacing that of the collective identity of the British Empire.
In Turkey, the battle is seen as one of the finest and bravest moments in the history of the Turkish people - a final surge in the defense of the motherland as the centuries-old Ottoman Empire was crumbling; which laid the grounds for the Turkish War of Independence and the foundation of the new Turkish Republic eight years later, led by Atatürk, a commander in Gallipoli himself.
Prelude
The Allies struggled throughout the war to open an effective supply route to Russia. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary blocked Russia's land trade routes to Europe, while no easy sea route existed. The White Sea in the north and the Sea of Okhotsk in the Far East were distant from the Eastern Front and often bound by ice. The Baltic Sea was blocked by Germany's formidable Kaiserliche Marine. The Black Sea's only entrance was through the Bosphorus, which was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. When the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October 1914, Russia could no longer be supplied from the Mediterranean Sea.
By late 1914, the Western Front, in France and Belgium, had effectively become fixed. A new front was desperately needed. Also, the Allies hoped that an attack on the Ottomans would draw Bulgaria and Greece into the war on the Allied side. However, an early proposal to use Greek troops to invade the Gallipoli peninsula was vetoed by Russia as its south slavic allies would feel threatened by an expansion of Greek power and influence.
A first proposal to attack Turkey had already been suggested by French Minister of Justice Aristide Briand in November 1914, but it was not supported. A suggestion by British Naval Intelligence (Room 39) to bribe the Turks over to the Allied side was not taken up.
Later in November, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill put forward his first plans for a naval attack on the Dardanelles, based at least in part on what turned out to be erroneous reports regarding Turkish troop strength, as prepared by Lieut. T. E. Lawrence. He reasoned that the Royal Navy had a large number of obsolete battleships which could not be used against the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, but which might well be made useful in another theatre. Initially, the attack was to be made by the Royal Navy alone, with only token forces from the army being required for routine occupation tasks.
Naval attacks
On February 19, the first attack on the Dardanelles began when a strong Anglo-French task force, including the British battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, bombarded Turkish artillery along the coast.
A new attack was launched on 18 March, targeted at the narrowest point of the Dardanelles where the straits are just a mile wide. A massive fleet under the command of Admiral de Robeck containing no fewer than 16 battleships tried to advance through the Dardanelles. However almost every ship was damaged by sea mines which were laid along the Asian shore by the Turkish minelayer Nusrat. Trawlermen had been used by the British as minesweepers. However they retreated as the Turks opened fire on them, leaving the minefields intact. Soon afterwards three battleships were sunk (HMS Ocean and HMS Irresistible and the French Bouvet), while the battlecruiser HMS Inflexible and the French battleships Suffren and Gaulois were badly damaged.
These losses prompted the Allies to cease any further attempts to force the straits by naval power alone. The defeat of the British fleet had also given the Turks a morale boost. The Turkish gunners had almost run out of ammunition before the British fleet retreated. The results of this decision to turn back are unclear - if the British had pushed forward with the naval attack, as Churchill suggested, then Gallipoli might not have been so great a defeat. On the other hand, it is possible that they would simply have trapped themselves in the Sea of Marmara, with force insufficient to take Constantinople and a minefield between themselves and the Mediterranean Sea.
Invasion
After the failure of the naval attacks, it was decided that ground forces were necessary to eliminate the Turkish mobile artillery. This would allow minesweepers to clear the waters for the larger vessels. The British Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, appointed General Sir Ian Hamilton to command the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force that was to carry out the mission.
In early 1915, Australian and New Zealand volunteer soldiers were encamped in Egypt, undergoing training prior to being sent to France. The infantry were formed into the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), which comprised the Australian 1st Division and the New Zealand and Australian Division. General Hamilton also had the regular British 29th Division, the British 10th Division from Kitchener's New Army, the Royal Naval Division (RND) (Royal Marines and hastily drafted naval recruits) and the French Oriental Expeditionary Corps (including four Senegalese battalions) under his command.
There was a delay of over six weeks before many of the troops arrived from Britain. This gave the Turkish forces time to prepare for a land assault. There was little security or secrecy in Egypt, and the intended destination of Hamilton's force was widely known. The Turks quickly replenished their stocks of ammunition and other supplies.
Hamilton's invasion force was opposed by the Fifth Army, under the command of the German advisor to the Ottoman Army, General Otto Liman von Sanders. The Fifth Army, which had to defend both shores of the Dardanelles, comprised six of the best Turkish divisions totaling 84,000 men. At Bulair, near the neck of the peninsula, were the Turkish 5th and 7th divisions. At Cape Helles, on the tip of the peninsula, and along the Aegean coast, was the Ninth Division and, in reserve at Gaba Tepe in the middle of the peninsula was the 19th Division, under the command of Mustafa Kemal. Defending the Asian shore at Kum Kale, which lies at the entrance to the Dardanelles, were the 3rd and 11th division.
The invasion plan of 25 April 1915 was for the 29th Division to land at Helles on the tip of the peninsula and then advance upon the forts at Kilitbahir. The Anzacs were to land north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast from where they could advance across the peninsula and prevent retreat from or reinforcement of Kilitbahir. The French made a diversionary landing at Kum Kale on the Asian shore. There was also a one-man diversion by Bernard Freyberg of the RND at Bulair.
Helles
The Helles landing was made by the 29th Division under the command of Major-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, on five beaches in an arc about the tip of the peninsula, designated from east to west as S, V, W, X and Y beach.
The commander of the Y Beach landing was able to walk unopposed to within 500 metres of Krithia village, which was deserted. The British never got so close again. Y Beach was eventually evacuated the following day as Turkish reinforcements arrived.
The main landings were made at V Beach, beneath the old Seddülbahir fortress, and at W Beach, a short distance to the west on the other side of the Helles headland.
At V Beach the covering force from the Royal Munster Fusiliers and Royal Hampshires was landed from a converted collier, SS River Clyde, which was run aground beneath the fortress so that the troops could disembark directly via ramps to the shore. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers would land at V Beach from open boats. At W Beach the Lancashire Fusiliers also landed in open boats on a small beach overlooked by dunes and obstructed with barbed wire. On both beaches the Turkish defenders were in a position to inflict appalling casualties on the landing infantry. The troops emerging one by one from the sally ports on the River Clyde presented perfect targets to the machine guns in the Seddülbahir fort. Out of the first 200 soldiers to disembark, only 21 men made it onto the beach.
As at Anzac, the Turkish defenders were too few to force the British off the beach. At W Beach, thereafter known as Lancashire Landing, the Lancashires were able to overwhelm the defences despite their dreadful losses, 600 killed or wounded out of a total strength of 1000. The battalions that landed at V Beach suffered about 70% casualties. Six awards of the Victoria Cross were made amongst the Lancashires at W Beach. Six Victoria Crosses were also awarded amongst the infantry and sailors at the V Beach landing and a further three were awarded the following day as they finally fought their way off the beach. After the landings, there were so few of the Dublin Fusiliers and Munster Fusiliers left that they were amalgamated into one unit, "The Dubsters". Only one Dubliner officer survived the landing; overall, of the 1,012 Dubliners who landed, only 11 would survive the entire Gallipoli campaign unscathed.
The early battles
Anzac, the landing 1915 by George Lambert, 1922 shows the landing at Anzac Cove, 25 April 1915.
On the afternoon of 27 April Kemal launched a concerted attack to drive the Anzacs back to the beach. With the support of naval gunfire, the Turks were held off throughout the night.
On 28 April, the British, now supported by the French on the right of the line, intended to capture Krithia in what became known as the First Battle of Krithia. The plan of attack was overly complex and poorly communicated to the commanders in the field. The troops of the 29th Division were still exhausted and unnerved by the battle for the beaches and for Seddülbahir village, captured after heavy fighting on the 26th. The attack ground to a halt around 6pm with a gain of some ground but the objective of Krithia village was not reached. After the battle, the Allied trenches lay about halfway between the Helles headland and Krithia village. With Turkish opposition stiffening by the day, the opportunity for the anticipated swift victory on the peninsula was disappearing. Helles, like Anzac, became a siege. Strong Turkish counter-attacks on the nights of 1 May and 3 May were repulsed despite breaking through the French defences.
The first attempt at an offensive at Anzac took place on the evening of 2 May when New Zealand and Australian Division commander, General Godley, ordered the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade, commanded by General John Monash, and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, to attack from Russell's Top and Quinn's Post towards Baby 700. The troops advanced a short distance during the night and tried to dig in to hold their gains but were forced to retreat by the night of 3 May, having suffered about 1,000 casualties.
Believing Anzac to be secure, Hamilton moved two brigades, the Australian Second Infantry Brigade and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, to the Helles front as reserves for the Second Battle of Krithia starting on 6 May. This was the first major assault at Helles and gained about a quarter of a mile on a wide front at the now customary enormous cost in casualties.
The Turks launched a major assault at Anzac on 19 May — 42,000 Turks attacked 10,000 Australians and New Zealanders — but the attack miscarried. Lacking sufficient artillery and ammunition, the Turks relied on surprise and weight of numbers for success but their preparations were detected and the defenders were ready. When it was over the Turks had suffered about 10,000 casualties. In comparison, the Australian casualties were a mere 160 killed and 468 wounded. The Turkish losses were so severe that a truce was organized for 24 May in order to bury the large numbers of dead lying in no man's land.
The Sphinx, one of the battlefield's most distinctive physical landmarks.
In May the British naval artillery advantage was diminished following the torpedoing of the battleships HMS Goliath on 13 May, HMS Triumph on 25 May and HMS Majestic on 27 May. After these losses much of the battleship support was withdrawn and those remaining would fire while under way, reducing their accuracy and effectiveness.
In the Third Battle of Krithia on 4 June all thought of a decisive breakthrough was gone and the plans for battle had reverted to trench warfare with objectives being measured in hundreds of metres. Casualties ran to around 25% for both sides; the British suffering 4,500 from an attacking force of 20,000.
In June, a fresh division, the 52nd Division, began to land at Helles in time to participate in the last of the major Helles battles, the Battle of Gully Ravine which was launched on 28 June. This battle advanced the British line along the left (Aegean) flank of the battlefield which resulted in a rare but limited victory for the Allies. Between 1 July and 5 July the Turks launched a series of desperate counter-attacks against the new British line but failed to regain the lost ground. Their casualties for the period were horrendous, estimated at in excess of 14,000.
One final British action was made at Helles on 12 July before the Allied main effort was shifted north to Anzac. Two fresh brigades from the 52nd Division were thrown into an attack in the centre of the line along Achi Baba Nullah (known as Bloody Valley) and sustained 30% casualties without making any significant progress.
August offensive
A trench at Lone Pine after the battle, showing Australian and Turkish dead on the parapet
Main article: Battle of Sari Bair
The repeated failure of the Allies to capture Krithia or make any progress on the Helles front led Hamilton to pursue a new plan for the campaign which resulted in what is now called the Battle of Sari Bair. On the night of 6 August a fresh landing of two infantry divisions was to be made at Suvla, five miles north of Anzac. Meanwhile at Anzac a strong assault would be made on the Sari Bair range by breaking out into the rough and thinly defended terrain north of the Anzac perimeter.
The landing at Suvla Bay was only lightly opposed but the British commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stopford, had so diluted his early objectives that little more than the beach was seized. Once again the Turks were able to win the race for the high ground of the Anafarta Hills thereby rendering the Suvla front another case of static trench warfare.
The offensive was preceded on the evening of 6 August by diversionary assaults at Helles and Anzac. At Helles, the diversion at Krithia Vineyard became another futile battle with no gains and heavy casualties for both sides. At Anzac, an attack on the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine by the infantry brigades of the Australian 1st Division was a rare victory for the Anzacs. However, the main assault aimed at the peaks of Chunuk Bair and Hill 971 was less successful.
The force striking for the nearer peak of Chunuk Bair comprised the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. It came within 500 metres of the peak by dawn on 7 August but was not able to seize the summit until the following morning. This delay had fatal consequences for another supporting attack on the morning of 7 August; that of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek which was to coincide with the New Zealanders attacking back down from Chunuk Bair against the rear of the Turkish defences. The New Zealanders held out on Chunuk Bair for two days before relief was provided by two New Army battalions from the Wiltshire and Loyal North Lancashire Regiments. A massive Turkish counter-attack, led in person by Mustafa Kemal, swept these two battalions from the heights.
Of the 760 men of the New Zealanders' Wellington Battalion who reached the summit, 711 were casualties.
Another planned attack on Hill 971 never took place. The attacking force of the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade (General Monash), and an Indian Brigade, were defeated by the terrain and became lost during the night. All subsequent attempts to resume the attack were easily repulsed by the Turkish defenders at great cost to the Allies.
The Suvla landing was reinforced by the arrival of the British 53rd and 54th Divisions plus the dismounted yeomanry of the 2nd Mounted Division. The unfortunate 29th Division was also shifted from Helles to Suvla for one more push. The final British attempt to resuscitate the offensive came on 21 August with attacks at Scimitar Hill and Hill 60. Control of these hills would have united the Anzac and Suvla fronts but neither battle achieved success. When fighting at Hill 60 ceased on 29 August, the battle for the Sari Bair heights, and indeed the battle for the peninsula, was effectively over.
Evacuation
Following the failure of the August Offensive, the Gallipoli campaign entered a hiatus while the future direction was debated. The persistent lack of progress was finally making an impression in the United Kingdom as contrasting news of the true nature of the campaign was smuggled out by journalists like Keith Murdoch and Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett discrediting Hamilton's performance. Disaffected senior officers such as General Stopford also contributed to the general air of gloom. The prospect of evacuation was raised on 11 October 1915 but Hamilton resisted the suggestion, fearing the damage to British prestige. He was dismissed as commander shortly afterwards and replaced by Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Monro.
The situation was complicated by the entry of Bulgaria into the war on the side of the Central Powers. On 5 October 1915 the British opened a second Mediterranean front at Salonika which would compete for reinforcements with Gallipoli. Also Germany would now have a direct land route to Turkey, enabling it to supply heavy siege artillery which would devastate the Allied trench network, especially on the confined front at Anzac.
Having reviewed the state of his command, Monro recommended evacuation. Kitchener disliked the notion of evacuating the peninsula and made a personal visit to consult with the commanders of the three corps; VIII Corps at Helles, IX Corps at Suvla and ANZAC. The decision to evacuate was made.
Evacuation of 14 divisions in winter in proximity to the enemy would be difficult and heavy losses were expected. The untenable nature of the Allied position was made apparent when a heavy storm struck on 27 November 1915 and lasted for three days. There followed a blizzard at Suvla in early December. The rain flooded trenches, drowning soldiers and washing unburied corpses into the lines. The following snow killed more men from exposure.
Ironically the evacuation was the greatest Allied success of the campaign. Suvla and Anzac were to be evacuated in late December, the last troops leaving before dawn on 20 December 1915. Troop numbers had been progressively reduced since 7 December 1915 and cunning ruses were performed to fool the Turks and prevent them discovering that the Allies were departing. At Anzac, the troops would maintain utter silence for an hour or more until the curious Turks would venture out to inspect the trenches, whereupon the Anzacs would open fire. As the numbers in the trenches were thinned, rifles were rigged to fire by water dripped into a pan attached to the trigger.
Helles was retained in case the British wanted to resume the offensive. However, a decision to evacuate there too was made on 27 December. The Turks were now warned of the likelihood of evacuation and mounted an attack on 6 January 1916 but were repulsed. The last British troops departed from Lancashire Landing on 9 January 1916.
Aftermath
Those heroes that 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 where they lie side by side here 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. Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.
—Mustafa Kemal
The Ottoman Empire had been dismissed by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia as "the sick man of Europe" but after victory over the Allies at Gallipoli, Turkey's visions of the empire were renewed. In Mesopotamia the Turks surrounded a British expedition at Kut Al Amara, forcing their surrender in 1916. From southern Palestine the Turks pushed into the Sinai with the aim of capturing the Suez Canal and driving the British from Egypt. Defeat at the Battle of Romani marked the end of that ambition and for the remainder of the war the British were on the offensive in the Middle East.
After the evacuation the Allied troops reformed in Egypt. The Anzacs underwent a major reorganization; the infantry were expanded and bound for the Western Front, the light horse were reunited with their horses and formed into mounted divisions for operations in the Sinai and Palestine. At the Battle of Beersheba they would finally achieve the decisive break-through victory that had eluded the Allies on Gallipoli.
Amongst the generals, Gallipoli marked the end for Hamilton and Stopford but Hunter-Weston was granted another opportunity to lead the VIII Corps on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The competence of Australian brigade commanders, John Monash and Henry Chauvel, would be recognized with promotion to the command of divisions and ultimately corps. Winston Churchill and the First Sea Lord John Fisher both resigned as a result of the defeat, amid mutual recriminations. Lord Kitchener was too popular to be punished, but he never recovered his old reputation for invincibility and was increasingly sidelined by his colleagues until his death the following year. Gallipoli was also instrumental in the fall of the prime minister H. H. Asquith in 1916.
The significance of the Battle of Gallipoli is perhaps most strongly felt in Australia and New Zealand where it was the first great conflict experienced by those fledgling nations. Before Gallipoli the citizens of these countries were confident of the superiority of the British Empire and were proud and eager to offer their service. Gallipoli shook that confidence and three years on the Western Front would destroy it utterly.
On the Turkish side, the meteoric rise of Mustafa Kemal began at Gallipoli.
Gallipoli casualties
(compiled from various sources[attribution needed]) Died Wounded Total
Total Allies 44,072 97,037 141,109
- The United Kingdom 21,255 52,230 73,485
- France (estimated) 10,000 17,000 27,000
- Australia 8,709 19,441 28,150
- New Zealand 2,721 4,852 7,553
- India 1,358 3,421 4,779
- Newfoundland 49 93 142
Ottoman Empire 86,692 164,617 251,309
Total (both sides) 130,764 261,654 392,418
In addition to the killed, those who died of wounds and wounded listed in the table, many soldiers became sick in the unsanitary environment of the peninsula, mainly from enteric fever, dysentery and diarrhoea. It is estimated that a further 145,000 British soldiers became casualties from illness during the campaign.
Amongst the dead of the battle was the brilliant young physicist Henry Moseley. Also the poet Rupert Brooke, serving with the Royal Naval Division, died shortly before the invasion from a septic mosquito bite.
No chemical weapons were used at Gallipoli, although they were used against Ottoman troops in the Middle Eastern theatre two years later during the second and third battles of Gaza in 1917.
There were allegations that Allied forces had attacked or bombarded Turkish hospitals and hospital ships on several occasions between the start of the campaign and September 1915. By July 1915, there were 25 Ottoman hospitals with a total of 10,700 beds, and three hospital ships in the area. The French Government disputed these complaints (made through the Red Cross during the war), and the British response was that if it happened then it was accidental. Russia in turn claimed that the Turks had attacked two of their hospital ships, Portugal and Vperiod, and the Ottoman Government responded that the vessels had been the victims of naval mines.
The Commonwea
