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Enlisted-Woolwich

Alexandria (Chatby) Military & War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt

Gallipoli 1915

On 25 April, British, Australian and New Zealand forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. The plan was that these forces would soon defeat a demoralised Turkish army, knock Turkey out of the war, open up the Mediterranean to the Russian navy and threaten Austro-Hungary from the south. None of these things were achieved despite nine months of hard fighting in terrible conditions. It was an heroic failure.

15 Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery was part of 29th Division that had been the main landing force at Helles in April. The artillery came up against two major problems in Gallipoli. First was the acute shortage of shells which meant that their support for infantry attacks and counter battery activity were sorely limited. But even if there had been plenty of ammunition it may not have made a great difference because the positions held by the Turks were largely unknown. Nevertheless they fired away whilst at the same time being vulnerable themselves to the enemy artillery and snipers.

Charles Wright died from unknown causes on 3rd August, 1915, after having been evacuated to Egypt. Gallipoli was not a healthy place to be in the summer of 1915. With all the dead bodies lying around, fierce heat, swarming flies and a great shortage of drinking water, let alone any to wash with, disease was rife. At one stage it was reckoned that up to 80% of the troops ashore had dysentery, many of them barely being able to stand. Many of the deaths at Gallipoli were from these diseases.