1st Essex at Gallipoli 1915

At 9.30am on 25th April 1915 the 1st Essex, under command of Lt Col Godfrey Faussett, landed on the beach at Gallipoli and were immediately under fire.

1st  battalion landing at Gallipoli 25 April 1915

Photo from the Essex regiment Vol 5 by John Wm Burrows

 

By 2pm they had managed to make a small foothold by taking Hill 138 and the first enemy defensive fortification at the cost of 3 officers and 15 other ranks killed with 8 officers and 87 other ranks injured.

From then on it was slow going with small gains under heavy fire.

On 2 May 1915 another small advance saw the taking of another defensive redoubt at the cost of 31 wounded, 5 missing and 14 killed , which included the CO  Lt Colonel Faussett.

The 5th May 1915 saw another attack on Fir Tree Wood that was fiercely resisted and beaten back. The Division lost nearly half its strength in this attack although 1st Essex were comparatively lucky with 15 men killed and 142 wounded. The wounded men included Captain Bowen.

After a period of rest and reorganisation on 18 May 1915 the 1st Essex were back on the attack and this time took Fir Tree Wood at the cost of 6 dead, 20 wounded and 3 missing.

On 4th June 1915 a further attack was planned during which 9 men were killed, 36 wounded and 9 missing. The fatalities included Lieutenant Liebenthal and  Lieutenant Wolfe while  2nd Lieutenant Pegler and 2nd Lieutenant Hellen were amongst the wounded.

The advance made some ground which was lost during a counter attack on 6th June 1916 during which C Company led by Captain Shepheard lost 65 of its 70 men when it was hit by a surprise attack from the rear

By this stage only four officers who had embarked from England  with the 1st Essex were still serving on active duty. This entailed borrowing some Officers and men from other Battalions.

A slight lull in the fighting followed although snipers were very active claiming the lives of men in the line , including Lieutenant N A de Vere Beauclerk on 17th June 1915.

On 28th June 1915 another advance saw some success with gains of up to half a mile although a second push was less successful. Once again casualties were felt with 11 killed, 49 wounded and 12 missing. The dead included Captain E O Warden, 2nd Lieutenant C A B Wood and 2nd Lieutenant H F Grantham.

On 5 August 1915 the last offensive before they were to move to Sulva Bay saw the 1st Essex into an offensive to take the Turkish defensive line of trenches .

The Battalion performed well to take the first two lines of trench but by then they had lost so many men that they were vulnerable to a counter attack by the Turks and forced to surrender some of the gains. By cruel luck the Turks had more men than normal in this area as they were planning an assault of their own later in the day.

There was a very heavy toll for the gains with 50 men killed , 202 wounded and 180 missing.

The dead included

Captains D M Black, R S M Hare, Donaldson and Gepp.

Lieutenants F G B Thomas, A H Footner, RR Bunting ( 12th Essex) , R G Gabb, Esten and F G Francis ( 3rd Essex) .

2nd Lieutenants H F Payne ( 3rd Essex) , F T Marwick ( 3rd Essex) and J C Gardom ( 12th Essex)