e "failure of British sea
power," and English publicists were attempting to show that, though the
enterprise had failed, the very presence of a strong Allied force at
Saloniki had been an enormous gain. The first official announcement of
failure was made December 20, 1916, when it was announced that the
British forces at Anzac and Suvla Bay had been withdrawn, and that only
the minor positions near Sedd-el-Bahr were occupied. Great Britain's
loss of officers and men at the Dardanelles up to December 11th was
112,921, according to an announcement made in the House of Commons by
the Parliamentary Under Secretary for War. Besides these casualties the
number of sick admitted to hospitals was 96,683. The decision to
evacuate Gallipoli was made in the course of November by the British
Government as the result of the early expressed opinion of General
Monro, who had succeeded General Hamilton on October 28, 1915.

General Monro found himself confronted with a serious problem in the
attempt to withdraw an army of such a size from positions not more than
three hundred yards from the enemy's trenches, and to embark on open
beaches every part of which was within effective range of Turkish guns.
Moreover, the evacuation must be done gradually, as it was impossible to
move the whole army at once with such means of transportation as
existed. The plan was to remove the munitions, supplies and heavy guns
by instalments, working only at night, carrying off at the same time a
large portion of the troops, but leaving certain picked battalions to
guard the trenches. Every endeavor had to be made for concealment. The
plan was splendidly successful, and the Turks apparently completely
deceived. On December 20th the embarkation of the last troops at Suvla
was accomplished. The operations at Anzac were conducted in the same
way. Only picked battalions were left to the end, and these were carried
safely off.

The success of the Suvla and Anzac evacuation made the position at Cape
Helles more dangerous. The Turks were on the lookout, and it seemed
almost impossible that they could be again deceived. On January 7th an
attack was made by the Turks upon the trenches, which was beaten back.
That night more than half the troops had left the Peninsula. The next
day there was a heavy storm which made embarkation difficult, but it was
nevertheless accomplished. The whole evacuation was a clever and
successful bit of work.

CHAPTER XXI

THE GREA