War Diary records that this was first day since 25th April that the Battalion had not been under fire.
The resources for for landing horses and guns where held with the War Office, until 1913 when they where returned to Admiralty, and then the war interevened in the production of shallow draught landing craft that offered protection.
That Churchill and the British military had such bitter memories of Gallipoli and that D-Day was so well planned and catered for are not coincidences.
It lies in the Helles sector of Gallipoli, where British, Commonwealth and French were the predominant allied forces present in 1915.
The Turkish trenches were not damaged. Smaller gullies and openings run off it on either side, and these were quickly pressed into use as dressing stations, supply dumps, dormitories, practice firing ranges and stables etc.From the first occasion that I heard of Gully Ravine, I have been drawn to its history and place in the Gallipoli campaign. It is a truly strange and unusual place to visit.I have two, albeit distant relatives listed on the Helles memorial, and based on their regiments and the dates they fell, it appears that they were involved in the fighting in and around the ravine.
All a bit of topic but I guess the truth is perhaps more is sometimes learnt from failure than success, sad as that is. Entrance to Gully Ravine & Gully Beach May 2000. Another feature that made Gully Ravine such a focus of activity is that it is far more than simply a sunken stream bed. The VCs were awarded to Captain Bromley, Captain Willis, Sergeant Stubbs, Sergeant Richards, Lance Corporal Grimshaw and Private Kenealy and gave rise to the army aphorism “the Lancashire Fusiliers at Gallipoli won six VCs before breakfast”.Private Kinealy Captain Bromley and Corporal Grimshaw 1st Lancashire Fusiliers won the Victoria Cross for their conduct in the landing on W Beach Cape Helles Gallipoli on 25th April 1915 (three of the ‘six VCs before breakfast’ won by the battalion)V Beach occupied the eastern half of the bay that lies between Cape Helles, the headland to the south of Hill 138, and the old fort and hamlet of Sedd el Bahr at the eastern end of the bay.In the western half of the bay precipitous cliffs come down to the waterline restricting access from the sea.Overlooking the western end of the beach was the old Fort No 1 on the cliff.Captain Dorman 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers killed in the Gallipoli campaignThe ground behind V Beach slopes inland. Unwin, accompanied by Able Seaman Williams, plunged into the sea and hauled the lighters into place between the collier and the shore providing the bridge needed for the heavily encumbered infantrymen to disembark.All the while the machine guns in the bows of the River Clyde provided a heavy covering fire for the landing.1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers leaving barracks in Dublin for Gallipoli as part of the 29th Division, landing on V Beach Cape Helles on 25th April 1915The Munster Fusiliers poured down the two gangplanks to cross the lighters to the shore.
Those who succeeded in crossing the strip of sand, managed to gain a precarious shelter under the bank on the further side.”It was intended that the boats that had landed the covering party on V Beach would return to the transports and convey the main body to the shore. A veteran told me that, when getting off the River Clyde, a number of men fell off the gangway into the sea. X Beach in: Gaskell, A.
Welcome to my web site about Gully Ravine. As rightly pointed out other lessons were also learnt, PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) took fresh water to Normandy, something that had been a constant curse at Gallipoli. The bombardments had left the buildings severely battered and without any of the guns originally emplaced there but, if anything, the damage to the walls made them a stronger field fortification for infantry overlooking the landing beach.The Turkish army had reinforced these fortifications with trenches and a barbed wire entanglement along the top of the beach from Sedd el Bahr to Fort No.1. Albion provided the support for the landings on V Beach Cape Helles Gallipoli on 25th April 1915HMS Albion fired on the shore defences for half an hour doing considerable damage to the buildings. The Royal Navy certainly sorted out landing on an opposed beach at Sveaborg, when the bombardment severely reduced it, and the other fortresses surrounding Helsingfors.
Nothing else was done.The 2,000 British troops landed at Y Beach outnumbered the whole of the Turkish garrison in the south of Gallipoli. Commander Unwin was awarded the Victoria Cross for his conduct on 25th April 1915Unwin’s plan was adopted and Unwin was given command of the selected collier, the River Clyde. They had dug trenches on the cliff tops and on the high ground on each flank of the beach and concealed several machine guns in the cliffs covering the wire entanglement. The beach itself is 300 yards long and10 yards wide backed by a bank about 5 feet high. To bivouacs at Gully Beach (15th) then during evening embarked 'V' Beach for Lemnos.