how many of us are interested in gallipoli?

[Sepoy]

My interest in History, more specifically Military History and the Gallipoli Campaign was sparked at an early age by my Great Great Aunt Lilly. On our family trips to see her, she would spend hours telling me about my Uncle Max (her husband Deal 400 S Sapper David Maxwell Gordon) who served with the 2nd Field Company, Royal Naval Divisional Engineers at Gallipoli.

After spending one day at Anzac at the end of April, 1915, he was transferred to Helles. Max was wounded on 6th May, 1915 and evacuated to Egypt. He returned to Gallipoli on 16th June, serving until the evacuation in January, 1916, although he had been slightly wounded in his foot on 21st November.

He was admitted to the Dreadnought Hospital, Greenwich during March, 1916, where a sharpnel bullet (which wounded him on 6th May) was removed from his forehead! Max landed in France on 25th September, 1916 to re join the RND Engineers, but was transferred to the Royal Engineers Base Depot on 1st February, 1917.

Having reached the rank of Staff Sergeant, Max was demobilized on 1st March, 1919.

During WW2, he served as a Sergeant in No 1 Section, No 3 Platoon, “A” Company, 2nd (Farnham) Surrey Home Guard. Max died in 1954 some years before my birth.

Listening to my Aunt, I was transfixed when she spoke of Uncle Max's time at Gallipoli. Looking back with hindsight, I am annoyed that I never asked about his service on the Western Front!

When Aunt Lilly died in 1979, she left me money to visit the Gallipoli Peninsula. Since then, I have tried to read up on every aspect of the Campaign to make certain I would get the maximum out of a trip. I have not made that trip yet, but will do!

[Guest]

I've discovered that my great uncle was wounded at Suvla Bay on 7 September 1915. Isn't that a little after the major hostilities there, or did fighting continue for some time? He was Albert Gutteridge (reg. no 3134) in the Royal Navy Air Service Armoured Cars- might that have included motorcycle messengers? I have a picture of him on a motorbike.

[judy7007]

Judy

When do Trevor and yourself arrive at "Gallipoli Houses"?

Peter

Peter

I tried to contact you. Sent a couple of texts but I was on a global sim that chooses when and if it will work. Also tried to phone your turkish mobile no. When we came to Canakkale on the Saturday I called in and they told me you were out on a tour till 6pm and Trevor and I had to get back to Eceabat to catch our ride back to Gallipoli Houses. There will definitely be another visit.... next time we MUST catch up!

Judy

[meadowsboy]

Interested in all aspects of WW1, as for Gallipoli my Great Great Uncle Lance Corporal Charles William Woods of the 6th Bn Lincolnshire regiment died on the 7th August 1915 at Suvla Bay.

cheers

David

[Gary Traynor]

My great uncle served with the 5th Field Company Engineers (AIF) in the post August Offensive period. The tunnelling war was in full swing by then. Is there any Aussies out there who also had a relative in the 5th Field Company?? Their war diary states that they were deployed along the front line, at Quinn's, Popes and Courtney's Posts ........ but does not state exactly which personnel were at each location. Subsequently, would be keen to see if any personal diaries mention James McGrath at all ????

[Gary Traynor]

I've discovered that my great uncle was wounded at Suvla Bay on 7 September 1915. Isn't that a little after the major hostilities there, or did fighting continue for some time? He was Albert Gutteridge (reg. no 3134) in the Royal Navy Air Service Armoured Cars- might that have included motorcycle messengers? I have a picture of him on a motorbike.

Hello there Slabber. Whilst the August Offensive was the last major push forward in that area, there was still sporadic fighting (and sniping) up until the evacuation. So clearly, no time was a " safe time" in that neck of the woods !!

[xeroic]

Hmmmm very interesting post there Bob,

I remember growing up with Turkish kids at school who would regale us with stories of how there grandfathers had killed 50 or 100 australians each. the total count by the ned of primary school was around 2 million australians killed in action there. Hmmmmmmmmmm. cant stress enough the importance of the study of history.

i think many of us are aware that the real elite on gallipoli were the relatively small contingent of germans who served there. their analysis of the Ottoman (they were OTTOMAN turks, which means that many of them were not turks at all) was that they were incredibly hardy troops, almost definitely way above the british in their hardiness. they were therefore regarded as fine troops in defence ( which by most accounts is the defining skill area of WW1).

However as attacking troops they score quite poorly. Defensively they were very reliable and hardy, offensively very poor.

The principal reason that I am interested in Gallipoli is that my father fought there. He survived, but contracted malaria. He fought at the ANZAC bridgehead.

Interestingly (to me), my father fought with the Turkish Army, not the Allied forces. He had the greatest respect for the Turks, and felt that they were about the best soldiers he ever encountered, although he spent the rest of the war fighting in two of the top German storm units, and fought in the German civil war in 1919. Not that the Turks were top technically, but in spirit, in bravery. In the 1920's he was able to run some guns to the Turks, when the Greeks were invading deeply into Anatolia, and no one would help the Turks defend their heartland.

Bob Lembke

[Gunner5tribe]

My interest in the Gallipoli Campaign is two-fold: (1) personal: my Grandfather served there and (2) it continues to hold my interest as an amateur historian, primarily as an example of a campaign of discretion rather than one of necessity (IMO) and for the sheer amount of detail available - in the form of letters, memoirs, reports and historical accounts. This particular forum has opened my eyes to the number of dedicated folks keeping alive the memory of what might soon be a forgotten war to a new generation. <BR><BR>cheers, ted underhill

[PMHart]

Hmmmm very interesting post there Bob,

I remember growing up with Turkish kids at school who would regale us with stories of how there grandfathers had killed 50 or 100 Australians each. the total count by the end of primary school was around 2 million Australians killed in action there. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Of course Australians never exagerate....

Pete

[Guest]

Pte Stafford Cryer 7/8/15 Helles Memorial and Mangotsfield memorial, My uncle I wish i had known

Ben

[Gully Ravine]

Ben, we are on our way to Gallipoli - would you like a photo of your uncle's name on the Helles memorial if we can get it? Need to know his regiment please?

Keith

[bob lembke]

Hmmmm very interesting post there Bob,

i think many of us are aware that the real elite on gallipoli were the relatively small contingent of germans who served there. their analysis of the Ottoman (they were OTTOMAN turks, which means that many of them were not turks at all) was that they were incredibly hardy troops, almost definitely way above the british in their hardiness. they were therefore regarded as fine troops in defence ( which by most accounts is the defining skill area of WW1).

However as attacking troops they score quite poorly. Defensively they were very reliable and hardy, offensively very poor.

As far as German troops at Gallipoli, there was my father's volunteer Pionier=Kompagnie, about 200 men (quickly reduced to 40 by disease, my father was sent as a replacement), and as the Turks had, as the battle began, only four MGs per division, and generally less than that, the German sailors at Istanbul formed a few MG detachments, the first about 40 men, later a somewhat larger one, perhaps 100 men or so, using Maxims out of the armories of the Goeben and the Breslau. Later in one engagement after the sailors had heavy losses, including almost all their MGs,the Turks turned over 11 Vickers that they just had captured in a counter-attack. (An interesting book covering this is one by Doenitz, who was a young officer on the Breslau, I think, and of course was later the well-known sub commander in WW II.)

The Pioniere never, to my knowledge, engaged in actual front-line fighting, but worked supervising efforts, in particular mine warfare.

There also were some German officers, but generally at the staff or divisional level, possibly sometimes at the regimental level. The many Allied reports of Germans leading companies, or manning Turkish machine guns, are not true. Allied troops often assumed that killed or captured Turkish officers, much better dressed and perhaps sometimes of a lighter complexion than their troops, and often able to communicate with their captors in French or German or even English, were German. German commanding officers who served at Gallipoli (e.g., Liman von Sanders Pasha and Kannengeiser Pasha) usually put the total number of Germans there at no more than 500, but only some dozens of these fought in the front line.

In November 1915 two batteries of Austrian heavy artillery arrived (24 cm and 15 cm) arrived, and fought briefly. My father told me that he saw the Austrian 24 cm "motor=mortar" battery in action at ANZAC and that he felt that it caused great damage on the crowded beaches and emplacements.

But we have to accept that at any one time, at a peak, only a few hundred Germans and Austrians fought at Gallipoli, and at most times only a few dozen, so at any one time German soldiers constituted perhaps one soldier in a thousand in the front ranks. So it must be accepted that the Turks, who also did not usually outnumber the Allies, did very well, especially considering their other many handicaps, such as shells that rarely exploded. Whether they were wonderful in the defense, but really bad in the offense,is a narrow distinction that I would avoid. But they certainly were hardy and tolerated physical conditions that no European troops, including German, could tolerate.

Bob

[Guest]

Ben, we are on our way to Gallipoli - would you like a photo of your uncle's name on the Helles memorial if we can get it? Need to know his regiment please?

Keith

Hi Keith.

very kind offer i can not refuse, regiment was 1/8 Btn Lancs Fusiliers (territorial's) Service No: 2476

and according to my info (CWG)

Memorial Reference: Panel 58 to 72 or 218 to 219

if you mange to find and photo i would be most grateful

Ben

[Velocette]

Although I have been generally interested in the whole mess of Gallipoli for many years, I have been "more than" focused on it over the last month.

The reason being I have been researching everything possible to find more out about my Great Uncles KIA August 17th, only 9 days after landing in this hell hole.

I have some more photos to take tomorrow at the family memorial in Llanberis, then await a copy of his birth cert and hopefully a picture of his name on the Helles

Memorial.

Then for anyones else who has an interest in the RWF's I intend adding the final details and photos to my own post in the Documents section. I will post the link

details here when this is completed.

He was Fus Edwin Jones 1136 1/6th Royal Welsh Fusiliers and died as a result of a snipers bullet.

Worth me also asking, does anyone else reading this have any family links to any other Royal Welsh Fusilier who may have been in the August 1915 landing ?

SMG

.

[gingerpig]

Gallipoli is of great interest to me; my grandfather was 'sent' to Australia with a share in a sheepstation in 1912 and joined the AIF in 1914. He received a GSW to his leg and was shipped to Egypt and then onto England, where he stayed, married and had a family, so here we are. We grew up hearing about Gallipoli, so my awareness starts at a young age.

[seaJane]

My grandfather, P.O. Richard William (Bill) Marsh, RN, was not ashore at Gallipoli, but he was a torpedo gunner's mate on HMS AGAMEMNON in the Dardanelles from 1915 (or was it 1916?).

He visited Gallipoli very shortly after the war and I have his album with a photograph or two of the desolation of the battlefields. He was out in the Dardanelles / Caspian until 1923, including the evacuation of Smyrna (more photos).