The glory that was ANZAC

The ships sailed silently along the dark coast of the Gallipoli Peninsular. They bore men from a distant country, come to invade this one to further the designs of leaders in a different one, to help further their war aims to aid a fourth.

"Right! Boats out!" Came the whispered words of command and the boats were swung out on davits. "Lower away!" The boats were silently lowered into the water on ropes going over heavily greased pulleys to ensure no noise was heard. "Ladders away!" The rope boarding ladders were thrown over the ship's sides. "Over the side!" The men, lined up silently on the decks filed quietly forward, burdened down with their heavy equipment. Sun bronzed, sons of ANZAC, hailing from the distant antipodes, from the dominions of Australia and New Zealand, they climbed over the side and crawled down the rope ladders to the boats below.

The currents were strong here, along the coast so the boats would be pulled by steam pinnaces towards the coast. The Royal Navy's navigation was spot on. To the south, the coastal cliffs climbed against the starlit sky. To the north, there was a long ridge, running along the coast which bent back towards the north-east. In front, the land was low and the sound of gently breaking surf on the beach in front of them could be heard against the quiet hum of the ships.

After floating, awaiting the signal, a brief red light shone from the command ship and the run in to the coast began. 200 yards from the beach, the lines were cast off by the pinnaces which turned back. As the men began to row and as the pinnaces past, whispered words of encouragement and banter were uttered. The boats approached to line of white surf and soon their keels crunched onto the white sands.

The men, clutching their rifles with the bayonets fixed, wearing their heavy great coats against the cold of the early dawn, with their distinctive Slouche Hats on their heads, leapt over the sides and moved smartly up the beach. Once off the gently shelving beach they entered low scrub, moving rapidly, keeping low, waiting for the expected crack of a rifle as the defences detected them and opened up on them. However, no shot came. Suddenly, a section of Australians stumbled on some trenches. Asleep in it were a group of Turkish soldiers. Using their bayonets, the Australians killed them even as they woke, before they could call out.

The scene was repeated, several times before one sentry, more alert than the others, made the alert. Shots rang out as the sun began to lighten the sky. The ANZAC troops were already well inland, in some cases as much as 2,000 yards. The Turks found themselves completely surprised and their resistance began to crumble.

The Australians and New Zealanders, coming ashore at Suvla Bay had surprised the Turkish 4th Gendarmie Battalion. Not made up of the best troops to start with, they had been assigned what was believed to be a "quiet sector" where the terrain favoured the defence (in fact it actually favoured the attack). By now, at D+4 hours, the initial wave of landings were being rapidly reinforced with artillery starting to come ashore across the beach from lighters (landing craft) and other units by more boats. Off shore, several battleships and cruisers were starting to shell the heights in front of the ANZACs as they moved further inland.

The Turks, in disarray were starting to rout, fleeing before the devils who had appeared amongst them, bayoneting and shooting them in their trenches. A few braver Turks managed to get a machine gun here and there operating but they were quickly and efficiently outflanked and killed.

By D+8 hours, the coastal plain was basically in the possession of the ANZAC forces. Further south, the British had landed at Cape Helles but were not fairing as well. The French had made a small diversionary landing, across the Dardenalles at Kum Kale on the Asian shore but that was never intended to do more than try and distract the Turks.

The small town of Turcheon Kuei was just over the ridge, with a road leading to the left towards it. On the right, the village of Buyakfarnafarta with another road leading to it. The Australians were following a stream of fleeing Turks. Their objective was to secure the road to what rapidly came known amongst them as "Farta", which was the quickest and easiest route across the Peninsular.

[To be continued]
 

Seldrin

Banned
I quite like your writing style and look forward to what will hopefully be a fresh perspective on the old premise of a successful Gallipoli.
 
A bit sooner than that. I will be busy tomorrow morning at the Dawn Service and The March so I thought I'd better make another instalment tonight!
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As the ANZACs entered "Farta" they found most of the inhabitants who were able to, had fled. Only the old, the lame were left and they were bewildered as to what was going on. The fleeing Gendarmes had carried the inhabitants with them. The first wave of the ANZACs halted there, exhausted, their objective achieved. The Australian commanders quickly moved the successive waves through, the soldiers marching in columns, the artillery pulled by horses following quickly along behind.

They swept up the road, moving through a narrow pass, climbing higher as they went. Desultory resistance of an occasional lone rifle shot rang out but they were ignored and few casualties were caused. They passed a branching road which led south. While it would have taken them over the Peninsular, it was a steeper climb and they knew it lead towards more established Turkish positions along the central ridge.

The Gallipoli Peninsular at this time was very sparsely population with only a few villages and towns dotted along its length. Most of the population lived on the Dardanelles side, along the Hellespont coast. The rest of the Peninsular was semi-arid with mainly herding and Olive groves as the main agricultural industries.

As the lead column approached the next village at the end of the day called Kumkoy, on the left was a small lake and as they entered, just as in the previous village, they found most of the inhabitants had fled. However, a reward awaited them on the other side - the first sight of the Dardanelles. As the sun set, the light glittered on the water in front of them. It was only some 7-8 miles away, just visible at the end of the narrow valley which led downwards to it.

The troops were tired, it'd been a long, exciting day. While the initial rush had overwhelmed the Turkish defences, the threat of a Turkish counter-attack had been ever-present. When the command came to halt, many of them were all for pushing onwards. Their commanders though, were more cautious. They were now beyond the range of the heavy guns of the Royal Navy. They were frightened of "bumping" any Turkish defences that might be awaiting them in the dark. Daylight battles were messy enough, night ones were nearly impossible to fight. So the command from on high had come down, "Halt! Dig in. Prepare. We advance with the dawn."

For the Turks, the attack at Suvla Bay had come as a complete surprise. While the invasion itself had been long expected after the failure to force the Dardanelles the previous February. However, the cruising of British warships along the coast from Cape Helles had led the Turks and perhaps more importantly, their German advisors to assume that was the main objective and so they had strengthened the defences there in depth, up the Peninsular, making the central spine of the Peninsular leading back from the Cape well defended. Further north around Suvla Bay had been neglected, primarily because of a lack of troops. The Turks had sent most of their army either to the Suez Operation or east to defend against possible Russian advances in Armenia.

The Turks were under the command of a brilliant commander, Mustapha Kemal Attaturk who was to later lead the Turkish nation after the Revolution. Attaturk upon hearing the news of the Allied landings at Cape Helles had assumed that was where the main thrust was going to be. However, once news reached him at his headquarters at Maidos had rushed northwards to see what was occuring. On the way, he had collected what troops he could, particularly stragglers and routing forces. He had finally reached Yalova, the last village before the Dardanelles coast. There, with his ragtag collection of troops he started to establish a defence, facing up the slope. He also sent word back that forces were to be detached from the main defences and to quickly try and cut the ANZAC advance off from the beaches at Suvla Bay - their source of supplies and reinforcements. By the end of the first day, he was informed that Turkish troops were firing down on the central valley from the slopes which overlooked it but no artillery was yet able to do so. Engagements were occurring as they and the ANZACs fought for control of the ridgeline. In most places, the ANZACs were already there and had started to dig in and the Turks were at a disadvantage. Many small, bitter hand-to-hand actions were occuring everywhere as patrols encountered one another.

He was informed that the British were making an intensive effort at Suvla Bay, pouring supplies and reinforcements ashore. Forces were moving up the valley and onto the ridgelines surrounding it as quickly as they could. ANZAC troops were already at Kumkoy, only a mere 2 or so miles above his present position. He ordered his troops to intensify their efforts and requested artillery to come quickly.

[to be continued]
 
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