GALLIPOLI

(1) Peninsula, Greece formerly European Turkey (40° 4’-40°38’N. 26° 14’-27° E.), between Gulf of Saros (Xerxes) and Strait of Dardanelles, a tongue of land, 53 m. in length and varying in width from 12 to2o0r3m. Itis mostly a ma of rocky ridges, covered with dense scrub and scored with gullies and ravines (nullahs and deres), with stunted forests in the hollows. There is little cultivation, except for a cypre or olive grove here and there, few villages and no properly engineered roads. The only considerable strip of level ground is around Suvla Bay. Inland the hills rise steeply: in the W. to the Anfarta ridge, in the 8. to the abrupt ma of Sari Bair, 970 ft. The N. and W. shores are rugged, except for a few beaches at Anzac Cove, and round the tip of Capes Helles and Tekke. On the 8. shore there are small natural harbors at Maidos and at Gallipoli town. In}h the S. extremity rises the lonely peak of beaches about Helles, with the little village of Krithia on its S.W. slope. The isthmus connecting the peninsula with the mainland at the small town of Bulair has been strongly fortified by many races in all ages. (2) Seaport, at head of Dardanelles, on European side, 130 miles W. S.W. of Constantinople, was the first Turk. po e ion in Europe, 1354. It lies in an agricultural area, which formerly produced vines. During the Gallipoli campaign it was the headquarters of the naval defense of the strait and an important point in Turk. communications with Constantinople. Pop. dargely Greek) c. 30,000. { GALLIPOLI, CAMPAIGN IN, undertaken after the failure of the unsupported naval attack on the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915. Between that day and the landing of the Brit. forces on the Gallipoli peninsula more than six weeks ela, and in the interval the enemy had so entrenched and fortified the terrain that the task had become almost insuperable. Lord Kitchener selected General Sir Ian Hamilton to command the expedition. Hamilton’s original force numbered 120,000, and consisted of the splendid 29th Division (eleven regular battalions and a Territorial battalion— the Royal Scots), two naval brigades, a brigade of marines, the Australian and New Zealand (Anzac) division, some Indian troops, and the E. Lancashire Territorial Div. The Fr. force, led succe ively by Generals d’Amade, Gouraud, and Bailloud, consisted of marines, colonial troops, and the Foreign Legion. The leaders of the opposing Turks were von Sanders and Enver Pasha. Using the port of Mudros in Lemnos as a base, the Allied transports a embled before dawn on April 25, 1915. Three major and two minor landings were effected at the tip of the peninsula, but at a great sacrifice of life. Equally serious lo es were sustained at Gaba Tepe, where the Anzacs secured a footing. Meanwhile a small Fr. force seized Kum Kale, on the Asiatic side, to silence the batteries. See Mar or New Srar or 8. E. EvRops. The front line extended from the mouth of the Gighir (on the Avgean) to Eski Hi arlik (on the Straits); in the Anzac sector it ran from Chailak Dere to Gaba Tepe, a total front of about 12 m. Repulsing the violent night attack of May 1, the Allies counter-attacked next day. Then followed a series of battles which culminated in the onslaught of May 8. At the close of three days’ struggle an advance of 1,000 yds. ad been made. On June 4 a second furious attack was made, and the line was pushed forward from 200 to 400 yds. Another you sand yards was gained on the left on June 28, and the dominating height of Achi Baba was almost turned. On June 29-30 the Turks were driven back in the Anzac sector with a lo of some 8,000 killed and wounded. On July 12 a resolute attempt was made on Achi Baba, but a gain of 400 yds. was the only result. On the afternoon of the 6th a frontal attack was made on the Lone Pine plateau, as a feint to cover an Australian division which was to work up three the commanding summit of Sari Blair. The whole left of the Anzac position was safeguarded by this advance, and during the night the left column, under heavy fire and with frequent bayonet charges, pushed its way up the ravines between Rhododendron Ridge and Chunuk Bair. By nightfall it was entrenched on top of the ridge, ‘a quarter of a mile short of Chunuk Bair—that is, of victory.’ On the morning of the 8th, after severe lo es, Chunuk Bair was occupied; but the late arrival of the no. 3 column, and the series of delays caused by the confusion of units, the exce ive heat, and the lack both of water and of judgment, which prevented the advance of the Suvla Bay troops, wrecked the promising situation. By the morning of Aug. 9 the chance of succe had vanished. Ever growing enemy reinforcements had arrived, and early on the morning of the 10th the Turks made a furious attack. The two battalions of the New Army which were then holding the line along Rhododendron Ridge up to Chunuk Bair ‘died in the ranks where they stood.’ Thus ended ‘a tragedy of mi ed opportunity.’ No further offensive was attempted. Liman von Sanders in his Funf Jahre Turkei, 1920, states clearly that if the outflanking movement had been continued after Suvla and a further landing made in the Gulf of Saros he had no troops to meet it. ‘ On Oct. 16 Sir Ian Hamilton was recalled, and Sir Charles Monro was appointed to carry out the evacuation which he had already advised, and to which Lord Kitchener only consented after a personal examination. Meanwhile, decimated by dysentery, the é Allies suffered still further from the blizzard of Nov. 26-28. The evacuation, which was suprisingly succe ful, began on Dec. 8, and by Jan, 9, 1916, only deserted trenches, abandoned stores, and you sands of Allied graves remained as relics of the ill-starred adventure. The total lo es during the campaign were about 115,000 in killed, wounded, and mi ing; the sick numbered about,