Hi everyone,

A couple of battalion war diaries mention an armistice on August 20th at Suvla, requested by the enemy to collect wounded and the bury dead.

It apparently took place on the section of front line held by 34 Brigade after a group of Turkish soldiers approached bearing white flags and were taken to 34 Bde HQ, then to 11 Div HQ.

One of the war diaries indicates that the armistice lasted a good part of the day, describing a '..Lull in the firing line during morning and afternoon, concluded by evening's normal artillery duel'.

So far I've not found any Brigade or Divisional records to confirm all this, and there's certainly no mention in the Official History.

The only possible reference I can find is in an online memoir of a 34 Bde HQ signaller who recounts an occasion when a Turkish envoy approached under a white flag. However he recalls that the envoy came to warn that a hospital on the beach would be shelled if an adjacent ammunition dump wasn't immediately moved. No date for this is given – the memoir only says that it was a day soon after the landings – so it could perhaps be an entirely separate event.

Have any pals come across details of a local truce on Aug 20th - or on any other date - at Suvla?

And what about in other sectors, apart from the famous one at Anzac on May 24th?

Cheers,

Tunesmith

The famous ANZAC truce of 24th May created a lot of concern and argument amongst the GAllipoli command for a number of reasons and as a result truces of any form were actively discouraged. Technically they should be agreed between the senior commander on each side (Liman von Sanders and Ian Hamilton).

I suspect one or two other informal truces may have taken place, but Ithink this was very much the exception.

The events leading upto the Truce of the 24th May 1915 at Gallipoli are well recorded in 'Australia in Arms' by Philip F.E. Schuler which was first published in 1916.

'It was between 5pm and 6pm on the 21st May in the centre of the right of the line a Turkish Staff Officer, two medical officers, and a Company Commander came out of their trenches - all firing having ceased, and by arrangement through an interpreter who had called across from our own to the enemy trenches during the day - and met Major-General H.B.Walker, who was commanding the 1st Division, on neutral ground between the trenches. It was stated by the (Turkish) Staff Officer that he had been instructed to arrange a suspension of arms in order that the dead between the lines might be buried and the wounded tended and removed. The position was to say the least, a delicate one. The Officer carried no written credentials.'

General Sir Ian Hamilton's dispatches convey what then transpired there was no authority or power to arrange such a suspension of arms and at 8pm that night there would be an exchange of letters. Ten minutes grace was given for stretcher parties and medics from both sides, who were already collecting wounded under white flags to return to their respective trenches. Matters were less regular in front of other sections of the front that day. Meanwhile it was observed that Turkish columns were on the march in both Legge and Mule Valleys. On hearing this General Birdwood ordered the trenches to be manned against a possible attack.

The negotiations for the truce took two days and on the 24th May 1915 an armistice began at 8am and finished at 5pm during which time some three thousand Turkish dead were buried. It is estimated that some 15,000 Turkish Troops were wounded in the attack of the 21st May.

FM Lord Carver in his book 'The Turkish Front 1914-18' - says thereafter the truce of the 24th May 'with few exceptions life in the sector settled down to the routine of trench warfare in disgusting conditions'.

At Helles conditions were significantly better, the terrain was more open, the opposing lines further apart and there was space between the front line and the beaches.

In the Helles sector following the Turkish attack of the 5th July the Turks tried to sue for a burial truce but this was denied. Thousands of Turkish dead lay between the British and French lines. It was considered that a no-mans land choked with Turkish dead would be a useful deterent to further attacks - see page 194 of John Lee's 'A Soldiers Life - General Sir Ian Hamilton 1853-1947' ISBN 0333 73444 0 first published in 2000.


Philip

Martin and Philip,

Thanks for your replies.

I continued looking for further references to this truce on August 20th, but no joy.

If, as you say, none of the Suvla commanders had the authority to agree truces with the enemy, I guess it's not surprising there are no official records higher than battalion level. Everyone must have known that Hamilton disapproved of truces and had turned down a previous Turkish request at Helles, so it's amazing that this one was permitted by the 11th division commander Hammersley or, if the decision went up to Corps level, by De Lisle.

All the more amazing too, as they were gearing up for the big attack on Scimitar Hill the following day - or maybe that had a bearing on their decision to let the truce happen.

Tunesmith