HELLES
POINT
Located at the
extreme end of the Peninsula, Helles Point witnessed the landings of British
Troops who chose five beaches and landed in those areas on the morning of 25th
of April.
After the landing,
British and French troops, supported by the fire of Royal Navy Battleships,
dreamed of capturing the Alcitepe village and Achi Baba hill which dominates
the whole area.
Helles Monument
Helles monument
which was designed and built by Sir John Barnet, the head architect of War
Cemeteries Commission, is situated on the Goktepe Hill reaching the height of
33 meters. On the four sides of the monument and on the surrounding walls,
there are manes of all British Troops and battleships which took part at
landings and naval attacks.
On the 25th of
April, a small Turkish Unit took up the position there and prevented British
troops landing at W beach and advancing toward the V beach where Allied forces
had very strong Turkish opposition.
V Beach
The landing at V
beach in 25th of April 1915 was one of the bloodiest battles of Galipoli
Campaign. That morning nearly 2000 British soldiers in the River Clyde ship
tried to land at V beach near the old Seddulbahir castle. They tried to tie
the barges to each other to form a pier but this plan was soon ruined because
of the current.
At that moment,
Turkish soldiers who took up position at the surrounding hills started a heavy
fire which caused great casualties for the Allied forces trying to come out
from this old River Clyde. British soldiers won many Victoria crosses because
of the heroism they performed at V beach. One of the great figures of the war
was general Doughty Wily who gallantly led his soldiers towards the Seddulbahir
Village and died there. His grave is only single monument erected in the Gallipolis
region.
On the Turkish
side, a small group of soldiers, Sergeant Yahya and his 63 soldiers, stopped 6
British Battalions and resisted 10 hours heroically before they all die in the
area.
V beach was later handed to
frech Troops.
Last troops
leaving the area during the great evacuation left the V beach 9 January 1916.
V beach Cemetery
V Beach cemetery, which
covers an area of 2045 meters square, is located at the Ertugrul Bay. From the first day of
landing, Ertugrul Bay has been used as a burial place and
continiud to e used till end of the year 1915. After the estimations done, in
a 1 meter square area, nearly 480 British soldiers are buried.
