Battle of the Nek
Part of First World War
The charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915 by George Lambert, 1924.
Date 7 August 1915 Location Anzac, Gallipoli, Turkey Result Turkish victory
Combatants
Australia	Ottoman Empire
Commanders
Col. F.G. Hughes	Unknown
Strength
600 (2 LH Regt.)	Unknown
Casualties
372	0

The Battle of the Nek was a small World War I battle fought as part of the Gallipoli campaign. "The Nek" was a narrow stretch of ridge in the Anzac battlefield on the Gallipoli peninsula. The name derives from the Afrikaans word for a "mountain pass" but the terrain itself was a perfect bottleneck and easy to defend, as had been proven during a Turkish attack in May. It connected the Anzac trenches on the ridge known as "Russell's Top" to the knoll called "Baby 700" on which the Turkish defenders were entrenched. In total area, the Nek is about the size of three tennis courts. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (900x709, 150 KB) Detail from The charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915 (1924, oil-on-canvas, 152. ... Anzac, the landing 1915 by George Lambert (1920–22). ... August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Gallipoli peninsula (Turkish: , Greek: ) is located in Turkish Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Australia. ... Image File history File links LateOttomanFlag. ... Motto: دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299-1326) Bursa (1326-1365) Edirne (1365-1453) Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–1922 Mehmed VI... Major General Frederic Godfrey Hughes (26 January 1858 – 23 August 1944) was an Australian Army Major General in World War I. See also List of Australian Generals References Frederic Godfrey Hughes Biography Categories: | | | | | ... Combatants British Empire Australia India Newfoundland New Zealand United Kingdom France Ottoman Empire Commanders Sir Ian Hamilton Otto von Sanders Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Strength 5 divisions (initial) 14 divisions (final)[] 6 divisions[] Casualties 284,000[] 251,000[] The Battle of Gallipoli took place at Gallipoli from April 1915 to... Combatants British Empire France Ottoman Empire Commanders Sackville Carden John de Robeck Otto Liman von Sanders Strength 31 battleships 3 battlecruisers 24 cruisers 25 destroyers 8 monitors 14 submarines 50+ transports Various mines and forts; otherwise Unknown Casualties 6 battleships sunk 3 battleships damaged 1 battlecruiser damaged 1 destroyer sunk... Combatants Australia, New Zealand Ottoman Empire Commanders William Birdwood Mustafa Kemal Strength 2 divisions 1 battalion 1 div. ... Landing at Cape Helles Conflict First World War Date 25 April 1915 Place Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey Result British victory The Landing at Cape Helles was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula by British and French forces on April 25, 1915 during World War I. Helles, at... First Battle of Krithia Conflict First World War Date 28 April 1915 Place Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey Result Turkish victory The First Battle of Krithia was the first Allied advance of the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. Starting at Helles on April 28, three days after the initial landings... Second Battle of Krithia Conflict First World War Date 6–8 May 1915 Place Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey Result Turkish victory The Second Battle of Krithia continued the Allies attempts to advance on the Helles battlefield during the Battle of Gallipoli of World War I. The village of Krithia and... Third Battle of Krithia Conflict First World War Date 4 June 1915 Place Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey Result Turkish victory The Third Battle of Krithia, fought on the Gallipoli peninsula during World War I, was the final in a series of Allied attacks against the Turkish defences aimed at capturing the... Battle of Gully Ravine Conflict First World War Date 28 June - 5 July 1915 Place Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey Result Allied victory The Battle of Gully Ravine was a World War I battle fought at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula. ... // Combatants British Empire Australia India New Zealand United Kingdom Ottoman Empire Commanders Ian Hamilton Otto von Sanders Mustafa Kemal Strength 4 divisions (initial) 8 divisions (final) Unknown Casualties Suvla: 8,155 Anzac: 12,000+ Total: 20,155+ 12,000 The Battle of Sari Bair, also known as the August Offensive... Battle of Krithia Vineyard Conflict First World War Date 6–13 August 1915 Place Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey Result Turkish victory Gallipoli Campaign Naval operations – Anzac – Helles – 1st Krithia – 2nd Krithia – 3rd Krithia – Gully Ravine – August Offensive – Krithia Vineyard – Lone Pine... Combatants Australia Ottoman Empire Commanders Harold Walker Unknown Strength 1 division Unknown Casualties 2,300 6,000 The Battle of Lone Pine, which took place during the Gallipoli campaign, was the only successful Australian attack against the Turkish trenches within the original perimeter of the ANZAC battlefield, and yet it... Landing at Suvla Bay Conflict First World War Date 6–15 August 1915 Place Suvla, Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey Result Turkish victory The landing at Suvla Bay was an amphibious landing made at Suvla on the Aegean coast of Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey as part of the August Offensive, the... The Battle of Chunuk Bair was a World War I battle fought between the Turkish defenders and troops of New Zealand and Britain on Turkeys Gallipoli peninsula in August 1915. ... Combatants Britain Ottoman Empire Commanders Beauvoir De Lisle Mustafa Kemal Strength 14,300 Unknown Casualties 5,300 2,600 The Battle of Scimitar Hill(Yusufçuk Tepe) was the last offensive mounted by the British at Suvla during the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I. It was also the... Battle of Hill 60 Conflict First World War Date 21–29 August 1915 Place Gallipoli, Turkey Result Turkish victory The Battle of Hill 60 was the last major assault of the Battle of Gallipoli. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... Battle of Gallipoli Conflict First World War Date 19 February 1915 - 9 January 1916 Place Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey Result Ottoman victory The Battle of Gallipoli took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli in 1915 during the First World War. ... Anzac Cove looking towards Ari Burnu, 1915. ... Look up Wiktionary:Swadesh lists for Afrikaans and Dutch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Empty tennis courts. ...

On 7 August 1915 two regiments of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade mounted a tragic and futile attack on the Turkish trenches on Baby 700. August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... The Australian Light Horse in Palestine during World War I The Australian Light Horse soldiers were mounted infantry who served during the Second Boer War and World War I. The Light Horse differed from cavalry in that they usually fought dismounted, using their horses as transport to the battlefield and...

Prelude

For the three months since the 25 April landings, the Anzac beachhead had been a stalemate. In August an offensive (which later became known as the Battle of Sari Bair) was intended to break the deadlock by capturing the high ground of the Sari Bair range, and linking the Anzac front with a new landing to the north at Suvla. In addition to the main advance north out of the Anzac perimeter, a number of supporting attacks were planned from the existing trench positions. April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (116th in leap years). ... // Combatants British Empire Australia India New Zealand United Kingdom Ottoman Empire Commanders Ian Hamilton Otto von Sanders Mustafa Kemal Strength 4 divisions (initial) 8 divisions (final) Unknown Casualties Suvla: 8,155 Anzac: 12,000+ Total: 20,155+ 12,000 The Battle of Sari Bair, also known as the August Offensive...

The attack at the Nek was meant to coincide with an attack by New Zealand troops from Chunuk Bair, which was to be captured during the night. The light horsemen were to attack across the Nek to Baby 700 while the New Zealanders descended from the rear onto Battleship Hill, the next knoll above Baby 700. The Battle of Chunuk Bair was a World War I battle fought between the Turkish defenders and troops of New Zealand and Britain on Turkeys Gallipoli peninsula in August 1915. ...

The 3rd Light Horse Brigade, commanded by Colonel F.G. Hughes, comprised the 8th (Victorian), 9th (Victorian & South Australian) and 10th (Western Australian) Light Horse Regiments. Like the other Australian Light Horse and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles regiments, they had been dispatched to Gallipoli in May as infantry reinforcements, leaving their horses in Egypt. Capital Melbourne Government Const. ... Capital Adelaide Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Premier Mike Rann (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 11  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $59,819 (5th)  - Product per capita  $38,838/person (7th) Population (End of September 2006)  - Population  1,558,200 (5th)  - Density  1. ... Capital Perth Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Ken Michael Premier Alan Carpenter (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 15  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $100,900 (4th)  - Product per capita  $50,355/person (3rd) Population (December 2006)  - Population  2,050,900 (4th)  - Density  0. ... The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade consisted of over time of 4 units of mounted infantry and fought in World War One and World War Two. ... Infantry of the Royal Irish Rifles during the Battle of the Somme in World War I. Infantry are soldiers who fight primarily on foot with small arms in organized military units, though they may be transported to the battlefield by horses, ships, automobiles, skis, or other means. ...

The attack

The attack was scheduled to commence at 4:30 a.m. on 7 August. It was to be preceded by a naval bombardment. The 8th and 10th Light Horse regiments were to advance on a front 80 metres wide in a total of four waves of 150 men each, two waves per regiment. Each wave would advance two minutes apart. The distance they would have to travel to reach the Turkish line was a mere 27 metres. Coloured marker flags were carried, to be shown from the captured trenches to indicate success. August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... A regiment is a military unit, consisting of a variable number of battalions - - commanded by a colonel. ...

On the morning of the 7th it was clear that the prerequisites for the attack had not been met. In particular, there would be no simultaneous attack from the rear of Baby 700. The New Zealand advance was held up and they were not to reach Chunuk Bair until the morning of 8 August, a day late. Also an attack from Steele's Post against German Officers' Trench by the 6th Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade of the Australian 1st Division, had failed. The Turkish machine guns sited there enfiladed the ground in front of Quinn's Post and the Nek. Not even a single casualty for the gunners. Nonetheless, Major General Sir Alexander Godley, commander of the New Zealand and Australian Division of which the 3rd Light Horse Brigade was then a part, declared that the attack was to proceed. August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... The 6th Battalion was raised for the First Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. ... The Australian 1st Division was formed in August 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, as part of the Australian Imperial Force. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... Enfilade and defilade are military tactical concepts used to describe a fighting units exposure to enemy fire. ... Look up Casualty in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ... The New Zealand and Australian Division was formed at the start of the Battle of Gallipoli as a composite division under the command of New Zealand general Alexander Godley. ...

Due to a failure to synchronise watches, the naval bombardment finished 7 minutes early, giving the Turkish defenders ample time to return to their trenches and prepare for the assault that they now knew was coming. The first wave of 150 men from the 8th Light Horse Regiment, led by their commander, Lieutenant Colonel A.H. White, went over the top at the planned time and ran into a hail of machine gun and rifle fire. A few men reached the Turkish trenches, and marker flags were reportedly seen flying, but they were quickly overwhelmed. In the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a commissioned officer superior to a major and inferior to a colonel. ...

The second wave of 150 followed the first without question and met the same fate. This was the ultimate tragedy of the Nek, that the attack was not halted after the first wave when it was clear that it was futile. A simultaneous attack by the 2nd Light Horse Regiment (1st Light Horse Brigade) at Quinn's Post against the Turkish trench system known as "The Chessboard" was abandoned after 49 out of the 50 men in the first wave became casualties. In this case, the regiment's commander had not gone in the first wave and so was able to make the decision to cancel.

Lieutenant Colonel N.M. Brazier, commander of the 10th Light Horse Regiment, attempted to have the third wave canceled, claiming that "the whole thing was nothing but bloody murder". He was unable to find Colonel Hughes and unable to persuade the brigade major, Colonel J.M. Antill, who believed the reports that marker flags had been sighted. So the third wave attacked and was wiped out. Finally Hughes called off the attack, but confusion in the fire trench led to some of the fourth wave going over. In the British Army the Chief of Staff of a brigade or similar formation. ... John MacQuarie Antill, CB, CMG (26 January 1866 – 1 March 1937) was an Australian Army Major General in World War I. Antill is best known for rejection a request for an end to the attack at The Nek during the Gallipoli Campaign. ...

Aftermath

The Nek Cemetery occupies much of the former battlefield

A further consequence of the failure to call off the attack at the Nek was that a supporting attack by two companies of the Royal Welch Fusiliers was launched from the head of Monash Valley, between Russell's Top and Pope's Hill, against the "Chessboard" trenches. 65 casualties were incurred before the attack was aborted. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1582 KB)The Nek Cemetery, Gallipoli. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1582 KB)The Nek Cemetery, Gallipoli. ... The Royal Welch Fusiliers was a regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales Division. ...

The Australian casualties from the 3rd Light Horse Brigade numbered 372; 234 from the 8th Light Horse Regiment, of which 154 were killed, and 138 from the 10th, of which 80 were killed. The Turkish losses were negligible on this occasion. When Commonwealth burial parties returned to the peninsula in 1919, the bones of the dead light horsemen were still lying thickly on the small piece of ground. The Nek Cemetery now covers most of no-man's land of the tiny battlefield, and contains the remains of 316 people of whom only five could be identified.^[1]

Trooper Harold Rush of the 10th Light Horse Regiment died in the third wave. His body was one of the few identified and he is buried in Walker's Ridge Cemetery. His epitaph famously reads: An epitaph ( literally: on the gravestone in ancient Greek) is text honoring the deceased, most commonly inscribed on a tombstone or plaque. ...

The battle is depicted in the climax of Peter Weir's 1981 movie, Gallipoli. Australian English (AuE) is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... Peter Lindsay Weir (born August 21, 1944) is an Australian film director. ... Gallipoli is a 1981 Australian film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson, about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. ...

References

• The Nek: The Tragic Charge of the Light Horse at Gallipoli, Peter Burness, 1996, ISBN 0-86417-782-8

1. ^ The Gallipoli Campaign, 1915 Commonwealth War Grave Commission