Gallipoli: Command Under Fire

289 Pages·2012·10.012 MB·English

by  Edward J Erickson

G a l l i p o l i G a l l i p o l i
Dr Edward J. Erickson is a Professor of Military
History at the Command and Staff College, Marine Corps
University in Quantico, Virginia. He reached the rank
of lieutenant-colonel in the field artillery, serving in the
Command under fire
Persian Gulf War of 1991, as well as in Sarajevo in 1995,
and in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 with the 4th Infantry
Co m m a n d u n d e r f i r e
Division as General Odierno’s political advisor. He is the
As a result of the stalemate on the Western Front in 1914,
recipient of two Bronze Star medals, the Legion of Merit and
Britain turned to a more traditional instrument of her power,
numerous other military awards. He has master’s degrees
namely the Royal Navy. In early 1915, the War Council
Unique among First World War campaigns, the fighting at Gallipoli brought
from Colgate University and Saint Lawrence University, as
settled on an attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire out
together modern amphibious assault and multi-national combined operations.
well as a doctorate in History from the University of Leeds
of the war, which was duly followed by naval attacks on
The campaign became, perhaps, the greatest ‘what if’ of the war. If the grand
in the UK. Dr Erickson is widely recognized as one of the
the Dardanelles. Failing to achieve a breakthrough of the
strategy had been successful, it might have led to the ending of the war two
foremost specialists on the Ottoman Army during the First
Allied fleet to Constantinople, the campaign evolved into
years early on Allied terms. This might have avoided the bloodletting of 1916–18,
World War.
a full-scale amphibious assault on the heavily fortified and
saved Tsarist Russia from revolution and side-stepped the disastrous Treaty of
well-manned Gallipoli Peninsula. A combined force under
Versailles – in effect, altering the course of the entire 20th century.
General Sir Ian Hamilton landed on 25 April 1915, only to
be stopped at the beachhead and the campaign degenerated
This study seeks to explain why the Allies were thwarted through an examination
into trench warfare. A further major amphibious assault
of the operational and campaign-level decisions and actions that drove the
in early August also failed, and by the end of the year the
conduct of the campaign. It departs from emotive first-hand accounts and offers
Allies were forced to evacuate the peninsula.
a broader perspective of the large-scale military planning and manoeuvring
involved in this monstrous struggle on the shores of European Turkey.
Losses were roughly comparable, with the Allies losing
about 50,000 men to the Turks’ 60,000. For the Allies,
however, the unsuccessful campaign was ‘a mighty destroyer
of reputations’ and wrecked the careers of politicians like
Winston Churchill and generals such as Field Marshal Lord
Herbert Horatio Kitchener and General Sir Ian Hamilton.
A o For the Turks, the campaign revitalized their faltering war
lso AvAilAble from sprey
effort and renewed their determination to continue the
Collision of Empires: 978 1 78200 648 0 war. In this way, then, the campaign backfired on Britain.
World War I Companion: 978 1 78200 188 1
This new study focuses on the operational level of warfare
The First World War: 978 1 78200 280 2
and moves the conversation and narrative upward from
the tactical and participant experiences, which dominate
the contemporary literature, to an analysis of campaign
UK £17.99 US $25.95 CAN $30.00
design and command and control at the corps and army
ISBN 978-1-4728-0669-7 level in an effort to explain the unique dynamic of the
5 2 5 9 5 Gallipoli campaign.
9 781472 806697
GALLIPOLI

EDWARD J. ERICKSON
GALLIPOLI
COMMAND UNDER FIRE
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 7 
List of maps 8 
List of illustrations 9 
Introduction 12 
1. The strategic setting 21 
2. The opposing campaign plans 37 
3. The naval assault, 19 February–18 March 1915 55 
4. Arms and men: institutions, organizations and command 79 
5. The amphibious assault, 19 March–30 April 1915 105 
6. The Ottoman counter-offensives, 1 May–5 August 1915 145 
7. The ANZAC breakout, 6–28 August 1915 179 
8. The ending of the campaign, 29 August 1915–8 January 1916 219 
Appendix 233
Endnotes 238
Select bibliography 258 
Index 266
Dedicated to my friend, colleague and comrade-in-arms Professor
Gordon Rudd, PhD, Lieutenant Colonel, US Army (Retired) for his
encouragement and friendship, and from whom I never stop learning
new things.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In addition to my friend and colleague, Professor Gordon Rudd (to whom this
book is dedicated), I would like to acknowledge the many contributions of
my friends and colleagues in the production of this book. First and foremost is
my editor, Marcus Cowper, without whose advice and interest this book would
not have been either written or produced. Thank you, Marcus! I am also
indebted to Brigadier Chris Roberts (Australian Army, retired) and
Professor Mesut Uyar (Colonel, Turkish Army, retired), who have steadily and
faithfully replied to my many questions with solid answers and suggestions.
I have reached out successfully to a variety of established international scholars
and historians with questions, and for advice, as well, and these include
Peter Hart (UK), John Lee (UK), Rhys Crawley (Australia), Graham Clews
(Australia) and Klaus Wolf (Germany). I have relied heavily on your brilliant
published work and I thank you for your direct and indirect help. At the
Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia, the active
encouragement of Dr. Doug McKenna, the Dean of Academics, and my
teaching colleague Colonel Frode Ommundsen (Norwegian Army) have been a
constant source of support. At the Marine Corps School of Advanced Studies
(SAW), Professor Rudd’s colleague Professor Brad Meyer’s insights on the nature
of command and control were also most helpful. I am also indebted to my
students at the Command and Staff College who constantly force me to think
critically about what I say and what I write. I would be remiss in not mentioning
my copy editor Ruth Sheppard for her critical eye and superb work as well as
our wonderful cartographers at Bounford.com. Lastly but most important,
thank you Ms Jennifer Collins, my fiancée and partner, for all you do to make
my life easier and brighter – day in and day out. I could not have written this
book without your love and support.
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LIST OF MAPS
1. The Dardanelles and straits 27
2. Carden’s plan to force the Dardanelles 43
3. War Council campaign design, 13 March 1915 66
4. Straits defences, 18 March 1915 69
5. The Dardanelles and approaches, 1915 101
6. Hamilton’s plan to seize Kilid Bahr 112
7. Ottoman defences, 26 March 1915 118
8. Ottoman defences, 25 April 1915 121
9. Cape Helles landings, 25 April 1915 124
10. ANZAC landings, 25 April 1915 131
11. Cape Helles front, mid-July 1915 168
12. Hamilton’s plan for the ANZAC breakout 182
13. Suvla Bay landings, 6 August 1915 185
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Winston Churchill. (Getty Images) 
2. General Sir Herbert Horatio Kitchener. (IWM, Q 80742) 
3. Admiral Jackie Fisher. (Getty Images) 
4. Vice-Admiral Sackville Carden. (IWM, Q 112875) 
5. Commodore Roger Keyes, Vice-Admiral John de Robeck, General
Sir Ian Hamilton, Major-General Sir Walter Braithwaite. (AWM,
H10350) 
6. General Sir Charles Monro. (IWM, Q 68187) 
7. Lieutenant-General Sir William R Birdwood (AWM, G00761) 
8. Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stopford. (Getty Images) 
9. Major-General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston. (AWM, H10293) 
10. Major-General Sir Henry de Lisle. (IWM, Q 3046) 
11. Général de Division Albert d’Amade. (IWM, Q 53533) 
12. İsmail Enver Pasha. (AWM, H12357) 
13. General Otto Liman von Sanders, (AWM, J00200) 
14. Brigadier-General Esat Pasha. (ATASE) 
15. Brigadier-General Vehip Pasha. (Mesut Uyar) 
16. Colonel Mustafa Kemal. (AWM, A05319) 
17. Steam pinnace towing landing boats. (AWM, P02194.003) 
18. British troops on V Beach. (IWM, Q 68350) 
19. Royal Naval Division training at Lemnos. (AWM, G00309) 
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GALLIPOLI
20. The British logistical buildup on V Beach. (IWM, Q 70378) 
21. Slopes of Monash Valley. (AWM, G00942) 
22. Infantrymen and Light Horsemen in a trench on Walkers Ridge,
Gallipoli. (IWM, HU 53364) 
23. British troops and their artillery guns being evacuated from Suvla
Bay. (IWM, Q 13637) 
24. Distant view from the battleship HMS Cornwallis of the
evacuation of Suvla Bay. (IWM, Q 13679) 
25 A bugler of the Corps Expeditionaire d’Orient.
(IWM, Q 13419) 
26. Liman von Sanders, Brigadier-General Esat Pasha and Colonel
Fahrettin. (David Nicolle) 
27. Ottoman staff officers in front of Liman von Sanders’
headquarters in the town of Gallipoli. (Colonel Klaus Wolf)
28. German Colonel Hans Kanneniesser standing in front of his clay
hut. (David Nicolle) 
29. Ottoman infantrymen engaged in training overlooking one of the
Gallipoli beaches. (David Nicolle) 
30. The Ottoman fort at Canakkale. The 17th-century keep is seen
inside the 19th-century coastal defence installation.
(David Nicolle) 
31. Ottoman soldiers drawing fresh water from a spring. Fresh water
was a combat multiplier enjoyed by the Ottoman army.
(David Nicolle)
32. The commander of the 125th Infantry Regiment with his staff
and regimental Imam. (David Nicolle) 
33. A well-camouflaged Ottoman sniper captured by the Australians,
Gallipoli (David Nicolle) 
34. Ottoman infantry in trench, Gallipoli 1915, the ever-present
scrub growing on the peninsula is evident in this photo.
(David Nicolle) 
35. Ottoman infantry after the Gallipoli campaign 1916.
(David Nicolle) 
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