Landings at Cape Helles - Langholm 1915

Cape Helles is on the southwest tip of the Gallipoli peninsular. The initial landings were made on 25th April 1915, which included 1st Battalion KOSB troops (regular army). The 1st/5th KOSB territorials landed on 6th June 1915.

Sunday 25th April

^{Dardanelles landings. Pink and blue: Entente powers. Green: Central powers.}

There were 55 regular KOSB soldiers in the E&L Roll of Honour in January 1916, with no battalion specified; it is probable that some belonged to 1st Battallion. 1st KOSB was recalled from India in August 1914 and was one of the British units that landed at Y Beach.

The landing took place at 5.30 am on 25 April, initially encountering only four Turks. However, Ottoman troops amassed and attacked in the late afternoon and early the next morning, losing half of their troops and killing a third of British troops, including 1st KOSB’s commander Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Koe. The Ottomans were repulsed by a bayonet charge and left the area, after which the British troops also left, failing to consolidate the ground won.

^{Y Beach was the northernmost landing point in the Cape Helles area}

Sunday 6th June 1915

The 1st/5th KOSB territorials sailed from Liverpool on 24th May 1915 on the Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania, holder of both the eastbound and westbound transatlantic Blue Riband speed records.