Landing at Cape Helles - The British Landing Plan

The British Landing Plan

General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the MEF, chose to land at Helles because it allowed the navy to provide support from three sides. The disadvantage was that Helles was a long way from the forts that needed to be captured. The Helles forts made up the outer defences of the straits and had already been neutralised by naval gunfire and raids by Royal Marines. Between Helles and the forts were two naturally strong defensive positions; the hill of Achi Baba (today called Alçitepe) and the Kilitbahir plateau. Also, the Helles beaches were small, limiting the size of the force that could be landed.

As there was not room for ANZAC to land at Helles, the Australians and New Zealanders made a separate landing to the north, closer to the forts, but facing more difficult terrain. The intention was that if this secondary landing was unsuccessful, the Anzacs would be re-embarked and then be landed at Helles. The French were to make a diversionary landing on the Asian shore opposite Helles at Kum Kale. They would then cross the straits and join the British at Helles.

The Helles landing would be made by the British 29th Division, a regular army division that had been formed from garrison units that had be stationed throughout the British Empire prior to the outbreak of the war. The division was commanded by General Hunter-Weston who would be in charge of all operations at Helles. For the landing, the 29th would be augmented by two battalions from the Royal Naval Division; the Plymouth and Anson Battalions, bringing the total strength of Hunter-Weston's force to 12 battalions. These would be landing in two parts. Firstly a covering force, the 86th Brigade plus some additional units, would land and secure the beaches. The main force would follow up and advance to the first day objectives; the village of Krithia and the hill of Achi Baba.

The landing would be made after dawn and following a preliminary naval bombardment, starting at 5 am and lasting one hour. This differed from the ANZAC landing which was a surprise assault, with the covering force going ashore before dawn without any supporting bombardment.

Five beaches were designated for the landing. These were, from east (inside the straits) to west (on the Aegean coast), S, V, W, X and Y Beaches. (Z Beach was the designation for the ANZAC landing site.) V and W Beaches were the main landings at the very tip of the peninsula on either side of Cape Helles itself.