Landing at Anzac Cove

The landing at Anzac Cove was part of the amphibious invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on April 25, 1915. The landing, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast of the peninsula, was made by soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the first significant combat of the war for these two countries. Another landing was made several miles to the south west at Cape Helles by British and French tr... more

The landing at Anzac Cove was part of the amphibious invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on April 25, 1915. The landing, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast of the peninsula, was made by soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the first significant combat of the war for these two countries. Another landing was made several miles to the south west at Cape Helles by British and French troops. The purpose of the invasion was to neutralise the Turkish forts that controlled the passage of the Dardanelles straits. The Anzac Cove landing went awry when the boats strayed off course in the pre-dawn dark and what was planned as a swift operation became a protracted and bloody eight-month struggle. In that period the frontline of the Anzac battlefield remained little changed from the ground captured on the first day of the landing, a space less than three-quarters of a square mile (2 km²) in size—home to over 20,000 men. Winning... less