No campaign in the Great War has been the subject of such intense
and prolonged attention and controversy as the one in the
Dardanelles. The general perception is that it was an operation
involving troops from Britain and the Empire. The role of the
French is barely mentioned if at all. As junior partners the French
contribution does not compare to that of the British, but it was
nevertheless significant. Over the course of the ten-month
operation, the French government sent to the Dardanelles six
pre-dreadnought battleships, four cruisers, and a host of auxiliary
vessels that included minesweepers and submarines. Additionally, it
supplied a total of 79,000 troops, supported by artillery and high
explosive shells. The purpose of this study is to concentrate on
the activity of the French so as give a more rounded picture of the
story. The main factor influencing the French decision to join the
British-led expedition to the Dardanelles was to protect their
interest in the Near East. France's economic and cultural ties in
the Ottoman Empire were deep and of long standing, and it wanted to
ensure that the British did not establish themselves in an area it
coveted. Assuming that victory was a forgone conclusion, the Allies
focused their early attention on the future dismemberment of Turkey
rather than on attending to the needs of the campaign itself. It
was a lesson for which they would pay dearly. The French were
involved in the major naval attack on 18 March 1915 during which
they engaged the Turkish forts at close range and, in the process,
the battleship Bouvet ran into an undetected minefield and sank
with the loss of over 600 of its crew. The failure of the Allied
ships to force a passage through the straits prompted the British
to send in the army to seize control of the Gallipoli Peninsula. In
the first landing on 25 April, British and Australian forces
managed to secure the beaches but were unable to advance far
inland. By contrast the French contingent's feint at Kum Cale
achieved its purpose, as it was intended to delay Turkish Asiatic
troops from crossing the waterway to reinforce their comrades on
the peninsula during the early clash of battle. Thereafter French
forces were transferred to Cape Helles and placed at the eastern
end of the British line, where their efforts in the three battles
of Krithia were thwarted by the terrible configuration of the
ground, compounded by flanking fire from the enemy batteries in
Asia. In all the military action, the number of French killed,
wounded or missing in action was placed at 27,000,
disproportionately higher than the British (70,000). The French
were content to play second fiddle until August when, frustrated at
the lack of progress on the western front, they decided to augment
their forces in the Dardanelles where they would play a commanding
role and spearhead the next offensive. The government's objective
touched off a sharp struggle with General Joffre who objected to
the withdrawal of major forces from his front. At length the
government found the courage to overrule Joffre, but just as the
troops were ready to leave for the Dardanelles, the Central Powers
attacked Serbia. Almost overnight, the French cabinet reversed its
decision and instead proposed to transfer its troops to the Balkans
to assist Serbia, without consulting London. The French did not
have enough troops to complete the mission and consequently tried
to browbeat the British to follow suit. The British already had
their hands full with commitments elsewhere and were adamantly
opposed to becoming involved in another operation, especially one
which they judged was doomed to fail. They held out for weeks but
ultimately gave way to avoid straining, or even possibly
fracturing, the Alliance. Lacking the resources to sustain two
fronts in the east, the British were compelled to evacuate the
Gallipoli Peninsula which remarkably was carried out without the
loss of a single man.
General
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