_In the course of his speech at Dundee on June 5, 1915, Winston
Spencer Churchill said:_
The operations which are now proceeding at the Dardanelles will give
him (Mr. Balfour) the opportunity of using that quality of cool, calm
courage and inflexibility which fifteen years ago prevented Ladysmith
from being left to its fate and surrendered to the enemy. I have two
things to say to you about the Dardanelles.
First, you must expect losses both by land and sea. But the fleet you
are employing there is your surplus fleet, after all other needs have
been provided for. Had it not been used in this great enterprise it
would have been lying idle in your southern ports. A large number of
the old vessels, of which it is composed, have to be laid up in any
case before the end of the year, because their crews are wanted for
the enormous reinforcements of new ships which the industry of your
workships is hurrying into the water. Losses of ships, therefore, as
long as the precious lives of the officers and men are saved--which in
nearly every case they have been--losses of that kind, I say, may
easily be exaggerated in the minds both of friend and foe. Military
operations will also be costly, but those who suppose that Lord
Kitchener--(loud cheers)--has embarked upon them without narrowly and
carefully considering their requirements in relation to all other
needs and in relation to the paramount need of our army in France and
Flanders--such people are mistaken, and not only mistaken, they are
presumptuous.
My second point is this. In looking at your losses squarely and
soberly you must not forget at the same time the prize for which you
are contending. The army of Sir Ian Hamilton, the fleet of Admiral de
Robeck are separated only by a few miles from a victory such as this
war has not yet seen. When I speak of victory I am not referring to
those victories which crowd the daily placards of any newspapers. I am
speaking of victory in the sense of a brilliant and formidable fact
shaping the destinies of nations and shortening the duration of the
war. Beyond those few miles of ridge and scrub on which our soldiers,
our French comrades, our gallant Australian and New Zealand
fellow-subjects are now battling, lie the downfall of a hostile
empire, the destruction of an enemy's fleet and army, the fall of a
world-famous capital, and probably the accession of powerful allies.
The struggle will be heavy, the risks numerous, the losses cruel, but
victory when it comes will make amend for all. There never was a great
subsidiary operation of war in which a more complete harmony of
strategic, political, and economic advantages were combined, or which
stood in truer relation to the main decision, which is in the central
theatre. Through the Narrows of the Dardanelles and across the ridges
of the Gallipoli Peninsula lie some of the shortest paths to a
triumphant peace.
[Illustration: Scene of the Dardanelles operations. The black line
marks the approximate allied position, the dotted line the approximate
Turkish position, on June 18, 1915.]