First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, planned an attack on the Dardanelles (Turkey) to draw German troops from the Western Front, opening an ice-free corridor to the Russian allies and forcing a negotiated settlement of the war without American involvment.

The Cape Helles beaches provided the Turks with perfect defensive positions and the British naval bombardment failed to make an impact. The allied troops were transported by the S.S. River Clyde. Soldiers disembarked onto pontoons down a gangway. Small barges with a capacity of about 40 were also used. However, as the men emerged, they were met by a hail of bullets. Only 21 of the first 200 soldiers made it to the shore.

Tim Buckley, a Munster Fusilier, described his experience of the landing:

"I was talking to the chap on my left when I saw a lump of lead enter his temple. I turned to the chap on my right, his name was Fitzgerald from Cork, but soon he was over the border. The one piece of shrapnel had done the job for two of them."

Sgt J Mc Colgan, was with thirty two men, only six of whom survived. He was shot in the leg. He recalled the landings thus:

"One fellow's brains were shot into my mouth as I was shouting to them to jump for it. I dived into the sea. Then came the job to swim with my pack and one leg useless. I managed to pull out the knife and cut the straps and swim ashore. All the time bullets were ripping around me."

Dublin Fusilier, Private Tom Cullen from Old Kilmainham was the first man to Sedd-el-Bahr Fort. Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, he was killed fighting with the 6th Battalion of the Dublin Fusiliers in Salonika. So few of the Dublins and Munsters got ashore, they joined together to form a single battalion, 'The Dubsters'. On April 28th, Private John Donovan from Cork was killed, as were his two brothers on August 21st. Munster Fusilier, Guy Nightingale, survived Gallipoli, the Western Front and the German Spring Offensive. On the twentieth anniversary of the Helles landings, Guy shot himself, ending his nightmares.

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