Landing at Anzac Cove
— World War I — Battle of Gallipoli
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| Landing at Anzac Cove | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | World War I | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | April 25, 1915 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Anzac Cove, Gallipoli | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Turkish victory | ||||||||||||||||
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The Landing at Anzac Cove was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on April 25, 1915. The landing, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast of the peninsula, was made by soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the first significant combat of the war for these two countries. The purpose of the invasion was to neutralize the Turkish forts that controlled the passage of the Dardanelles straits. The landing went awry when the boats strayed off course in the pre-dawn dark and what was planned as a swift operation became a protracted and bloody eight-month struggle. In that period the frontline of the Anzac battlefield remained little changed from the ground captured on the first day of the landing.
Prelude
Winning control of the Dardanelles was originally intended to be a purely naval operation but after the loss of three battleships during the attack of March 18 it was decided that the aid of the army would be required to defeat the forts that guarded the straits. The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was formed under General Sir Ian Hamilton and a two-pronged landing on the peninsula was planned. The British 29th Division would carry out the main landing at Cape Helles on the tip of the peninsula and advance along its length towards the forts at Kilitbahir which controlled the passage of the Narrows of the Dardanelles.
However, because it was not possible to land the entire force on the limited beaches at Helles, a secondary landing by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast, was planned. If resistance was strong, this secondary landing would be treated as a feint to draw defenders from Helles and the attacking force would be withdrawn. If successful, the attacking force would be a mere five miles from the Narrows and in command of the high ground thereby denying the passage of reinforcements to Helles.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was formed in Egypt from the Australian and New Zealand infantry that had been in training prior to moving to the Western Front in France. When the need for infantry at Gallipoli arose, they were ideally placed to participate. Two divisions were formed; the Australian 1st Division containing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Brigades, and the New Zealand and Australian Division containing the Australian 4th Brigade and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade.
Geography
The terrain behind the planned landing site was rough, thinly wooded and covered with scrub. The main ridge line, the Kocaçimentepe Range (mistakenly called the Sari Bair Range by the British), ran along the length of the peninsula behind the landing area. There was little flat ground; the area was dominated by a series of ridges and eroded gullies or ravines. The peak of Hill 971 (Kocaçimentepe) was the highest point on the peninsula.
The British planners identified three ridge lines as objectives for the invasion. The first ridge started near the beach at Anzac Cove and connected to the main range at Baby 700 via a narrow saddle known as "The Nek". Baby 700 was so named because it and its neighbouring hill, Big 700 (later known as Battleship Hill), lay within the 600 foot contour on the British maps. (Baby 700 is actually 590 feet in height.)
The second ridge, known as Pine Ridge, also connected to the main range at Baby 700. Between the first and second ridges lay "Monash Valley" named after Colonel John Monash. On the second ridge was one of the largest regions of level ground known as 400 Plateau (as it was bounded by the 400 foot contour). On the southern half of this plateau stood a single Aleppo Pine which gave this area its name of Lone Pine. From this plateau, a number of lesser ridges projected towards the beach north of Gaba Tepe.
The third ridge, known to the Anzacs as "Gun Ridge" and the Turks as Topçuluk Sirt (Artillery Ridge), because of some artillery emplacements that were spotted there, stretched from Gaba Tepe to the main range at Chunuk Bair, above Battleship Hill.
Plan of the Landing
The Anzac landing area was a broad, four mile stretch of beach from about a mile north of Gaba Tepe to a point near Fisherman's Hut, north of a shallow cove which would become known as "Anzac Cove". It was officially designated "Z Beach" as the five landing beaches at Helles were designated "S", "V", "W", "X" and "Y Beach". To attain surprise the landing would commence following moonset, about one hour before dawn.
The landing would begin with the arrival of a "covering" force to swiftly capture the area surrounding the landing zone and make it secure for the main force. The Australian 3rd Brigade was selected as the covering force. Three battalions were to seize the third ridge line as well as Gaba Tepe while the fourth battalion remained in reserve. Following the covering force, the Australian 2nd Brigade would land and move to the north, climbing to the summit of the main range at Hill 971 and protecting the left flank of the landing. The original plan called for the capture of Mal Tepe, halfway across the peninsula, on the first day but only if the landing was successful would this objective be pursued by the main force; the Australian 1st Brigade and the two brigades of the New Zealand and Australian Division.
The first wave of the covering force would come ashore from the cutters of three battleships which were to approach within three miles of the shore. The remaining waves of the covering force would be landed from seven destroyers which were to approach close in to the beach. The main force would land from transports.
The Landing
The first troops to land were two companies of each of the 9th, 10th and 11th Battalions of the Australian 3rd Brigade. The companies embarked from three Formidable-class battleships; the HMS Queen, HMS London and HMS Prince of Wales. Each battleship dispatched four steamboats towing three row boats (launches and pinnaces)—a total of 48 boats.
The moon set at 3am and the battleships released the tows at 3.30am. Given the night was pitch dark, the tows headed due east and so relied on the battleships having been in the correct position when they were released. The journey of the tows became a shambles and numerous theories have been proposed to explain what went amiss. The southern-most tow kept a good course and was aimed correctly just north of Gaba Tepe but its commander found the neighbouring tows were heading northwards, leaving him isolated. He altered course to bring his tow closer and this may have caused a ripple effect as the other tows responded with a similar correction. As the shore was sighted, the headland of Ari Burnu became visible and some tows mistook this for Gaba Tepe and hence veered even further north.
For whatever reason, these first boats which were meant to land on a two mile front between Hell Spit and Gaba Tepe ended up concentrated about Ari Burnu, a mile and a half north of their intended landing area—in fact, in the landing area of the 2nd Brigade which was to follow. They began to come ashore at 4.30am, the first man to land was Lieutenant Chapman from the 9th Battalion (he would be killed a year later at Pozières).
The first troops to land were met by sporadic rifle and machine gun fire but casualties were relatively light. The 11th Battalion, which had landed just north of Ari Burnu, suffered the worst. The main enemy was confusion. The erratic course of the tows meant that the units had become intermingled. Officers were unsure where their units were or indeed where they themselves were; some thought that they had landed at Gaba Tepe. The geography was utterly unfamiliar and no objective could be identified.
Most of the troops of the 9th and 10th Battalions began to climb the first hill that confronted them. This was Plugge's Plateau (named later for Colonel A. Plugge of the Auckland Battalion) which rose above Ari Burnu at the end of the first ridge. It was an unfortunate choice because it was a dead-end, connected to the main ridge line via a perilously narrow ridge that was understandably refered to as the "Razor's Edge".
The second wave, comprising the second halfs of the 9th, 10th and 11th as well as the complete 12th Battalion (which was intended to be the brigade reserve), landed from seven destroyers; HMS Chelmer, HMS Colne, HMS Ribble, HMS Usk, HMS Foxhound, HMS Scourge and HMS Beagle. The destroyers had begun to move in at 4am and approached to within 500 metres of the shore before unloading their cargo into their boats. They too had moved too far to the north but were in places closer to the planned landing area—the Beagle unloaded south of Hell Spit on the intended beach, far enough south in fact that she came under machine gun fire from Gaba Tepe. The relatively short distance to travel meant that the battalions tended to land in the correct order and not become mixed as had happened with the first companies to land, however, with the element of surprise gone, the second wave was under fire the whole time.
Those units that did land to the south of the first wave's landing at Ari Burnu were confronted by gentler terrain than Plugge's Plateau and so, despite coming ashore 20 minutes after the first wave, they tended to make faster progress inland towards the second ridge. As was the case with the first wave, those of the second who landed north of Ari Burnu encountered heavy fire and suffered casualties both in the boats and on the shore.
To the north, two parties avoided the bottleneck on Plugge's and reached the extension of the first ridge at what became known as Russell's Top. One party, under the command of Captain Tulloch of the 11th Battalion, had followed the beach to the north and then ascended a steep and narrow ridge called Walker's Ridge, which led to Russell's Top. There they encountered other parties from the 12th Battalion, one under Lieutenant Margetts and one under Captain Lalor, which had scaled the cliff faces between Plugge's and a striking, eroded outcrop that was inevitably named "The Sphinx" by soldiers who had until recently been encamped near the Pyramids of Giza.
The remainder of the Australian 1st Division (the 1st and 2nd Brigades) began to land from the transports between 5.30am and 7.30am.
Baby 700
As the morning progressed, the focus of the left flank of the landing became Baby 700 which was of immense importance as it commanded the junction of the two ridges and hence access from the landing area to the first significant peak of the main range at Chunuk Bair. It also had a view straight down Monash Valley which was to become the main ANZAC base on the left.
Captain Tulloch led his force of about 60 men from Russell's Top across the Nek and, working around the inland side of Baby 700, began to drive the thin line of Turkish defenders back up the ridge. Tulloch's small force managed to advance to a point just below the crest of Battleship Hill on the inland side. Here they were stopped by mounting Turkish resistance to the front on Chunuk Bair and were threatened with out-flanking from the seaward side of the hill. Tulloch therefore withdrew his force to Baby 700.
Captain Lalor, aware that his 12th Battalion was meant to be in reserve and that the Nek was a vital defensive position, began to dig in on Russell's Top. At about 8.30am, having no sign of Tulloch's progress, Lalor decided to advance across the Nek onto Baby 700. The Australians took up positions on the far side of the summit and on the spur that led down towards the beach but were repeatedly forced to withdraw to the shelter of the near side. Five attempts were made to get across between 7.30am and 3pm.
Shortly after the landing, the commander of the 3rd Brigade, Colonel MacLagan, had begun directing his forces on Plugge's Plateau to move up Monash Valley. The first companies were ordered to form strong posts on the second ridge, along the eastern face of the valley which was cut by steep, eroded ravines. These posts, which hung precariously from the lip of the valley wall, would come to be known as "Courtney's", "Steele's" and "Quinn's" Posts. Other forces from Plugge's were sent via Monash Valley towards Baby 700 but as fighting developed at the posts along the valley wall, these troops were repeatedly drawn off as reinforcements. Consequently, few additional troops would arrive to support those on Russell's Top as they attempted to capture and hold Baby 700. Around 10am MacLagan obtained reinforcements from the newly arrived 1st Brigade; one company from the 1st Battalion and two from the 2nd Battalion. The Auckland and Canterbury Battalions of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, under the temporary command of Brigadier General Walker, an ANZAC Staff officer, were also directed to Baby 700.
As the Turks also continued to reinforce, the position on Baby 700 deteriorated and became more untenable for the Anzacs whose flanks were in the air. They lacked sufficient machine guns and artillery support was non-existent. At about 4pm, the Turks mounted a concerted counter-attack on Baby 700. With the aid of artillery fire, they broke through the Anzac line forcing them to abandon the hill. The survivors retreated across the Nek or into Malone's Gully (on the seaward side of the Nek) and Monash Valley (on the inland side). A few became lost and ended up in the valley on the far side of the second ridge (Mule Valley) and were captured or killed.
One party under the command of Colonel Braund of the 2nd Battalion was holding a line near the top of Walker's Ridge but Russell's Top was thinly held. During the night of April 25, a small Turkish force succeeded in infiltrating the line at the Nek and advancing along the Top, effectively splitting the left and right flanks of the Anzac firing line.
400 Plateau
Aftermath
- Reinforcement by the RND