The Gallipoli landings

The Allied armada departed Mudros Harbour early on 25 April. A voyage of four or so hours lay ahead.

Landing at Gallipoli peninsula was complex. Troops were first transferred from their transport ships to British destroyers. Once they were near the landing sites, they boarded the destroyers’ rowboats. Armed steamers towed the rowboats to around 100 metres from the shore, and from there the troops rowed.

On that first day, some 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders went ashore on the narrow beach near Ari Burnu. The British and French troops were to their south. The Anzacs were met by the gunfire of an enemy dug deep into the steep, ridged slopes overlooking the beach. Around 2,000 Anzacs were killed or wounded that day.

The ambitious plan to take the peninsula was failing from its start. General Sir Ian Hamilton denied an early request to evacuate troops: ‘You have got yourself through the difficult business, now you only have to dig, dig, dig until you are safe’. Little gain was made from the months of close trench combat that followed.

By the end of the campaign, Australia had suffered more than 26,000 wounded and ill, and 8,000 deaths.