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Anzac Day 2007 Gallipoli Turkey
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| The
Fighting ? |
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After 1 May 1915, trench warfare began in earnest. |
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By 18 May the Turks had reinforced and
regrouped around ANZAC Cove in preparation for a major attack. Some
42,000 infantry of the 2nd, 5th, 16th and 19th Divisions prepared to
drive the ANZACs into the sea. Fortunately, in the preceding week, 1st
Australian Light Horse Brigade and New Zealand Mounted Infantry Brigade
had arrived as reinforcements and 2nd Australian Infantry Brigade had
returned from Cape Helles. Some 17,360 defenders faced the Turks. In the
early hours of 19 May the Turks attacked along the whole of the ANZAC
front. They were met predominantly with very heavy small arms fire and
resolute defence. By midday some 10,000 Turks had been killed or
wounded. The ANZACs had suffered only 160 killed and 468 wounded. But
the Turks still held the high ground and the few local counter attacks
mounted by the ANZACs drew such heavy fire that all movement between the
two lines ceased. For five days the dead and wounded of both sides lay
in No-Mans land. An armistice was arranged to allow both sides to bury
their dead. It is claimed that the mutual respect of ANZAC for Turk and
Turk for ANZAC grew from this battle and subsequent armistice.
Operational emphasis shifted from ANZAC to Cape Helles at the southern
tip of the peninsular. 29 Division (UK) had been reinforced by 29th
Indian Brigade and 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, the force
restructured as VIII Corps. With their French allies, successive attacks
were mounted aimed at breaking the Turkish lines and pressing north
along the Gallipoli peninsular. Some local gains were made but the
Turkish line held. As August approached, casualties and sickness in the
army rose. According to one soldier, the Helles front "smelled like an
open cemetery". Emphasis now switched to ANZAC.
A plan was devised to outflank the Turks by a night approach to the
north of the ANZAC position and then to advance up the ridges leading to
the heights of the Sari Bair range. A new landing was planned at Suvla
Bay as a means of seizing a cluster of hills several kilometres inland
and a series of feints were planned to stop the Turks reinforcing the
threatened areas.
One of these feints was the attack on 7 August at the Nek by 3rd Light
Horse Brigade (8 ALH [Victoria] and 10 ALH [WA]). Supporting artillery
fire lifted early. Lack of communications prevented any change to plans.
The attack still went ahead. In some four to six minutes both regiments
virtually ceased to exist, yet no man held back, all went with their
mates into a storm of machine gun and small arms fire. Heavy fighting on
the peninsular continued throughout August. Probably the fiercest
fighting was in the area of Lone Pine; in just three days seven Victoria
Crosses were won; then the tempo of killing slowed.
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