Battle of Gallipoli: Encyclopedia II - Battle of Gallipoli - August offensive

Battle of Gallipoli - August offensive

See main article: Battle of Sari Bair

The repeated failure of the Allies to capture Krithia or make any progress on the Helles front led Hamilton to pursue a new plan for the campaign which resulted in what is now called the Battle of Sari Bair. On the night of August 6 a fresh landing of two infantry divisions was to be made at Suvla, five miles north of Anzac. Meanwhile at Anzac a strong assault would be made on the Sari Bair range by breaking out into the rough and thinly defended terrain north of the Anzac perimeter.

The landing at Suvla Bay was only lightly opposed but the British commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stopford, had so diluted his early objectives that little more than the beach was seized. Once again the Turks were able to win the race for the high ground of the Anafarta Hills thereby rendering the Suvla front another case of static trench warfare.

The offensive was preceded on the evening of August 6 by a diversionary assaults at Helles and Anzac. At Helles, the diversion at Krithia Vineyard became another futile battle with no gains and heavy casualties for both sides. At Anzac, an attack on the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine by the infantry brigades of the Australian 1st Division was a rare victory for the Anzacs. However, the main assault aimed at the peaks of Chunuk Bair and Hill 971 was less successful.

The force striking for the nearer peak of Chunuk Bair comprised the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. It came within 500 metres of the peak by dawn on August 7 but was not able to seize the summit until the following morning. This delay had fatal consequences for another supporting attack on the morning of August 7; that of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek which was to coincide with the New Zealanders attacking back down from Chunuk Bair against the rear of the Turkish defences. The New Zealanders held out on Chunuk Bair for two days before a massive Turkish counter-attack, led in person by Mustafa Kemal, swept the attackers from the heights.

The attack on Hill 971 never eventuated. The attacking force of the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade (General Monash), and an Indian Brigade, was defeated by the terrain and became lost during the night. All subsequent attempts to resume the attack were easily repulsed by the Turkish defenders at great cost to the Allies.

The Suvla landing was reinforced by the arrival of the British 53rd and 54th Divisions plus the dismounted yeomanry of the 2nd Mounted Division. The unfortunate 29th Division was also shifted from Helles to Suvla for one more push. The final British attempt to resuscitate the offensive came on August 21 with attacks at Scimitar Hill and Hill 60. Control of these hills would have united the Anzac and Suvla fronts but neither battle achieved success. When fighting at Hill 60 ceased on August 29, the battle for the Sari Bair heights, and indeed the battle for the peninsula, was effectively over.

See Also: Battle of Krithia Vineyard — Battle of Lone Pine — Battle of Chunuk Bair — Battle of the Nek — Battle of Scimitar Hill — Battle of Hill 60

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "August offensive", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki