… If the British fleet has not been able to bring home a victory is it mainly due to the fact that our field guns reach their targets by a curved trajectory with a great falling angle, which makes the shells come down nearly vertical.  On the other hand the long naval guns, of which the shells are meant to penetrate cuirass, reach their targets by a long rectilinear trajectory directly towards the target.
The moral and psychological impact on the enemy is big and these shells can actually reach embedded earthworks and ramparts but with a reduced result.
This is how the relatively light losses by the Turks can be explained. Although the Allies possessed a considerable superiority in naval guns, who were of higher caliber, range and power compared to the Turkish field artillery.

"Gallipoli", (Paris 1934), General Hans Kannengieser (translated from German by Lanoix) , p. 104

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On the Turkish side, the arrival on one of these 35 or 38 cm shells was considered a natural disaster and always had big effects on the troops.  When a shell managed to reach the target, entire groups of Turkish soldiers could be thrown into the air …
… the explosion of these large shells always created a spray of earth lifting up into the air; a few moments later on could hear the glares fall down with a deafening noise but without further effect.  The Turkish soldiers started calling these shells "fountains" when they learned that their effect was no more that fear.

"Gallipoli", (Paris 1934), General Hans Kannengieser (translated from German by Lanoix) , p. 104-105

"Defending the Dardanelles" reproduced from a period postcard (Louis Neefs - private collection)

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“Transport of the gun-carriage of a 24 cm gun”, picture reproduced from “The Battle for The Dardanelles-1915”, (Berlin 1927), Major Dr. Carl Mühlmann, p. 127

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last updated : 20/02/07

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