Australia and the Gallipoli Campaign
August 1915
6 August 1915
Beginning of the August Offensive
5.30 pm
Units of the 1st Australian Division attacked Turkish trenches at Lone Pine.
6.00 pm
The Turkish front line at Lone Pine fell to the Australians and fierce Turkish counter-attacks began.
8.30 pm
The regiments of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles attacked up the valleys leading to the heights of the Sari Bair Range — Chunuk Bair and Hill 971. After this successful assault three columns of infantry — the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, the 29th Infantry Brigade of Sikhs and Gurkhas and the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade — began making their way up these valleys to attack the heights.
9.30 pm
British units begin landing at Suvla Bay.
7 August 1915
August Offensive
4.30 — 4.45 am
Four waves of men of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade attacked Turkish trenches at the Nek. They were cut to pieces. Charles Bean wrote:
The flower of the youth of Victoria and Western Australia fell in that attempt.
4.30 pm
Unsuccessful diversionary attacks were made from Quinn's Post and Pope's Post.
10.15 & 11 am
New Zealand and Indian units attacked towards Chunuk Bair but fail to capture the peak. The 4th Australian Brigade became lost in the foothills leading to its objective — Hill 971 — and dug in. British units failed to make any progress at Suvla Bay.
8 August 1915
August Offensive
The New Zealanders, with British units in support, captured Chunuk Bair and held it despite strong Turkish counter-attacks.
A small unit of Gurkhas briefly captured another summit to the north of Chunuk Bair known as ‘Q’ but they were driven off by the Turks.
The 4th Australian Brigade failed to make any progress towards Hill 971.
Lieutenant William Symons, 7th Battalion (Victoria), of Bendigo, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery at Lone Pine.
The Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train landed at Suvla Bay to assist the British force there with the construction of piers, the control of water supplies and other similar tasks. The unit was based at Kangaroo Beach and was among the last to leave at the evacuation in December. The following was written by one of their number:
Bridging Train tourists, seven bob a day
Unloading lighters at Suvla Bay,
If they should grumble, the jaunty would say
Away to the guard shed, and stay there all day.
[‘Jaunty’ — naval slang for the master-at-arms, a senior sailor responsible for good order and discipline.]
9 August 1915
August Offensive
The New Zealanders held on to Chunuk Bair and in the evening they were relieved by British units.
British and Gurkha units failed in an attempt to take ‘Q’.
Corporal Alexander Burton, Captain Frederick Tubb and Corporal William Dunstan, all of the 7th Battalion (Victoria), were all awarded the Victoria Cross for their outstanding courage at Lone Pine. Burton was killed in the action for which he was awarded the VC.
Private John Hamilton, 3rd Battalion (New South Wales), of Penshurst, New South Wales, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery at Lone Pine.
Captain Alfred Shout, 1st Battalion (New South Wales), of Darlington, Sydney, New South Wales, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery at Lone Pine. Shout was killed in the action for which he was awarded the VC.
Within three days of fighting at the defence of Lone Pine 7 VCs had been awarded to Australian soldiers.
10 August 1915
End of August Offensive
Turkish troops, led by Colonel Mustafa Kemal, drove the British from Chunuk Bair but were unable to push the British, Indian and New Zealand troops back down the valleys to the beach. The August offensive had failed.
15 August 1915
By this date the 10th Battalion (South Australia) estimated that 45 per cent of its soldiers had been evacuated from Gallipoli suffering from acute diarrhoea.
19 August 1915
The first units of the Australian 2nd Division — the 17th (New South Wales) and 18th (New South Wales) Battalions — arrived at Anzac. Seeing these strong and healthy new arrivals one Australian wrote of them:
Great big cheery fellows, whom it did your heart good to see.
21 August 1915
Beginning of the attempt to take Hill 60
A mixed force of Australian, New Zealand and British units attacked the flank of Hill 60 and gained some ground.
22 August 1915
The newly arrived 18th Battalion (New South Wales) failed to break into the Turkish positions and lost half its men killed or wounded.
While trying to rescue a wounded English soldier near Hill 60, Reverend Andrew Gillison, Chaplain to the 14th Battalion (Victoria), and Corporal Robert Pittendrigh, 13th Battalion (New South Wales), were hit by a Turkish sniper. Both men subsequently died. When Gillison’s son and daughter-in-law visited his grave in Embarkation Pier Cemetery in 1964, Joan Gillison wrote:
Here, in a sense, our pilgrimage ended.
27 August 1915
Renewed attempt to take Hill 60
Between 27 and 29 August, a mixed force of Australian, New Zealand and British units again attacked Hill 60, gained some ground, but failed to take and hold the main Turkish position.
29 August 1915
Second Lieutenant Hugo Throsssell, 10th Light Horse Regiment (Western Australia), of Cowcowing, Western Australia, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery on the night of 29-30 August at Hill 60. Throssell's VC brought to nine the number of VCs gained by members of the AIF during the Gallipoli campaign.
Between 29 August and 14 September, two stretcher-bearers at the 1st Field Ambulance treated 199 dental cases. They performed 122 extractions, 29 amalgam fillings, 6 dressings, 30 minor operations, 2 partial upper dentures, 2 partial lower dentures and 19 repairs.