7 August - Charge at 'The Nek'

The 5th Battalion was not involved in the charge for the Nek. However, it is an important part of the story of the Gallipoli campaign.

AWM [ART07965] oil on canvas painting by George Lambert.

Lambert was commissioned in 1920 to produce this large painting (over 3m across).

It is one of the most famous paintings in the War Memorial collection.

Painted in 1924, it describes

the Charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August, 1915.

Further north from the Lone Pine trenches and the German Officers' Trench were Quinn's Post, Baby 700 and Chunuk Bair. The New Zealanders were to make an assault on Chunuk Bair on 7 August (unsuccessful and tragic). The Australian 3rd Light Horse were to make their charge on The Nek on the same day.

The preliminary bombardment was to be followed by a dawn attack against the Turkish lines at the Nek. Unfortunately the bombardment stopped seven minutes before the whistles blew and the men left their pop-ups. This gave the Turks vital minutes to re-man their positions and ready their equipment. The Australians were led, not by British generals but by Australians: Brigade commander Brigadier General F. Hughes and Lieutenant Colonel John Antill. They gave the orders for three waves of attacks. All were futile. In the confusion a fourth wave was sent over and they met the same withering machine gun fire. The fighting lasted less than an hour. More than 300 men died during the charge. The dead were left in no-man's land for the remainder of the campaign.

I can highly recommend that you read the transcript of Brendan Nelson's address to the National Press Club given yesterday. It covers the August offensive: https://www.awm.gov.au/talks-speeches/august-offensive-last-gasp/

No doubt it will be available as a pod-cast or video soon.