THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE 129from the war, or at least easing the pressure on Russia. The first blow fell
on March 18, 1915, when an abortive naval bombardment occurred. Dur-
ing this attack the Turks performed admirably. At Kilid Bahr, on the Gal-
lipoli side of the strait, they were reported to be fighting with wild
fanaticism, an Imam chanting prayers to them as they served their guns.
The gunners exposed themselves without consideration to the flying shrap-
nel and bursting shells from the Allied battleships and cruisers. Their
defense of the vital strait was such that on March 23, 1915, Vice Admiral
Robeck, commander of the fleet, point-blank refused to resume the attack
without a preliminary landing by the army.
The Allies had seriously underrated the Turks. Some in the British War
Office had actually hoped that when the Turks saw the Commonwealth
troops landing, they would flee. Little did the English realize, despite all
their experience in the Middle East, that the Turks would view them as
alien invaders.
The five-division expeditionary force organized itself in Egypt. Facing
them under General Liman von Sanders, a German general who headed the
German military mission in Turkey and served as Turkey’s commander-in-
chief, were six Turkish divisions that were spread along both banks of the
Dardanelles as well as up the Aegean side of the Gallipoli peninsula.
The Allied force launched its assault on the Cape Helles region of the
tip of the Gallipoli peninsula on April 25. The British forces landed at
dawn without undue difficulties, but as they climbed the heights, they
encountered withering fire and suffered heavy losses. The Australians and
New Zealanders landed at a relatively undefended beach area and estab-
lished themselves strongly, but could not advance any significant distance
inland.
On April 25, as the Anzacs landed, they encountered the Turkish 19th
Division under Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The advancing Anzacs were
driven back from the critical Chunuk Bair ridge by a ferocious bayonet
charge launched by the Turkish 57th Infantry Regiment, supported by
an Arab regiment of the same division. When ordering them to attack,
Mustafa Kemal was straightforward. He said, “I don’t order you to at-
tack, I order you to die. In the time which passes until we die other
troops and commanders can take our places.” The Turkish 19th Division
suffered 2,000 casualties that first day, but had held the elite Anzac Di-
vision in check.
General von Sanders responded quickly. On April 26 Ottoman troops
launched heavy counterattacks and were beaten off with losses. More
Allied troops landed, but a stalemate developed. Both sides dug in and