Forgotten Battle 4

 Welcome back viewers

This month's forgotten battle is...

The Battle of Lone Pine

Intro

The Battle of Lone Pine occurred in August 1915, in present-day Turkey. It was part of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I. It was fought between the Anzacs (Australians and New Zealanders) of the British Empire and Turkish soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. It would be one of the very few Allied victories during one most disastrous campaigns of World War I.

Part I

In 1915, the war on the Western Front had reached a bitter stalemate. Both sides had become bogged down in Northern France. Fierce fighting was waged around the Marne River and the city of Ypres in Southern Belgium. The Allies decided to launch an offensive against the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). At the urging of the First Lord of the Admiralty (Winston Churchill), the Allies sought to weaken the Turks by taking control of the Ottoman straits. These are the two waterways that are considered the dividing lines between Europe and Asia. The two straits are called the Dardanelles (which connects to the Aegean Sea) and the Bosporus (which connects to the Black Sea). 

If the Allies could take control of the Ottoman straits, then the Ottoman capital of Istanbul would be vulnerable to attack. This would also open a supply line between the Western Allies and the Russian Empire. In order to capture the straits, the Allies first needed to capture the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli. In April, thousands of British, French, and Anzac soldiers landed at two beaches around Gallipoli (Cape Helles and Anzac Cove). They expected to encounter light resistance. 

Instead, the British and Anzacs were confronted by a highly concentrated array of Turkish defenses. To make matters worse, the Royal Navy found the straits to be heavily mined and rigged with coastal defenses. These defenses turned the Gallipoli campaign into a 10 month stalemate with horrific casualties on both sides. And the Allies had found themselves in a situation very similar to what was happening in Western Europe.

Part II

Undeterred by their heavy casualties and minimal progress, the Allied commanders refused to consider the possibility of withdrawal and ordered multiple attacks to be launched against the Turkish lines. The Anzacs were tasked with launching a diversionary attack on a rise known as, "400 Plateau". Its nickname was, Lone Pine (after a solitary Turkish pine that had withstood the bombardment).

Lone Pine was targeted due to its location directly above the Anzac's landing beach (Anzac Cove). It was also meant to lure Turkish soldiers away from British soldiers landing at Suvla Bay. It was also meant to distract the Turks from an Anzac assault on the Sari Bair ranges. If all went according plan, the Allies could finally break through the Turkish lines and advance through Gallipoli. The offensive began on August 6.

Part III

The assault on Lone Pine began just after 3 PM with a massive barrage of artillery from the Royal Navy. After a 90 minute bombardment, the first wave of Anzac infantry (1,800 men) emerged from their trenches and advanced on Lone Pine. To the surprise of many, they encountered relatively light resistance as they approached the Turkish trench. When they reached it however, the Turks opened fire on them. The Anzacs were quickly pinned down under a withering volley of bullets. They then noticed that Turkish fortifications were roofed with pine logs that impeded access (arial reconnoissance had failed to spot these).

The second and third waves of Anzac infantry then also advanced on Lone Pine. While the first wave tried to clear fortifications with grenades, they began flanking the Turks by attacking the communications and support trenches. By doing this, they were able to gain access to the main trenches. From there, the fighting was hand to hand. After less than an hour of fighting, the Anzacs successfully captured the first set of Turkish trenches. Some of the Anzacs then advanced 20m behind Turkish lines to a position called, "the Cup". At nightfall of August 6, they dug in and prepared for an inevitable counter-attack. They didn't have long to wait.

Just hours into the night, the Turks launched their counter-attack. To the surprise of the Anzacs, it did not come from no-man's-land (land between enemy trenches) but from underground. Prior to the invasion, the Turks had dug a maze of tunnels under their trenches. This had enabled them to evade damage from the Allied bombardment and continually reinforce their garrisons around Gallipoli. 

For the next three days and nights, the Turks launched numerous counter-attacks attempting to retake the Anzac position at Lone Pine. Against all odds, the latter was able to hold on. Their own engineers dug a safe passage across no-man's-land which enabled reinforcements and supplies to enter the captured positions without being exposed to enemy fire. In spite of their best efforts, the Turks were unable to drive the Anzacs out from Lone Pine. They ceased their counter-attacks on August 10.

Epilogue

The battle of Lone Pine had ended in an unexpected victory for the Anzacs. They had successfully penetrated the Turkish lines and held their positions against repeated counter-attacks. The casualties for the battle had been quite heavy. The Anzacs had suffered around 2,200 casualties while the Turks had lost between 5,000 to 7,000. Sadly, the Anzac victory at Lone Pine was short-lived.

Although the diversionary assault on the Turkish lines had succeeded in taking its objective, the Allies failed to exploit it. The main Anzac attack at the Turkish position at Chunuk Bair (the real target) initially captured it. But the British commander (Frederick Stopford) who landed at Suvla Bay (and was supposed to reinforce the Anzacs) failed to move his soldiers off the beach. Without aid from British soldiers, the Anzacs at Chunuk Bair were unable to further advance and were left open to a Turkish counter-attack. 

By August 10, the Turks had realized that the Anzac attack on Lone Pine was a diversion and quickly rushed reinforcements to Chunuk Bair. In a massive counter-attack, they drove the Anzacs off Chunuk Bair and regained all of the lost ground there. The British and Anzac assaults on other positions also failed miserably. For the Allies, the failed August offensive was the final straw. The Gallipoli Campaign was declared a failure and they began withdrawing their soldiers. In December 1915, the Anzacs at Lone Pine were among the last to be withdrawn. After 10 months of horrific fighting, the Gallipoli Campaign was finally over.

After the end of World War I, Anzac and Turkish veterans (with permission from the new Turkish government) returned to Gallipoli and constructed monuments for those who died during the campaign. At the original battle site of Lone Pine is a cemetery that was constructed for the Anzac and British soldiers who died there. During the fighting for Lone Pine, its namesake (the lone Turkish pine tree) had been completely destroyed. In the 1920s however, a stone pine tree was planted at the cemetery. It remains there today as a sad reminder of the terrible cost of the battle for Lone Pine.

https://www.dva.gov.au/media/media-backgrounders/first-world-war-battle-lone-pine-1915

lone-pine

https://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/34/article

https://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/lone-pine

https://www.battlefieldtourspecialists.com.au/the-attack-at-lone-pine-gallipoli/

https://web.archive.org/web/20080725093918/http://www.diggerhistory2.info/graveyards/pages/anzac/anzac08-lone-pine-m.htm