the first authentic hotel on the Gallipoli peninsula
RIVERBED
8TH DIVISION HEADQUARTERS / HILL 241
8. TÜMEN KARARGAHI SU YATAĞI
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IF STONES COULD SPEAK - ANZAC
The 23rd
Regiment was ready to attack towards Chunukbair with 2 batallions up at the
front line, one in reserve. The 28th was equally ready to attack towards
Falcon’s (Rhododendron) Ridge. İt was almost daybreak ...
I stept out of my tent. I could see the soldiers from the units
that would make the attack. Here I waited for the moment to lauch the attack.
Translated from “Memoirs of the Anafartalar Battles”, Çanakkale recollections
/ Volume I, (Istanbul 2005), Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, p. 88
"Chunuk Bair Cemetery" period picture partially reproduced showing the Turkish 8th Divisions' Headquarters at "Su yatağı" (riverbed), "The battlefields of Gallipoli, then and now", (London - 1990), Nigel Steel, p.166.
Last updated : 01/02/08
Kemal Mustafa
Atatürk spent the night of 9-10th Augustus in a place called the Riverbed,
also the HQ of the 8th Division :
I had an uneasy and sleepless night. I didn’t get a minutes rest because on
one hand throughout the night I was receiving reports which were deliberaltey
misleading and inaccurate, yet none the less were important to interpret.
These reports came from the Anafartalar (Suvla) sector. On the other hand I
was being constantly solicited in my headquarters by officers who had lost
their units and superiors.
I send out some of these officers again to check the activities and
dispositions of the 8th Division. Of these officers, Captain Hidayet of the
General staff had done an outstanding job in controlling preparations for the
attack.
The 41st Regiment did not arrive till the moment of the attack. They went to
the wrong location and could only join us later, on the other hand the 8th
Division was ready for action.