On June the 4th a general attack was made, preceded by heavy bombardments by all guns, but after terrific fighting, in which many prisoners were captured and great losses suffered, the net result was an advance of about five hundred yards.  As time went on the general impression throughout the Allied countries was that the expedition had failed.  On June 30th the losses of the Turks were estimated at not less than seventy thousand, and the British naval and military losses up to June 1st, aggregated 38,635 officers and men.  At that time the British and French allies held but a small corner of the area to be conquered.  In all of these attacks the part played by the Australian and New Zealand army corps was especially notable.  Reinforcements were repeatedly sent to the Allies, who worked more and more feverishly as time went on with the hope of aiding Russia, which was then desperately struggling against the great German advance.

On August 17th it was reported that a landing had been made at Suvla Bay, the extreme western point of the Peninsula.  From this point it was hoped to threaten the Turkish communications with their troops at the lower end of the Peninsula.  This new enterprise, however, failed to make any impression, and in the first part of September, vigorous Turkish counter, offensives gained territory from the Franco-British troops.  According to the English reports the Turks paid a terrible price for their success.

It had now become evident that the expedition was a failure.  The Germans were already gloating over what they called the “failure of British sea power,” and English publicists were attempting to show that, though the enterprise had failed, the very presence of a strong Allied force at Saloniki had been an enormous gain.  The first official announcement of failure was made December 20, 1916, when it was announced that the British forces at Anzac and Suvla Bay had been withdrawn, and that only the minor positions near Sedd-el-Bahr were occupied.  Great Britain’s loss of officers and men at the Dardanelles up to December 11th was 112,921, according to an announcement made in the House of Commons by the Parliamentary Under Secretary for War.  Besides these casualties the number of sick admitted to hospitals was 96,688.  The decision to evacuate Gallipoli was made in the course of November by the British Government as the result of the early expressed opinion of General Monro, who had succeeded General Hamilton on October 28, 1915.

General Monro found himself confronted with a serious problem in the attempt to withdraw an army of such a size from positions not more than three hundred yards from the enemy’s trenches, and to embark on open beaches every part of which was within effective range of Turkish guns.  Moreover, the evacuation must be done gradually, as it was impossible to move the whole army at once with such means of transportation as existed.  The plan was to remove the munitions,