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Page 16
As soon as this clearance was made the Albion, Vengeance and Majestic
steamed into the strait and attacked Fort Dardanos, a fortification some
distance below the Narrows. The Turks replied vigorously, not only from
Dardanos but from batteries scattered along the shore. Believing that
the Turks had abandoned the forts at the entrance, landing parties of
marines were sent to shore. In a short time, however, they met a
detachment of the enemy and were compelled to retreat to their boats.
The outer forts, however, were destroyed, and their destruction was
extremely encouraging to the Allies.
For a time a series of minor operations was carried on, meeting with
much success. Besides attacks on forts inside of the strait, Smyrna was
bombarded on March the 5th, and on March the 6th the Queen Elizabeth,
the Agamemnon and the Ocean bombarded the forts at Chanak on the Asiatic
side of the Narrows, from a position in the gulf of Saros on the outer
side of the Gallipoli Peninsula. To all of these attacks the Turks
replied vigorously and the attacking ships were repeatedly struck, but
with no loss of life. On the 7th of March Fort Dardanos was silenced,
and Fort Chanak ceased firing, but, as it turned out, only temporarily.
Preparations were now being made for a serious effort against the
Narrows. The date of the attack was fixed for March 17th, weather
permitting. On the 16th Admiral Carden was stricken down with illness
and was invalided by medical authority. Admiral de Roebeck, second in
command, who had been very active in the operations, was appointed to
succeed him. Admiral de Roebeck was in cordial sympathy with the
purposes of the expedition and determined to attack on the 18th of
March. At a quarter to eleven that morning, the Queen Elizabeth,
Inflexible, Agamemnon, Lord Nelson, the Triumph and Prince George
steamed up the straits towards the Narrows, and bombarded the forts of
Chanak. At 12.22 the French squadron, consisting of the Suffren,
Gaulois, Charlemagne, and Bouvet, advanced up the Dardanelles to aid
their English associates.
Under the combined fire of the two squadrons the Turkish forts, which at
first replied strongly, were finally silenced. All of the ships,
however, were hit several times during this part of the action. A third
squadron, including the Vengeance, Irresistible, Albion, Ocean,
Swiftshore and Majestic, then advanced to relieve the six old
battleships inside the strait.
[Illustration: THE LOSS OF THE "IRRESISTIBLE"
During an attack on the Dardanelles the British battleship
"Irresistible" struck a Turkish mine and sank in a few minutes. Severe
losses of similar character demonstrated that it would be impossible to
force the strait by naval attack.]
As the French squadron, which had engaged the forts in a most brilliant
fashion, was passing out the Bouvet was blown up by a drifting mine
and sank in less than three minutes, carrying with her most of her crew.
At 2.36 P.M. the relief battleships renewed the attack on the forts,
which again opened fire. The Turks were now sending mines down with the
current. At 4.09 the Irresistible quitted the line, listing heavily, and
at 5.50 she sank, having probably struck a drifting mine. At 6.05 the
Ocean, also having struck a mine, sank in deep water. Practically the
whole of the crews were removed safely. The Gaulois was damaged by
gunfire; the Inflexible had her forward control position hit by a heavy
shell, which killed and wounded the majority of the men and officers at
that station and set her on fire. At sunset the forts were still in
action, and during the twilight the Allied fleet slipped out of the
Dardanelles.
Meantime, an expeditionary force was being gathered. The largest portion
of this force came from Great Britain, but France also provided a
considerable number from her marines and from her Colonial army. Both
nations avoided, as far as possible, drawing upon the armies destined
for service in France.
In the English army there were divisions from Australia and New Zealand
and there were a number of Indian troops and Territorials. The whole
force was put under the command of General Sir Ian Hamilton. The
commander-in-chief on the Turkish side was the German General Liman von
Sanders, the former chief of the military mission at Constantinople. The
bulk of the expeditionary force, which numbered altogether about a
hundred and twenty thousand men, were, therefore, men whose presence in
the east did not weaken the Allied strength in the west.
The great difficulty of the new plan was that it was impossible to
surprise the enemy. The whole Gallipoli Peninsula was so small that a
landing at any point would be promptly observed, and the nature of the
ground was of such a character that progress from any point must
necessarily be slow. The problem was therefore a simple one.
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