Anzac Cove

The beach itself became an enormous supply dump and two field hospitals were established, one at either end. Four floating jetties were quickly constructed for the landing of stores, later replaced in July by a permanent structure known as "Watson's Pier". The volume of stores quickly overflowed onto the adjacent beaches; firstly onto "Brighton Beach" to the south of the cove and later onto North Beach beyond Ari Burnu. Three wireless radio stations were established on the beach to maintain contact with the fleet.

While the cove was relatively sheltered from shellfire from across the peninsula — the Chanak forts, as well as the Turkish battleships Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin[1] anchored in the Dardanelles, shelled the waters off the cove — it was partially exposed to view from Gaba Tepe to the south and completely open to view from Nibrunesi Point at the southern tip of Suvla Bay to the north. Nibrunesi Point was under the guns of the Royal Navy so was never used to fire on Anzac, however the well-concealed Turkish battery at Gaba Tepe, known as "Beachy Bill", was a constant menace.


Despite the shelling and Turkish snipers, Anzac Cove was a popular swimming beach for the soldiers — at ANZAC it was a struggle to supply sufficient water for drinking and there was rarely any available for washing. Most soldiers disregarded all but the fiercest shelling rather than interrupt the one luxury available to them.