The Dardanelles Naval Victory
Determined to capture the Ottoman capital İstanbul during World War I, the Allies sent a powerful fleet of British and French vessels to the Dardanelles. The said fleet launched a wide attack on the morning of March 18th to defuse the firing batteries lined along the Bosphorus and to clear the way. However, the mines laid the night before by the Turkish minelayer Nusret took the enemy by surprise. Following this strong resistance, pre-dreadnoughts HMS Ocean, HMS Irresistible, and Bouvet were sunk, and battleships Inflexible, Suffren, and Gaulois were critically damaged.
This unexpected attack confounded admirals of the Allies’ fleet. British Admiral John de Robeck ordered a general recall in order not to suffer further losses. The first attack had been repulsed. Recognizing that they would not reach their target by way of sea, the Allies began to prepare for a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915 to seize the Dardanelles. In the course of the land battles that transpired between that date and 1916, the Turkish army under the command of Liman Von Sanders lost 250 thousand soldiers. During the battle, lieutenant-colonel Mustafa Kemal played an instrumental role in repulsing the Allied forces with a victory that made history.
Today, March 18th is commemorated in Turkey as Martyrs’ Day and the Dardanelles Naval Victory.
