Children playing 'In the Dardanelles'. From February 19 to March 18, 1915, a Franco-British fleet tried to force its way through the Dardanelles to Constantinople. The Strait was defended by forts, some with modern German artillery. After a failure to break through on March 18, the Allies decided to invade, and in April, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. Illustrated postcard by Pauli Ebner.
In den DardanellenP. Ebner.Reverse:Nr. 992M. Munk WienGeschützt
"15.00 hrs. Had hardly taken 10 steps when I hear the hum of an approaching howitzer shell. Realise that if I'm to survive, I need to throw myself into a side-trench. The shell seems to be coming straight at me . . . the explosion is awesome. A violent shock follows. I'm thrown against the ramp. Feel pain on the left side of my groin. Clamp my hand on that spot and run towards my dugout. The path is shattered and covered in earth. Shell fragments are everywhere and a strong smell of acid fills my nostrils. You can come face-to-face with death here any minute . . . Oh my God! For the sake of your holy name, please protect us!"
Excerpt from the diary of Turkish Second Lieutenant Mehmed Fasih writing on December 9, 1915 on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The British Cabinet had agreed the evacuation of two of the three Allied positions — those at Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove — on December 7, leading the Allied fleet to increase its shelling of Turkish positions.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 143, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
1915-12-09, 1915, December, Gallipoli, Fasih
