Gallipoli Campaign | World War I

In World War, I a military campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula from 17 February 1915 to 9 January 1916 was called the Gallipoli campaign (In modern Turkey, Gelibolu). The Entente countries, Britain, France, and Russia, planned to destabilize the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by capturing the Turkish straits. It would shut off the Ottoman capital of Constantinople from the rest of the Empire and expose it to Allied battleship bombardment. With Turkey vanquished, the Suez Canal would be safe. In addition, a year-round Allied supply line to Russia's warm water ports could be established across the Black Sea. Following the Allied fleet's failure to seize the Dardanelles in February 1915, an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915. The ground operation was abandoned, and the invasion force evacuated in January 1916, after eight months of fighting and about 250,000 losses on both sides. It was a costly setback for the Entente powers and their patrons, notably Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty (1911–1915).

Nevertheless, the campaign was seen as a significant Ottoman triumph. It is seen as a watershed point in Turkish history, a final surge in defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire faded away. The battle paved the way for the Turkish War of Independence and, eight years later, the founding of the Republic of Turkey, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as its founder and president. Atatürk rose to fame as a commander at Gallipoli. The fight is primarily recognized as the beginning of Australian and New Zealand national consciousness; Anzac Day, commemorating the landings on April 25, is the most important day in the two countries for honoring military casualties and veterans, exceeding Remembrance Day (Armistice Day).

Allied Strategy and the Dardanelles

The British had planned an amphibious raid near Alexandretta on the Mediterranean coast before the Dardanelles operation, a proposal first proposed by Boghos Nubar in 1914. Field Marshal Earl Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, created this plan to divide the capital from Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Alexandretta was a Christian-populated province at the Empire's railway network; its seizure would have effectively split the Empire in half. On the 13th of December 1914, Vice Admiral Sir Richard Peirse, Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, sent Captain Frank Larkin of HMS Doris to Alexandretta. Also present were the Russian cruiser Askold and the French cruiser Requin. Kitchener started working on the plan in March 1915, and it was the start of the British attempt to provoke an Arab Revolt. However, the Alexandretta landing was cancelled because it would have taken more resources than France could deploy militarily. Moreover, France did not want the British operating in their region of influence, which Britain consented to in 1912.

The First Battle of the Marne on the Western Front had ended by late 1914. The British, Belgians, and French had suffered many fatalities in the First Battle of Ypres in Flanders. Manoeuvre combat was over, and trench warfare had taken its place. In addition, the German Empire and Austria-Hungary restricted overland trade routes between Britain and France in the west and Russia in the east. In the winter, the White Sea in the Arctic north and the Sea of Okhotsk in the Remote East were icebound and far from the Eastern Front; the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperialist German Navy) blockaded the Baltic Sea, and the Ottoman Empire controlled access to the Black Sea through the Dardanelles.

Nevertheless, supplies could still be carried to Russia through the Dardanelles. At the same time, the Ottomans were neutral, but the straits had been blocked previous to the Ottoman participation in the war; in November, the Ottomans began to mine the river. In November, Aristide Briand, the French Minister of Justice, proposed attacking the Ottoman Empire, but this was rejected, as did an attempt by the British to bribe the Ottomans to join the Allies. Later that month, relying on erroneous Ottoman force strength reports, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill supported a naval attack on the Dardanelles. In a Dardanelles operation, Churchill sought to utilize a vast number of antiquated battleships that couldn't fight the German High Seas Fleet, along with a tiny army-provided occupying force.

Moreover, an attack on the Ottomans would entice Bulgaria and Greece (once Ottoman holdings) to join the Allies. Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia requested British aid against the Ottomans, who were waging the Caucasus war, on January 2, 1915. A naval display in the Dardanelles was planned to draw Ottoman forces away from Caucasia.

Attempt to Force the Straits

A British seaplane from HMS Ark Royal made a reconnaissance sortie over the Straits on February 17, 1915. A large Anglo-French task force, including the British battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, launched the initial attack on the Dardanelles two days later, with a long-range bombardment of Ottoman coastal artillery positions. The British planned to employ eight aircraft from Ark Royal to spot, but lousy weather left all but one of them unusable, a Short Type 136. Thus, the initial phase was hindered by adverse weather. However, by February 25th, the outlying forts had been lowered, and the entry had been cleared of mines. Royal Marines were next landed to destroy guns at Kum Kale and Seddülbahir, with the naval bombardment shifting to positions between Kum Kale and Kephez.

Churchill began urging the naval commander, Admiral Sackville Carden, to enhance the fleet's efforts, frustrated by the Ottoman guns' mobility, which avoided Allied bombardments and threatened the minesweepers ordered to clear the Straits. Carden drew up new plans and sent a wire to Churchill on March 4th, estimating that the fleet would be in Istanbul in 14 days. The interception of a German wireless communication revealing that the Ottoman Dardanelles forts ran short of ammunition added to the impending success. According to the message delivered to Carden, the primary attack would be launched on or around March 17th. Carden was placed on the sick list by the medical officer due to stress, and Admiral John de Robeck assumed command.

18 March 1915

On March 18, 1915, the Allied fleet of 18 battleships, cruisers, and destroyers launched the main attack against the Dardanelles' narrowest point, where the straits are 1 mile (1.6 km) wide. Despite some damage to Allied ships engaged in battle with the forts due to Ottoman retaliation fire, minesweepers were dispatched to the straits. According to the Ottoman official narrative, by 2:00 p.m., all telephone wires had been cut, all communications with the forts had been disrupted, and some of the cannons had been knocked out, causing the defence's artillery fire to slacken significantly. The French battleship Bouvet collided with a mine and sank in two minutes, leaving only 75 survivors out of a crew of 718. Under Ottoman artillery fire, civilian minesweepers evacuated, leaving the minefields primarily intact. HMS Irresistible and HMS Inflexible collided with mines. Irresistible sinking and the majority of her crew surviving; Inflexible was heavily damaged and withdrawn. During the combat, there was substantial uncertainty about the cause of the damage; some participants blamed torpedoes. HMS Ocean was dispatched to save Irresistible, but she was disabled by an artillery shot, hit a mine, and had to be evacuated before sinking.

The French warships Suffren and Gaulois were also damaged. They sailed through a new line of mines set by the Ottoman minelayer Nusret ten days earlier. Due to the casualties, de Robeck was compelled to issue a "wide recall" to defend his troops' remaining. During the campaign's planning, naval losses were expected. Thus old battleships, unsuited to engage the German fleet, were dispatched. Some senior naval officers, including Commodore Roger Keyes, the captain of Queen Elizabeth, believed they were close to triumph, considering the Ottoman cannons had almost run out of ammunition. Still, de Robeck, the First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher, and others prevailed. Due to losses and bad weather, Allied attempts to force the straits using naval might were abandoned. The plan was to seize the Turkish defences on land to allow the ships. Due to mines and strong currents, two Allied submarines attempted to cross the Dardanelles but were lost.

Allied Landing Preparations

After the naval strikes failed, men were gathered to destroy the Ottoman mobile artillery blocking the Allied minesweepers from clearing the way for the larger ships. Kitchener appointed General Sir Ian Hamilton to lead the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force's 78,000 men. Before deploying to France, soldiers from the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) trained in Egypt. Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood led the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). He contained the New Zealand and Australian Division and the volunteer 1st Australian Division. The ANZACs were joined by the regular 29th Division and the Royal Naval Division. In addition, Hamilton was given command of the French Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient (Orient Expeditionary Corps), consisting of two brigades within one division.

Hamilton devised his strategy during the next month, and the British and French divisions joined the Australians in Egypt. Hamilton chose to focus on the southern side of the Gallipoli peninsula, where an unchecked invasion was predicted, at Cape Helles and Seddülbahir. The Allies initially underestimated the Ottoman soldiers' combat abilities. The Allied strategists' naïveté was demonstrated by a leaflet distributed to British and Australian forces while they were still in Egypt. It stated that Turkish soldiers usually express their willingness to surrender by raising their rifle butt and waving clothing or rags of any colour. A genuine white flag should be treated with caution. A Turkish soldier is unlikely to have anything of that colour.

The Allies had a "feeling of dominance" over the Ottoman military capacity due to the Ottoman Empire's decline and poor performance in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 and the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. The Allied intelligence community did not effectively prepare for the war, relying on information obtained from Egyptian travel guides in some instances. The assault soldiers were put on transports in the sequence in which they were to disembark, producing a lengthy delay that required many men, including the French at Mudros, to divert to Alexandria to board the ships that would take them to battle. The landings were postponed for five weeks until the end of April. The Ottomans rebuilt their defences on the Peninsula; nevertheless, inclement weather in March and April may have caused the landings to be postponed anyhow, impeding supply and reinforcement. Hamilton and his headquarters personnel arrived at Mudros on April 10 after making preparations in Egypt. The ANZAC Corps left Egypt in early April. They arrived on the Greek island of Lemnos on April 12th, where a small garrison had been formed in early March and rehearsal landings had been carried out. After landing on the island of Skyros on April 17th, the Royal Naval Division practised, while the British 29th Division sailed for Mudros on April 7th. That day, the British submarine HMS E15 attempted to cross the straits but crashed with a submarine net, ran aground, and was shot at by a Turkish fort, killing Lieutenant Commander Theodore S. Brodie and six members of his crew; the survivors were forced to surrender. In preparation for the landings, the Allied fleet and British and French troops gathered at Mudros. Allied aircraft were still grounded for nine days, beginning March 19th due to inclement weather. Only a limited program of reconnaissance flights was available for the next 24 days.

Ottoman Defensive Preparations

The Ottoman 5th Army was ready to oppose a landing on either side of the Straits. This conscript army, commanded by Otto Liman von Sanders, initially consisted of five divisions with another on the way. Many of the 5th Army's senior officers were also Germans. Senior German officers and Ottoman commanders argued the best way to protect the Peninsula. The best defence, everyone agreed, was to defend the high ground on the Peninsula's ridges. However, there was a dispute on where the enemy would land and, as a result, where forces should be concentrated. Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal had fought Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and was familiar with the Gallipoli peninsula. He predicted landings in Cape Helles (the Peninsula's southern tip) and Gaba Tepe.

Mustafa Kemal feared that the British would use their naval might to govern the land from all sides at the Peninsula's tip; the Allies could quickly reach the Narrows from Gaba Tepe due to its proximity to the eastern coast (the right-angled bend in the middle of the Dardanelles). Sanders saw Besika Bay on the Asian shore as the most vulnerable to invasion since the terrain was simpler to cross. Therefore, it was convenient to attack the most powerful Ottoman cannons guarding the straits. A third of the 5th Army was stationed there. Two divisions were stationed at Bulair, on the Gallipoli peninsula's northern tip, to protect supply and communication connections to the Peninsula's defences. The 9th Division and 19th Division (Kemal) were stationed along the Aegean coast and at Cape Helles on the Peninsula's information. Sanders held the Ottoman Army in reserve inland, leaving only a few soldiers to guard the coast. In early April, the 3rd division and a cavalry brigade arrived from Istanbul, raising the Ottoman front line strength to 60,000–62,077 men, which Sanders divided into three groups. A significant effort was made to enhance land and maritime lines; troops travelled at night to escape Allied air reconnaissance.

Ottoman officers, particularly Kemal, opposed Sanders' idea, believing that the defenders were too dispersed to defeat the invasion on the beaches. Sander's classic approach, Kemal believed, was appropriate when there was strategic depth in the front, which Gallipoli lacked. Esat Passa, his commander, did not make a strong enough opposition. Sanders was convinced that a strict defence strategy would fail. The single hope for victory lay in the mobility of the three groups, particularly the 19th division, which was stationed near Boghali in general reserve, ready to advance to Bulair, Gaba Tepe, or the Asian shore.

Due to the British's time to arrange the landings, Sanders, Colonel Hans Kannengiesser, and other German officers, backed by Esat Pasha (III Corps), had more time to prepare their defences. Later, Sanders stated, "Before their big disembarkation, the British gave us four weeks of rest for all this effort. This reprieve was just long enough for the most critical measures to be done ".  Accordingly, roads were created, small boats were developed to transport troops and equipment across the Narrows, beaches were wired, and torpedo warheads were used to improvise mines. Trenches and gun emplacements were erected along the shores to avoid lethargy, and troops were sent on route marches. From his post at Boghali, near Maidos, Kemal, whose 19th division was crucial to the defensive scheme, observed the beaches and awaited an invasion. In February, the Ottomans established Ottoman Aviation Squadrons with German aid, four aircraft flying above Anakkale, conducting surveillance and army cooperation operations. From 11 April, an Ottoman aircraft flew over Mudros often, keeping an eye on the British naval force assembling. In addition, an airfield was established near Gallipoli.

The Allies planned to land on the northern side, secure it, and take Ottoman forts and artillery batteries to send a naval force to Istanbul through the Narrows and the Sea of Marmara. Landings were made at five beaches on the Peninsula, initially scheduled for April 23 but postponed until April 25 due to inclement weather. The 29th Division was meant to land at Helles, on the Peninsula's tip, and then attack the Kilitbahir strongholds. The ANZACs were supposed to land north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast. They would drive across the Peninsula, cut off Ottoman soldiers at Kilitbahir, and prevent reinforcements from reaching Cape Helles. Thus, the region held by the British and French became known as the Helles sector or Helles, and this portion of the Gallipoli Peninsula became known as ANZAC. Before re-embarking to secure the eastern section of the Helles sector, the French conducted a diversionary landing at Kum Kale on the Asian side. At Bulair, the Royal Naval Division mimicked landing preparations. A New Zealand officer named Bernard Freyberg swam ashore under fire to light flares to distract opponents from the actual landings; Freyberg was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

Initially, naval gunfire assistance for the landings included blasting the beaches and approaches, but this was changed to the engagement of the ridges during the landings, with the beaches only being shot before the landings. The question of close support was left to the initiative of ship commanders when no decision was made. The landings at 'V' and 'W' beaches, where some of the worst infantry fatalities occurred, were later hampered by a reluctance to approach the shore. At the same time, naval gunfire helped in 'S', 'X' ANZAC. Even then, the initial disarray onshore, the fragmented terrain, thick vegetation, and a lack of surveillance hampered its efficacy. After Kitchener decreed that the Royal Naval Air Service must supply all air requirements, the Allies (Commander Charles Samson) utilized a small force of seaplanes and other aircraft from 3 Squadron (RNAS) had arrived at Tenedos at the end of March. The planes were initially unchallenged by the small Ottoman air force, which had been deployed to conduct aerial surveillance during the planning phase, but this proved insufficient to meet the Allies' information needs and compensate for the absence of appropriate maps. Instead, allied planes flew photographic reconnaissance following the landings, watched naval gunfire, reported Ottoman military movements, and carried out a few bombing missions.

ANZAC Cove

Birdwood's force, the 1st Australian Division (Major General William Bridges) and the New Zealand and Australian Division were among those involved (Major General Sir Alexander Godley), had around 25,000 soldiers and was assigned to the northern landing. The plan was for the Army to land and move interior, severing the Ottoman soldiers' lines of communication in the south. The 1st Australian division would land first, followed by the 3rd Infantry Brigade, which would go inland to take positions on Gun Ridge as a covering force. Then, on Sari Bair, the 2nd Infantry Brigade was to follow and take the higher ground. As the divisional reserve, the 1st Infantry Brigade would arrive last. Finally, New Zealand and Australian Divisions were to land and line up in preparation for a push across the Peninsula. The force was to gather at night and land at dawn, so on the evening of April 24, the covering staff embarked on battleships and destroyers, with the follow-up forces arriving on transports. The troops would disembark from the vehicles into ship's boats, which would then be dragged close to the shore by steamboats, where they would then row ashore.

An Ottoman observer on a hill near Ariburnu noticed a swarm of ships far off in the distance at 2:00 a.m. In charge of a company, Captain Faik of the 27th Infantry Regiment confirmed it with his binoculars and promptly told his superior officer, Ismet Bey, in Kabatepe. The moon had been obscured by 3 a.m., and the ships were no longer visible to the Ottomans. The Ottomans were unsure if this was a genuine landing or a ruse. As soon as the heavy artillery was heard, about 6:00 a.m., the two remaining battalions of the 27th Infantry Regiment were instructed to make their way to Ariburnu. Sanders had left his headquarters and arrived at Bulair, distracted by a few Allied ships; he had been sure that this would be the site of the landings. He stayed in Bulair with the 5th division for two days, waiting for the actual landing. His absence caused problems in the chain of command and delays in decision-making, undermining his defence strategy, which relied on fast army mobility.

The first wave of men from the 3rd Brigade began marching towards the coast aboard lighters and ships' boats at 4:00 a.m. on the morning of April 25. The covering force landed roughly 1.2 mi (2 km) too far north, in a bay south of Ari Burnu, either to undetected currents or a navigational error. The landing was more complicated than the goal to the south, which was more comprehensive because the earth sloped precipitously from the beaches. Only two Ottoman companies guarded the landing spot. However, the Ottomans inflicted several casualties on the Australians from the commanding base before succumbing. The Australians were in an unfamiliar area and had faulty maps, so a concerted drive inland was impossible due to the fragmented terrain. Australian forces that advanced through the tangle of steep ravines, spurs, and dense bush quickly lost communication and were split up into tiny groups. Some Australian troops made it to the second ridge, but even fewer made it to their objectives. Because the covering force had dispersed, the follow-up group had little help.

The 1st and 2nd Brigades, followed by the New Zealand and Australian Divisions, landed on the Ari Burnu beaches but became entangled, taking a while to resolve. Four hours after the landings began, most of the 1st Australian division was safely ashore, and its leading units were pressing forward. By mid-morning, Kemal had rearranged the defences in preparation for a counter-offensive against the commanding heights of Chunuk Bair and Sari Bair. At 10:30 a.m., the Australians drove in the right flank of the tiny lodgement they had seized, losing most of the 400 Plateau. The left side was forced back from Baby 700 and the Nek in the afternoon and evening. By the evening, Bridges and Godley had advocated re-embarkation; Birdwood agreed, but Hamilton ordered the troops to dig in instead after receiving advice from the navy that re-embarkation was impossible. After repelling the Ottoman counter-attack, the Australians formed a perimeter stretching from Walker's Ridge in the north to Shell Green in the south. On the first day, ANZAC casualties were roughly 2,000 men killed or wounded. The failure to seize the high ground resulted in a tactical stalemate. The defenders limited the landings within a perimeter of fewer than 1.2 miles (2 kilometres).

On April 24/25, the Australian submarine HMAS AE2 (Lieutenant Commander Henry Stoker) breached the Straits. As the landings at Cape Helles and ANZAC Cove got underway at daybreak on April 25, AE2 arrived at Chanak at 6:00 a.m., destroyed a Turkish gunboat thought to be a Peyk-i Şevket-class cruiser, and then eluded a destroyer. The submarine sank beneath a Turkish fort, but the Ottoman gunners could not use their armaments, and AE2 could free itself. Shortly after refloating, a Turkish battleship firing over the Peninsula at Allied landing locations, the periscope was spotted. The ship suspended fire and withdrew. As the AE2 approached the Sea of Marmara, Stoker decided to rest the boat on the bottom until dusk at 08:30. AE2 emerged about 9:00 p.m. to recharge its batteries and send a wireless report to the fleet. The landing at Cape Helles went smoothly, but the landing at Anzac Cove did not. Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood, the Anzac commander, considered re-embarking his troops. However, the success of AE2 influenced Birdwood's decision to stay, and tales about AE2 were communicated to the soldiers ashore to boost morale. With no enemies in sight, Stoker was ordered to "generally run amok," as a result, he went into the Sea of Marmara, where AE2 patrolled for five days to give the impression of more significant numbers and conducted several torpedo strikes against Ottoman ships, which failed due to torpedoes having mechanical problems.

Cape Helles

The Helles landing was overseen by the 29th Division (Major General Aylmer Hunter-Weston). The division landed on five beaches designated 'S', 'V', 'W', 'X', and 'Y' Beaches from east to west in an arc around the Peninsula's tip. On 1 May, the 29th Indian Brigade (which included the 1/6th Gurkha Rifles) landed, seized, and occupied Sari Bair above the landing beaches, followed by the 1/5th and 2/10th Gurkha Rifles; on April 27, the Zion Mule Corps landed at Helles. The Allies landed unopposed at 'Y' Beach during the initial combat, the First Battle of Krithia, and inland. Although there were just a few defenders in the village, the 'Y' Shore commander withdrew his unit to the beach due to a lack of orders to exploit the situation. The Ottomans called up a battalion of the 25th Regiment, stopping any further movement. It was the closest the Allies ever came to seizing the settlement.

The main landings took place at 'V' Beach, behind the old Seddülbahir castle, and at 'W' Beach, on the other side of the Helles headland, a short distance to the west. The Royal Munster Fusiliers and Hampshires arrived from the SS River Clyde. This converted collier had run aground beneath the citadel, allowing the troops to descend along ramps. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Lancashire Fusiliers landed in open boats at 'V' Beach and 'W' Beach, respectively, on a beach surrounded by dunes and barred by barbed wire. The Ottoman troops on both beaches took up strong defensive positions. They inflicted heavy casualties on the British infantry when they landed. Machine gunners at the Seddülbahir fort fired troops coming from sally ports on the River Clyde one by one, and only 21 men of the first 200 soldiers to disembark made it to the beach.

The Ottoman defences were outmanned and unable to stop the landing. However, they did inflict heavy casualties and kept the onslaught close to the coast. The 57th Infantry Regiment got orders from Kemal on April 25th, when they were out of ammunition and only had bayonets to face the attackers on the hills going up from the beach to the heights of Chunuk Bair. Every single member of the Regiment was killed or wounded.

Despite losing 600 men out of 1,000 at 'W' Beach, later known as Lancashire Landing, the Lancashires could overpower the defences. At 'W' Beach, six Victoria Crosses were awarded among the Lancashires. At the 'V' Beach landing, six further Victoria Crosses were presented to troops and sailors. Three more were awarded the next day as they battled their way inland. Five Ottoman infantry teams headed by Sergeant Yahya distinguished themselves by repelling multiple attacks on their high position, eventually disengaging under cover of darkness. The Dublin and Munster Fusiliers were merged into The Dubsters after the landings because few troops were left from the two regiments. Only one Dubliner officer made it through the landing. Only 11 of the 1,012 Dubliners who landed made it through the Gallipoli battle alive. Apart from a few limited interior incursions by small parties of men after the landings, the Allies did little to exploit the situation. The Allied assault slowed, giving the Ottomans time to gather reinforcements and organize the small opposing Army.

Early Battles

The 19th Division, reinforced by six battalions from the 5th division, counter-attacked the six Allied brigades at Anzac on April 27. Throughout the night, the Allies held off the Ottomans with the help of naval gunfire. The British were joined the next day by French forces who had been relocated from Kum Kale on the Asian shore to the right of the line near Morto Bay's 'S' Beach. On April 28th, the Allies fought the First Battle of Krithia to seize the village. Hunter-Weston devised a strategy that proved highly complex and was inadequately articulated to field commanders. The battles for the beaches and Seddülbahir village, secured after challenging combat on April 26, had left the 29th Division's troops exhausted and unsettled. Around 6:00 p.m., the Ottoman troops halted the Allied assault midway between the Helles headland and Krithia, having suffered 3,000 casualties. The possibility of a quick Allied triumph on the Peninsula vanished when Ottoman reinforcements arrived, and the combat at Helles and Anzac became a struggle of attrition.

On April 30, the Royal Naval Division (Major General Archibald Paris) landed. On the same day, Kemal began sending soldiers forward through Wire Gulley, near the 400 Plateau and Lone Pine, believing the Allies were on the edge of defeat. Eight battalions of reinforcements were deployed from Istanbul, and Ottoman troops launched counter-attacks at Helles and Anzac. The Ottomans made a brief breakthrough in the French sector but were defeated by Allied machine-gun fire, which killed a large number of the attackers. Birdwood ordered New Zealand and Australian Divisions to attack Baby 700 from Russell's Top and Quinn's Post the next night. The attack was carried out by Colonel John Monash of the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade, Royal Marines from the Chatham Battalion and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. The forces moved a short distance throughout the night, protected by a naval and artillery barrage, but became divided in the darkness. The attackers were repulsed after being hit by small-arms fire from their exposed left flank, resulting in roughly 1,000 deaths.

On April 30, the submarine AE2 began to rise uncontrolled and surfaced near the Ottoman torpedo boat Sultanhisar, then plunged below the safe diving depth before breaking the surface at the stern. Sultanhisar opened fire on the submarine right away, piercing the pressure hull. Stoker ordered the crew to abandon the ship, sank the submarine, and imprisoned the staff. Nevertheless, the exploits of AE2 demonstrated that it was possible to force the Straits, and British and French submarine operations quickly interrupted Ottoman communications severely. On April 27, HMS E14 (Lieutenant Commander Edward Boyle) embarked on a three-week patrol in the Sea of Marmara, the sinking of four ships, including the transport Gul Djemal, which was delivering 6,000 troops and a field gun to Gallipoli, was one of the most effective Allied naval actions of the campaign. While the amount and value of the ships sunk were insignificant, the impact on Ottoman communications and morale was substantial, earning Boyle the Victoria Cross. Following the success of the AE2 and E14, the French submarine Joule attempted the passage on May 1st but was lost with all of its crew after colliding with a mine. Another French boat, Saphir, had gone missing after running aground near Nagara Point a few weeks before.

Operations: May 1915

The 42nd (East Lancashire) Division was sent from Egypt on May 5th. Hamilton sent the Australian 2nd Infantry Brigade and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. Following the AE2 and E14, the French submarine Joule attempted the passage on May 1st. However, it was lost with all of its crew after colliding with a mine, believing Anzac was secure. It was the first general attack on Helles, with a force of 20,000 men, and it was scheduled for daylight. The British, Australians and New Zealanders captured Kereves Dere while the French were allotted Krithia and Achi Baba. The assault began in the middle of the morning on May 6th, after 30 minutes of artillery buildup. The British and French proceeded up the Gully, Fir Tree, Krithia, and Kereves spurs, divided by Ottoman-fortified deep gullies. When the attackers tried to outflank Ottoman strongholds, they became split and found themselves in unfamiliar territory. The offensive was halted due to artillery and machine-gun fire from Ottoman outposts that had not been detected by British aerial reconnaissance; reinforcements resumed the advance the next day.

The assault continued on 7 May, with four New Zealand battalions attacking Krithia Spur on 8 May. The 29th Division reached a close position south of the settlement. The Australian 2nd Brigade pushed fast over open ground to the British front line late in the afternoon. Despite occupying a point overlooking their objective, the Brigade charged towards Krithia. With 1,000 casualties, it gained 600 meters (660 yards), about 400 meters (440 yards) short of the aim. Nevertheless, despite the British being held up and the French being weary, the New Zealanders could advance and hook up with the Australians near Fir Tree Spur. After failing to capture Krithia or Achi Baba, the attack was halted, and the Allies dug in.

Following this period of consolidation, the Allies ran out of ammunition, primarily for artillery, and both sides consolidated their defences. The Ottomans removed troops against the Australian position, which men from the Australian Light Horse reinforced. Sniping, grenade strikes, and raids continued sporadically, with the opposing trenches separated by only a few meters in some areas. Snipers killed several Australian commanders, including Major General William Bridges, the commander of the 1st division, who was wounded while reviewing a 1st Light Horse Regiment position at "Steele's Post". They died of his injuries on the hospital ship HMHS Gascon on 18 May.

Birdwood informed GHQ MEF (General Headquarters Mediterranean Expeditionary Force) at the end of April that he would be unable to land 6,000 horses at Anzac Cove due to a lack of water. The fact that the ANZAC force would be immobilized on the beachhead irritated GHQ MEF, but they would have been useless. Thousands of men and horses were stranded on the ship for up to a month. On the 17th of May, Birdwood announced that 17 means of transport would be returning to Alexandria to unload 5,251 horses and 3,217 soldiers. GHQ MEF insisted that some men stay in Alexandria to care for the horses and guard the ANZACs' numerous vehicles and mountains of baggage.

Ottoman Counter-Offensive: 19 May

42,000 Ottoman troops attacked Anzac on the 19th of May, forcing 17,000 New Zealanders and Australians back into the sea. The Ottomans planned to rely on surprise and the weight of numbers due to a lack of artillery and ammunition. However, on May 18, the crews of a flight of British planes saw the Ottoman preparations. The Ottomans lost almost 13,000 troops in the attack, with 3,000 dead; New Zealand and Australian casualties were 160 killed and 468 wounded. A stretcher carrier, John Simpson Kirkpatrick, was among the dead. His efforts to transport wounded troops on a donkey while under fire became famous among Australians at Anzac. His story became part of the campaign's Australian narrative. The Ottoman losses were so significant that on May 24, Aubrey Herbert and others called a ceasefire to bury the dead who were lying in no man's land, resulting in friendliness between the soldiers, similar to the Christmas ceasefire of 1914 the Western Front.

The battleship HMS Goliath was torpedoed by the Ottoman destroyer Muâvenet-i Millîye on 13 May, reducing the British advantage in naval guns. On May 25 and 27, the German submarine U-21 sunk the battleships HMS Triumph and HMS Majestic. Additional British scouting patrols were flown around Gallipoli, and U-21 was forced to leave the area. Still, the Allies were unaware of this and withdrew most of their warships to Imbros. They were "protectively tethered" between sorties, significantly reducing Allied naval firepower, especially in the Helles sector. The submarine named HMS E11 (Lieutenant Commander Martin Nasmith, far ahead bestowed the Victoria Cross) sank or disabled eleven ships in the Dardanelles, including three on May 23, before entering Constantinople Harbour and shooting on a transport along with the arsenal, sinking a gunboat, and damaging the wharf.

Among early May and the first week of June, the Ottoman forces could not fire more than 18,000 shells due to a scarcity of artillery ammunition. The Ottoman soldiers discontinued frontal attacks after the failure of the counter-attack at Anzac in mid-May. Instead, the Ottomans began tunnelling around Quinn's Post in the Anzac sector late in the month. Despite Australian counter-mining, exploded a mine and attacked with a battalion from the 14th Regiment early on May 29. The Australian 15th Battalion was beaten back, but they counter-attacked and reclaimed the area later in the day before being reassured by New Zealand troops. Consolidation, minor clashes, and skirmishing with grenades and sniper fire were the order of the day at Anzac in early June.

Operations: June–July 1915

The Allies attacked Krithia and Achi Baba again in the Helles area, which had been well fortified by both sides, in the Third Combat of Krithia on 4 June, with the 29th Division, 42nd Division, Royal Naval Division, and two French divisions. The offensive was repelled, and with it, any chance of a significant breakthrough was lost; trench warfare continued, with goals measured in hundreds of yards. Both sides suffered a quarter-million casualties. The British lost 4,500 soldiers out of 20,000, and the French losing 2,000 men out of 10,000. According to the Turkish Official History, the Ottomans suffered 9,000 casualties, while another source claims 10,000.

The HMS Ben-my-Chree, a seaplane carrier, arrived in June, and the Allied air effort grew from a regiment to No. 3 Wing RNAS. The 52nd (Low-lying) Division also landed at Helles in grounding for the Combat of Gully Ravine, which began on June 28 and resulted in a local victory, advancing the British line along the battlefield's left (Aegean) flank. Sanders credited two Ottoman officers, Faik Pasa and Albay Refet, with the defence. On June 30, Henri Gouraud, the French commander who had earlier replaced Albert d'Amade, was injured and replaced by Maurice Bailloud, his divisional commander. The Ottomans counter-attacked the new British line numerous times between July 1 and 5 but could not reclaim the lost area. The number of Ottoman casualties during this period was estimated to be around 14,000. On the 12th of July, two new brigades from the 52nd division struck at the heart of the line sideways Achi Baba Nullah (Bloody Valley), gaining very little progress and losing 2,500 troops out of a total of 7,500; the Royal Naval Division suffered 600 fatalities, and the French lost 800 soldiers. The Ottomans suffered approximately 9,000 casualties and 600 captives.

The submarine E14 performed two trips into the Marmara at sea. The third tour began on July 21, when E14 passed through the straits despite installing a new anti-submarine net near the Narrows. Mariotte made the second attempt on July 27th, but she was captured in the net, driven to the surface, and attacked by shore guns, and she was scuttled. Finally, E11 sunk a gunboat, seven means of transport, and 23 sailing vessels on August 8, torpedoing Barbaros Hayreddin and killing 253 men.

August Offensive

Hamilton devised a new plan to secure the Sari Bair Range of hills at the Battle of Sari Bair and take the high ground on Hill 971 at Chunuk Bair after the Allies failed to capture Krithia or make any progress on the Helles front. The original five Allied divisions had been increased to fifteen. In comparison, the first six Ottoman divisions had been raised to sixteen. The Allies planned to deploy two more infantry divisions from IX Corps at Suvla, around 5 miles (8.0 kilometres) north of Anzac, followed by a northwest attack on Sari Bair. At Anzac, an onslaught against the Sari Bair range would be launched by moving north of the Anzac perimeter across rugged and lightly defended terrain. It would be accomplished by dismounted Australian light horsemen from the 3rd Light Horse Brigade attacking Baby 700 from the Nek, with New Zealanders from the New Zealand Infantry Brigade shooting Chunuk Bair summit through Rhododendron Ridge, the Apex, and the Farm. Gurkhas from the 29th Indian Brigade and Australians from the 4th Infantry Brigade would attack Hill 971. The Allies had 40 planes, mostly from 3 Wing RNAS at Imbros, which had replaced its Voisins with Farmans and Nieuport Xs, and Escadrille MF98T at Tenedos. The Ottomans had a total of 20 aircraft, eight of which were stationed in Çanakkale. As Ottoman reserves were moved up to the battlefield, Allied planes flew reconnaissance missions, sighted for naval weapons, and dropped low-level bombs on them. Allied aircraft also carried out anti-shipping operations at the Gulf of Saros, where an HMS Ben-my-Chree seaplane used an air-launched torpedo to sink an Ottoman tug.

The British commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Frederick Stopford, had constrained his early goals and then failed to urge his advance interior requests strongly. As a result, little more than the beach was secured. Nevertheless, the Ottomans captured the Anafarta Hills, preventing the British from infiltrating further interior, containing the landings and reducing the Suvla front to static trench warfare. Diversionary operations preceded the onslaught on August 6th in Helles, where the Battle of Krithia Vineyard ended in another costly stalemate. The diversionary Battle of Lone Pine, conducted by the Australian 1st Infantry Brigade, took the main Ottoman trench line and diverted Ottoman forces at ANZAC Day. Still, the attacks on Chunuk Bair and Hill 971 were unsuccessful.

By dawn on 7 August, the New Zealand Infantry Brigade had come within 500 meters (550 yards) of the near peak of Chunuk Bair. However, they were unable to secure the summit until the following day. The Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade attacked a narrow front at the Nek on 7 August, timed to coincide with the New Zealand attack from Chunuk Bair into the Ottoman defences' rear. The Ottomans were warned by the beginning artillery barrage, which was removed seven minutes too early, and the attack was a costly disaster. Later the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade and an Indian brigade lost direction during the night, there was no attack on Hill 971. At a high cost to the Allies, the Ottoman defences quickly rebuffed attempts to restart the onslaught. Two Army battalions from the Wiltshire and Loyal North Lancashire Squadrons relieved the New Zealanders on Chunuk Bair for two days earlier being swept off the heights by an Ottoman offensive led by Mustafa Kemal on 10 August.

The New Zealand Wellington Battalion lost 711 men out of 760 who reached the top. The Allies' best chance of success was lost when the Ottomans recaptured the land. However, the arrival of the 10th (Irish) Division on 7 August, the 53rd (Welsh) Division on 8 August, the 54th (East Anglian) Division late on 10 August, and the dismounted yeomanry of the 2nd Mounted Division on 18 August bolstered the Suvla landing. On the 12th of August, the 54th Division crossed the Anafarta Plain and attacked Kavak Tepe and Tekke Tepe. After the offensive failed, Hamilton considered evacuating Suvla and Anzac.

The 5th Infantry Brigade arrived on 19–20 August, followed by the 6th Brigade and 7th Brigade in early September, as part of the new Australian 2nd division's arrival from Egypt. In addition, the 29th Division was relocated from Helles to Suvla. The Combat of Scimitar Hill and the Combat of Hill 60, which took place on August 21, were the final British attempts to revive the attack. The Anzac and Suvla fronts would have been connected if the hills had been controlled, but the attacks failed. On the 17th of August, Hamilton requested another 95,000 men. However, the French had communicated preparations for a fall offensive in France to Kitchener the day before. On the 20th of August, the Dardanelles Committee decided that the French onslaught would be supported by a maximal effort, leaving the Dardanelles with just roughly 25,000 troops. After learning of the failure at Scimitar Hill on August 23, Hamilton went on the self-protective, as Bulgarian entrance into the war, which would allow the Germans to rearm the Turkish Army, was imminent, leaving little time for offensive operations to resume. The Newfoundland Regiment joined the 29th Division at Suvla Bay on September 20, 1915. Kitchener suggested detaching two British and one French divisions for deployment at Salonika, Greece, on September 25, marking the Allied campaign at Gallipoli. Instead, Sir Ian Hamilton's counter-proposal was accepted. As a result, only the 10th (Irish) Division and the 156th Infantry Division (France) left the Peninsula. By the end of September, these forces had gathered at Mudros to transport to the new front.

An old Ottoman batman was regularly allowed to hang his platoon's laundry on the barbed wire undisturbed during the stalemate. According to Alan Moorehead, there was a "constant traffic" of gifts being thrown across no-land, man's sweets and dates from the Ottoman side and cans of beef and packs of cigarettes from the Allied side. The situation at Gallipoli deteriorated for everyone as the summer heat, and poor hygiene led to a fly population increase. As unburied bodies got bloated and stinking, eating became increasingly difficult. In addition, the fragile Allied lodgements were in inconvenient locations, causing supply and shelter issues. At Anzac and Helles, a dysentery outbreak swept through the Allied trenches. At the same time, the Ottomans were also struck by the sickness, which claimed many lives.

Evacuation

The Gallipoli campaign stalled after the August Offensive's failure. With criticism of Hamilton's performance smuggled out by Keith Murdoch, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, and other reporters, Ottoman success altered popular opinion in Britain. Stopford and other dissident commanders added to the darkness, and on October 11, 1915, the option of departure was broached. Hamilton refused the suggestion because he feared it would harm British prestige. However, he has fired soon after and substituted by Lieutenant General Sir Charles Monro. Autumn and winter carried relief from the heat. However, they also brought gales, blizzards, and flooding, which resulted in men drowning and freezing to death, as well as thousands of frostbite victims. Following Serbia's defeat in the Serbian war in 1915, France and Britain transferred troops from the Gallipoli battle to Greek Macedonia, forming the Macedonian front to assist the Serbian Army's remaining forces in conquering Vardar Macedonia.

The submarine HMS E7 was captured in the Ottoman anti-submarine net as it began a new voyage on September 4th. Despite these setbacks, Allied traps and mines had closed the eastern entrance to the Dardanelles to German U-boats by mid-September, and U-21 was thwarted when it attempted to cross the straits to Istanbul on September 13th. Turquoise was the first French submarine to enter the Sea of Marmara, but it was compelled to turn back; it hit a ground beneath a fort and was captured intact on its way back through the straits on 30 October. The crew of 25 was taken prisoner, and documents describing planned Allied actions, including a rendezvous with HMS E20 on November 6, were uncovered. Instead, the German U-boat U-14 kept the arrangement, torpedoing and sinking E20, killing all but nine of the crew.

The addition of Bulgaria to the Central Powers worsened the situation at Gallipoli. By relocating two divisions from Gallipoli and restricting reinforcements, the British and French formed a second Mediterranean front at Salonika in early October 1915. The Germans rearmed the Ottomans with powerful artillery capable of damaging Allied trenches, especially on the narrow front at Anzac, sophisticated aircraft, and experienced crews, and provided a road link between Germany and the Ottoman Empire through Bulgaria. Late in November, an Ottoman crew in a German Albatros C. I shot down a French plane over Gaba Tepe and the Austro-Hungarian artillery units 36. Haubitzbatterie and 9. Motormörserbatterie arrived, offering a significant boost to the Ottoman artillery. Kitchener, who visited the eastern Mediterranean in early November, was advised by Monro to evacuate. Kitchener concurred with Monro and transmitted his recommendation to the British Cabinet, who accepted the decision to evacuate in early December after speaking with the commanders of VIII Corps at Helles, IX Corps at Suvla, and Anzac.

Many casualties were expected during the embarkation due to the narrowness of no man's land and the cold weather. On November 26, 1915, a rainfall revealed the unsustainable nature of the Allied position. Suvla experienced a three-day deluge, as well as a blizzard in early December. Rain flooded trenches, sinking soldiers and washing unburied bodies onto the lines; the following snow killed even more men by exposing them to the elements. Suvla and Anzac were evacuated in late December, with the final troops departing before daybreak on December 20. Since 7 December, troop numbers had been gradually reduced. Ruses like William Scurry's self-firing gun, which was modified to fire by water dripping into a pan linked to the trigger, had been used to hide the Allied withdrawal. Forces at Anzac Cove remained silent for an hour or longer until curious Ottoman troops stepped inside the trenches. At that point, the Anzacs opened fire. The Ottomans were effectively discouraged from inspecting when the actual evacuation took place due to this occurrence. At the Nek, a mine exploded, killing 70 Ottoman militaries. The Associated force was embarked, with the Australians suffered no fatalities on the final night. However, the Ottomans gained control of vast supplies and stores.

Helles was kept for a while, but on December 28, the garrison was ordered to depart. Ottoman forces were seeking signs of withdrawal, unlike the evacuation from Anzac Cove. Sanders exploited the gap to gather troops and supplies before launching an infantry and artillery outbreak on the British on 7 January 1916 at Gully Spur, but the attack was a costly failure. Undercover a naval bombardment, the British troops began to fall back 5 miles (8.0 km) from their positions to the beaches, where temporary piers were used to board boats that night and on 7/8 January. On January 8, 1916, about 04:00, the last British troops left Lancashire Landing. On 9 January 1916, the Newfoundland Regiment withdrew as part of the rearguard. Royal Marine Light Infantry  and the Plymouth Battalion, , were among the first to land and the last to leave the Peninsula.

Despite forecasts of up to 30,000 losses, 35,268 troops, 3,689 horses and mules, 127 cannons, 328 vehicles, and 1,600 long tons (1,600 t) of equipment were removed; 508 scuffs that could not be loaded were killed, while 1,590 vehicles with crushed wheels were left behind. Large quantities of supplies (including 15 British and six French unserviceable artillery pieces destroyed), gun carriages, and ammunition were left behind, as was the case at Anzac; hundreds of horses were slain to deny them to the Ottomans. A sailor was killed by debris from an exploding magazine, and a lighter and a picket boat were lost. The Ottomans retook Helles shortly after sunrise. Ottoman air defences were bolstered in the campaign's last days by a German–Ottoman fighter squadron, which commenced operations over the Peninsula and caused the first British flying losses just days later the clearing of Helles when three Fokker Eindeckers shot down two RNAS planes.

Military Repercussions

Historians disagree on how to summarize the campaign's outcome. Broadbent portrays the movement as "a close-fought battle" in which the Allies were defeated, whereas Carlyon sees it as a stalemate. According to Peter Hart, the Ottoman army "kept the Allies back from their genuine goals with reasonable ease." At the same time, Haythornthwaite deems it a "disaster for the Allies." The campaign dealt "significant damage to Ottoman national resources," and the Allies were in a better position to replenish their losses than the Ottomans at the time. Still, the Allied attempt to secure a passage through the Dardanelles ultimately failed. Thus, while the campaign diverted Ottoman forces away from other Middle Eastern conflicts, it also absorbed resources that could have been used on the Western Front and devastating losses for the Allies.

Bad planning, insufficient artillery, untrained troops, faulty maps, poor intelligence, overconfidence, inadequate equipment, and logistical and tactical failures at all levels plagued the Allied battle. Geographical location was also a fundamental impact. The Ottoman commanders were able to use the high ground round the Associated landing seashores to position well-sited defences that restricted the capability of Associated forces to enter inland, confining them to narrow beaches. In contrast, the Allied troops had inaccurate maps and intelligence and could not exploit the terrain to their advantage. The campaign's necessity is still debated, and the ensuing recriminations highlighted the schism that had developed between military strategists who believed the Allies should focus on fighting on the Western Front and those who advocated attacking Germany's "soft underbelly," its eastern allies, to end the war.

The Gallipoli campaign's one crucial area of success was British and French submarine operations in the Sea of Marmara, which forced the Ottomans to abandon the sea as a transport route. Nine British and four French submarines conducted 15 patrols between April and December 1915, sinking one battleship, one destroyer, five gunboats, 11 troop means of transport, 44 supply ships, and 148 sailing vessels at the cost of eight Allied submarines sunk in the strait or the Sea of Marmara. In the Sea of Marmara, there was always one British submarine, sometimes two, during the conflict; in October 1915, there were four Associated submarines in the zone. The last British submarine in the region, E2, left the Sea of Marmara on January 2, 1916. Following the evacuation of Helles, four E-class submarines and five B-class submarines remained in the Mediterranean Sea. By this point, the Ottoman fleet had been compelled to halt operations in the region, and commerce trade had been severely restricted. Admiral Eberhard von Mantey, the official German naval historian, later stated that the Ottoman 5th Army would have faced disaster if the sea-lanes of communication had been entirely cut. As things stood, these operations were a cause of considerable concern, posing a persistent threat to shipping and resulting in huge losses, effectively disrupting Ottoman attempts to reinforce their forces at Gallipoli and shelling troop concentrations and railways.

Hamilton and Stopford were killed at Gallipoli, but Hunter-Weston led VIII Corps on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Divisional and Corps command was promoted to Australian brigade commanders-in-chief Harry Chauvel (1st Light Horse Brigade and John Monash (4th Infantry Brigade), New Zealand and Australian Division). Kitchener's influence eroded following the formation of the coalition government in May 1915, partially due to a growing sense of failure in the Dardanelles, and culminated in Kitchener being overruled on French help at Salonika early December 1915, when his influence on the Cabinet was at its lowest. The Ottomans gained confidence in their capacity to defeat the Allies as a result of the campaign. The Turks surrounded a British force at Kut Al Amara in Mesopotamia in April 1916, forcing them to surrender. In southern Palestine, Ottoman soldiers were preparing to strike the Suez Canal and Egypt. The downfall at the Combat of Romani and a lack of materials to finish the military railway required for such an operation ended that goal. A growing sense of hopelessness quickly replaced the triumph at Gallipoli. The British continued on the offensive in the Middle East for the remainder of the war.

Military planners examined the campaign's lessons before amphibious operations like the Normandy Landings in 1944 and the Falklands War in 1982. The campaign's studies affected US Marine Corps amphibious operations during the Pacific War, influencing US amphibious doctrine. According to Theodore Gatchel, the movement "became a focal point for the study of amphibious warfare" in Britain and the United States among the wars. In addition, Gallipoli involved "all four types of amphibious operations: the raid, demonstration, assault, and withdrawal," according to Glenn Wahlert in 2008.

According to Russell Weigley, before WWII, analysis of the campaign led to "a belief among most of the world's armed forces" that amphibious assaults could not succeed against modern defences. Despite landings in Tarawa, Italy, and the Gilberts this perception arguably persisted until Normandy in June 1944. Despite negative appraisals after 1918, Hart stated that the conditions after 1940 made maritime landings inescapable. It was only after Normandy that the idea that opposed invasions were hopeless was disproved. The memory of Gallipoli haunted the Australians as they planned the Huon Peninsula battle in late 1943. In September, at the Battle of Finschhafen in New Guinea, the Australians made their first contested amphibious landing since Gallipoli. Navigational mistakes slowed the invasion, and troops landed on the incorrect beaches. However, they had been trained according to Gallipoli's lessons and were rapidly reorganized to march inland.

Political Effects

During the war, political consequences began in Britain. Fisher resigned in May following a furious feud with Churchill. Following the Conservatives' announcement that Churchill would stay, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith was obliged to dissolve his Liberal government and create a coalition government with the Conservatives. As a result of the disappointment and fury over Gallipoli and Kut, the Asquith government established commissions of the investigation into both incidents, which had done much to "damage its shaky reputation for competence." The Dardanelles Commission was established to investigate the expedition's failure; the first report was published in 1917, and the complete information was published in 1919. Sir Ian Hamilton, superior of the MEF, was returned to London in October 1915 after the Dardanelles campaign failed, effectively ending his military career. As a condition of the Conservatives joining the coalition, Churchill was demoted from First Lord of the Admiralty. However, he remained in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In November 1915, Churchill resigned and moved to the Western Front. He ordered an infantry battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers in early 1916.

Asquith was blamed in part for the Gallipoli catastrophe and was deposed in December 1916, when David Lloyd George suggested a war council under his command, with the Conservatives in the coalition threatening to withdraw unless the proposal was carried out. Following the failure to achieve an agreement, Lloyd George and Asquith resigned, with Lloyd George taking over as Prime Minister. Because of Conservative resistance, Lloyd George formed a new administration. Churchill, who had returned to the House of Commons in June 1916, was excluded. Churchill was eventually appointed to the cabinet-level role of Minister of Munitions in the summer of 1917, but not to the War Cabinet. The Commission's final report was published in 1919, finding that, with the resources available, success hinged on the government prioritizing the expedition and allowing the British Expeditionary Force in France to fend for itself. The Commissioners determined that Hamilton had been overly optimistic from the start, adding to Stopford's problems on August 8, 1915. Hamilton came out of the investigation with a better reputation than was possibly warranted, partially due to deceptive tactics to elicit cooperation from witnesses and get leaks from the Commission's deliberations; Hamilton was never appointed to another army position.

Casualties

According to Edward J. Erickson, about 100,000 troops were killed in the Gallipoli Campaign, including 56,000–68,000 Ottomans and around 53,000 British and French forces, according to various estimates. Erickson estimated that 56,643 Ottomans perished in the Gallipoli Campaign from all reasons, 97,007 troops were injured or wounded, and 11,178 men went missing or were captured, based on the Ottoman Archives. Carlyon reported 43,000 British killed or missing in 2001, including 8,709 Australians.

Godley complained in September 1915 that too few of the recovered sick or injured Gallipoli troops were being returned from Egypt, to which General Maxwell answered that "the Dardanelles' thirst for men has been amazing and diabolical."

Table: Gallipoli Casualties

Over 500,000 casualties during the campaign, with the British Official History listing losses as 47,000 French, 205,000 British, and 251,000 Ottoman men (some Turkish sources claiming 350,000). Ottoman casualties have been disputed, with Travers claimed 2,160 officers and 287,000 other ranks (combat and non-battle), with 87,000 deaths included. According to Sanders, the Ottomans suffered 218,000 casualties, including 66,000 deaths and 42,000 wounded who returned to action.

The semi-official history of New Zealand, written by Fred Waite in 1919, indicated that 8556 New Zealanders served at Gallipoli, with an estimated 251,000 Ottoman war fatalities, including 86,692 deaths. In 2000, McGibbon estimated that 2,721 New Zealanders had died, roughly a fifth of those who had arrived on the Peninsula at the time. Other figures were 2701 (Pugsley) or 2779 (McGibbon) (Stowers). According to a 2019 research by New Zealand historians John Crawford and Matthew Buck, the number of New Zealand soldiers that served at Gallipoli was above 16,000, maybe 17,000 soldiers (relatively than earlier reviewed figures of 13,000 to 14,000 and the 1919 figure of 8,556). Sickness: Many soldiers contracted typhoid, dysentery, and diarrhoea as a result of the unsanitary environment. According to the British official historian, 90,000 British Empire soldiers were evacuated due to disease during the fight. During the battle, a total of 145,154 British troops became ill, not including forces from the Territories or India; of these, 3,778 died, excluding those evacuated. Because bases in the area of operations were limited, the sick were transferred as rapidly as possible from Gallipoli to hospitals in Egypt and Malta.

In comparison to 0.91 per cent in France and Flanders, 2.84 per cent of troops evacuated as non-battle casualties died. In the Gallipoli campaign, sickness casualties to fighting casualties were far higher than in the Western Front campaigns. According to Cecil Aspinall-Oglander, the British official historian, the number of Ottoman troops evacuated sick was 64,440. Dysentery was the leading cause of non-battle hospital admissions for the British forces, with 29,728 men infected and another 10,383 suffering from diarrhoea. Frostbite caused 6,602 hospitalizations, gonorrhoea caused 1,774 cases, and rheumatic fever caused 6,556. Approximately 47,000 French soldiers were killed, injured, or sickened throughout the conflict. Of these, 27,169 were killed, wounded, or went missing, with an additional 20,000 believed to have become ill.

Between the commencement of the conflict until September 1915, there were allegations that Allied forces attacked or bombed Ottoman hospitals and hospital ships on multiple occasions. By July 1915, 25 Ottoman hospitals with a total capacity of 10,700 beds had been completed. Three hospital ships had arrived in the area. The French government refuted these claims through the Red Cross, while the British answered that anything happened by chance. Russia reported that the Ottomans had assaulted two of her hospital ships, Portugal and the V period. However, the Ottoman Government responded that mines had sunk the ships. Although chemical weapons were not deployed at Gallipoli, the Allies debated their use throughout the campaign. It shipped large quantities of gas to the theatre, which were used against Ottoman soldiers in the Middle East two years later, throughout the Second and Third Combats of Gaza in 1917. Graves and monuments: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) manages the Commonwealth of Nations soldiers' permanent cemeteries. On the Gallipoli peninsula, there are 31 CWGC cemeteries: six at Helles (with the lone grave of Royal Welch Fusiliers and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie VC), four at Suvla, and 21 at Anzac. There are no known graves for many of those killed or died on medical ships and buried at sea; their names are recorded on one of five "memorials to the missing." The Lone Pine Memorial honours Australians slain in the Anzac sector, as well as New Zealanders. They have no known grave or were lost at sea, while the Lone Pine, Hill 60, and Chunuk Bair memorials honour New Zealanders who died in the Anzac sector. The Twelve Tree Copse Memorial honours New Zealanders slain in the Helles area.

In contrast, the Helles Memorial near Cape Helles honours British, Indian, and Australian personnel who died there. On memorials in the United Kingdom, British navy casualties lost or buried at sea are listed. On the Greek island of Lemnos, there are three more CWGC cemeteries: the first for the 352 Allied soldiers near Portianou, the second for the 148 Australian and 76 New Zealander militaries in the city of Moudros, and the third for the Ottoman soldiers in the city of Moudros (170 Egyptian and 56 Turkish soldiers). Most of those buried were among the men who died due to their wounds, as Lemnos was the Allied forces' hospital base. During the campaign, makeshift graves were built, frequently with modest wooden crosses or markers. However, certain tombs, such as that of John Hancox, were lavishly ornamented.

On the Gallipoli Peninsula, at Seddülbahir, there is a French cemetery. Unfortunately, there are no large Ottoman/Turkish military cemeteries on the Peninsula. Still, there are numerous memorials, the most notable of which are the Anakkale Martyrs' Memorial at Morto Bay, Cape Helles the Turkish Soldiers Memorial on Chunuk Bair, and the 57th Regiment memorial and open-air mosque near Quinn's Post (Bomba Sirt). On the Asian side of the Dardanelles, several monuments and graves reflect Turkish historians' preference for the 18 March triumph over the ensuing combat on the Peninsula.

Subsequent Operations

The Allies were evacuated to Lemnos and later Egypt. The Army of the Orient absorbed the French forces (later called the Corps Expeditionnaire des Dardanelles) and used them at Salonika. The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF), commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Murray, was formed in Egypt by British Imperial and Dominion forces from the Dardanelles and new divisions from the United Kingdom, those from Salonika. They joined the Force in Egypt, which consisted of 13 infantry and horse divisions with 400,000 men. They served as the British Empire's strategic reserve. Murray assumed command of both troops in March 1916, renaming them the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and reorganizing the divisions for action in Europe, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East. Although the ANZAC was disbanded, the AIF was expanded to form three new Australian divisions and a New Zealand division. In mid-1916, these units were transferred to the Western Front.

The 74th (Yeomanry) Division and a section of the 75th division were formed from the British yeomanry regiments that had fought dismounted at Gallipoli. Infantry from the 52nd (Low-lying) Division, 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, 53rd (Welsh) Division, and 54th (East Anglian) Division, later joined by additional remounted Australian Light Horsemen and British yeomanry from the Australian Mounted Division, took part in the battle alongside the remounted Australian Light Horsemen and New Zealand Mounted Rifles. Before the Armistice of Mudros, which ended hostilities in the Middle East on October 31, 1916, the Egyptian Sinai was reoccupied. The northern Levant and Palestine were captured from the Ottoman Empire in 1917 and 1918. Following that, the Allies conquered Gallipoli and Istanbul, partitioning the Ottoman Empire. Finally, in 1923, the occupation came to an end.

Even though Australia and New Zealand were only a tiny part of the Allied forces, the Gallipoli campaign is considered a "baptism of fire" in both countries and linked to their independence. Around 50,000 Australians and 16,000 to 17,000 New Zealanders served at Gallipoli. In adding, it has been recommended that the campaign was influential in the creation of a distinct Australian identity after the war, which has been strongly tied to popular conceptions of the attributes of the soldiers who fought during the campaign, which became represented in the concept of an "Anzac spirit."

Every year on April 25, both countries commemorate the landing as "Anzac Day." The first iteration was held informally at churches in Melbourne, Brisbane, and London in 1916 before being declared a public holiday in all Australian states in 1923. In the 1920s, the day was also declared a national holiday in New Zealand. Veteran marches began in 1925, and a service was held on the beach at Gallipoli the same year; two years later, the first formal dawn service was held at the Sydney Cenotaph. Tourists from Australia and New Zealand began flocking to Gallipoli in the 1980s to attend the dawn service, and many have since done so. The 75th anniversary was observed by almost 10,000 individuals, including political figures from Turkey, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Dawn services are also held in Australia. They are the most popular way of commemorating this day in New Zealand. Anzac Day has surpassed Remembrance Day as the most significant remembrance of military losses and veterans in Australia and New Zealand (Armistice Day).

Many streets, public areas, and structures were named after components of the campaign, especially in Australia and New Zealand, in addition to memorials and monuments erected in towns and cities. Gallipoli Barracks in Enoggera, Queensland, and the Gallipoli Armouries of the Armed Forces Armoury in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, are two instances. In addition, Gallipoli left an indelible mark on popular culture, including film, television, and music. For example, Eric Bogle, a Scottish-born Australian folk singer-songwriter, penned "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" in 1971, based on the story of a young Australian soldier who was maimed during the Gallipoli campaign. The imagery of the song has been lauded for recalling the carnage of the Gallipoli landings. It is still quite popular, and some consider it to be an iconic anti-war song.

The conflict is remembered in Turkey as a pivotal moment in the country's development. At the same time, it is most known for the fighting near the port of Çanakkale, where the Royal Navy was defeated in March 1915. The Turks celebrate 18 March like Australians, and New Zealanders do on 25 April; it is not an official holiday, but it is remembered with special festivities. The fundamental significance of the campaign to the Turkish people is its role in the rise of Mustafa Kemal and he went on to become the first president of the Republic of Turkey after the war.