1915 Ottoman Turkish Map of the Battle of Gallipoli, Gun Batteries

A remarkable 1915 Ottoman Turkish map of the Straits of Dardanelles and the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula. It details Ottoman gun batteries protecting the opening of the Straits, which were the focal point of naval operations by the Entente Powers in February and March of that year. More specifically, it depicts the operations of February 19, when Entente ships bombarded Ottoman gun batteries to open a safe channel through the Straits. The ultimate failure of Entente ships to break through the Dardanelles led to the amphibious assault for which the Gallipoli Campaign is more famous. It also heralded the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey and remains an iconic figure.

A Closer Look

Coverage includes the waters leading into the mouth of the Dardanelles Straits, with the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, on the European side of the Straits, at top-right and portions of Çanakkale, on the Asian or Anatolian side of the Straits, at bottom-right. The fortifications at Seddülbahir (سد البحر(, meaning 'Walls of the Sea,' are evident at the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, along with Ertuğrul Tabyası (Ertuğrul Bastion). On the Asian (Anatolian) side of the Strait are the Orhaniye Tabyası (Orhaniye Bastion) and the gun batteries at Kumkale. Hazards are indicated along the coast.

At sea, the range of the coastal batteries are indicated, as are the route of Entente ships (namely, the British HMS Cornwallis and Vengeance, and the French battleship Suffren) taken during the battle of February 19. The numbers along the ships routes likely indicate their location at given times of the day.

The Cornwallis was able to engage the Ottoman battery at Orhaniye at a distance freely for most of the day, but its shelling proved to be ineffective. Later in the day, the Ottoman batteries on both sides of the Straits returned fire and the Vengeance, supported by Cornwallis and Suffren, made a daring close quarters attack on the guns at Kumkale, suffering some damage in the process.

The attack of February 19 achieved only limited success, but the ships returned later, on February 25, to effectively silence the Ottoman batteries seen here and allow minesweepers to enter the Dardanelles. At this point, the plan to clear a path to the Black Sea appeared to be succeeding, but subsequent operations against inner defenses along the Dardanelles became bogged down and minesweepers were unable to clear a path through the waters (the Ottomans also learned from British tactics to plant new mines where they were most likely to be hit by British ships). As a result, Entente military planners turned to an amphibious landing to seize Ottoman forts along the Dardanelles, which would open the sought-for route through to the Sea of Marmara.

The Gallipoli Campaign

The Gallipoli Campaign was an ambitious but ultimately failed attempt by Entente Powers to weaken the Ottoman Empire and knock it out of the war. The Ottomans were believed to be weak after losses in the recent Italo-Turkish War (1911 - 1912) and the First Balkan War (1912 - 1913). Aside from weakening or eliminating the Ottoman military threat, a secure supply line to the Black Sea would be a major advantage against the Axis. Initially, as described above, the Entente attempted to break through the Dradanelles and Bosporus using naval power alone, but this proved impossible. Afterwards, the Entente turned to an amphibious operation, but planning suffered from poor intelligence and an underestimation of the quality and quantity of Ottoman forces.

In fact, the Ottoman troops tasked with defending Gallipoli were highly motivated (they were, in essence, defending their capital) and commanded by an experienced corps including both Turkish and German officers. Perhaps most importantly, the Entente ran into significant delays in disembarking troops, giving the defenders weeks to prepare after the invasion plan was already obvious. Landing in late April, the Entente troops, including large contingents of Australian and New Zealander (ANZAC) and Indian troops, quickly established beachheads at the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula around Seddülbahir (Cape Helles). Further up the peninsula, however, they ran into heavily entrenched Turkish troops defending high ground, armed with machine guns and artillery. Over the next several months, both sides threw in hundreds of thousands of troops, along with battleships, submarines, airplanes, and other resources, to push the enemy trenches and effect a breakthrough. In the end, the battle proved to be a stubborn stalemate. Given the difficulties of securing and supplying their beachhead, the Entente position was more tenuous, leading to the decision to begin an evacuation in November that lasted until early January.

Military historians debate the significance of the Gallipoli Campaign, but there is no doubt that the Entente failed to achieve their objectives. Not only were the Dardanelles not opened, but the Ottomans were given a major boost of confidence and remained in the war until the very end, drawing troops and resources away from the Western Front (and Eastern Front in the case of the Russians). In the long term, the battle contributed to the national consciousness of Turkish, Australian, New Zealander, and Indian troops, weakening their parent empires in the years after the war. Finally, the campaign had an enduring impact on the careers of two of its commanders. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill's career was nearly ruined by its failure, while on the Ottoman side Mustafa Kemal, who commanded an infantry division that suffered tremendous casualties, emerged as a national figure and built much of his later cult of personality around his heroism at Gallipoli.

Publication History and Census

This map is dated the 19th of February (Şubat, شباط), 1915, and was most likely printed by the Erkan-i Harbiye-i Umumiye Matbaası, the press of the high command of the Ottoman Army. We are unaware of any other examples of the map in institutional collections or in private hands.