Withdrawal

The QODY left the Peninsular for a period of rest at Murdros in late October but while away, the decision was made to abandon the Suvla and ANZAC beachheads. 5th Dorsets were evacuated in December but not before they had suffered an awful ice storm that drove them off the Kiretch Tepe Ridge, which the Turks had failed to do. The last Dorset soldiers to leave the peninsular were the QODY's machine gun sections, who had been retained to make up for the crucial lack of Vickers guns necessary in trench warfare.

The Gallipoli campaign had cost the county the lives of well over a thousand of its sons but over two years of warfare remained. The QODY served on in Egypt and Palestine, while the 5th Dorsets returned to the Western Front and the crucible of the Great War, in time to take part in the battle of the Somme in 1916.

Related Image Gallery

Evacuation Map

Ambulance In A Gully

Storm Casualties

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