Landing at Anzac Cove - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Anzac battlefield had reached a stalemate. For General Hamilton, the Helles front was paramount and over the following months it would be the scene of a series of bloody engagements as the British and French edged imperceptibly closer to their first day objectives of Krithia and the hill of Achi Baba. The majority of reinforcements were directed to Helles, Anzac receiving only the dismounted Australian light horse and New Zealand mounted regiments.

Anzac was maintained as a threat to the Ottoman line of communications and a drain on their resources. When the British ceased offensive operations at Helles, Anzac provided the base from which to launch a new offensive in August in what became the Battle of Sari Bair.

The reorganisation of the brigades of the Australian 1st Division following the reinforcement by the RND allowed a tally of the battalions to be made. In the period from 25 to 30 April, the casualties for each brigade are shown in the table.

Only one soldier of the 1st Division was taken prisoner in this period. Some of the missing were found to have been wounded and already evacuated. Most of the missing were dead. The New Zealand and Australian Division suffered about 2,000 casualties during the landing and consolidation phase. By 3 May, the casualty figure was about 8,500 including 600 from the Royal Naval Division. Of this figure, about 2,300 were killed in action or died of wounds.

Despite magnificent bravery by many Anzac, British and French soldiers, the Entente forces failed to achieve their objectives against an opponent they severely underestimated. Eventually the British Empire's greatest defeat up to that time would be overshadowed by British propaganda and the horror of the Western Front eclipsing the debacle at Gallipoli.