Baby 700

Perhaps never in history had 20,000 men been wedged in such a small area of inhospitable ground. The perimeter stretched like two arms of a triangle. The northern arm ran from the beach below Walker’s Ridge, up its eroded clay slopes onto Russell’s Top, then up First Ridge to Baby 700. Short of Baby 700 it joined the second arm as a dotted line of outposts at the head of Monash Gully. The second arm ran from the beach some 1400 metres south of Anzac Cove up Bolton’s Ridge, a finger spur on the seaward side of 400 or Lone Pine Plateau, across the edge of the plateau and along the crest of Second Ridge, ending in Dawson’s position at Quinn’s. It encompassed some 2500 metres of coastline, and followed a ragged perimeter along first and second Ridges of some 4000 metres from beach to beach. The farthest-advanced post at Quinn’s was some 1200 metres from the sea. The natural apex of this triangle was Baby 700 and this the Turks held. Without Baby 700 in Birdwood’s possession, it seemed impossible to hold the beachhead. From Baby 700 the Turkish sniper could fire down the length of Monash Gully, the main communication way. Already snipers were infiltrating across the Nek and firing into the backs of men holding the posts along second ridge. From Baby 700 it was possible to see along the length of Second Ridge as far as the 400 plateau. Down first ridge, The Nek, along the length of Russell’s Top and the top of Plugge’s Plateau could be seen. Everywhere in the Anzac perimeter was overlooked.

"Gallipoli, The New Zealand Story", (Auckland 1998), Christopher Pugsley, p. 159