Landing at Anzac Cove

The landing at Anzac Cove was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian and New Zealand forces on 25 April 1915. The landing, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast of the Peninsula, was made by soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and was the first major combat of the war for these two countries. Another landing was made several miles to the south west at Cape Helles by British and French troops.

The purpose of the invasion was to overtake the Ottoman forts that controlled the passage of the Dardanelles straits. The Anzac Cove landing went awry when those members of the leadership cadre with the knowledge of the operational plan were either killed or evacuated wounded leaving the organisation at the beachhead in chaos and so, what was planned as a swift operation became a protracted and bloody eight-month struggle. In that period the frontline of the Anzac battlefield remained little changed from the ground captured on the first day of the landing, a space less than three-quarters of a square mile (2 km²) in size—home to over 20,000 men. Winning control of the Dardanelles was originally intended to be a purely naval operation but after the loss of three battleships during the attack of 18 March it was decided that the aid of the army would be required to defeat the forts that guarded the straits. See Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign.