Allies retreat from Gallipoli

8th January 1916

The Gallipoli Peninsula, which guards the opening to the Sea of Marmara, became the scene of heavy bloodshed when Allied forces first attacked Turkish forts there in February 1915. British and French battleships proved superior to Turkish land-based artillery, but naval mines decimated the Allied fleet, forcing a land battle that, over the course of nearly a full year, resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties. Roughly an equal number of Turks were killed or wounded.