Gallipoli Trivia Quiz

Answer: 25 April 1915

The first landing took place at 0430hrs on 25 April 1915. The actual landing had been planned for 23 April, but bad weather forced its postponement to the 25 April.

Answer: Liman von Sanders

Liman von Sanders was a German General who had been sent, together with other officers, by the Germans in 1912 to restructure the Ottoman Army. Enver Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of War asked him to take command of the forces in Gallipoli. Most of his staff officers were Ottomans, but Germans filled a number of key command and technical positions. Mustafa Kemal was a brilliant and gifted division commander. Colonel Kannegiesser was a German Divisional Commander.

Answer: U-21, a German Submarine

On 25 May 1915, the German Submarine U21 fired a torpedo at the HMS Triumph (built in 1904 with 4-10 inch guns, a 12,000 tons vessel). Within 15 minutes the massive ship capsized and 70 sailors were lost. Fighting in the trenches came to a complete stop as everyone watched the sinking.

Answer: 250,000

The Ottomans threw almost 500,000 soldiers into the battle and had 250,000 casualties including 86, 000 dead. By comparison, the Allied Forces had 141,000 casualties including 44,000 dead. There are dozens of Allied and Ottoman Cemetaries in the area.

Answer: General Sir Ian Hamilton

General Sir Ian Hamilton (1853-1947) was appointed to lead a force of 75,000 troops on 12 March 1915 by Lord Kitchener. Hamilton's task was to seize control of the Dardanelles Straits and capture the Ottoman capital Constantinople (Istanbul). General Munro later that year replaced Hamilton, due to his lack of success. General Godley was responsible for the pre-war training of New Zealand Forces and led them during the war. General Birdwood commanded the Australian Troops and later the Anzacs.

Answer: HMS Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth had a tonnage of 29,700 tons and a maximum speed of 24 knots. She was armed with 15 inch guns and fired 86 15 inch shells and 71 6 inch shells during the campaign. In 1948 she was scrapped. HMS Cornwallis took part in all operations. She was later hit by three torpedos near Malta with the loss of 15 crew. HMS Lord Nelson was the last battleship powered by reciprocating steam engines. HMS Prince George had a lucky escape when a torpedo failed to explode on impact off Cape Hellespont at Gallipoli.

Answer: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881 in Thessaloniki in Greece. He choose the army as his career and attended the military academy in Constantinople. At Gallipoli he lead the 19th division and showed superior leadership. Later on (1922-23) he managed to throw all foreign armies out of Anatolia and became the first President of the Turkish Republic.

Answer: 7 January 1916

83,000 Allied Soldiers were evacuated from Anzac and Suvla by 20 December 1915, without detection by the enemy. The deception was achieved by maintaining a certain routine in trench life! The last Allied units at Cape Hellespont slipped away on 7 January 1916.

Answer: 1973

In 1973 the Turkish Government designated 33,000 hectares of land at the southern tip of the peninsula as Gallipoli National Park. There are numerous war cemeteries and memorials belonging to the different nations involved in this area.

Answer: AE2

AE2 slipped through the the narrows on 25 April 1915. It was forced to surrender on 30 April, after five days of creating havoc in the Sea of Marmara. A faulty main ballast tank pushed it to the surface just next to the Ottoman Torpedo boat Sultanhisar.

The sub was disabled by the Sultanhisar and subsequently scuttled by its captain, Henry Stoker. In 1998 the wreck of AE2 was discovered in the Sea of Marmara.