THE DARDANELLES.
The year 1915 saw the beginning and the end of a campaign which will go
down to history as a splendid failure. Aided by the French, the British
strove to force a right-of-way through the narrow and strongly fortified
channels which give access from the Mediterranean Sea to the southern
shores of Russia. Two attempts were made--the one naval, the other
military--but both were fruitless. Ships of war strove to batter down
the forts that commanded the channels, but had to retire discomfited.
Then an army was landed on the Gallipoli peninsula, and a desperate
effort was made to take the forts from the rear. The army was set an
almost impossible task, yet it very nearly achieved the impossible. Men
still live who surmounted the last great obstacle that lay between them
and victory.
How the British and French landed on narrow beaches in the face of
superior numbers of the enemy; how they fought their way up the cliffs
in spite of artillery, machine guns, and entrenched infantry; how with
superb courage and dogged endurance they established themselves on the
peninsula; how they sacrificed themselves like the Spartans of old in
fierce assaults on the ridges and high hills that barred the way to
their goal; and how, finally, they withdrew to their ships without the
loss of a single life--all this is a story which no Briton can read
without mingled pride and pain: pride in the men of his race who nobly
fought and died in the hopeless struggle; pain, that so much bright and
gallant life should have been given in vain.
Henceforth the Gallipoli peninsula is sacred ground. The bones of tens
of thousands of our gallant fellows lie buried in its soil. In days to
come, when wandering Britons shall sail by its peaceful shores, they
will hush their voices and think tenderly of those who sleep their last
sleep amidst its rugged hills and deep ravines. It will be strange,
too, if a prayer does not arise from their hearts that the Empire may
ever be defended by men of such matchless valour and lofty devotion.
* * * * *
Before I describe the Dardanelles and the great naval attack on its
forts, you must understand why we undertook the enterprise. It was, of
course, to assist the Russians, who in the early months of 1915 were
running short of big guns, rifles, and ammunition, and were unable to
supply their needs by means of their own workshops. The Allies wished to
help them, but were prevented from doing so to any great extent; because
Russia in Europe is cut off from the open sea on all sides except in the
extreme north, where the coast fronts the Arctic Ocean. The only port to
which the Allies could send munitions was Archangel, which for about
nine months of the year is frozen up. During the winter it was
impossible for our ships to enter the harbour of Archangel at all. Even
if Archangel had been open, matters would have been but little improved,
for only a single line of railway connected this remote and
evil-smelling port with the interior.[31]
Russia has a good deal of coast and many excellent harbours at the
eastern end of the Baltic Sea; but our trading ships could not enter
that sea because the Germans held the upper hand in it. Their warships
lay in wait for all vessels coming through the narrow Danish channels.
The only remaining sea coast of Russia in Europe lies along the ice-free
Black Sea; but in order to reach its shores ships must traverse the
narrow sea lane of the Dardanelles, cross the Sea of Marmora, and thread
the strait of the Bosporus. When Turkey took the side of Germany this
route was closed. Then, the only way by which the Allies could send guns
and rifles and ammunition to Russia was to carry them by sea to one of
the Siberian ports on the Pacific Ocean, where they were transferred to
the Siberian railway and carried right across North Asia to Russia.
Before a British or a French shell could reach Poland or Galicia it had
to make an eight or nine weeks' voyage to the East, and a railway
journey of more than five thousand miles.
Now I think you understand why it was so vastly important that we should
try to force a right-of-way through the Dardanelles. Until this was done
the Allied armies in the East and in the West were more completely cut
off from each other than if they had been fighting in different
hemispheres. It was impossible to send reinforcements from one to the
other without carrying them almost round the globe. Further, the
overseas trade of Russia was terribly hampered by the blocking of the
Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Millions of bushels of wheat lay rotting
in the warehouses of the Black Sea ports, and vast sums of money were
being lost because they could not find an outlet. If Constantinople
could be captured, the Turks could be ejected from Europe, and their
armies rendered powerless. When this happened, Greece and Bulgaria would
no longer listen to the tempting voice of the German. So you see that
the forcing of the Dardanelles was of the utmost importance to the
Allies. It was felt that once we had a clear road to South Russia the
end of the war would be in sight.
* * * * *
Roughly speaking, the waterway between the Mediterranean Sea and the
Black Sea resembles a narrow glass tube with a bulb blown in the middle
of it. The Dardanelles forms the first part of the tube, the bulb is the
Sea of Marmora, and the remaining part of the tube consists of the
Bosporus, or Ox Ford. The Dardanelles, or the Hellespont as it was
called in ancient times, extends for 45 miles; the Sea of Marmora is 175
miles in length, and the Bosporus continues the waterway for another 17
miles. On a clear day it is said that from a hill on the shores of the
Dardanelles one may look right across the Sea of Marmora and behold
Constantinople, nearly two hundred miles away.
Now let us suppose that we are making a voyage from the Ægean Sea to the
Sea of Marmora in times of peace. When we enter the strait we find that
it resembles a wide river rather than an arm of the sea; and this is not
surprising, for the channel is nothing but the bed of a river that was
submerged in far-off days. The channel is only about two and a half
miles wide, and we can clearly see the shores on either side of us. On
our right is Asia; on our left is Europe. Along the line of this
waterway East and West have met since the days when the world was
young.
Almost every mile of the Asiatic shore of the Dardanelles recalls
memories of the song and story of ancient days. We have scarcely entered
the strait before we see on the Asiatic side the Kum Kale fort, and
behind it the classic ground on which stood the famous city of Troy. I
am sure you remember how Paris carried off the lovely Queen Helen to
Troy, and how Homer's heroes fought for ten long years before the city
was captured, and she was recovered and carried back by her husband to
her home in Greece. Modern historians, however, tell us that the Trojan
War was fought not for the fair face of Helen, but because the king of
Troy almost closed the waterway by levying crushing duties on the goods
that passed his shores. It is strange to note that Britons and French
have shed their blood at the Dardanelles in order that wheat from the
fruitful lands bordering the Black Sea might pass freely to the
Mediterranean, and so to the crowded cities of Western Europe.
On the eastern or Asiatic side we see sloping gardens and rich
vineyards, and elsewhere there are low, wooded hills; but the western or
European side consists of a long unbroken line of barren cliffs. We are
gazing at the shores of the long and hilly Gallipoli peninsula, which,
you will see from the map, somewhat resembles a thumb bent at the joint.
At the tip of the peninsula are the forts of Cape Tekke, Cape Helles,
and Sedd-ul-Bahr. These, with the fort of Kum Kale, which I have already
mentioned, guard the entrance to the Dardanelles.
As we proceed, the Asiatic shore curves inland, but the European shore
continues straight and unbroken. The strait now widens to a breadth of
five miles; but at Kephez Point it closes in to less than two miles.
About three miles further on the "Narrows" begin. At one point the
shores are not more than fourteen hundred yards apart, and for about a
mile onward they are everywhere within a mile and a half of each other.
Every ship that sails from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sea of Marmora
must pass through this bottle neck.
[Footnote 31: During 1915 Russia was busy developing the ice-free port
of Alexandrovsk, at the mouth of the river Kola, but it was not
available at the close of the year.]
[Illustration: The Dardanelles in Time of Peace.
_Photo, Daily Mirror._]