Pals,

On 26 February 1915 a Royal Navy demolition party went ashore at Sedd-el-Bahr, Gallipoli. The party was protected by a group of Royal Marines from the battleship Irresistible. The marines set up a command post near windmills east of Sedd-el-Bahr village.

I'd be very grateful if any Pal could give me information on (and if possible the exact location of) the windmills, please.

Regards,
Philip

Philip,

I wonder if the ref to Windmills in this case is not, perhaps, a mistake?
Do you have further details which you can share with us?
There certainly were windmills, but on the other side of the Dards., at Kum Kale, however, I am not sure about there being any at Helles

There were, what are referred to as 'Water Towers', which seem to have been the few remaining pillars of a Roman Aqueduct
See the att. map



I wonder if these were not mistaken for windmills on 25th Feb. 1915.

with very best regards
Michael


PS:
credit for the map should go to Col M A Nolan, and his article 'Gallipoli - the Maps - Part 4' as printed in the journal of The Gallipoli Association (The Gallipolian) No.74, Spring 1994

Another alternative may be the windmills that were sited to the east of Krithia village (I think there were three). As the Marines were spiking the guns in and around the Castle and Fort No.1, I doubt they got as far as Krithia.

I think the report may be confused with the landing at Kum Kale on 26th Feb 1915. It was here a party of marines and sailors led by Lt-Cdr Eric Robinson, ship's officer, HMS "Vengeance", which went ashore in the afternoon under the cover of "Irresistible" and "Vengeance" and supporting cruisers. Under heavy fire, Robinson held back his own men, and went on to destroy two guns in the vicinity and another one at Orkanieh, being awarded the VC.

Regasrds, K

Thanks Michael and Krithia,

I'll have to recheck my source (Naval Operations by Julian Corbet). While I don't have it to hand as I write this, I believe that the account did say that the windmills were east of Sedd-el-Bahr village. I was aware of the windmills at Kum Kale.

Michael, that's a fantastic map. I hadn't seen it before. Could I further impose on your kindness by asking if you would mind posting the area to the west of Sedd-el-Bahr as well, please?

Regards,
Philip

Philip,

In the official history by Aspinal, opposite p. 223 there is a map which shows the windmills.

cheers

eric

Philip,

Most of the villages had windmills in 1915 but they were often used as range finders.

In the village of karainebeyli (east of the Anafartalar villages) there are still today the ruins of two windmills.

eric

PS : Philip I am gonna reply to your mail soon, bear with me.

picture of one of the 2 windmills

In the official history by Aspinal, opposite p. 223 there is a map which shows the windmills.

Well done, Eric!


Philip,
I cannot give you the western part of the above map, as this is all of it which appears in the article
However, Col Nolan also shows another couple of similar maps - the whole of his 4th article is devoted to the 1:20000 Krithia (Provisional) and Krithia Extension (Provisional) Maps
One copy is of better quality than the other





I hope that these are of some help

regards
Michael

Well done Eric!

That is fantastic information. Only a local (Belgian) could come up with such a treasure trove.

Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to get out to you next year with an Irish friend and a GWF Pal.

Regards,
Philip

Michael,

You got in as was composing my reply to Eric. (Just in case you thought I'd ignored your post and in case you and Eric thought I'd copied your "Well done Eric!.)

After I'd put up my last post to you, I thought to myself "There's no way Michael would just cut a map. If the map he posted doesn't show west of Sedd-el-Bahr, then neither does the original."

Many thanks for your latest maps. Unless I'm mistaken, the better quality map appears on the front cover of the hardback edition of "Grasping Gallipoli." It's the only illustration/photo on the cover that isn't captioned. I asked the publishers where the map came from but they didn't reply. Now you've solved the mystery.

Many thanks,
Philip

Philip,
Yes, it's interesting isn't it, how reluctant most (all?) publishers are to enter into correspondence with their readers. One is tempted to think that, once they have got the price of the book out of you, they are no longer concerned with Joe Public
I suspect that you are correct in what you say about the cover illustration. Chasseaud and Doyle mention in their Acknowledgements "the excellent pioneering articles by Col Mike Nolan RE (rtd) on Gallipoli mapping which appeared in The Gallipolian in 1993-5 and have been extremely useful." Using as their cover one of the same maps as he used would be a further salute.

best regards
Michael

Well done, Eric, this is something I didn't know and checked many maps last night to try and find these windmills, of course I missed the most obvious one. Thanks.

As you say, Michael, the mention of Col Mike Nolan RE (retd) in the acknowledgements appears to finalise the matter.

And -- again -- Well done Eric

Regards,
Philip

Hi Philip,

You probably know/have this info regarding the 1/2 company of RDF that landed at the Camber, but just in case...
Excellent map work and photos - as usual gentlemen!
Drop me an email sometime soon Philip

Cheers,
Brian


A party that landed at the Camber by the old
fort got up to the village of Sedd-ul-Bahr as
far as the windmills, and these men, heroes all,
gave those of us who were stationed in the tops
an example of cool, straightforward fighting.

Here is the context for the above passage and the reference for it:

The landing at De Tott's was well carried out
none better ; but that the attack on Sedd-ul-Bahr
had been a failure was obvious from where the
Cornwallis lay. It was not until we arrived at



THE GREAT LANDING 83

V Beach about midday that we realized how
matters stood.

The River Clyde, afterwards known as " the
Dun Cow," by reason of her khaki colour, had
gone ashore as arranged with men of the Dublin
Fusiliers, Hampshires, and Munsters, Territorial
units of the R.A.M.C., and men belonging to the
armoured car section R.N.D. on board, towing
a steam hopper and alongside lighters which
were to form a bridge to the shore from the large
ports cut in the collier's sides. When the River
Clyde struck, the hopper went on under her own
steam and momentum, and towed the lighters
farther in so as to form the arranged pontoon for
the troops to cross. Another body of men in
boats were to land from them, and rush the
entanglements and trenches, whilst another party
on the right took the village of Sedd-ul-Bahr
and the fort.

The whole attack was preceded by a heavy
bombardment of the Turkish position and trenches
by the ships covering Sedd-ul-Bahr, after which
the preliminaries of the arranged landing pro-
gramme were carried into effect.

The Turks allowed the specially cut ports to be
opened, and almost as the prepared gangways



84 THE IMMOETAL GAMBLE

connected at the bases with the lighters were
in position on both sides of the River Clyde, the
soldiers, in their eagerness to get at the Turks,
made a rush ashore. Before many got as far as
the lighters (and the few who made the attempt
were shot down), almost, indeed, as the men set
foot on the gangways, the Turks opened fire with
rifles and maxims and pom-poms, and swept
our men away wholesale. In heaps our gallants
fell on the decks of the lighters, living, dead, and
wounded. Some were suffocated and crushed to
death by the sheer weight of bodies.

The men in the boats fared no better they
were shot to pieces. Many got into the water,
and were drowned by their encumbering accoutre-
ments; others swam to the River Clyde or remained
in the boats or in the water behind the boats, hold-
ing on for hours until they were shot. A certain
number from the boats reached the beach, and
took cover under a bank which afforded a meagre
shelter, and there dug themselves in.

A party that landed at the Camber by the old
fort got up to the village of Sedd-ul-Bahr as
far as the windmills, and these men, heroes all,
gave those of us who were stationed in the tops
an example of cool, straightforward fighting.

THE GREAT LANDING 85

No trench work was there it was deer-stalking,
with the hunter and the hunted able to deal
death. From second to second the life of every
soul in that little company depended on quickness
of aim, readiness of resource, and skill in taking
cover.

Advancing in a series of crawls and short
runs, with backs bent double, across an open
space between the cliff and a row of houses, our
men sheltered as best they could, crouching low
against the foundations of anything standing.
Opposite them the Turks held a loop-holed
wall.

Sometimes one side and sometimes the other
bobbed up, and a shot was fired often not more
than ten yards separated the adversaries. And
all the while what impressed us breathless on-
lookers was the adroitness with which our men
turned every projecting angle of a house, every
fallen stone, every insignificant rise in the road,
to account. We who had seen no other land
fighting felt that these men of the 29th Division
had no superiors among the fighting men of the
world. We were not mistaken. Their immortal
deeds are engraved for ever on the cliffs they
scaled.



86 THE IMMORTAL GAMBLE

The brave little company was driven back, out-
numbered; many were cut off, and all the wounded,
and on these was wreaked vengeance German-
fashion, not Turkish, for the Turks are clean
fighters as a rule. This story we had from men
who saw the dead later, and swore to the hideous
maltreatment.

No amount of shell fire was able to stop the
hellish fire of maxims and rifles from the trenches
the Turks were dug in in regular caves, and the
ships were too far out to see properly.

Reference:
http://www.archive.org/details/immortalgamblepa00stewrich
pages 82-86
THE IMMORTAL GAMBLE

AND THE PART PLAYED IN IT BY
H.M.S. "CORNWALLIS"

BY
A. T. STEWART
ACTING COMMANDER, R.N.

AND

THE REV. C. J. E. PESHALL, B.A.
CHAPLAIN, R.N.

A. & C. BLACK, LTD.
4, 5 & 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.G.
1917