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Diana

The slopes behind ANZAC Cove are actually more broken and easily climbed than behind North Beach (I have climbed both). The thick bushes seemed to be a major problem as the troops ran around in a shambolic way unable to see each other and the officers unable to maintain control. It is reported that a few people actually got to the top of the hill but had insufficient organisation or force to hold any high ground.

The whole point of the exercise was to get to the top of the hill and you can't do that without climbing into overlooking defensive positions at some stage. As I mentioned above the ANZAC force knew in very fine detail where all the Turkish defensive positions were from aerial surveillance in the days before the attack. It was Mustafa Kemel (Ataturk) throwing in the substantial Turkish reserve to reinforce the fairly sparse known defensive positions that turned the tide. In the whole sorry expedition the Kiwis were the ones who came closest to getting to the crest but after a hugely courageous and costly effort, they too failed.

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