Current Information:

Age-34

Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, Helles, Gallipoli

Gallipoli 1915

On 25 April, 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. The fighting soon degenerated into trench warfare with the Allies unable to break out of their toe holds on the tip of the Helles peninsular and at ANZAC Cove. The Turkish soldiers were much tougher fighters than they 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. By January 1916, all British, Australian and New Zealand forces had left Gallipoli, leaving only behind the dead, over 56,000 of them.

The 29th Indian Infantry Brigade landed at Helles on 1st May, 1915 and became an extra Brigade in the 29th Division and took up a position on the extreme left of the line. The first significant action of the brigade was the capture of ‘Gurkha Bluff’, on the 12th May. Hugh Whytehead died on 22nd May, 1915, but as yet there is no information concerning his death.