Posted by Dr John Basarin
Gallipoli was a disaster. After Ashmed Bartlett and Keith Murdoch’s expose made headlines in London, British High Command took a serious look at pulling out.
As his brainchild, blame for the campaign failure fell directly to Churchill and he resigned from the War Cabinet . To see the situation on location, Field Marshal Kitchener went to Gallipoli in November 1915. He visited the Anzac sector and told the Australian soldiers:
“The King has asked me to tell you how splendidly he thinks you have done, you have done splendidly, better even than I thought you would.”
A miserable comment, one might say, for the tragedy and many thousands of lives lost on both sides. Upon his return, Kitchener’s advice to the War Cabinet that troops should be withdrawn was accepted.
Reasons for a withdrawal
The decision to pull out was taken on several grounds:
Departure of ANZAC troops
As planning for an evacuation [Turks call it the retreat] and its implementation began, heavy snow fell at Gallipoli on 28th of November, adding to the misery of soldiers on both sides of the trenches. The stealth of the evacuation (just as the landing) was a success story. The Turks did not realise 40,000 Anzac soldiers were leaving under the cover of night over several weeks. Had they become aware, Turkish soldiers would have rushed the depleted troops, reducing the operation to chaos.
Finally, on 20th of December in the early hours of morning, the guns fell silent over the ridges of Gallipoli. The British and the French, operating in the south at Cape Helles, evacuated two weeks later.
The ANZAC soldiers were jubilant they could spend the Christmas of 1915 in peace on the island of Lemnos. There was also sadness at leaving so many dead comrades behind. The Turks, early in the morning, found out to their amazement that the Anzac soldiers had left and their trenches were empty. They ran down the hill to Anzac Cove, like little children and jumped with joy. There was jubilation in the streets of Istanbul and celebration of the victory against the best armies of the world. A feat not experienced for a century or more. The stores left behind by the ANZACs took several months to be carried away. There were many messages and presents as well. One Anzac soldier, left tins of bully beef and jam on a makeshift table and a note which said:
“Don’t forget Johnny, we left – you did not push us off.”
Turkish soldiers walked home with heavy heart, to their loved ones for a well earned break.
In the aftermath
During the nearly 9 months’ of fighting against Allied Forces, the Turkish army had lost 86,000 men, ten times as many as Australians had lost. It decimated the flower of Turkish youth, and just as in Australia, caused endless pain and suffering for generations to come.
But the slaughter of young soldiers from both sides had only won a temporary reprieve. Just months later, both sides would be fighting each other again in the Middle East. This would involve mainly the Light Horse as most ANZAC infantry had moved to the Western Front. This time the objective was desert oil-fields and the outcome would be exactly as Churchill planned: access to oil – a most strategic resource.
– See more at: http://www.gallipoli-2015.com.au/gallipoli-cruise/gallipoli-guns-fall-silent-before-christmas-1915