Today in History

1915 Wellington Battalion captures Chunuk Bair

Regarded as one of the highpoints of the New Zealand effort at Gallipoli, the attack on Chunuk Bair highlighted the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone. But a massive Turkish counter-attack on 10 August re-captured the position from British troops who had relieved the New Zealanders.

The attack, which began on 6 August, was to be carried out by two assaulting columns of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. They were to meet at Rhododendron Spur and then proceed to the summit. It was an ambitious plan and dependent on speed.

The operation started well – the men of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and Maori Contingent successfully cleared the way for the assault columns. But delays meant that the attack on the summit was ordered before all the infantrymen had reached the Spur.

The Auckland Battalion tried first and failed. The commander of the Wellington Battalion, Malone, refused to sacrifice his men in a daylight attack and insisted on waiting for night-time. Malone was a tough but respected commander from Taranaki who regularly put himself on the line for the welfare of his men. He allegedly told his superior, Brigadier-General Johnson: 'No, we are not taking orders from you people … My men are not going to commit suicide.'

The Wellington Battalion made it to the summit before dawn on 8 August. But with the sunrise came a barrage of fire from the Turks who held higher ground to the north. A desperate struggle to hold Chunuk Bair ensued. It was not until after dark that reinforcements, the Otago Battalion and the Wellington Mounted Rifles, arrived. By then only 70 Wellington Battalion men remained out of some 760. This was to be Malone’s last battle; he was killed by a shell at about 5 p.m.

The New Zealanders managed to hold on for two days. The British battalions that relieved them quickly succumbed to a counter-attack led by Turkish commander Mustafa Kemal, who later became the founding President of Turkey.

A New Zealand memorial stands on the summit of Chunuk Bair. It has a narrow slit through which the rising sun shines on 8 August.

Image: New Zealand and Conkbayiri Atatürk Memorials on Chunuk Bair (Anzac.govt.nz)