Battle of Chunuk Bair

Battle Of Chunuk Bair

The Battle of Chunuk Bair (Turkish: Conk Bayırı Muharebesi) was a World War I battle fought between the Ottoman defenders and troops of New Zealand and Great Britain. Allied units that made the summit of Chunuk Bair early a.m. 8 August 1915, to engage the Turks were: Wellington Battalion of New Zealand and Australian Division, 7th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment and 8th Battalion, Welch Regiment both of the British 13th; who were reached and reinforced in the afternoon by two squads of the Auckland Mounted Rifle Regiment, New Zealand and Australian Division. These first summit holders, decimated by withering fire, were relieved at 10.30pm on 8 August by the Otago Battalion (NZ), and the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiment New Zealand and Australian Division; who were in turn relieved by 8pm on 9 August by the 6th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment who were massacred and driven off the summit in the early morning of 10 August by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk)'s massed attack. The capture of Chunuk Bair, "Çanak Bayırı" (Basin Slope) in Turkish (now "Conk Bayırı"), the secondary peak of the Sari Bair range, was one of the two objectives of the Allied August Offensive that was launched at ANZAC and Suvla to try to break the stalemate that the campaign had become.

The capture of Chunuk Bair was the only success for the Allies of the campaign. However, the success was fleeting as the position proved untenable. The Ottomans recaptured the peak after a few days and were never to relinquish it again.