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Order Of Battle - April 1915

ORDER OF BATTLE - MEDITERRANEAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE - April 1915

(Note: only fighting troops embarked for the first landing are shown)

MEDITERRANEAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Commander-in-Chief: Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton, GCB
Chief of the General Staff: Maj-Gen. W. P. Braithwaite, CB
Deputy Adjutant-General: Br-Gen. E. M. Woodward
Deputy Quartermaster-General: Br-Gen. S. H. Winter

29th Division
Major-General A. G. Hunter-Weston, CB

86th Brigade:
2/Royal Fusiliers
1/Lancashire Fusiliers
1/Royal Munster Fusiliers
1/Royal Dublin Fusiliers

87th Brigade:
2/South Wales Borderers
1/King's Own Scottish Borderers
1/Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
1/Border Regiment

88th Brigade:
4/Worcestershire Regiment
2/Hampshire Regiment
1/Essex Regiment
1/5th Royal Scots (TF)

XV Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (B, L & Y Batteries)
XVII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (13th, 26th & 92nd Batteries)
CXLVII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (10th, 97th & 368th Batteries)
460th (Howitzer) Battery, Royal Field Artillery
4th (Highland) Mountain Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery (TF) (Argyllshire Battery and Ross & Cromarty Battery)
90th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
14th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
1/2nd London, 1/2nd Lowland & 1/1st W. Riding Field Companies, Royal Engineers (TF)
Divisional Cyclist Company

Royal Naval Division
Major-General A. Paris, CB

1st (Naval) Brigade:
Drake Battalion
Nelson Battalion
Deal Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry

2nd (Naval) Brigade:
Howe Battalion
Hood Battalion
Anson Battalion

3rd (RM) Brigade:
Chatham Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry
Portsmouth Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry
Plymouth Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry

Motor Maxim Squadron (Royal Naval Air Service)
1st & 2nd Field Companies, RN Divisional Engineers
Divisional Cyclist Company

AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND ARMY CORPS

G.O.C: Lieutenant-General Sir W. Birdwood, KCSI

1st AUSTRALIAN DIVISION
Major-General W. T. Bridges, CMG

1st Australian Brigade:
1st (New South Wales) Battalion
2nd (New South Wales) Battalion
3rd (New South Wales) Battalion
4th (New South Wales) Battalion

2nd Australian Brigade:
5th (Victoria) Battalion
6th (Victoria) Battalion
7th (Victoria) Battalion
8th (Victoria) Battalion

3rd Australian Brigade:
9th (Queensland) Battalion
10th (South Australia) Battalion
11th (Western Australia) Battalion
12th (South & Western Australia and Tasmania) Battalion

I (New South Wales) Field Artillery Brigade (1st, 2nd & 3rd Batteries)
II (Victoria) Field Artillery Brigade (4th, 5th & 6th Batteries)
III (Queensland) Field Artillery Brigade (7th, 8th & 9th Batteries)
1st, 2nd & 3rd Field Companies, Engineers

NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIAN DIVISION
Major-General Sir A. Godley, KCMG

New Zealand Brigade:
Auckland Battalion
Canterbury Battalion
Otago Battalion
Wellington Battalion

4th Australian Brigade
13th (New South Wales) Battalion
14th (Victoria) Battalion
15th (Queensland & Tasmania) Battalion
16th (South & Western Australia) Battalion

New Zealand Field Artillery Brigade (1st, 2nd & 3td Batteries)
New Zealand Field Howitzer Battery
Field Company, New Zealand Engineers

ANZAC Corps Troops
7th Indian Mountain Artillery Brigade (21st [Kohat] Battery and 26th [Jacob's] Battery)
Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps

CORPS EXÉDITIONNAIRE D'ORIENT
Commander: General d'Amade

1st DIVISION
General Masnou

Metropolitan Brigade:
175th Regiment
Regiment de marche d'Afrique (2 Battalions Zouaves, 1 Battalion Foreign Legion)

Colonial Brigade:
4th Colonial Regiment (2 Battalions Senegalese, 1 Battalion Colonial)
6th Colonial Regiment (2 Battalions Senegalese, 1 Battalion Colonial)

6 Batteries of artillery (75-mm.)
2 Batteries of artillery (65-mm.)

SOURCE: Official History of the Great War, Military Operations Gallipoli, Vol. I, Appendix 2

On This Day...

Monday, 17 May 1915

GALLIPOLI - Flight Commander Reginald Marix and his observer Charles Samson were involved in an interesting mission on 17 May 1915. That morning Marix....

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GALLIPOLI - Flight Commander Reginald Marix and his observer Charles Samson were involved in an interesting mission on 17 May 1915. That morning Marix had noticed an unusual degree of activity at the port sighting four transports and several smaller craft visibly unloading stores and troops at the small port of Ak Bashi Liman.

Aerial Samson
Photograph: Taken by Squadron Commander Charles Samson on 17 May.

He also saw a large camp filled with soldiers further inland. He returned in the afternoon with Samson as his observer. They took the opportunity to try out a new aircraft as Samson would later recall.

"On May 17th Marix had his big Breguet ready for action. As our principle objective with this aeroplane was an attack on Constantinople, we had to test it out well before allowing the attempt to be made, so in order to see what it could do I made one of my infrequent trips as passenger. We carried no less than one 100-lb and fourteen 20-lb bombs, and also a Lewis gun, a pretty formidable amount for those days. Off we set with the idea of giving Ak Bashi Liman a look-over. Arriving there, we found the place a scene of great activity. We let go all our bombs and created complete panic, and also did a lot of damage. I have since talked with Turks who were actually on the spot at the time, and they all said that we put a complete stop to work for two days, as the labourers fled to the hills. The loss of life was severe, thirteen killed and forty-four wounded. Marix and I came back delighted with the Breguet; but rather doubtful if the engine was reliable enough as it was missing fire most of the time." (Squadron Commander Charles Samson, No. 3 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service)

The two then carried out a more detailed reconnaissance and when their reports reached the GHQ it was concluded that a new Turkish division (it was the 2nd Division) was in transit and would be launching an attack on Anzac in the near future. Warnings reached the trenches on 18 May and as a ressult the Turks would be slaughtered when they launched mass attacks on the early morning of 19 May.