Transport sunk by Turkish artillery during Helles evacuation

[Bryn]

I'm checking some statements made in General Liman von Sanders' book, Five Years in Turkey. He states, referring to the early morning of 9th January 1916, as the last British or French (?) troops were being evacuated from Helles:

'When it became daylight, our artillery sank a loaded transport on the west coast.' (p103).

I've never heard any mention of this incident before, which would surely mean a lot of casualties. Anybody have any information?

[Eceabat]

Hi Bryn,

I remember that comment from von Sanders as well, but have found no reference to it anywhere else.

What he could possibly have been referring to was a K lighter that became stranded at Gully Beach, at the mouth of Gully Ravine, on the final night of the evacuation. Those who were supposed to use this lighter, including General Maude had to make their way down to the toe of the peninsula to evacuate, with Maude going back to Gully Beach after he found his kit had been left behind.

As the British used warships for most of the evacuation at Helles, rather than transports, I think Otto may have been polishing up the story here.

Cheers

Bill

PS, the French had all gone by this stage, the last of their troops being evacuated in the first days of the new year.

[Jeff Pickerd]

Bryn,

The only reference to a transport vessel being sunk during the Helles evacuation comes from "The History of the Great European War, its causes and effects" by W. Stanley MacBean Knight, Chapter XLV, The Evacuation of Gallipoli, page 170.

Quote: "The evacuation at first proceeded as arranged, without delay. The French infantry were embarked by the French Navy during the first nights of January, but unfortunately during this operation one of our largest horse-ships was sunk by a French battleship, whereby the withdrawl was considerably retarded."

MacBean Knight gives no other details, nor name of the Horse Transport vessel, or French battleship that sunk it.

Could be a job for the contributors on the Navy thread, way beyond my area of interest.

Jeff

[Bryn]

Thanks Bill and Jeff,

Seems there's probably no substance to the statement. No group of British soldiers appear in casualty records for that day, which is why I queried it in the first place.

[michaeldr]

from LvS's page 103 (continuing on from where Bryn left off in post #1 above)

"The hostile torpedo boats in the vicinity opened a heavy fire into the sea near the transport believing that it had been torpedoed by a submarine. Unfortunately there were none present at the withdrawal."

Bryn,

Even though LvS mentions 'daylight… sank a loaded transport' taken as a whole, this seems to tie in with the incident described in the Naval OH (Naval Operations Vol. III, by Sir Julian S. Corbett) page 253

"At 11.0 [11 o'clock on the night of the 8th Jan 1916] the ships for the second flight had anchored, the Mars for 'W' Beach and the Prince George for the other, each accompanied by a troop-carrier. The two battleships took between them 3,400 troops, and 2,600 were embarked on the troop carriers. As Prince George steamed away, there came an alarming signal that she had been struck by a torpedo. Two destroyers at once rushed to the spot but there were no further alarms. Actually, as no submarine was present that night, the Prince George must have struck a piece of wreckage, but the report was disturbing enough to compel Admiral Fremantle to take his two supporting battleships back to Kephalo."

The OH gives no further details, suggesting no serious damage to the Prince George and no loss of life here

Regards

Michael

[Bryn]

Thanks, Michael. It would be strange though if the two incidents were related - General von Sanders wouldn't have known, surely, that a British transport had struck a piece of wreckage, and even if he had, he would hardly have elevated that trivial occurrence into a sinking caused by artillery fire. Of course he was likely only going on the reports of others...

[michaeldr]

Of course he was likely only going on the reports of others...

I think you have described the basic problem here

regards

Michael