The Evacuation of Helles

Today, ninety five years ago on 8^th January 1916 the evacuation of Helles was completed.

British and French landings at Helles on 25th April 1915, had failed to secure their objectives, leading to a lengthy stalemate on the southern tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

The 8^th Battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli a few weeks earlier on 18^th December 1915. Ron Austin in the Battalion history, “Cobbers in Khaki,” describes the feelings of those soldiers that left, one man remarked:

“A bit hard on us old chaps sneaking away like rats, having to leave so many of our old mates buried there, and then finding our efforts were no good…In fact we were like criminals sneaking away”

Corporal Dave Muir observed as the vessel sailed from Gallipoli, it contained “a grim crowd of old-young men, each with his own thoughts.”