The Washington herald., 1916-02-06
By JOHN r.. BALDERsTON.
fCouyrizht 1851


records, an epic the most glorious in
British annals. The Dardanelles cam
paign belongs to history. While 1t is
not possible to anticipate the verdict
OF history and place the responsible
ity for what has happened, the out
line of the story as it will appear in
the histories of the future may now
be told.
The whole world has thrilled to the
accounts Of the combats in the ra
vines Of Gallipoli, and this article
deals not with battles which have al
ready been described, but with the
campaign as a whole, as seen from
the standpoint Of the higher COM
mands. But 1 cannot refrain from
saying. after days spent in examin-
ing official reports and wading
through masses of material compiled
by official dryasdusts, as we'll as the
voluminous dispatches Of Gen. Sir Ian
Hamilton, that I do not believe a
parallel exists for the deeds wrought
in four months by Britons, French
men, Australians and Turks beside
the straits for whose control the
Greeks besieged Troy. "Agamemnon."
Gen. Hamilton remarked after the
Suvla disaster, tried to win the Dar-
danelles by the other possible method,
an attack along the Asian coast, and
1 begin to wish" The sentence
ended in a smile.
One Great Feat.
The storming of the Heights of
Abraham by Gen. Wolfes soldiers was
an easy thing beside the climb Of the
Australians up the cliffs at Gaba Tepe.
for WOlfe's men did not accomplish
their feat in the midst of a hurri-
cane of shrapnel, high explosives and
machine-gun bullets. And where is
there a parallel for the stand OF the
Australian, battalions at the foot Of
the hill OF Chunk Bair, itself a key
to victory, against wave after wave
OF Turks until almost every man had
fallen. including the three command
ing generals and every senior officer,
unless 1t be the stand Of the Can
adams at Ypres? Earlier in this very
attack, that Of August 10. the sons OF
old England proved their mettle
fighting with the men OF the Do
minions when the Warwicks and the
Worcesters lost every officer and did
not break. and the Seventh Battalion
Worcestershire regiment lost every
officer, every senior noncommissioned
officer and fought in groups COM
manded by corporals and privates on
top OF Chunk Bair from midday to
sunset. The Turks. too. in the four
months from April 25 to August 26,
redeemed the shame OF their Balkan
wars and eclipsed the glories of
Plevna-
The British losses in the campaign
up to December IL were 1929 killed.
75.I91 wounded, 1245O missing and
$4,000 invalided home, a total of about
$4,000. The French casualties and
sick. though not officially announced,
were about $4,000. and. including sick.
the enterprise cost both nations about
100000 men from start to finish, Of
whom more than 10000 are dead or
incapaCitated for further service. On
the debit side of the ledger must also
be set down the losses OF the British
battleships Irresistible, Ocean. Tri-
umph, Majestic and Formidable, the
French battleships BoUvet and six
submarines. The Formidable, torpedoed
in the English Channel, is charged up
against the Dardanelles account be-
cause she was on her way to the
straits from the North Sea feet when
she sank.
Only 100000 Invaders.
This tremendous casualty list has
caused the impression that an army
Of formidable size was engaged on
the peninsula. As matter of fact,
Cen. Hamilton forced the landings on
April 25 with $4,000 men, including
the French contingent. At no time
were there 100000 men At for duty
under Gen. Hamilton's command until
five new divisions arrived in jury
and early August. and so frightful
were the losses suffered in the general
attacks begun when these reinforce
ments came that the number Of rides
available on August Is was 995, 900.
From that day until the evacuation
this number steadily dwindled, two
divisions were Withdrawn in October,
and not more than 10000 men were
removed from Anzac and Sedd-el-
BahT when the bIood-soaked ground
was finally reIinquished.
No comment could show more
clearly the horrible nature Of the
campaign than this comparison Of the
losses suffered with the number of
men engaged. 1t will appear in the
course Of this article as though for
months no reinforcements at all were
sent to the Dardanelles. but all the
time a continuous trickle of drafts
kept coming in to replace the men
who had been shot down or stricken
by fever. 1t was new divisions that
Hamilton demanded and could not
get
When after the disastrous naval at
tack on the straits on March Is II
was decided to enlarge the projected
land force, Gen. Jofrre refused to per-
init his plans to be disarranged by
the withdrawal Of any troops from
the western front. The French con-
tingent was scraped together from
the north African depots and con-
sisted Of Zouaves and detachments of
native troops from the colonial army
and from the Foreign Legion, none OF
which were under Gen. Jofrre's con-
troll The British force at the begin
ming consisted of the Twenty-ninth
division, which won imperishable
honors later, the Australian and New
Zealand army corps, whose initials
were to christen for all time a mass
Of cliffs at GallIpolI as A N. 2. A. c.,
and the naval division. This division,
cut up at Antwerp, had been refIled
and trained for six months, and con-
sisted Of two naval brigades and the
brigade of marines
Other Forces Arrives.
Three weeks after the landing the
Forty-second East Lancashire Terri
tortal division arrived, soon after the
Twenty-ninth Indian infantry brigade
had landed. Later the Fifty-second
Scottish Lowland Territorial division
arrived, so that on May 26 Gen. Ham
ilton had enough units to form all
his trOODs in the soutb NJ tba pa,;,