AT SUVLA BAY - BEING THE NOTES AND SKETCHES OF SCENES,
CHARACTERS AND ADVENTURES OF THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN
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AT SUVLA BAY - BEING THE NOTES AND SKETCHES OF SCENES, CHARACTERS AND
ADVENTURES OF THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN
Made by
JOHN HARGRAVE ("White Fox" of "The Scout ")
WHILE SERVING WITH THE 32ND FIELD AMBULANCE, X DIVISION, MEDITERRANEAN
EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, DURING THE GREAT WAR
(Complete with pictures and a map)
Australian Bridging Team with British troops
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The attempt to force the Dardanelles and land the Mediterranean
Expeditionary Force began in April of 1915. The fighting between the ANZAC
and British troops against the Ottoman forces of Liman von Sanders and
Mustafa Kemal settled in to trench warfare beginning on May 4, 1915. The
need to end the stalemate precipitated General Sir Ian Hamilton to order
an offensive to break the Turkish lines in the summer of 1915. The
offensive was ordered for August 7, 1915 and called for an amphibious
landing at Suvla Bay. Suvla Bay was north of ANZAC cove, which had been
the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the campaign. British troops
quickly established a bridgehead in the early stages of the landings, but
the Allied forces made no more gains on the peninsula. Kemal's Ottoman
forces rushed reinforcements to Suvla Bay and took control of the heights,
penning the British forces against the sea. The arrival of Ottoman
reinforcements at Suvla created another opposed foothold held by the
Allies and prevented any British breakthrough. The Ottomans had fourteen
divisions opposing an equal number of Allied visions at ANZAC cove, Cape
Helles, and Suvla Bay. The August offensive had accomplished nothing but
the addition of another front in the Gallipoli campaign.
The plan had called for simultaneous action on the part of all Allied
forces on the peninsula. The ANZAC forces were ordered to launch a frontal
assault on the Lone Pine Trench and the British 29th Division was to
engage in a holding action at Helles (Rhodes James, 1965). The assignment
of landing at Suvla Bay was given to the British 10th and 11th divisions,
both Kitchener brigades seeing their first action. During the early stages
of the landing, Hamilton personally intervened in the battle and ordered
the British forces to dig in on the crest line (Rhodes James, 1965).
Hamilton's orders resulted in the retreat of the advance units and the
green divisions were eventually decimated by an Ottoman charge (Rhodes
James, 1965). When the Ottoman forces broke the British line at Suvla Bay,
the landings were rendered a defeat. During the Battle of Suvla Bay, the
British suffered nearly eight thousand casualties and made little gain in
position. In the aftermath of the Suvla Bay landings, Hamilton shifted the
British 53rd, 54th, and 29th divisions to reinforce the troops at Suvla
Bay and attempted a final breakout on August 21 with the assaults on
Scimitar Hill and Hill 60. In the overall action during the August
offensive, the Allied forces suffered eighteen thousand casualties. In the
aftermath of the Suvla offensive, Sir Charles Monro replaced Hamilton as
commander of allied forces. Monro persuaded Secretary of War Kitchener of
the necessity of evacuation, when the former was on a November visit to
the front. The August landings at Gallipoli represented the final flourish
in a battle that claimed over 300,000 Ottoman forces and 265, 000 Allied
Forces.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. IN WHICH MY KING AND COUNTRY NEED ME
II. A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY
III. SNARED
IV. CHARACTERS
V. I HEAR OF HAWK
VI. ON THE MOVE
VII. MEDITERRANEAN NIGHTS
VIII. THE CITY OF WONDERFUL COLOUR
IX. MAROONED ON LEMNOS ISLAND
X. THE NEW LANDING XI. THE KAPANJA SIRT
XII. THE SNIPER-HUNT
XIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE WHITE PACK-MULE
XIV. THE SNIPER OF PEAR-TREE GULLY
XV. KANGAROO BEACH
XVI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE LOST SQUADS
XVII. "OH, TO BE IN ENGLAND!"
XVIII. TWO MEN RETURN
XIX. THE RETREAT
XX. "JHILL-O! JOHNNIE!"
XXI. SILVER BAY XXII. DUG-OUT YARNS
XXIII. THE WISDOM OF FATHER S----
XXIV. THE SHARP-SHOOTERS
XXV. A SCOUT AT SULVA BAY
XXVI. THE BUSH-FIRES
XXVII. THE DEPARTURE
XXVIII. LOOKING BACK
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