Sir Ian Hamilton's Recall to London

One of the key events in the later stages of the Dardanelles campaign was the relieving of Sir Ian Hamilton as the Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on 14 October 1915 to be replaced  by Sir Charles Monro. The fact that Hamilton was replaced was not surprising following Keith Murdoch's letter and British war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett's critique of the Gallipoli  campaign in the Sunday Times.  More importantly Captain Guy Dawnay travelled from the Dardanelles to London to brief British High Command as well as the British Prime Minister and King George V on the true situation of the campaign. Dawnay believed that Hamilton was was not up to the task and that the camapign should be shut down. He arrived back at the Dardenelles just a few days before Hamilton received the news he was to be recalled.

Monro took up his post on 28 October 1915 and immediately two things became very obvious to him. Firstly an advance on Constantinople was out of the question and secondly it served no useful purpose to remain in the Dardanelles and as a result he recommended that the Gallipoli peninsula should be evacuated. Despite this recommendation it would take the British Cabinet back in London another two month's to finally give the order to evacuate.

Despite the issues with British High Command local newspapers still encouraged readers to believe that everything was going well with the campaign as this article from The Ballarat Courier shows while at the same time letting it readers know of Hamilton's recall.

Ballarat Courier 21 October 1915

Reuben Mitchell

When we last posted an entry about Reuben he was aboard the AE2 on his way to Alexandria as part of the second convoy. With the Dardanelles landings due to commence in a little over a weeks time it might be worthwhile to post another entry for Reuben to see what he has been doing up to this point of the war.  Reuben is on temporary transfer aboard the repair ship Penguin when the AE2 became the first allied submarine  to breech the Dardanelles Strait in April 1915.  On 30 April  the submarine  was scuttled off the coast of Turkey and her entire crew taken prisoner of war. As a result of this Reuben was transferred to serve aboard British submarines. In a letter sent home to his parents he mentions his transfer.

                                 'I left the submarine ten days before she left Malta, and came up here in a merchant ship, only to hear of her fate when I arrived. It was the first trip I have missed in her since she was commissioned , so I suppose I may consider myself lucky. I would have told you all about it in my last letter , but it had not been announced officially.' (extract taken from Dinkum Oil : letters published in the Ballarat Courier during the Great War. by A. M.Taylor, available in Australiana Research Room, Ballarat Library.)

 The Ballarat Courier also published another letter Reuben sent home describing life on board the submarine AE2   This letter, obviously written prior to the letter written above,  could quite possibly be the letter he mentions in the above extract. The letter is reproduced below. 

Ballarat Courier 14 April 1915 

 

ANZAC Centenary online

By chance this morning I heard on Radio National Breakfast a segment on the Australian submarine the AE2.  Troops landing on the beaches at Anzac Cove is the iconic image of the Gallipoli campaign, but there was also an underwater story. You can listen to the segment here : how the AE2 was the first submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles defences and eluded capture for almost a week.  

The Royal Australian Navy features the AE2 story, and there is also an AE2 Commemorative Foundation.  One of the servicemen of the Great War which this blog is following is A.S. Reuben Mitchell, who served on the AE2 and later the E14. We introduced him in our blog of 23 November 2014.

There are now many blogs, facebook pages and websites all concentrating on the ANZAC centenary and the men and women who took part in the Great War.  

Something that came to our attention today are two Facebook pages dedicated to former Ballarat citizens who went to the War - Sister Alice Ross-King, born in Ballarat but later of Melbourne, and Bert Reynolds, originally from Sebastopol.  These Facebook pages are entering diary entries making their posts part of #AnzacLive - try using that hashtag on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook for other interesting posts.

Another blog of interest is that of James Greenbank's ANZAC story  created by Carin Greenbank in honour of her great uncle, originally from Snake Valley.  Carin has created a wonderful blog, quite simple and short, and it's an example of what can be done with research results.  It can be an effort to produce a book but creating a blog or a Facebook page is an excellent and simple way to publish research. 

Happy online searching! There is so much to follow and read.  But if you'd prefer a book, we have a copy of Stoker's Submarine by Fred and Elizabeth Brenchley, in the Australiana Room.

An illustration by Simon Dance of the Dardanelles offensive, from Stoker's Submarine

The Dardanelles - where?

Since about the beginning of March, the Ballarat papers – the Courier and the Star – have been reporting action in some place named “the Dardanelles”, where the combined French and British navies are attempting to force an entrance to Dardanelles Narrows.  I wonder how many Ballarat citizens even knew where this place was; they couldn’t have suspected the significance this name, or the name of the peninsula which lay there, was to have for Australians in the very near future,

Meanwhile in the desert in Egypt, the heat, soft sand and dust storms make conditions difficult for the troops on route marches and during training.  A letter home from one of the troops remarks

“…the heat is much felt out on the sand and one longs for the evening’s cool to come so as to enjoy a rest from it all. We are daily expecting orders to move from here and practically everything is ready whenever they come. I believe we are to go to the Dardanelles which if true should mean some good fighting for us…” *

Remember that many newspapers across Australia have been digitised for the Great War period of 1914-1918, including the Star and the Courier, but also many regional newspapers of the district. They can be found on the TROVE website, where you can browse by date, or search on specific names or events or places.  Next Friday, March 20, our History on the Hub session will be focussing on TROVE and the many treasures to be found there. You can book at the Library 5338 6850.

* Austin, Ron Cobbers in khaki: the history of the 8th Battalion 1914-1918 p. 35