Third attack on Anzac Cove

Third attack on Anzac Cove
Part of the Gallipoli Campaign
Turkish troops going over the top in an assault on a British trench line in Anzac Cove.
Date 19 May 1915 Location Anzac Cove, Adrianople Vilayet, Ottoman Empire 40°14′24″N 26°17′33″E / 40.24000°N 26.29250°E / 40.24000; 26.29250 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
British Empire  Australia  New Zealand	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
William Birdwood	Essad Pasha
Units involved
ANZAC	2nd Division 5th Division 16th Division 19th Division
Strength
17,300	42,000

The third attack on Anzac Cove (19 May 1915) was an engagement during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War. The attack was conducted by the forces of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, against the forces of the British Empire defending the cove.^{[nb 1]}

On 25 April 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed on the western side of the Gallipoli Peninsula, at what thereafter became known as Anzac Cove. The first Turkish attempts to recapture the ANZAC beachhead were two unsuccessful attacks in April. Just over two weeks later, the Turks had gathered a force of 42,000 men (four divisions) to conduct their second assault against the ANZAC's 17,300 men (two divisions). The ANZAC commanders had no indication of the impending attack until the day before, when British aircraft reported a build-up of troops opposite the ANZAC positions.

The Turkish assault began in the early hours of 19 May, mostly directed at the centre of the ANZAC position. It had failed by midday; the Turks were caught by enfilade fire from the defenders' rifles and machine-guns, which caused around ten thousand casualties, including three thousand deaths. The ANZACs had fewer than seven hundred casualties.

Expecting an imminent continuation of the battle, three Allied brigades arrived within twenty-four hours to reinforce the beachhead, but no subsequent attack materialised. Instead, on 20 and 24 May two truces were declared to collect the wounded and bury the dead in no man's land. The Turks never succeeded in capturing the bridgehead; instead the ANZACs evacuated the position at the end of the year.

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