An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 31 first 200 men to leave the ship, 149 were killed and 30 wounded within minutes. Of the Dublins' 25 officers and 987 other ranks only one officer and 374 other ranks made it ashore. The battalions landing at 'V' Beach suffered a 70% casualty rate and such were the losses suffered by the Dublins and the Munsters, they were temporarily amalgamated into a single unit, which they immediately christened 'the Dubsters'. Despite the appalling carnage the Turkish force had not been large enough to pre- vent the landing altogether, although it contained it to the area around the beach. It is an indication of the heroism displayed during the Gallipoli landings, that 15 Victoria Crosses were awarded; six to the Lancashire Fusiliers, who had 600 of their 1,000 strength killed or wounded at 'W' Beach, and nine to the soldiers and sailors at 'V' Beach for their actions during the landings and as they fought their way off the beach the next day. In case it is thought that it was only the Allies who suffered so badly, it is worth mentioning the Turkish 57th Infantry Regiment defending the heights of Chunuk Bair. Facing an Allied assault with their ammunition expended and only their bayonets left to fight with, the 57th received the follow- ing order from the commander of the 19th Division, Lt Col Mustafa Kemal: "I do not order you to fight, I order you to die. In the time which passes until we die, other troops and commanders can come forward and take our places." In honouring their order every man of the regiment was either killed or wounded. (As a sign of respect, the 57th Regiment has never been reformed in the Turkish Army.) On April 27th Mustafa Kemal's 19th Division attacked the ANZACs in an attempt to drive them back to the sea. However, with the support of naval gunfire the ANZACs held out through and the following day the Turks had to switch their focus to defend an attack on the village of Krithia by the British 29th Division and their French allies. The fate of the campaign hung in the balance with the Allies suffering 3,000 casualties before their advance stalled with the arrival of Turkish reinforcements. The failure of the attack on Krithia signalled the end of any chance of a quick Allied victory in Gal- lipoli and, just like the Western Front, the campaign settled into a war of attrition. Over the following months attack and counterattack took place with little changing other than the casualty roll. In a last, desper- ate gamble on August 6th the Allies landed two more divisions, one of which was the newly formed volunteer 10th (Irish) Division, north of Anzac Cove at Suvla Bay. However, the new offensive soon stalled and trench warfare again reigned supreme. Fighting continued until the Allies finally gave up their attempt to take the Dardanelles in December and began to evacuate the beaches. The last Allied troops embarked their ships on January 8th 1916, after a campaign that saw approximately 188,000 Allied casualties and 175,000 Ottoman. The political repercussions of the Gallipoli campaign were severe in Britain where Asquith's Liberal government was forced into coalition with the Conservatives. Churchill was demoted to a minor cabinet post in May 1915 before resigning from the government in November to serve in France where he commanded a battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers before returning to office as Minister of Munitions in Lloyd George's government in 1917. 5th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers in the trenches at Gallipoli, 1915. Photo: Mary Evans / Robert Hunt Collection / Imperial War Museum A British soldier at Gallipoli grave. © PA Wire

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