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Centenary Service 1915–2015 Gallipoli Campaign Commemorations

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Centenary Service 1915–2015 Gallipoli Campaign Commemorations CENTENARY SERVICE 1915–2015 GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN COMMEMORATIONS 1 IMAGE CREDITS Modern images of the Gallipoli Peninsula appearing in this publication are taken from the collection of the New Zealand Defence Force. Front and back cover image: Brown, Ion G., b 1943: The battle of Chunuk Bair, 8 August 1915. The sesquicentennial gift to the nation from the New Zealand Defence Force. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. Above: New Zealand Defence Force personnel walk up the recently upgraded New Zealand Track to Chunuk Bair, April 2015 The New Zealand Government particularly acknowledges the considerable cooperation and assistance of the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the Governor of Çanakkale and the District Governors of Eceabat and Gelibolu. Produced by the New Zealand Defence Force on behalf of the New Zealand Government. CONTENTS 07 THE BattLE FOR CHUNUK BAIR 15 THE NEW ZEALAND MEMORIAL AND CEMETERIES at CHUNUK BAIR 19 Order OF SERVICE 31 CEREMONIAL PROTOCOLS AND NatiONAL ANTHEMS Quinn’s Post 8.10pm 5/8/15 My Sweetheart In less that 2 hours, we move off the valley, where we will be up all night and tomorrow, in readiness for a big attack which will start tomorrow night. Everything promises well and victory should rest with us. God grant it so, and that our casualties will not be too heavy. I expect to go thro’ all right but, dear wife, if anything untoward happens to me, you must not grieve too much, there are our dear children to be brought up… …I am prepared for death, and hope that God will have forgiven me all my sins. My desire for life, so that I may see and be with you again, could not be greater, but I have only done what every man was bound to do in our country’s need. It has been a great consolation to me that you approved my action. The sacrifice was really yours. May you be consoled and rewarded by our dear Lord. Your loving husband W.G.MALONE Excerpt of one of Lieutenant Colonel William Malone’s last letters to his wife taken from the publication ‘No Better Death: The Great War diaries and letters of William G. Malone’ edited by John Crawford, 2014 6 THE BATTLE FOR CHUNUK BAIR The Battle for Chunuk Bair was the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces’ (NZEF) most significant action in the Gallipoli Campaign. The battle, which took place from 6–10 August, was part of the August Offensive, in which the Allies attempted to seize the Sari Bair heights from Ottoman forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Wellington Battalion initially seized Chunuk Bair on 8 August, but it and other New Zealand units suffered extremely heavy losses. Chunuk Bair was eventually lost on 10 August after sustained Ottoman counterattacks. THE GALLIPOLI LANDINGS as the “Daisy Patch”. Both charges AND LEAD UP TO THE were unsuccessful and resulted in AUGUST OFFENSIVE 835 casualties. Ottoman forces launched a major offensive against the 25 APRIL 1915 Anzac area on 19 May, with 10,000 New Zealanders and Australians facing The NZEF came ashore at what an attacking force of 40,000 Ottomans, became known as Anzac Cove, as part which resulted in approximately 10,000 of the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli Ottoman casualties and roughly 650 Peninsula. The Ottoman defence of ANZAC casualties. In June and July Gallipoli was stronger than anticipated. attempts were made to break through The Allied forces dug in and tried the lines at Helles. reinforce their tenuous positions on the Peninsula. In May the New Zealand These attacks all proved unsuccessful, and Australian Division attacked the and plans began being developed for hill known as Baby 700 in a poorly a major offensive in the Anzac area planned and uncoordinated offensive to take place in August. Lieutenant- that was ultimately unsuccessful, the General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander Division suffering approximately 1,000 of the Mediterranean Expeditionary casualties. Subsequent attempts by Force at Gallipoli, devised a plan for the Allies to gain more ground in the this offensive, which involved a mixture ANZAC sector and at Helles, to the of diversionary attacks and genuine south, proved generally unsuccessful. assaults on Ottoman positions from New Zealand, Australian, British, 8 MAY 1915 and French troops. What would be The New Zealand forces that had called the August Offensive, of which been shifted to the Helles area made the Battle for Chunuk Bair was an two charges to attack Ottoman trench important part, was slated to take positions across what became known place from 6 August. 8 THE AUGUST OFFENSIVE AND Old No. 3 Post, Big Table Top, BAttLE FOR CHUNUK BAIR Destroyer Hill and Little Table Top. The Otago Mounted Rifles suffering The first stage of the August Offensive some 100 casualties capturing the fifth took place on 6 August with the feature, Bauchop’s Hill. Australian forces attacking Lone Pine and diversionary attacks from British ...SUNRISE ON 7 AUGUST and French forces at Cape Helles. The diversionary attacks at Helles At sunrise on 7 August the Brigade were unsuccessful, while the Australian was still waiting for the other part of attack at Lone Pine proved more the column to arrive. The attack went effective. Although the Australians ahead nevertheless and the Auckland suffered more than 2,000 casualties Battalion managed to advance within over the four days from 6 to 10 August, 200 metres of the summit with heavy they ultimately succeeded in capturing casualties. The Wellington Battalion, Ottoman trenches at Lone Pine. led by Lieutenant Colonel William Malone, were ordered to follow, but ...6/7 AUGUST 1915 Malone reputedly refused to sacrifice his men in broad daylight, instead During the night of 6/7 August insisting on an attack under cover the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, of darkness. New Zealand Engineers, the Native Contingent and British troops cleared the foothills in front of the Sari Bair Range, but took longer than planned to achieve what was a very demanding task. The plan for the right and left columns to take the Range soon came apart when the left column got lost in the darkness, and the right column never properly formed. The right column’s two parts, including the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, were supposed to meet on Rhododendron Spur before advancing on to Chunuk Bair from a position that became known as The Apex. Despite this confusion the New Zealand Mounted Rifles and Native Contingent managed to capture four of the five key features that were assigned to them – 9 THE BAttLE FOR CHUNUK BAIR Wellington Battalion was relieved only 70 of the 760 men who went up came Early on 8 August the Wellington back unscathed, the rest had either Battalion advanced to the summit been killed or wounded. Lieutenant of Chunuk Bair and successfully Colonel Malone was among those captured it. Ottoman forces still held killed. In desperate, close quarter the rest of the heights and were able fighting the Otago Infantry and to unleash heavy fire on The Apex and Wellington Mounted Rifles successfully Chunuk Bair. The two British battalions defended their positions on Chunuk that followed the Wellingtons up Bair during 9 August Chunuk Bair suffered heavy losses and played little part in the subsequent On 10 August the British troops who fighting. The Wellington Battalion was had replaced the New Zealanders on isolated from the rest of the Allied Chunuk Bair were overwhelmed by a line, and the casualties suffered from massive Ottoman counter-attack led artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire from by Mustafa Kemal, who would later the Ottoman forces at nearby Hill Q become Atatürk, the founder of the and Battleship Hill were enormous. modern Republic of Turkey. The Allies There was also the added risk of never regained Chunuk Bair or any of friendly fire from Allied artillery and gun the surrounding heights again. Despite fire from Allied ships, all of which was initial success, the August Offensive aimed at breaking up Ottoman infantry proved impossible to play out. assaults. Allied land-based artillery and naval gunfire provided vital support to the troops on Chunuk Bair, but shells did sometimes fall short causing losses to the Allied forces. Because of the isolation it was also difficult to supply or reinforce the troops on Chunuk Bair. Eventually however the Battalion was reinforced by elements of the Auckland Mounted Rifles. They managed to hold the summit of Chunuk Bair for 24 hours, under relentless fire from Ottoman forces. During the night of 8/9 August the Wellington Battalion was relieved by the Otago Battalion and Wellington Mounted Rifles. By the time the 10 > Malone on Walker’s Ridge. Ref: 2006.575-8. National Army Museum Collection 11 AFTERMATH OF THE BAttLE AND LEGACY After the failure of the August Offensive New Zealand troops were involved in a small number of other actions at Gallipoli, notably the attempts to clear Ottoman troops from Hill 60 on 21 and 27 August. The Hill 60 attacks resulted in high casualties for no gain. In September the New Zealanders were sent to the island of Lemnos to recuperate. Following this recuperation period they were sent back to Gallipoli in November. By this time it had become clear to Allied command that the Gallipoli Campaign was a failure, and plans were made for evacuation of all Allied troops from the Peninsula. This plan was put into action between December 1915 and January 1916, and was a success, without a single casualty during the evacuation. During the fighting in August New Zealand forces suffered over 2,000 casualties, with approximately 870 New Zealanders killed during the August Offensive (6–10 August) alone.
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