Battle of Sari Bair - Suvla Landing

Suvla Landing

Stopford's IX Corps comprised the British 10th (Irish) and 11th Divisions. At the time of the landing on August 6 the British were confronted by three Ottoman battalions under the command of a Bavarian cavalry officer, Major Wilhelm Willmer whose task was to delay the British until reinforcements could arrive from Bulair, 30 miles away.

The 11th Division landed on the night of 6 August and two brigades of the 10th Division landed the following morning. The original objectives were the capture of the ridge lines to the north (Kiretch Tepe) and east (Tekke Tepe) and the line of hills to the south on the Anafarta Spur. However, Stopford's timorous nature and Hamilton's failure to exert his will on his subordinate commanders meant the objectives were diluted to little more than securing the beach.

The landings, made in the dark without the aid of reliable reconnaissance, suffered from the same confusion that reigned at Anzac landing on 25 April. Lighters ran aground on sandbars so that the troops had to wade some distance to get ashore. Many units became intermingled and officers were unable to locate their objectives. Lala Baba was captured by the 6th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment in what was the first combat action by any unit of Lord Kitchener's New Army.

By evening on 7 August progress had been minimal. To the south east Chocolate Hill and Green Hill were taken in the evening with minimal resistance but constant harassment by shrapnel and sniper fire. The British suffered 1,700 casualties on the first day at Suvla.

Stopford's first serious attempt at the ridges of the Anafarta Hills to the east was made on the night of 8 August, following intervention from Hamilton, but on the morning of 9 August the Ottoman reinforcements had begun to arrive and the British were driven back. The fighting concentrated around Scimitar Hill which protruded northwards from the Anafarta Spur and dominated the southern approach to the Tekke Tepe ridge. Scimitar Hill had been captured then abandoned on 8 August; attempts to retake the hill on 9 and 10 August were thwarted by the Ottomans. The gunfire was so intense it set the undergrowth ablaze and many of the wounded were incinerated where they lay.

As the fighting developed, the landing was reinforced by the arrival of the British 53rd Division on 9 August followed by the 54th Division on 10 August. Stopford now had four divisions under his corps command but was faced by a similar strength of Ottoman defenders. The 53rd Division was mauled in another attack on Scimitar Hill on 10 August.

On 15 August Hamilton finally sacked Stopford and a number of division and brigade commanders. The command of IX Corps was given to Major-General Beauvoir De Lisle, commander of the 29th Division until Lieutenant-General Julian Byng could travel from France to assume command.