Chapter 76 – Mustafa

Many details in this chapter have been taken from Gallipoli – The Turkish Defence by Harvey Broadbent. Harvey Broadbent includes references translated to English from Turkish archives and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s memoirs. Following are page references for some of these details:

p. 258, 407-408 – Kemal spent the night of 6/7 August at an artillery observation emplacement at Baby 700 (aka Hill 180, Sword Slope) by the phone with his entourage.

p. 253 – Kemal witnessed the attack on Lone Pine (Bloody Ridge) by the Australian First Brigade from his field headquarters. He immediately attacked with his Division’s artillery (howitzers p.246) and machine guns and sent the 1st Battalion of his 57th Regiment (Zeki Bey’s battalion) to reinforce the area.

p. 248 – Zeki’s Battalion took a large supply of grenades to Bloody Ridge.

p. 293, 492 – Kemal’s field Headquarters around this time is described in some sources as Hill 180 (Baby 700, Sword Slope), and in some sources at Battleship Hill (Flat Hill). [Author note: These areas are next to each other on the same ridgeline, and Kemal’s field Headquarters was likely on the eastern (lee) side of this ridge between the two locations.]

p. 251 – Legge Valley was know to the Ottomans as Karayörük Deresi, which translates as “Valley of Black Nomads.” [Author note: I have not found any evidence that this name is a result of the execution of Nomad conscripts in this valley on 26 April. This is only my speculation.]

p. 271 – In the early hours of 7 August, the Ottoman troops at Merkeztepe [Junction Hill] fought off what appeared to be poorly planned assaults that were easily repulsed.

p. 257 – After midnight on 6/7 August, Ottoman forces on the second ridge heard continuous rifle fire from the direction of the Ağildere [Author note: translates to English as Fold Valley].

p. 407-408 – Early on the morning of 7 August, Kemal had a company of engineers working in gully to the east of Düztepe [Flat Hill, Battleship Hill] to establish a communication link with the 9th Division on his right flank. An English translation of Kemal’s divisional order is provided, including details as listed to Izzettin at the end of the chapter. The 9th Division was commanded by the German Colonel Kannengieser (p. 238).

p. 271-272 – at around 04:00, a naval bombardment started into the right flank of the Ottoman 19th Division’s position.

p. 277 – Just before dawn, an officer and a few men from the 14th Regiment arrived at Kemal’s location and reported that their whole regiment had been wiped out by a strong enemy raid in the Ağildere [Fold Valley] sector. They all had bayonet wounds. Kemal saw the risk of being outflanked on the right and sent the remainder of the 14th Regiment to Conkbayari [Chunuk Bair]. That morning Kemal also ordered two companies from the 1st Battalion of the 72nd Regiment to this area also as this was all he could spare.

p. 239 – In early August, the 14th Regiment was deployed in the Ağildere sector.

p. 253-254 – Kemal described in his memoirs the difficulties caused by the pine log trench coverings at Lone Pine, and how these contributed to the loss of front line trenches to the enemy. See also Defending Gallipoli – The Turkish Story , Harvey Broadbent, p. 180.

p. 271-272 – The Anzacs (Light Horse, acting as infantry) charged soon after 04:30. This and a second attack about 15 minutes later were repelled with machine gun fire. Kemal reported that enemy commanders whipped and prodded their troops forward with sticks, and that the attacks “melted away over their trenches due to our fire.”

The timing of the artillery coordination for the Light Horse charge at the Nek has been controversial and provided the inspiration for the ending of Peter Weir’s film “Gallipoli”. The unexplained seven minute delay between the end of the naval artillery bombardment and the start of the charge is described by Charles Bean in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 , vol II, pp. 612-613.

Zeki Bey (commander of 1st Battalion, 57th Regiment) recounted in 1919, in an interview with Charles Bean, how after the Light Horse charge at The Nek, the 18th Regiment “considered itself satisfied; it had ‘got its own back’.” This account is recorded by Charles Bean in Gallipoli Mission , p. 170.

In Gallipoli – The Ottoman Campaign , Edward Erickson refers to a translated Turkish archive with an intelligence report describing the “dismounted Australian Cavalry” on 22 June 1915 (p. 129).