The 25th April marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the disastrous eight month-long land campaign on the Gallipoli Peninsula to open the Dardanelles. Following failed Anglo-French naval attempts to break through the straits to attack Constantinople and open up a direct route to their ally Russia it was decided that the Turkish coastal defences had to be destroyed by troops to allow passage.
The amphibious landings were hastily planned and ineptly executed with the Anzac landing force landing at the wrong location - hemming themselves into a small, deadly beachhead in an exposed cove. Elsewhere British troops landing found themselves attacking into the teeth of stiff, well organised resistance encountering unexpected underwater barbed wire entanglements, well-sighted machine guns and landing ships beaching too far off shore causing the men trying to disembark to either drown or be cut down by Ottoman machine gun and rifle fire (see images #4 & #5).
The SS River Clyde which beached itself at V beach with 2,000 troops on board. However, she beached too far out and many troops were cut down or drowned trying to reach shore (source)
The peninsula the Allied forces landed upon was dissected by steep ridgelines with peaks as high as 700 ft. This rocky landscape was not ideal for a rapid advance and handed the advantage to the Turkish defenders. Following the landings the Allied beachheads were split into two sectors, Anzac Cove held by the Australian and New Zealand corps and the British and French held the Helles Sector to the southwest. In both sectors the Allies found themselves having to attack uphill. At Anzac Cove the Anzacs found themselves clinging onto a small, overlooked beach and a series of ridge lines but unable to advance further to their objectives several miles inland. Similarly the French and British found themselves held by a strong Turkish resistance but after a month of fighting found themselves facing a Turkish line centred on the town of Karithia (see image #9).
The chaotic cramped conditions found at Anzac Cove (source)
In May the Ottomans counter-attacked in force but lacking in sufficient supplies the offensive was beaten back by heavy casualties. By the high summer of 1915 the front had settled into a stalemate just like that seen on the Western Front. (see images #6, #7 & #8) By August a renewed Allied offensive with further landings at Suvla Bay met with initial success but failed to seize the initiative. The heat of the summer combined with poor sanitation caused the rampant spread of dysentery on both sides. The autumn and winter brought no respite with heavy rain causing flooding and freezing temperatures making frostbite common. The supply of so many men in such a small area became a logistical nightmare with every suitable beach and cove turned into a landing and supply depot (see image #10). The men fighting at Gallipoli encountered some of the most hostile conditions of the war.
W Beach in the Helles sector just days before evacuation began, the armies supplies were stacked on the beaches ready for removal (source)
By late 1915, an evacuation was being seriously considered and preparations were made for the evacuation to begin in January. Careful plans were made to withdraw as many men in secret as possible and to give the Ottomans no clue that the Allies were evacuating. The decision to evacuate was made on the 28th December and on the 7th January the Anzacs began withdrawing from Anzac Cove. On the 8th January British and French troops began evacuating with the last of the rearguard leaving on the 9th January. In all 35,268 Allied troops were withdrawn, although thousands of tonnes of equipment and ammunition were left behind. During the eight month campaign some 190,000 Allied troops had become casualties with approximately 175,000 Turkish troops being killed and wounded.
