The Third Battle of Krithia

[michaeldr]

4th June 1915: The Third Battle of Krithia

Remembering the officers and men of the Royal Naval Division who gave so much on this day in 1915.

“Having regard to the disastrous reverse suffered by the French and the Naval Division on the morning of the 4th, the result was not wholly unsatisfactory. The fine pertinacity of the 42nd Division during the afternoon of the 4th and the work of the Nelson Battalion the next night had at least prevented the enemy from exploiting his earlier success and had preserved for us some substantial gains.

The price paid by the Naval Division for this very negative success was, unfortunately, out of all reckoning. More than sixty officers and 1,300 men became casualties, and, of these, nearly half were killed.”

Douglas Jerrold ‘The Royal Naval Division’

And remembering my grandfather AB Daniel Dunn RNVR, Nelson Battalion, wounded this day

The appalling losses of the RND required drastic reorganisation and following this battle two of its Naval Battalions, the Collingwood and the Benbow, ceased to exist.

In Proud Memory

[John_Hartley]

And remembering the 368 men of the Manchester Regiment who fell that day.

The following account from my research relates to the 1/6th Battalion

"Orders were then issued for a major attack on 4 June (this would become known as the Third Battle of Krithia). From 8am, there would be an intense bombardment of the enemy trenches. Private R Sheldon, “C” Company, later described the morning “Shells in thousands were dropped, blowing part of the Turkish trenches to atoms and completely blowing away the barbed wire entanglements. Every shell that dropped seemed to tell – for we saw, hurled up into the air – legs, arms, heads, bodies, parts of limbs. It was an awful and fearful sight.”

The plan was that at 11.20am, all the guns would fall silent and the infantry would cheer as though about to attack. It was hoped that this would lure the Turks into manning their front line which would then be bombarded again. The real attack would then take place. Half the battalion would be in the first wave, ordered to take the enemy front line trench. The other half would be in the second wave following 15 minutes later.

The plan worked! As the men began to cheer and fire their rifles, the Turks opened fire with machine guns. Moments later, the barrage started up again, killing many of them.

At noon, the leading platoons of Manchesters (“A” Company and half each of “B” & “D”) left the protection of their trenches and charged across the 200 yards of No Man’s Land in good order. They were hit by devastating rifle and machine gun fire. Within 5 minutes, they were in the Turkish front line and were engaged in fierce hand-to-hand fighting. As they secured the trench, the other half of the 6th Manchesters (“C” Company and the other platoons of “B” & “D”) overlapped them to take the Turkish support trench. The attack of the 5th, 7th and 8th Manchesters had also gone well. However, units on either side of the Manchester Brigade had been less successful. The Turks were now on three sides of the Brigade and, by mid-afternoon, it was becoming impossible to hold the position. An order for withdrawal back to the original Turkish front line was ordered at 6.30pm,

770 men of the 6th Manchesters had gone into action. By nightfall, when the roll was called, only 160 were fit enough to answer. 48 men had been killed. “C” Company had been virtually wiped out. The Battalion would be in the firing line for three more days before it was relieved and would suffer another 100 deaths.

On 7 July, the Battalion’s Commanding Officer received a letter from Major General Douglas “I am still hoping that you may be able to collect evidence of some of the special acts of gallantry by officers and men of your battalion during the assault on 4 June. It is most unfortunate that, owing to the many casualties you sustained, many deeds worthy of the Victoria Cross, have not been reported. I hope that your men know this. The dash, steadiness, reckless bravery and endurance shown by the 6th Manchester and, indeed, by the whole Brigade, was equal to the best traditions of the British Army.”