15/8/1915. Attack along the Kiretch Tepe Sirt

[steve fuller]

Remembering the brave lads from Bedfordshire, London and Ireland who attacked along the Kiretch Tepe Sirt, north Suvla area today. They held their hard won ground until withdrawn from their "untenable position" on the night of 16th August.

The Battalions "stepped off" now (1pm), 90 years ago, and over 4000 of them would suffer wounds or death in a brave but futile attempt to break out of the area over the next 36 hours. The 3 Territorial Battalions lost just under half their starting strength and the 2 Irish Brigades were "shattered" by their efforts.

A fuller (scuse the pun!) account of the action can be found here http://bedfordregiment.org.uk/id16.html but still fails to capture the herioc attempt in its entirity.

Although my primary interest is in the 5th Bedford boys and their first contact with "the enemy" (which can be seen on the page linked to), I must share a part of the Irish Divisions harrowing ordeal here:

"To the West, the 30th and 31st brigades of the 10th Irish Division had been through a similarly tough time. The 31st brigade were advancing along the exposed southern part of the ridge and suffered badly. Little did they know that they were attacking a force matching their own in terms of size, with an additional 72 Machine Guns in all and well plotted artillery support; an incredible amount of firepower. After two hours of vicious fighting, little ground has been gained. During the ensuing firefight Major Jephson of the 6th Munsters was mortally wounded on the peak that had only a week earlier been named after him – Jephson’s Post.

By 6.00 pm very little headway had been made until the 7th Munsters on the Northern slope made a desperate bayonet charge. The Irish Battalions were keen to use their gleaming bayonets and were disappointed that the terrified Turks fled before them. One soldier was heard to scream “I don’t want ta stick ya behind. Turn around and Ill stick ya belly dacent”. For a time it looked like they may have taken the initiative but the unchecked concentration of Turkish fire from the surrounding hills, added to by the Turkish artillery blew huge gaps in their ranks. Eventually, exhaustion, thirst and the reformed Turkish lines put an end to the advance on the northern slope. At dusk the 5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers ran into heavy opposition on the southern slope, sustaining such heavy casualties that the attack had to be called off as there simply weren’t enough men left. The Battalion had been shattered.

The failure of the attacks on the southern slope, coupled with the success on the northern slope left the Division in a “Z” shape along the ridge that night, as the Territorials to their left clung onto their gains on kidney Hill. The Dubliners, Munsters and Irish Fusiliers on the northern ridge found themselves fighting an unseen Turkish enemy a few yards away on the opposing side of the ridge, and a bombing battle began. Several bayonet charges over the ridge were swept away by deadly Turkish machine gun and rifle fire, so it was apparent that advancing was a hopeless task. However, staying in their meagre fox holes and being constantly bombed by an unseen enemy was causing great numbers of casualties. The Irish had run out of bombs yet the Turkish had an ample supply, and used them to great effect.

The 10th Division and the 162nd Brigade were by now exhausted and could only dig in and consolidate their gains on top of the Kiretch Tepe Ridge. Lt Colonel Brighten (commander 5th Beds) had instilled into his troops that ‘What we win, we hold’ as the best way to protect their fallen comrades on the field behind them, so they dug themselves in best they could and braced themselves.

16th August 1915; the Turks Counter Attack.

The British troops had done well to take what ground they had. Despite massive gaps in their ranks, being low on ammunition, with no bombs available and suffering from extreme thirst, they dug in and held their ground. However, at 4am on the 16th the reinforced Turks began a vicious series of bombing and bayonet attacks. The attacks were unrelenting. The Irish and English troops held their ground with a grim determination, but without fresh troops and bombs the battalions just could not realistically hold out much longer. Desperate appeals for reinforcements and more ammunition fell on deaf ears and the surviving men ”threw rocks when their meagre supply of jam tin bombs ran out”.

To the West, the one sided bombing and artillery battle continued overnight (15th to 16th August) and by day break the strain on the Irish soldiers was apparent. With huge gaps torn in their ranks, no hope of advancing yet no orders to – and certainly no wish to – retire being given, they clung onto their gains with a determination that is both amazing and yet heartbreaking. Their anger and fear were temporarily unleashed when a fresh charge was made over the ridge by the 7th Dublins on the morning of the 16th. Despite appalling losses, they actually made it to the Turkish trenches against all odds. Of the attacking troops, only 4 made it back over the crest to their Battalion. Similar charges were made all along the crest, with equally disastrous results. Whole Platoons were lost, never to be seen again.

Despite the complete hopelessness the men of the Irish Division must have felt, they clung on and endured. It is impossible to imagine their feelings - no where to go, with the corpses of the comrades all around them and being continuously bombed by their invisible enemy Nevertheless, they stayed put and waited for either orders, or death – whichever came first. Many events are recorded of this most trying of times, such as Private Wilkin of the 7th Dublins. Tired with being unable to reply to the constant bombing, he started to catch the Turkish grenades and throw them back. “Five times he performed this feat but at the sixth attempt he was blown to pieces”. Whatever they did, the Irish position was one of hopelessness.

By sunset, the 6th Royal Irish fusiliers “exposed both in front and on flank, had been practically annihilated”. Their 5th Battalion came to reinforce them but shared in their fate, and could do nothing to return the constant rain of bombs falling on them. Nearly all their officers had fallen and many of the other Battalions suffered similar casualty figures, yet they were determined not to disgrace the name and honour of their Battalions and line still held."

Once the row between the Generals above had finished, they evaluated the situation & withdrew the entire line back to their starting points. Around 10,000 troops (Turkish and British combined) had become casualties during the 36 hours, no ground had been won and the 10th Division "that had taken a year to build and a week to destroy" was shattered.

Despite their unquestionable bravery, the surviving Territorials of the 162nd Brigade (54th Division) were "stuck into trenches" for the rest of the campaign and took no further part in offensive actions whilst on the peninsula.