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Originally Posted by palo5
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Thank you Palo.
The April 25 landings comprised of two main landing groups, the British and French in and around Cape Hellas in the south and the Anzacs in the north. That was intended for a wide beach north of Gaba Tebe, but the landing would be made by mistake further north of that still, underneath a headland called Ari Burnu running down to a tiny beach that would thereafter be known as Anzac Cove.
The Turkish response and the mad terrain behind it would confine the Anzacs to about 400 acres around Anzac Cove. The isolated groups who threatened the heights on the first morning would be driven back and progress would never be that far again. About the furthest they got was in front of Mustafa Kemal's troops at Chunuk Bair, who ordered his men to fix bayonets and lay down, which the Australian troops also did. Much has been made of this, but 60 troops without any reinforcements and no hope of re-supply anytime soon were never going to take the heights.
From the landings at V Beach six VCs were awarded, all to men of the Royal Naval Division. Another six VCs would also be awarded, eventually, to troops of the Lancashire Fusiliers who landed at W Beach. That would become the main landing site at Cape Hellas.
A note on casualties. We cannot be sure of these figures.
Turkish: 251,309, including 86,692 dead. I doubt that the Turks were counting that carefully. The Allies underestimated the ability of the Turks to resist, and to disregard losses.
French: 27,000; including 10,000 dead. This suggests the French weren't counting that carefully either.
British: 73,485; including 21,255 dead.
Edit~ I should also mention India: 4,779; 1,358 dead and Newfoundland: 142; 49 dead.
The Australians lost 8,709 dead and 19,441 wounded.
The New Zealand casualties were frightful: 2,701 dead and 4,752 wounded out of 8,556 who served. The wounded number includes those wounded more than once.
Memorial at Anzac Cove:
