Heavy Losses at Helles

Reinforcements on Both Sides

The main operational focus remained at Helles, where the British and French forces were soon reinforced. From Egypt came the 29th Indian Brigade, followed by the 42nd Division. Another French division also arrived. But these deployments were matched by the build-up of Turkish forces. After a major Turkish attack had been defeated on 1/2 May, the Allies prepared to launch a new drive on the village of Krithia on the rising heights of Achi Baba.

ANZACs Re-deployed to Helles

To further bolster the Allied strength, two ANZAC brigades, including the New Zealand Brigade, were taken out of the line at Anzac and redeployed to Helles, along with one New Zealand and four Australian field batteries which had not managed to get ashore at Anzac.

Death on the Daisy Patch ('Second Battle of Krithia')

The Allied plan, which was based on an unimaginative frontal assault in daylight, was put into effect on 6 May. The advancing troops were soon brought to a halt, an outcome that was repeated on the following day. Heavy losses were sustained without any indication that a breakthrough was possible.

The New Zealand Brigade was detailed to take part in an attack on 8 May, wheeling on the stalled 29th Division. commanding a steamboat, which pulled the whole line of tows in this direction, is the most likely explanation. The New Zealanders had little time to prepare, and their attack went in behind a weak artillery bombardment at 10.30 a.m. The Wellington Battalion, on the left, got the furthest forward, advancing several hundred metres before being brought to a halt. Ordered to renew the attack at 5.30 p.m., the New Zealand troops again suffered heavily as they struggled across the Daisy Patch.

The Australian brigade, suddenly ordered to advance as well, could make no progress either. The three-day operation, later designated the Second Battle of Krithia, had cost the Allies 6500 men in gaining about half a kilometre of ground of no major significance. The New Zealand Brigade lost more than 800 men in this ill-conceived attack.

British and French Forces Suffer in Third Attack on Helles

As Hamilton was sent further reinforcements-the 52nd Division arrived in early June-the Dardanelles Committee (as the War Council had been retitled following the reconstitution of Asquith's government) considered the options. Was the land operation, which was still far short of achieving its first-day objectives, to be continued or was it to be shut down and the troops withdrawn? Political considerations made the latter course unpalatable. In the event, it was decided to persist, and to bolster Hamilton's force still further.

Despite the outcome of the previous two attacks, Hamilton agreed to a further attempt being made at Helles. By now the situation was even less advantageous for the attacker, since an elaborate trench system would have to be overcome. By the use of heavy bombardment, a series of attacks in June and July made small gains, at the cost of 12,000 British and French casualties. The Turks merely pulled back up the slope and prepared to meet the next onslaught.

Conditions at Anzac

Reinforcements Arrive

The more the situation at Helles seemed permanently stalemated, the more attention focused on the position at Anzac. Early in May reinforcements had arrived in the form of the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade (Brigadier-General A.H. Russell) and the 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade, which had left their horses in Egypt. The RND battalions were withdrawn.

Massive ANZAC Casualties at Russell's Top

On 19 May the ANZACs, now relatively well organised, faced a fierce onslaught by more than 40,000 Turks. In the New Zealand sector, the troops defending Russell's Top beat off repeated attacks from the Nek, while the Australians did the same further south. No man's land was left strewn with an estimated 10,000 casualties, including 3000 dead.

Conditions Deteriorate

After this Turkish disaster (their worst of the campaign) and a brief truce which allowed some of the dead to be buried, the two sides were left in a state of deadlock in this area as well. They faced each other, sometimes only metres apart, in a state of increasing discomfort. Searing heat and the swarming flies (made worse by unburied corpses in no man's land) tormented the men, conditions exacerbated by water shortages. Disease, especially dysentery, flourished in the insanitary conditions among men already debilitated by weeks of inadequate food.

These physical problems were compounded by the psychological pressures stemming from the consciousness that no place in the tiny perimeter was safe from artillery fire. With the Turks overlooking them, snipers were an ever-present hazard.