The Battle of Sari Bair (Turkish: Sarı Bayır Harekâtı), also known as the August Offensive (Ağustos Taarruzları), represented the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
At the time of the battle, the Gallipoli Campaign had raged on two fronts – Anzac and Helles – for three months since the Allied land invasion of 25 April 1915. With the Anzac front locked in a tense stalemate, the Allies had attempted to carry the offensive on the Helles battlefield – at enormous cost and for little gain. In August, the British command proposed a new operation to reinvigorate the campaign by capturing the Sari Bair ridge, the high ground that dominated the middle of the Gallipoli peninsula above the Anzac landing.
The main operation started on 6 August with a fresh landing 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Anzac at Suvla Bay in conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The Allies mounted an attack north into the rugged country alongside the Sari Bair range with the aim of capturing the high ground and linking with the Suvla landing. At Helles, the British and French were now to remain largely on the defensive.
1915Aug, 6
World War I: Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
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Events on 1915
- 12Jan
Women's suffrage
The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to require states to give women the right to vote. - 28Jan
United States Coast Guard
An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces. - 18Mar
Battle of Gallipoli
World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles. - 20Mar
General relativity
Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity. - 17May
Herbert Henry Asquith
The last British Liberal Party government (led by Herbert Henry Asquith) falls.