The landing on the outskirts of Cape Hellès had taken place at about the same time as that of the ANZACs in front of GabaTépé. The numbers had been divided into five small areas designated by letters of the alphabet:S, V, W, X and Y.
The highlight of the operation was to occur at the very foot of Sedd ul-Bahr, the British intending to voluntarily throw an old collier, the River Clyde, on the coast, loaded with troops belonging to the 29th Division. This one once aground, two lighters would fill the remaining passage between the wreck and the beach, allowing the men to set foot directly on dry land.
Landing operations were preceded, in this sector, by an intense naval bombardment by the large guns of the battleships of the squadron.
The fire was to crush all the Turkish positions and not only be lifted at the very moment when the first canoes would approach the landing beaches.
The plan was followed exactly on beaches X, Y and S where the bulk of the landed forces encountered little resistance.
It was not the same on beaches W and especially V, the very beach where the River Clyde was to drop 2,000 men of the 88th Brigade.
During the naval bombardment, the Turks had withdrawn their front line troops, leaving the approaches to the coast almost empty.
Unfortunately, a violent current carrying out to sea considerably delayed the progress of the old coalman who did not touch the coast until well after the firing was lifted. The Turks had plenty of time to regain their positions, including that of the "Castle of Europe" of Sedd ul-Bahr, dominating beaches V and W.
When the River Clyde touched the shore, a curtain of fire fell on the Fusiliers of Dublin and Munster and the Hampshire Regiment.
Only a few men made it to the precarious shelter formed by the scree of the cliffs. Entire sections of the men were shot, entangled in the barbed wire that the Turs had placed on the edges of the beach.
The general commanding the 88th Brigade was one of the first to die in the landing. Upon learning of the beach V massacre, the command preferred to suspend operations in this sector until evening.
Further north, on the W beach, the Lancashire riflemen had no more enviable fate, but, despite very heavy losses, managed to drive the Turks back to the heights, then to make their junction with a detachment which had landed , sheltered by a rocky promontory, to the north of the beach. During the day, the connection between beaches S, W, X, Y was made.
In the evening, the survivors of the River Clyde landed in turn, under cover of the darkness, moved towards the troops on W beach who were advancing to meet them.
As for the French, they had, without too much difficulty, gained a foothold on Asian soil, in front of Koum Kalé, after a furious bombardment from the fleet. They had to repel two Turkish counter-attacks with bayonets and managed to widen their bridgehead a little until they controlled “the Castle of Asia”. They were then withdrawn to reinforce the right flank of the British line, on the European side of the strait, setting up their base on the famous V beach where the wreck of the River Clyde lay.
This decision by Sir Ian Hamilton, motivated by the inability of French troops to break the Turkish front around Koum-Kalé.
was certainly a serious tactical error. because the enemy was able to install, on the coast of Asia, heavy guns which made life very difficult for the Franco-British in their positions in Europe.
It is a shell fired from the Asian coast which seriously injured. on June 30, General Gouraud, successor to General d'Amade at the head of the French expeditionary force.
On May 6, 7 and 8, the Allied forces of the southern zone attacked in force towards AchiBaba and Kréthia without managing to break through the enemy defences. For mediocre results, the losses in men were once again considerable.
The Turks were getting stronger day by day and we were heading straight for a war of positions similar to the one in France.
Half successes won on land, a few square kilometers of mountain conquered through heroism and tenacity.
will be largely canceled by an unforeseen event:the appearance of enemy submarines in front of the peninsula.
Three British battleships, the Goliath (sunk by a torpedo boat), the Triumph and the Majestic, were sent to the bottom to touch the coast. Eventually, the squadron had to withdraw further south to the shelters of the island of Lemnos. From now on, the Allies will no longer be completely in control of their movements at sea.