ANZAC 2016 : 101 anniversary : Battle of Gallipoli : Blog
As dawn approached the the 25th April 1915 the Ribble, along with other British Destroyers and Battleships, eased its way towards the Gallipoli Peninsula. The first wave of men, whose task it was to storm the beach and then push inland as fast as possible, was the units of the 3rd Australian Brigade : Three Infantry Battalions of men from Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. They made the last part of their journey in thirty-six rowing boats, towed inshore from Battleships by small Royal Navy steam boats. Even before they reached the beach in the half-light, the small Turkish garrison had spotted them and bullets began hitting the boats, killing some, wounding others. As the boats grounded around the tip of of the Ari Burnu Promontory men launched themselves out, some into deep water where they drowned. Most struggled ashore soaking wet and weighed down by the Rifles and sodden packs. There was initial confusion about where they exactly landed, for above them towered a steep Cliff-like landscape.
Soon hundred of Australians were hard on the ascent of what was later known as Plugge's Plateau, their first major obstacle on the peninsula. It was no easy climb : the wounded or killed slid back down the slope until stopped by a bush; Bayonets were dug into the earth to help them climb; and from the top of the Plateau the Turkish defenders kept up a steady fire. Soon, the Australians reached the top and quickly overcame a trench of full of Turkish Soldiers, while the remainder of the garrison made off into the country beyond. For the Anzacs, the day's fighting, as it developed, never brought them near the objectives called for in the original plan.
