Current Information:

Age-38

38, Park Mansions, Knightsbridge

Gallipoli 1915

On 25 April, 1915, 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 a heroic failure.

The 29^th Division and the Royal Naval Division landed at five separate beaches around Cape Helles.  Some were not defended, others were fiercely contested. Some ground was gained but within days the familiar pattern of trench warfare had set in. A similar pattern emerged further north where the ANZACS landed. The Turkish soldiers were much tougher fighters than had been given credit for and they were of course fighting an invasion of their homeland. The terrain, a series of steep rocky ridges and deep gullies made the fighting much more difficult and during the hot summer of 1915, the flies arrived in biblical proportions. Another seven British divisions were sent to Gallipoli during the summer but little or no progress was made. In the end, a new Commander was appointed and plans to evacuate the entire force were drawn up. By January 1916, all British, Australian and New Zealand forces had left Gallipoli, leaving only behind the dead, over 56,000 of them.

On 25^th April, 1915, one company of the 2^nd South Wales Borderers battalion of 87Brigade, 29^th Division, landed at Y Beach with 1^st Scottish Borderers then evacuated this position the following day after heavy fighting. The other three companies landed at “S” Beach, Helles where one company quickly overcame a Turkish battery while the other two took the Turkish trench on the beach. The Turks did not put up much resistance on this landing beach but nevertheless 2^nd South Wales Borderers had over fifty casualties, thirteen of whom were killed. Another six men were missing and it was presumed that they had drowned during the landing. Among their casualties was Roland Palmer.