100th anniversary of the Second Battle of Krithia

[old man emu]

On 8th May 1915, Australian and New Zealander troops took part in what has been called the Second Battle of Krithia in the Dardanelles campaign.

 

The Second Battle of Krithia is the forgotten battle of the campaign. We all know about Lone Pine, the Nek and the battles above ANZAC Cove, but who has heard of Krithia, a two bob village that stands between the landing grounds of Cape Helles and the peak of Achi Baba?

 

The ANZAC troops were brought around from ANZAC Cove to add to the British, French and Indian troops in what was the main thrust of the Dardanelles campaign. Once again the moronic British High Command ordered troops to advance across open ground towards well established Turkish lines infested with machine gun nests. So competent were the British Commanders that they gave the ANZACs 15 minutes' notice of the beginning of the attack. The Australian commanders suggested that they wait until dark to move the troops up to the British front line where they were to relieve the Brits. The High Command rejected the suggestion, claiming that the troops would get disorganised when moving at night. Hardly likely when all the troops had to do was to keep moving forward, uphill until they fell into the British trenches.

 

As a result if the incompetence, the ANZACS were cut to ribbons, suffering incredible fatalities and casualties. My grandfather was a member of the 7th Battalion and became a casualty when either an artillery shell or bomb exploded close to him and wrecked his lungs. He was evacuated from the Dardanelles and eventually came home and was discharged medically unfit in 1916. His war lasted 14 days, but its physical effects remained with him for the next 50 years.

 

Here is some information about the battle:

 

The 7th Battalion was a Victorian one.

 

OME

 

Krithia2.pdf

 

Krithia2.pdf

[Old Koreelah]

...His war lasted 14 days, but its physical effects remained with him for the next 50 years...OME

Well said, OME. That is the equation politicians and military planners should be looking at.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Once again the moronic British High Command ordered troops to advance across open ground towards well established Turkish lines infested with machine gun nests.

Bollshite 1700 and 1800's "Gallant Gentlemen's" head on attack warfare, great for the General's in the backrooms literally playing with wooden dolls.

 

War criminals are only on the losing sides.

 

 

[turboplanner]

While the machine gun had been around in the Boer War, the Germans seem to have been the first to use it tactically, siting for enfilade fire from well protected trenches and any high ground around. You couldn't carry a machine gun into the attack against them because it was too heavy, so initially the allied troops - British, French, Indian, Commonwealth just charged at them and the survivors knocked them out with grenades.

 

Photo C01079 shows just how exposed our people were on the battlefield.

 

Tactics were refined on the Somme, with lessons learned in blood from the Turkish experience.

 

I think M'Cay was in the First Battalion in its attack on Gallipoli, certainly prominent on the beach and going up the hills towards Lone Pine.