| Landing at Anzac Cove | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Gallipoli campaign | |||||||||
 North Beach (north of Anzac Cove) looking south, Gallipoli, in 2014 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Ottoman Empire | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 William Birdwood |
Mustafa Kemal | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Elements of the: | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 20,000 men | 10,000 men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
~2,000 dead and wounded 4 taken prisoner | Unknown | ||||||||
The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe and, to the Turks, as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the forces of the British Empire, which began the land phase of the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War.
The assault troops, mostly from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), landed at night on the western (Aegean Sea) side of the peninsula. They were put ashore one mi (1.6 km) north of their intended landing beach. In the darkness, the assault formations became mixed up, but the troops gradually made their way inland, under increasing opposition from the Ottoman Turkish defenders.[nb 1] Not long after coming ashore, the ANZAC plans were discarded, and the companies and battalions were thrown into battle piecemeal and received mixed orders. Some advanced to their designated objectives, while others were diverted to other areas and ordered to dig in along defensive ridge lines.
Although they failed to achieve their objectives, by nightfall the ANZACs had formed a beachhead, albeit much smaller than intended. In some places, they were clinging onto cliff faces with no organised defence system. Their precarious position convinced both divisional commanders to ask for an evacuation, but after taking advice from the Royal Navy about how practicable that would be, the army commander decided they would stay. The exact number of the day's casualties is not known. The ANZACs had landed two divisions, but over two thousand of their men had been killed or wounded, together with at least a similar number of Turkish casualties.
Since 1916, the anniversary of the landings on 25 April has been commemorated as Anzac Day, becoming one of the most important commemorative dates for Australia and New Zealand. The anniversary is also commemorated in Turkey and the United Kingdom.
- ^ Fewster, Basarin, Basarin 2003, pp.xi–xii
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