Chapter 5 of The Anzac Story: Anzacs at Cape Helles

Chapter 5 of The Anzac Story: Anzacs at Cape Helles

JUST ten days after the landing, when the Anzac troops by heavy fighting and much hard work had succeeded in making their trenches secure against the enemy, two brigades, the 2nd Australian and the New Zealanders, and four batteries of artillery, were sent to Cape Helles, ten miles away at the entrance to the Dardanelles, to help the British and French troops who had landed there.

They found the country there very different from that in which they had been fighting at Gaba Tepe. When they had climbed the slope from the beach, instead of the steep hills and wild gullies, they saw before them a white road winding among olive trees down a gentle hillside to a wide hollow or depression. Beyond this, a gently rising slope ended in a broad mountain peak which stretched almost right across the peninsula. This was Achi Baba, which they had been able to see from their trenches at Gaba Tepe. Below the left of the, peak of Achi Baba lay a row of windmills and the small white town of Krithia, which was to give its name to the fierce battle that was shortly to take place.

Up the white road jingled teams of British gun-horses. French soldiers, some in light blue uniforms and others in khaki with red trousers, were driving waggons drawn by mules, or grey French horses, down to their camps where the blue waters of the famous Dardanelles Straits showed between dense groves of cypress.

The Anzacs halted in a field of green wheat, fringed with elms, and during this and the following day they were free to stroll through the meadows in the glorious summer weather.

On May 8th the big battle for the capture of Krithia, and, it was hoped, Achi Baba, began. The New Zealanders were the first of the Anzac troops to enter the battle. At 10.30 a.m. they advanced across the open country in full view of the Turks, who were firing from trenches the New Zealanders could not see. They advanced very bravely but they had more than 1000 yards to go before they could reach the enemy. The Turks turned a withering fire on them with rifles and machine guns, and by midday the New Zealanders, who had suffered very heavy casualties, were obliged to stop and dig in.

At five minutes to five, when the Australian troops were having their tea, their commander, Colonel McCay, received orders that they were to move forward at once and take part in a general advance with the British, French, and New Zealand troops.

At 5.30 they advanced at a rapid walking pace against a growing storm of rifle fire. Like the New Zealanders before them, they had little or no idea of what was before them or how far off the enemy were. They came to a trench occupied by British soldiers. They wondered whether they were to stay here, but as soon as they had rested a few minutes they went on again. As the cry ran up the trench: "On Australians !", "Come on, Australians!" men scrambled forward from every part of the trench which had given them temporary shelter. The eyes of the whole battlefield were fastened upon this advance and much has been written about it.

At last the Turkish trenches could be seen about 600 yards ahead. The Australian line was now very thin, men were dropping at every rush, but the idea of those at the front was that they would continue to advance till they came face to face with the Turks, or reached the distant Achi Baba. But this was not to be. The enemy fire became heavier and what was left of the 2nd Brigade was obliged to stop and dig in.

Such was the advance of the 2nd Brigade at Krithia. In its actual attack, lasting little over an hour, it had moved 1,000 yards across open country under heavy fire. The second part of the advance, beyond the trench, was made in the teeth of rifle and machine gun fire such as Australian soldiers seldom encountered again during the war. The advancing lines had shown not the least sign of faltering. Never has a more gallant advance been made.

On their return to Anzac on May 18th from Cape Helles the sorely battered Australian and New Zealand infantry brigades were delighted to find that fresh troops had arrived from Egypt to help them. These were about 3000 men from the 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. The regiments of Light Horse and Mounted Rifles were composed of a fine class of men, mostly coming from farms or from sheep and cattle stations.

Many of them had brought their own horses from Australia and New Zealand. When they heard what a hard time their comrades in the infantry were having, and how much they needed more troops to help them, these mounted men left their horses in Egypt and went to Gallipoli as infantry. They were commanded by Colonel Chauvel who, as a general, later became a famous leader of mounted troops in the Palestine campaign.