Chapter 71 – Ellis

Many of the details included in this chapter are taken from Uncensored Dardanelles , by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. The referenced events of 9 July 1915 are covered on pages 149-151. Some of the key details included from this source include:

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett visited Anzac on the morning of 9 July and had a long talk to Birdwood who was “laid up” having been just vaccinated for cholera. Birdwood outlined his plan to “get astride the Peninsula” and cut off the Turkish forces to the south. He proposed to “launch the Australians independently with instructions to proceed along the shore, and to crawl up the hills in any way they like until they have reached their objectives, and there to establish themselves.” At the same time Birdwood proposed to land a new division at Suvla Bay with instructions to push inland and occupy the Anafarta Ridge. Birdwood conceded the risks of sending the Australians into such difficult and unknown terrain, but declared that “the Dominion soldiers should certainly be the men for the job.”

Birdwood raised the prospect of launching 500 Light Horse in the Turkish rear and agreed it would be excellent if the Greeks could be induced to land at Bulair. Birdwood pledged Ashmead-Bartlett to secrecy about the plan.

After seeing Birdwood, Ashmead-Bartlet visited Quinn’s, Popes and Courtney’s Posts, accompanied by Captain Onslow, the general’s Aide-De-Camp.

Ashmead Bartlett then records “I thought over the new plan of campaign on the way home, and I am alarmed at the prospect.”

Charles Bean includes details referenced in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18, vol II:

p. 284 – Construction of Watson’s Pier was finished in July 1915

p. 348 – Watson’s Pier was still under construction on 14 July 1915

p. 349 – Photo (AWM ref A02007) showing Watson’s Pier and the short route to the steps leading up to General Birdwood’s shelter.

p. 354 – Watson’s Pier was under construction during June 1915, under the supervision of Lieutanant Watson.

p. 439 - Birdwood’s plan to take the heights via the northern flank and cut off the Turkish Army was adopted by Hamilton.

Other AWM photo’s showing the construction of Watson’s Pier with a piling rig that utilised an unexploded shell, and details of General Birdwood’s dugout include: G01046, G01042, G00761 and C00479.

Biographers Fred and Elizabeth Brenchley, in Mythmaker, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett – The Englishman Who Sparked Australia’s Gallipoli Legend , describe Ellis Ashmead Bartlett’s experiences with the Turkish Army in the Balkans on pp. 37-43. This includes a description of how he achieved a scoop by hiding on a ship to Constanza in Romania, and cabling the story to London from there.

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett’s book With the Turks in Thrace gives an account of his experiences with the Turkish Army in the Balkans Wars, and was published in 1913.