From First to Last (Helles Walking Tour)

From First to Last (Helles Walking Tour)

This tour allows you to follow in the footsteps the British troops from the first moments they landed on the Peninsula on the morning of April 25 right through to the most advanced front line positions they held before retracing their steps to the beaches in the evacuation in January 1916.

After driving down from Eceabat, passing some of the Turkish fortifications that played a part in defeating the Allied fleet on March 18 when it tried to fight its way through to Istanbul, we come to the southern toe of Cape Helles, where the walking component of the tour begins. First stop on the tour is at V Beach, where the Dublin and Munster Fusiliers and the Hampshire Regiment tried to land on April 25, having been carried to the beach in a modern day Trojan Horse, a converted collier named the River Clyde.

We then climb to the Ertruğul Battery above V Beach, one of the Turkish artillery positions demolished in the months before the landings, though still crucial on April 25 as Turkish troops dug in and around the battery played a major role in stopping the British advance off the beach below.

Before heading inland, following the route of the Allied troops as they advanced north, the tour stops at the Helles Memorial, the monument commemorating the more than 20,000 British and Commonwealth troops who have no known grave.

Among the other sites visited as the tour moves inland are :

• rench artillery position with the four heavy guns still in place, pointing as they did in 1915 towards Asia, emplaced to counter Turkish guns across the Dardanelles
• Backhouse Post, the original headquarters dugouts of the Royal Naval Division.
• Redoubt Cemetery, just behind the final front line positions of the Allies, where more than more than English, Scottish, Irish and Australian and New Zealand soldiers lie buried.
• The Vineyard, scene of heavy fighting in June, where the position just short of the village of Krithia (modern day Alçitepe) was captured by the men of the 42nd Lancashire Division and then recaptured by Turkish troops.

Advice for visitors

This walk is relatively easy, with little climbing involved. However, it is advised that solid shoes be worn, and that guests bring a hat and carry adequate water with them, as temperatures can be hot, especially in the summer months.