100 Events of the Gallipoli Campaign
August–October 1915
17 August 1915
Sir Ian Hamilton informed Lord Kitchener that the August offensive had failed. He requested 45,000 reinforcements to bring units already on Gallipoli up to strength and another 50,000 to make further offensives possible.
21 August 1915
The British advanced at Suvla against Turkish positions at Scimitar Hill and the so-called 'W' Hills while an Anzac force attacked Hill 60. The attack, which was made in stifling heat and a swirling mist, was a failure and there were more than 5,000 British casualties. Many wounded perished in scrub fires ignited by the bursting shells. Winston Churchill summed up this battle in these words:
The British losses were heavy and fruitless ... On this dark battlefield of fog and flame Brigadier-General Lord Longford, Brigadier-General Kenna VC, Colonel Sir John Milbanke VC, and other paladins fell. This was the largest action fought on the Peninsula, and it was destined to be the last.
25 August 1915
Major Davidson, Royal Army Medical Corps, at Helles wrote of the Gallipoli campaign:
Four calendar months since we landed on Gallipoli and not much progress made yet.
28 August 1915
Joseph Murray, Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division, wrote of a normal day at Helles:
Nothing unusual to report today; just an ordinary day of shelling, bombing and sniping.
6 September 1915
The Kingdom of Bulgaria entered the war as an ally of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Turkey. This made it likely that the Turks on Gallipoli would be able to receive reinforcements from Germany along the Berlin to Constantinople railway.
1 October 1915
The Royal Naval Division's Signal Company's trench magazine, Fag Ends, wondered if ‘the Post Office will allow Xmas puddings to be sent to the Dardanelles at a reduced rate’.
5 October 1915
A British War Office circular memorandum issued to medical officers and nurses on hospital shops operating from Gallipoli read in part:
All grades and degrees of the medical staff must make it a point of professional honour to maintain a hearty tone of optimism calculated to raise rather than lower the confidence and courage of the fighting men who have been temporarily committed to their charge.
12 October 1915
Asked for his opinion as to the consequences of a British evacuation of Gallipoli, General Sir Ian Hamilton wrote:
It would not be wise to reckon on getting out of Gallipoli with less loss than that of half the total force ... we might be lucky and lose considerably less than I have estimated.
14 October 1915
The Dardanelles Committee dismissed General Sir Ian Hamilton as commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. The position was given to General Sir Charles Monro.
31 October 1915
General Monro cabled Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, advising a complete withdrawal from Gallipoli. In a subsequent cable on 2 November, Monro estimated that an evacuation could lead to a casualty rate of 30–40 percent of the force and an equal amount of war material.