Inaccurate maps blamed for loss of Gallipoli lives

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Most military historians believe the campaign to take control of the Dardenelles Straits from the Turks was lost through tactical and logistical blunders.

But a new study, reported in a leading newspaper, shows that even if the 500,000 allied troops had been given the right orders, they would have been unable to execute them because they had no idea of the terrain or the layout of the Turkish positions.

Officers relied on maps from tourist guide-books bought in Egypt, which were at least 10 years out of date.   "Historians have recorded hundreds of mistakes but nobody has ever fully explained why they occurred," said Peter Doyle, one of the geographers who carried out the study at Greenwich University, London.

"Our study shows the maps were far worse than anyone has ever realised and that most of the crucial failures can be blamed on soldiers having no idea of the terrain they were fighting in" he said.  In one case, Australian and New Zealand troops were told to use a sandy beach for an easy landing, but nobody had charted the area for currents.

The soldiers were swept on to rocks beneath steep cliffs, easy prey for the enemy gunners.  In another incident, troops took a strategically important hill only to find there was a second one behind it, not marked on the map, with heavy Turkish fortifications.  About 1000 men were killed.

Doyle and his colleague, Matthew Bennet, used satellite and other technology to plot the battlefields with pinpoint accuracy.    ...AAP

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