"Asiatic Annie"

[phil andrade]

There are many allusions to "Asiatc Annie" in accounts of Gallipoli. I have yet to find out what kind of gun it was, or whether it was not a single gun, but a battery - I have been told that it was a battery of "five nines" trained on the French sector at Kum Kale.

This doesn't convince me - I would have thought that the nickname was bestowed on a single gun, and was the provenance of the "Anzio Annie" a generation later.

Any information about this would be much appreciated.

Phil.

[bluedog]

Phil.

The information that I have , taken from "Gallipoli Revisted" (London 1934)

by W.E.Stanton Hope states.

Annie was roughly of 11 inch calibre and was moved frequently at its position

in the In Tepe region of Asia but never ran on rails.

Mehmet Bey was the O.C.

This information I took from the 'Gallipoli Houses" website

Peter

[JohnNR]

Asiatic Annie was certainly not a battery. My father was in the Suvla Bay sector and referred to it rather disparagingly, saying that it was never particularly accurate. However, it's not surprising they felt that if it was trained on the French sector! He reckoned it was a howitzer and an 11-inch calibre would tie in with that.

[bob lembke]

Asiatic Annie was certainly not a battery. My father was in the Suvla Bay sector and referred to it rather disparagingly, saying that it was never particularly accurate. However, it's not surprising they felt that if it was trained on the French sector! He reckoned it was a howitzer and an 11-inch calibre would tie in with that.

I study the Turkish/German side of Gallipoli and have read the German official history and the memoirs of major leaders and I don't know what sort of gun this could be. A battery of Austrian 24 cm mortars arrived at the ANZAC sector in mid-November and a battery of 15 cm howitzers at the southern bridgehead in mid-December. I don't think that the Turks ever had such a weapon (11" mortar or howitzer), but they had a few old costal defense guns and the like, but I don't know how mobile they were. There were a few batteries of 15 cm guns (5.9"). Some people thought that the Turks/Germans/Austrians had a few 30.5 cm = 12" guns there, but they did not.

Bob Lembke

[JohnNR]

A battery of Austrian 24 cm mortars arrived at the ANZAC sector in mid-November and a battery of 15 cm howitzers at the southern bridgehead in mid-December.

Hi Bob,

Asiatic Annie was certainly in action before then. My father landed with the Worcesters at Suvla Bay in August and was invalided out with dysentry in early October. I seem to remember him saying that the sound of it firing could be heard, which was quite distinctive. The time between that and the first sound of the incoming shell gave them an idea of how close it would land.

Nick

[bob lembke]

Hi Bob,

Asiatic Annie was certainly in action before then. My father landed with the Worcesters at Suvla Bay in August and was invalided out with dysentry in early October. I seem to remember him saying that the sound of it firing could be heard, which was quite distinctive. The time between that and the first sound of the incoming shell gave them an idea of how close it would land.

Nick

How far was it from Asia to Sulva Bay? 30 miles? The Turks nor the Germans did not have any mobile gun that could reach that far, or even 15 miles. How could they observe fire? The mobile batteries that they had, the largest being 15 cm (5.9") howitzers (about 10 mile range), had to move frequently to avoid naval counter-battery fire. The few 50 year old 13.5" Krupp guns had few shells and would have been very unsuitable. (The last one is parked outside the Askeri Mueze {Military Museum} at Istanbul, a wonderful museum.) I think there was a gun or guns called Asiatic Annie, but it could not have shelled Sulva Bay. The Turks, having so little equipment, even pulled mortars out of museums that fired stone cannon balls. Most students of the Allied side of Gallipoli severely underestimate the lack of modern equipment and functional artillery ammunition that the Turks labored under. (Shells fired but only occasionally exploded on the other end, until German-made ammunition arrived in November, time for the Allies to depart. The Germans were sending 20 batteries, including about 11 heavy batteries, and the Allies were about to be shelled off the beaches.) My father, who was at ANZAC Cove with the Turks, described the effectiveness of the newly arrived Austrian 24 cm motorized mortars.

Bob Lembke

[JohnNR]

I think there was a gun or guns called Asiatic Annie, but it could not have shelled Sulva Bay. The Turks, having so little equipment, even pulled mortars out of museums that fired stone cannon balls. Most students of the Allied side of Gallipoli severely underestimate the lack of modern equipment and functional artillery ammunition that the Turks labored under.

Bob Lembke

Hi Bob,

I don't think Asiatic Annie caused the troops at Suvla Bay too many sleepless nights (there were plenty of other distractions!), but when they heard what sounded like a heavy gun firing in the distance, which was not from their side, they took some notice. Judging from what I remember of my father's comments, no shells from it landed anywhere near them and the firing was only occasional.

Nick

[The Plummed Goose]

think you have got two annies mixed up :

asiatic annie (intepe on the asian side causing lots of trouble in the french sector)

intepe battery

and

farting annie (located as from late august -early september (if somebody could fill me in with a more exact date great!) which was -and still is- located a few 100 yards south of the village of küçük (small) anafarta.

anafarta guns

eric

[MartinWills]

The Anafarta artillery has also been referred to as "Anafarta Annie" which has added to the confusion.

V & W beach were in range of Asiatic Annie and at times a bugle was sounded after the guns flash/report which apparently gave warning to take shelter.

Moving on in the alphabet the next one is Beachy Bill, beloved of the Aussies......

[The Plummed Goose]

Asiatic Annie is definitely part of several guns. They could in no way reach Suvla and were terrorising mainly the French at V-beach but also -if I am not mistaken- the British at W-beach.

Observation was mainly done from Orhaniye and Kumkale and was easy and very good. Have a look at this picture taken from Orhaniye of v-beach :v-beach from orhaniye

The famous "Intepe guns" are named this way because of the fact that its commander Lt-Col Wehrli had his commandpost in the village of Intepe, today also known as Erenköy. They were part of the Dardanelles defences pre- 25th April.

They are wat is called the intermediate guns and were spread out along the Dardanelles (Asian side) starting just east of the new Kumkale village till nearly Dardanos (Dardonos being a seperate command). During the Naval campaign they became famous because they used sewage pipes and gunpowder to attract fire to dummy positions ... with great success. A practice that was continued after the landings. Some more guns of these Wehrli group can be seen here : other guns

I am sure that after the thread of a naval attack faded away some of the most northern guns (of the Wehrli group) were moved further south (to the Kumkale area) to fire on the beaches and on the French. (eg the çakaltepe, Halileli and Topcamlar guns were not moved as they were ideally located to fire on the right flank : Kerevizdere).

"Asiatic Annie" is just one of the nicknames. Taylor & Cupper (p.91) mention a few other nicknames : Artful Archie, Creeping Caroline, Marie pressée, quick dick, Fat Bertha, whistling rufus, morbid montmorentzi, marmaduke and Helen of Troy ... sure was not just one gun, although the Turks kept the practice of moving guns and using the sewage pipes.

eric

[The Plummed Goose]

and a detail of a map (Turkish official history)

[Sturmey]

I've posted an enquiry about Asiatic Annie over on "Archeology by Asiatic Annie" and now realise this would have been a better home.

You probably have rules about double-posting so could I respectfully steer any Asiatic Annie folk over to that thread, please?

I'll pay a bit more attention next time, honest.

[centurion]

The gun was known to Maori troops as Gentle Annie and to Australians as Beachy Bill The Australians recovered two duds from Beachy Bill which show it to have been a 4.7 inch weapon. A contemporary account shows it to have fired on the Maoris from Anafarta

In this AWM photo the big shell in he middle is an 11inch from a battle cruiser flannked by the two duds from Beachy Bill