1915:08 The Hill Too Far

The Hill Too Far

After months on Gallipoli, the health and number of the Anzacs had dwindled greatly. Of the men who had first landed on the shores in April, most were sick or exhausted, wounded or dead. The new reinforcements were a welcome sight but did not adequately replace those who had fallen.

A big attack was planned and although most men were worn out, they were determined to fight. They knew it was their last chance to seize the peninsula. The heroics of the Anzacs over the days 6 - 10 August 1915 has done more to reinforce the legend of the men of Gallipoli than any other battle. Chunuk Bair did become their 'hill too far' though one cannot but admire the courage and tenacity of those that climbed that hill.

Lone Pine

The Australians carried out a number of feint attacks at Lone Pine on 6 August. The fighting went on for four days as men bombed and bayoneted each other to seize and hold a piece of ground the size of a rugby field, ground that was criss-crossed with trenches, each roofed over with logs. Over 2300 Australians were killed or wounded in the fight for Lone Pine. Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the Australians who fought in this battle.

The Nek

Another attack to support the Kiwis' advance on Chunuk Bair was an Australian attack at the Nek on 7 August. Poor planning meant artillery fire had stopped seven minutes before the attack and when the men of the 8th and 10th Light Horse got out of their trenches and charged a piece of ground slightly bigger than a tennis court, they were shot down by Turkish rifle and machine gun fire. Two hundred and thirty eight Light Horsemen died in the attack. The final scenes of that attack are played out in Peter Weir's film “Gallipoli”.

"Only a few men reached the Turkish trenches and they were blown to pieces with bombs...I had a good mate - we were like brothers to one another - who got hit on the left side just below the heart...
He died early on Sunday morning."

Arthur Leeman, 8th Light Horse, Australian Imperial Force

Chunuk Bair

The New Zealand troops were ordered to attack Chunuk Bair. The efforts of the New Zealand Battalions (supported by the Ghurkas) made costly progress. By early morning on 7 August, the Auckland Infantry Battalion had made it close to the crest of Chunuk Bair. As ordered, they attacked and lost 300 men in 20 minutes.

"I expect to go thro' alright, but dear wife, if anything happens to me. You must not grieve too much - there are our dear children to be brought up -
you know how I love and have loved you...I am prepared for death and I hope that God will have forgiven me all my sins."

10/1039 Lieutenant Colonel William George Malone, HQ Wellington Infantry Battalion

Lieutenant Colonel Malone of the Wellington Infantry Battalion decided to hold off until he could use the cover of darkness for his attack. The Wellingtons attacked just before dawn and succeeded in taking the ridge. They then fought to hold their positions all through the day as the Turks mounted a series of counter-attacks. The Wellington Infantry Battalion had gone into this battle 760 strong but only 70 made their way out. By nightfall, Malone was dead and the Otago Infantry Battalion and the Wellington Mounted Rifles replaced the Wellington Battalion. They held on desperately for the next day but by evening they too had nothing left to give.

"If I were to give a description of the colour of Chunuk Bair on the 9th and 10th of August I would say it was a dull browny red - and that was blood. Just dried blood."

10/1597 Private Vic J Nicholson, Wellington Battalion

"Some chaps had a glimpse of the sea and all the country in between and we knew perfectly well that this hill was the key to victory or defeat on the Peninsula."

10/300 Private Daniel W Curham, Wellington Battalion

The position was taken over by two fresh British battalions on 10 August. The Turks counter attacked again and the fresh British troops were swamped and thrown off the hill in the attack. The exhausted New Zealanders were recalled to battle but they never regained the land they had struggled to take, just days before. The Turks had claimed back Chunuk Bair.

"This magnificent feat of arms, the brilliance of which was never surpassed, if indeed equaled during the campaign."
C. E. W. Bean, Official Australian Historian

"The New Zealand Infantry Brigade was for 48 hours...at the throat of the Turkish Empire and had support been forthcoming at the right time and place...the Turkish Army would have been beaten,
Constantinople would have fallen and the War might have been shortened by two years."

10/1130 Brigade Major Arthur Cecil Temperley, HQ Wellington Battalion

"It was just a mad whirl as far as I'm concerned. It was just a mad whirl but I can hear in the background...I heard it then and I can hear it at times today. 'Get the bastard before he gets you."
10/1597 Private Vic J Nicholson, Wellington Battalion

"But the way men died on Chunk Bair is shaping the deeds yet to be done by the generations still unborn...
When the August fighting died down there was no longer any question but that New Zealanders had commenced to realise themselves as a nation."

3/483 Private Ormond E Burton, Auckland Battalion

One Victoria Cross was awarded to a New Zealander, 4/515 Corporal Cyril R G Bassett, NZ Engineers, who received the VC for laying and repairing telephone lines under fire on the slopes below Chunuk Bair.

PeriodWWIDateAugust 1915CountryTurkeyLocationGallipoli

2nd Field Company, NZE, set up their bivvies at the foot of Hill 971 (Chunuk Bair)

A view of Little Round Top and the ridge leading up to the intermediate position between Sari Bair and Chunuk Bair.

A view of the Sphinx in later days from Plugge's Plateau.