As reported by Krithia, another forum member a few months ago, there was a scrub fire last autumn affecting an area NE of Scimitar Hill (Hill 70) and Abrikja which exposed trenches and shell craters previously obscured by the undergrowth.

I visited the Suvla area with several family members last week and with the benefit of directions from Eric Goosens at the Gallipoli Houses Hotel (incidentally a first rate place to stay in all respects) we found a track leading from the N of Scimitar Hill into the burnt area. This track is shown (rather inaccurately) on some contemporary maps. The fire has cleared the ground with the result that the area is now covered with wild flowers and is worthy of a visit for that alone.

In following the track, we struck upon a feature mentioned in several war diaries which I was hoping to find – the knoll at 105 D8 on the 1:20,000 map. This will probably be familiar to those with an interest in 87^th Brigade and in particular to 1^st Bn Border Regiment and 2^nd Bn South Wales Borderers. I hope this may also be useful to those with a wider interest in the events of 21 August, 1915. The image below with family member on the summit to indicate scale is the knoll in question.

Click to view attachment

The war diaries of 1 Bn Border Regt indicate that this was the objective of A and C Companies and it was probably not far from here that the unfortunate Lt Clague was left stranded until 06.00 on 22 August with 23 men from Borders and up to 50 men of mixed units when not informed of the order to retire.

Fire from this knoll was a major factor in stalling the attack on the left of Scimitar Hill. The war diaries are not specific about whether the very heavy fire from the knoll was from machine guns though machine gun fire 'from the left' is mentioned in the records of The Queens Own Dorset Yeomanry. I have it as a possible position of one or more of the 6 machine guns deployed by the Turkish 12 Division at 2^nd Anafartalar (see recent posting on this topic below).

The scrub fire has revealed a system of trenches around the knoll, some details of which are also shown on the 1:5,000 Sevki Pasha map. The trenches are partially re-filled by erosion and unfortunately my pictures of them do not pick up the detail very well. Amongst debris on the ground were fired Turkish small arms casings, one or two fragments of barbed wire (2 strands with barbs 100mm apart), and a handle possibly from an ammunition box.

I have further pictures if anyone is interested including the view back from the knoll to Scimitar Hill. As file sizes are quite large, could you PM me with email addresses if you would like me to send them to you.

John

PS Cut and paste from Word seems to have thrown up one or two wobblies in the text preview. Hope its all legible when posted.

Yes ,very much so ,as I am currently reading John Massefield "Gallipoli",would like to see the photos.
You may make an account at Photobucket.com ,upload the pics there and then on this window at insert image as you add the reply , you copy the address from photobucket.com and give paste,here.

Or upload them here ,but as you save the pics,before uploading them, they must not exceed 100k,make them say 50k jpeg.If they ,however are 100k or more, jpeg they would not upload.

Or send them to me and I'll sorted out.

Thank you.

Andrei

Nice to see interest in that area. Not many people end up visiting the Suvla area. More pics please

Len

Many thanks to Andrei and Len for their interest.

I have to say that at this time of year, the Suvla landscape gives out a sense of tranquility that is hard to reconcile with the slaughter that took place there in 1915. It is a hauntingly beautiful place and the only sound you hear that breaks the silence is birdsong. The peace and stillness takes you by surprise.



I am uploading another image:





This is one which may be familiar as I am sure I have seen it on these pages before. It is of Scimitar Hill from the top of Green Hill Cemetery. Scimitar Hill is the rise in the forground at 10 0'clock to the bend in the track. The village to the rear is Kucuk Anafarta (Anafarta Sagir) and to the best of my knowledge it is Tekke Tepe in the background. So this shot shows the line of advance of 87 Div and the Yeomanry.

Units involved in the attack on 21 August took shelter in what is described as a rocky nullah (i.e. gully) somewhat above the 60 metre contour and pointing towards the Turkish communication trench on the summit. This nullah is marked on sketches attached to war diaries and correspondence. I looked for it during my visit and I am still not convinced of its whereabouts, but subsequent ploughing may have levelled up the contours. I suspect that it may have been the scimitar shaped scar on the hill depicted in naval sketches after which the feature was named. One version of the 1:20,000 map shows contours forming a small gully just east of Torgut Chesme (which no longer exists). Could this be it? Does anyone have any suggestions or observations?

I hope this is of interest
John

Here is another image taken from the top of the knoll at 105 D8 looking across to the rear of Scimitar Hill. You can see the backs of the 3 memorials on the summit. There was intense machine gun fire from this knoll which impeded the advance of mixed units on the hill and would seem to indicate that the left of the attack had gone north of Scimitar before bearing right handed on it whilst the centre came in from the west. Intervisibility studies based on the 1:5,000 maps indicate that direct fire from this knoll would not have been possible against advance on Scimitar Hill from the west; only from a more northerly direction. This was confirmed by my own observations.



John

Many thanks for posting these photographs of Scimitar Hill, the 6th Royal Welsh Fusiliers were heading to Scimitar on 10 August 1915 and experienced heavy casualties.

Moriaty