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Born-Clapham

Gallipoli 1915

On 25 April, 1915, British, Australian and New Zealand forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. The plan was that these forces would soon defeat a demoralised Turkish army, knock Turkey out of the war, open up the Mediterranean to the Russian navy and threaten Austro-Hungary from the south. None of these things were achieved despite nine months of hard fighting in terrible conditions. It was a heroic failure.

The 29^th Division and the Royal Naval Division landed at five separate beaches around Cape Helles.  Some were not defended, others were fiercely contested. Some ground was gained but within days the familiar pattern of trench warfare had set in. A similar pattern emerged further north where the ANZACS landed. The Turkish soldiers were much tougher fighters than had been given credit for and they were of course fighting an invasion of their homeland. The terrain, a series of steep rocky ridges and deep gullies made the fighting much more difficult and during the hot summer of 1915, the flies arrived in biblical proportions. Another seven British divisions were sent to Gallipoli during the summer but little or no progress was made. In the end, a new Commander was appointed and plans to evacuate the entire force were drawn up. By January 1916, all British, Australian and New Zealand forces had left Gallipoli, leaving only behind the dead, over 56,000 of them.

First Battle of Krithia   28^th April 1915

During the two days after the successful but costly landings at Helles on 25^th April, the soldiers of 29^th Division consolidated their foothold and pushed the line forward, in preparation for an assault on the village of Krithia. At 8am on 28^th April, naval guns began the bombardment of Turkish positions and the long line of infantry began to move forward in a long left wheel. But things did not go to plan. Orders arrived late so there was no time to prepare. The terrain, crisscrossed by gullies and ridges hampered progress so some units advanced quicker than others. The men were all dog tired after three days with precious little sleep and many of the senior officers had become casualties, creating a problem with leadership. The strength and whereabouts of the the Turks was entirely unknown but eventually they were able to put in nine battalions against the advance and rather than a battle the day developed into a series of skirmishes until it was finallycalled off at 6 pm. The British suffered 3000 casualties on this day.

The attack on 28^th April was made by 88 and 87 Brigade with 86 Brigade in reserve but when the advance of 88 Brigade came to a halt at 11am, 2^nd Royal Fusiliers and 1^st Lancashire Fusiliers were sent forward with extra ammunition and to continue the attack. This they did and around 2pm, and after some heavy fighting, a mixed party of both battalions managed to take Fir Tree Wood and a small party pushed on to within ¾ mile of Krithia. But this forward momentum did not last and with other units falling back, 2^nd Royal Fusiliers moved back as well. One of their casualties during this operation was Frederick Guerin.