Çanakkale is a Turkish city located on the Dardanelles Strait between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. At the beginning of the second decade of the last century, specifically in 1915 AD, during World War I, Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand decided to launch a military campaign, which they called the Gallipoli Campaign, to occupy Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire at that time, and at a Russian request to march to the north to support Russia against the German forces, as they suffered heavy losses. During the war and also because the region has a geographical, military and economic character.
The battle that took place in the Gallipoli area in Çanakkale marked a shift in favor of the Turks, as they defeated the allied forces during World War I.
On Thursday, Turkey commemorates the 106th anniversary of the Ottoman Empire’s victory in the Battle of Çanakkale against the Allied forces on March 18, 1915.
Intelligence reports
Among the documents are intelligence reports recording information about the intention of the Allied countries to attack Çanakkale, through a massive military landing on land, in addition to important intelligence information about the activities of the Allied countries.
The reports contain information about the exposure of the Majidiyeh military barracks to damage as a result of the bombing it was exposed to, and about the downing of an Allied plane by Ottoman fire fired from Qaba Tappeh, in addition to information about the activities and movements of the Allies regarding the Strait.
The documents also contain detailed information about the Allied fleet’s bombing of the Polair and Tenger points on March 14 and 15, 1915.
The documents also include information from the Intelligence Division of the Ottoman Chief of Staff, about the response to the bombardment of the enemy fleet, which entered the strait before noon on March 18, 1915, and about the sinking of the French battleship “Beauvet” at exactly two o’clock in the afternoon on the same day.
Also among the important documents is a document containing important information about the enemy fleet, consisting of 13 large warships and gunboats, bombarding the forts of Hamidiya, Dardanus and Majidiya in the strait, a severe bombardment that lasted eight hours.
It also contains information about the outbreak of severe fires due to shells falling on the city, which led to the burning of 150 homes, in addition to information about the sinking of 3 battleships and a gunboat from the enemy fleet.
The reason the battle is important and continues to be celebrated today is because it was the starting point for the English and French campaign towards Istanbul. The beginning was from Çanakkale, then the Sea of Marmara, then the Bosphorus, then the entrance to the Black Sea, to reach the northeast of Turkey, support Russia against the Germans, and secure the arrival of supplies and ammunition, after the Russian forces suffered heavy losses. This means that "Çanakkale changed plans and perhaps changed history." One of the most important cinematic works about the battle is the film “The Water Diviner,” starring the famous New Zealand actor Russell Crowe, which dealt with the story of Australian farmer Joshua Connor, who searches for his three missing children in the aftermath of the battle.
On that day, the Ottoman Empire proved to friends and enemies the truth of the saying, “Çanakkale is a fortress that is invincible to enemies and cannot be crossed.”