conclusion that, for the defense of the Dardanelles, from first to
last, the Turks depended upon about 200,000 men with reenforcements
brought up from time to time to refill the ranks. Probably when the
great landing took place only a small proportion of the Turkish troops
were in Gallipoli.

These troops were under the command of the German General Liman von
Sanders, although, from time to time in the operations, the
picturesque figure of Enver Pasha appeared. Admiral Usedom, a high
German naval expert, was placed in command of the purely naval
defenses of the straits.

Unfortunately for the allied force the attack upon the Dardanelles
lacked the important--and perhaps indispensable--element of surprise.
By their early naval attack upon the outer fort, by the gathering of
the army at Mudros and its subsequent return to Alexandria, and,
finally, by the ill-fated naval attack upon the Narrows' defenses, the
Allies had given the Turks ample warning of their intentions. During
the many weeks that intervened between the first naval attack upon the
outer forts and the approach of Sir Ian Hamilton's army, the Turks,
under the supervision of their German mentors, and borrowing largely
of the lessons of the trench campaign in Flanders and France, made of
the Peninsula of Gallipoli a network of positions which it proved
possible, to borrow an expression used of the German concrete trenches
in France, "for a caretaker and his wife to hold." This elaborate
system of trenches and redoubts was dominated by the three great
heights. Every foot of the sides of these major positions had been
prepared with barbed wire, monster pits, mines, concealed machine-gun
batteries, and the almost endless variety of traps evolved out of six
months' experience with the new style of warfare.

Along the many miles of coast of the Peninsula of Gallipoli there were
but few places where, even under the most advantageous of conditions,
it was possible to effect a landing in the face of a strongly
intrenched enemy. The steep slopes of the hills rose from the very
water's edge. Even in cases where there was a low, sandy beach, the
nature of the country in the immediate vicinity made it impossible to
deploy and maneuver any considerable number of troops.

Furthermore the Turks, well aware of the limited possibilities at the
disposal of the allied force, had made terrifically strong defensive
positions of the few beaches where successful landings were at