George Mitchell Campaign

The Australian 3rd Brigade, comprising the 9th, George Mitchell in the 10th, 11th and 12th Battalions, was the covering party in the first wave of the Gallipoli landing. George and the 10th Battalion came ashore at 4.30am and landed near Ari Burnu – This site later named Anzac Cove. Their objective was to reach the second ridge inland and locate the Ottoman batteries. Mitchell wrote in his diary, ‘Fierce we expected it to be, but fierce as it was we never dreamed’. They managed to scale the first ridge above the beach. Most of the 10th reached a minor objective and dug in on the northern edge of 400 Plateau beside Wire Gully. Desperate attempts to advance were made under constant Ottoman bombardment. In what became a stalemate, the battalion remained dug in, making little progress over the next three weeks. Mitchell noted, ‘There is no excitement in waiting for the enemy who never appears’. Mitchell fought in Gallipoli from 1914-1918.
Western Front. …show more content…
The first wave consisted of bombers and bayonet men. Mitchell was in the second wave comprising Lewis gunners, rifle grenaders and a carrying party with tools and supplies. The success of the attack depended on the tanks, which failed to deliver. Troops of the 48th Battalion were the last into the fray and sustained heavy casualties in the ‘unrelenting hurricane of fire’. By 7 am the 48th had seized 500 yards of the Hindenburg Line, but in doing so more than half its strength had been killed or wounded. At 9.30 am roll call revealed that only 9 officers and 218 other ranks remained. The 48th battalion withdrew from this battle at