This was a rotten place
The offensive would begin with a series of head-on attacks by Major General Harold ‘Hooky’ Walker’s 1st Australian Division at Lone Pine. These were designed primarily as diversionary, but if successful the plan allowed for further exploitation by driving a wedge into the enemy’s main position. At 2.30 pm at Helles, preceding the Lone Pine attack, elements of the British 29th Division attacked towards a feature known as the Vineyard. This attack, like the one that would follow at Lone Pine, was aimed at focussing the Turkish attention to those areas, thus giving the best chance of success to the breakout.
The British attack at Helles failed, but at Lone Pine the outcome would be very different. Ambitious and risky yes, as all previous attacks of this nature had failed with enormous casualties, however this plan had the advantage of careful planning and cunning, which in previous efforts had been missing. The planned primary attack was against the southern lobe of 400 Plateau, a Turkish position known as Lone Pine. This was scheduled for the late afternoon of 6 August, and would be assaulted by 1 (Australian) Brigade, whilst at midnight, 6/AIF would attack further along the line at German Officer’s Trench, just north of Johnston’s Jolly.
Both positions were defended by Colonel Rüştü, 16th Division, who had deployed 125Regiment on Johnston’s Jolly, the northern lobe of 400 Plateau, and 47 Regiment on Lone Pine. If the attack on Lone Pine proved successful, an attack on the front line trenches on Johnston’s Jolly would then take place. Secondary to this phase, and only if the situation allowed, something that was rare during the fighting so far at Gallipoli, 1st Australian Division would then attack Gun Ridge to occupy its length from Scrubby Knoll to Gaba Tepe. There was nothing original in this, as it was one of the objectives of the covering force during the initial 25 April landings.
Lone Pine was a formidable fortification, positioned opposite the Australian salient known as The Pimple; less than a hundred metres of open, exposed ground separated the lines. The Turkish trenches, protected by barbed wire, were built up by a mix of sandbags and mud bricks, and in places were roofed over with heavy pine logs and earth. The pine log defence is of note as this was to take the Australians by surprise, a feature that had not been correctly identified in earlier aerial reconnaissances. Major Tevfik, commander of 47 Regiment, had placed two battalions in the trenches, whilst his third battalion was close by in reserve to the north of Snipers’ Ridge.
The frontage to be attacked by 1 (Australian) Brigade was just under 200 metres and consisted of flat scrubby ground, protected not only by the Turkish positions on Lone Pine but also by Johnston’s Jolly to the north and the Turkish positions to the south by Cooee Gully. To reduce the time the attacking forces would be exposed to Turkish fire, the Australians had secretly dug shallow tunnels under No Man’s Land, and designed exits to be opened up just prior to the attack; one such gallery, or Russian Sap, was dug within 25 metres of the Turkish line. Ingeniously the tunnels were to have another purpose; they could rapidly be converted into communication trenches to allow reinforcements, ammunition and other supplies to reach the captured positions, and to allow the wounded to be cleared.
Brigadier General Nevill Smyth VC’s 1 (Australian) Brigade was to be used to make the assault, utilising the 2/AIF, 3/AIF and 4/AIF in the attack, whilst keeping 1/AIF in brigade reserve. There would be three waves, each wave consisting of 600 men, comprising about a company from each battalion.