Third Battle Of Krithia

Battle was duly renewed at noon on a sunny, breezy 4 June and was the result of a joint initiative between Hunter-Weston and the newly-arrived (15 May) French commander Henri Gouraud.

Gouraud's working relationship with the British was notably stronger than the predecessor he replaced, General d'Amade. During the course of his service at Gallipoli the recklessly courageous Gouraud was to break both legs and lose an arm (moving King George V to send a telegram of consolation to Hamilton).

Allied dugout at West Beach, GallipoliPreceded as usual by an ineffective shrapnel bombardment from eighteen-pounder artillery the Allied attack made early gains, particularly from the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division to the British right. The French - to the extreme right - struggled in particular.

The Third Battle of Krithia (Kirte for Turks), fought on the Gallipoli peninsula during World War I, was the final in a series of Allied attacks against the Turkish defences aimed at capturing the original objectives of April 25, 1915. The previous failures in the first and second battles resulted in a less ambitious plan being developed for the attack but the outcome was another costly failure for the Allies. The allied aim was, as always to facilitate the capture of Alçı Tepe (Achi Baba) which commanded most of the peninsula.

Hunter-Weston returned to command the VIII Corps when it was re-established in France in 1916. At the launch of the Somme Offensive on 1 July 1916 it was Hunter-Weston's divisions that suffered the worst casualties and failed to capture any of their objectives.
Nicknamed 'Hunter-Bunter', Hunter-Weston was a classic example of the stereotyped British "donkey" general — he was also referred to as "The Butcher of Helles" for his utter disregard for the welfare of his troops and his incompetent battle plans. Hunter-Weston was an advocate of the broad frontal assault made in daylight. When his plan of attack for the Second Battle of Krithia failed on the first day, he proceeded to repeat the plan on the second and third days. He claimed he was "blooding the pups" when he made the inexperienced 156th Brigade of the Scottish 52nd (Lowland) Division attack without a

The Third Battle of Krithia, 4th June 1915

After the failure of the Second Battle of Krithia, 6-8 May, Major-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, commanding 29th Division, and tactically in charge of the Helles front, was still confident of success if an early attack was launched.
His opinions carried much weight with General Sir Ian Hamilton and GHQ and he was encouraged to maintain 'a ceaseless initiative' against the Turkish positions in front of Krithia and Achi Baba. British units received much-needed reinforcements in May and on 24 May Hunter-Weston was formally appointed commander of the British forces on the Helles front as GOC VIII Corps.

Meanwhile, the replacement of General d'Amade by General Gouraud as commander of the French forces on the peninsula resulted in the latter's willing co-operation in plans for the renewal of the offensive at Helles.

On 31 May Hamilton sanctioned plans to fight a general action in the Helles zone. However, this was to be an attack with strictly limited objectives NOT aimed at capturing Achi Baba in one day.