VCs of the First World War Gallipoli

by Stephen Snelling

  Now, at last, the moment had arrived. At 7.30 a.m. advance units of the fleet, consisting of two destroyers and a seaplane, headed for the mouth of the Dardanelles. The reaction of the Turkish defences was swift and uncompromising. At precisely 7.58 a.m. one of two 9.4-in guns sited in No. 4 Orkanieh battery, dug in along the Asiatic shore less than five miles from the ruins of ancient Troy, opened fire. The first shot of the Dardanelles campaign fell harmlessly between the two destroyers. However, it set in train a series of events which would culminate in the first Victoria Cross action of the operations. By mid-morning Carden was ready to begin the task of destroying the outer forts guarding the entrance of the straits. The 12-in. guns of the pre-Dreadnought HMS Cornwallis heralded the Allied offensive. She was followed, in turn, by HMS Vengeance, flying the flag of Carden’s second-in-command, Rear-Admiral Sir John de Robeck. Their fire was directed on to the Orkanieh battery, sited between the strategically important fortifications at Kum Kale and Yeni Shehr, a village dominated by a ridge crowned with a line of distinctive white windmills.

  The course taken by Lt. Cdr. Robinson during his demolition operation on 26 February 1915

  The bombardment continued fitfully until sunset, with disappointing results. A fire was seen to break out behind the battery and one direct hit on the emplacements made the Turkish gun crews ‘run like blazes’. Yet, when the Vengeance turned her attentions to the Helles batteries, on the European shore, she came under renewed fire from the guns at Orkanieh, leaving her masts and decks peppered with splinters.

  Bad weather returned to delay the resumption of the assault, but when Carden’s battleships reappeared on 25 February they came fully armed with the experience gained from the first day’s ineffectual action. Anchoring out of range of the shore defences, they began the task of pounding the forts at Helles, Kum Kale and Orkanieh into submission. The Orkanieh battery was silenced by a succession of crushing salvoes delivered by the battleships Irresistable, Cornwallis and Vengeance. One gun was dislodged from its mountings, while the other was thought to have been seriously damaged.

  The following day, while returning from an unsuccessful foray against the intermediate forts, inside the Dardanelles, de Robeck decided to complete the destruction of the guns in the ruined forts by landing a naval demolition party with a covering force of Royal Marines. The operation was launched shortly after 2.00 p.m. on 26 February. In command of the demolition party was Lt. Cdr. Eric Gascoigne Robinson, Vengeance’s torpedo officer and explosives expert. A highly experienced officer, unaccountably known to his friends as ‘Kipper’ Robinson, he was a veteran of the Naval Relief Expedition in China during the Boxer Rising of 1900.

  His orders were to destroy any serviceable guns in the vicinity of Kum Kale and Orkanieh, a dangerous mission, rendered even more hazardous, by the lack of information concerning the strength or dispositions of the Turks. Robinson’s force consisted of fifty seamen, the majority of whom were needed to carry the gun-cotton charges, and a protection party of fifty Royal Marines, commanded by Maj. Granville Heriot, DSO. They landed unopposed and, by 2.30 p.m., under the watchful eyes of senior officers on the bridge of HMS Vengeance, had set about their allotted task. From Kum Kale, they followed the line of the Mendere River as it flowed past a cemetery and then took the road south-west towards a rise known as Achilles Mound. Beyond it lay the Orkanieh battery and Yeni Shehr. Between the cemetery, with its sun-bleached tombs, and the mound, the ground fell away sharply into a horseshoe-shaped depression. The movements of the raiding parties were clearly visible to the men aboard the ships. One of the Vengeance’s officers later recalled:

  We saw them go past the cemetery, up to the semi-circular hollow, and they then signalled that they were attacked: so Dublin fired a salvo at Yeni Shehr mills, which downed three mills and stopped the enemy’s fire from there. We also gave Yeni Shehr a few rounds: however, the Marines still remained in the hollow firing fairly hard. It appears they were attacked from Mendere on their left flank, and from hidden snipers in the cemetery; also, till the guns stopped them, by a large force from Yeni Shehr …

  With his line of retreat threatened by an unknown number of Turks and the way forward hotly contested, Robinson could justifiably have abandoned the operation there and then and attempted to extricate his small party. Instead, he pressed on towards Achilles Mound. An eyewitness from the Vengeance recorded:

  When halfway up the slope (under fire all the time from Yeni Shehr) Robinson’s party stopped and took cover, with the exception of one who went up to Achilles Mound, where the Vengeance’s shells had earlier disclosed two Turkish anti-aircraft guns nearby, got inside the sort of crater at the top, walked calmly down again and, when he was just clear, we saw an explosion, and up went both anti-aircraft guns.

  The lone figure, whose actions were plainly visible to friend and foe alike, was Eric Robinson. With resistance stiffening and not knowing whether or not the gun sites were manned, he had decided to put only his own life at risk. Leaving his party under the command of his young aide, Midshipman John B. Woolley, he advanced over the lip of the Achilles position. Fortuitously, it was unoccupied. He coolly placed a gun-cotton charge on the guns and lit a slow match fuse allowing himself just sufficient time to escape the blast.

  Not content with this success, or perhaps heartened by it, he decided to capitalise on the crushing impact of the Dublin’s salvo directed at Yeni Shehr by leading a small portion of his force against the left-hand 9.4-in gun which remained in the Orkanieh battery. Once more Robinson sought to minimise the danger to his men, but on this occasion his attempt to repeat his single-handed exploit was made impossible by the weight of the charge needed to complete the gun’s destruction. With a small party, he led a dash into the battery site which was also unoccupied and they were able to destroy the weapon.

  Robinson’s superiors, including Admiral Carden’s young Chief of Staff, Cdre. Roger Keyes, watched his actions in awe. The Vengeance’s commander, Capt. Bertram Smith, later recalled:

  We had been watching Eric Robinson … strolling around by himself … under heavy rifle fire from the neighbouring rise, like a sparrow enjoying a bath from a garden hose, until the Dublin turned the hose off with some nicely placed salvoes. He and his party and escort were returning to the boats, while the Admiral and I were happily arranging our recommend [sic] for his VC when a fresh turmoil started all around them.

  They had now passed out of sight in the trees of Kum Kale cemetery and none of us could see what was happening.

  At length, they got a signal through to say they were held up with the main body of the enemy in a large domed tomb. The control could see the tomb and I could just distinguish its top when they put me on. It was invisible at the guns, but I was able to note its whereabouts in the treetops, and went down to let off a 6-inch lyddite. The range was short and the range-finder laid it exactly, so the first round sent the tomb and fragments of its inmates, both ancient and modern, flying heavenwards. Using the burst as a starting point there was no difficulty in taking the guns on to any other target to get our people clear.

  The Marines, however, did not escape unscathed. During the fire fight, Sgt. Ernest Turnbull was killed and three men, Cpl. Harold Charlwood, Pte. Frank Toms and Pte. George Mardle, wounded.

  In the words of the future Lord Keyes, it had been ‘a very pretty little fight’. Assessed alongside a similar operation mounted against the Helles guns, Robinson’s commando-style raid achieved, in the opinion of the Official Historian, ‘a flattering measure of success’. The results of the mission on the Asiatic shore, however, remain difficult to accurately gauge. The Official Historian credited Robinson with the destruction of the remaining gun in the Orkanieh battery and two anti-aircraft guns on Achilles Mound. Yet Keyes, in recommending Robinson for his VC, referred only to his ‘most gallant act in pushing in alone [sic] into Fort IV [Orkanieh] and destroying a 9.4 inch gun, which he found loaded and undamaged’. Whatever the true tally, there was no disputing the gre
at courage displayed by Robinson. In a footnote to Keyes’ recommendation, Admiral Carden wrote: ‘This was a specially brave act, giving most valuable practical results’. As the naval operations in the straits gathered momentum, Robinson added to his growing reputation as one of the most daring officers in the fleet. A naval colleague, Lt. Cdr. Charles Brodie, described his ‘imperturbable’ friend as ‘the foremost of Keyes’ thrusters’.

  During the dangerous minesweeping operations carried out in the build-up to the main naval assault, Robinson earned more praise for his coolness and skill in command of one of the converted trawlers. His ‘press on regardless’ spirit was displayed most notably on the night of 13/14 March when his unarmoured vessel was struck no fewer than eighty-four times by the Turkish shore batteries. A month later his consistent valour was crowned by a spectacular exploit which ranks alongside the Royal Navy’s most gallant enterprises.

  The mission, to destroy the British submarine E15 which had run aground under the very noses of the Turkish guns at Fort Dardanus, took place on the night of 18–19 April. Disabled by shore batteries, the stranded submarine was viewed as a great propaganda prize by the Turks. Battleships, destroyers and submarines were all sent in vain to attempt her destruction. Finally, Admiral de Robeck, apparently on the advice of Keyes, sanctioned an attack by two steam picket boats, manned by volunteer crews from the battleships Majestic and Triumph. Such was Robinson’s reputation and experience gained in this narrow stretch of water, he was personally chosen by the admiral to lead what many considered a ‘forlorn hope’. Indeed, following the failure of an attempt by the destroyer, HMS Scorpion, the risks involved were thought sufficiently grave for an appeal to be made to abandon the operation.

  Brodie, who was Keyes’ assistant, was convinced that a further submarine attack offered the best chance of getting through to torpedo the E15. He later wrote:

  I felt equally certain the picket boats would never see her, and lacking the speed, to say nothing of the luck, of the Scorpion would be sitting targets. ‘Robbie’ was an old friend of myself and many other submarine officers, and I was sick at heart at the thought of him being sacrificed so unnecessarily. I wanted the Rear Admiral to stop, at least to postpone the operation, but he naturally thought Keyes’ opinion might be better than mine, and would not cancel movements already initiated … The picket boat attack bore out Roger Keyes’ belief that sailors could achieve the impossible if well enough led.

  In the face of terrible fire and dazzling searchlights, Robinson led the torpedo attack aboard the Triumph’s boat. Steering straight for Kephez, he held his course until, blinded by a searchlight at close range, he was compelled to take a chance. He fired his first torpedo, and turned away. At that moment the searchlights momentarily lifted, leaving the E15 clearly silhouetted. The midshipman commander of the Majestic’s boat immediately fired both of his torpedoes. At least one ran true and hit the crippled submarine, but the shore batteries bracketed his boat, scoring a mortal blow. Despite the heavy fire, Robinson brought his boat alongside and, in the full glare of the Turkish searchlights, rescued all the survivors. There was a tense moment during the rescue when Robinson’s second torpedo was accidentally half-released. But eventually the sole-surviving picket boat was able to pull out of range of the guns. Robinson, uncertain of his mission’s success, reported ‘one possible hit’. Subsequently, however, it was learned that the operation had achieved its objective. An ecstatic Keyes wrote:

  They simply blew E15 onto her beam quite destroying her – they were only a few hundred yards from Fort 8 [Dardanus] – and any number of guns opened fire. They were only 300 to 500 yards from the beach. We have asked for Robinson’s promotion at once – he ought to get a VC for the 26th Feb.

  The attack on the E15 was so courageously executed that it is sometimes cited as one of the actions for which Robinson was awarded the Victoria Cross. It was not, however, as Keyes’ letter underlines, though Brodie was not alone in believing his friend merited another VC for his leadership that night. Keyes’ recommendation, based on Robinson’s exploits at the Orkanieh battery and in the minefields off Kephez Point the following month, was sent off on 1 April. For his courage in leading the picket boats on the night of 18/9 April, an operation that many felt dwarfed even his earlier exploits, Robinson would have to be satisfied with promotion to the rank of commander. Every other member of the picket boats’ crews was decorated, including Robinson’s faithful midshipman from the Orkanieh episode. John Woolley, who accompanied him aboard the Triumph’s boat, received a Distinguished Service Cross. Six days after the destruction of the E15, Keyes wrote: ‘I am honestly lost in admiration for Robinson, he has done splendidly & I honestly am surprised. I did not think much of him as a First Lieutenant. But that evidently does not prevent him being an exceedingly brave man.’

  When the naval assault gave way to land operations on the peninsula, Robinson spent some time at Kephalo, on the island of Imbros, one of the main bases for the Gallipoli operations. He was hurriedly sent by Keyes to take over the post of Naval Transport Officer at the Anzac beachhead on 5 August. ‘I wanted the man to be gallant and stout-hearted so I sent Commander Robinson’, wrote Keyes. His appointment, however, proved a short one, barely twenty-four hours long. Keyes explained the sudden move back to Kephalo: ‘Robinson was wanted for an important job in the new landing and I was anxious to get him and his midshipman he always takes about with him back.’ Any hopes of adding to his exploits were, however, curtailed the following morning, 7 August, when Robinson was, in Keyes’ words, ‘badly wounded, not dangerously’, during the landings at Suvla Bay.

  Nine days later, the London Gazette announced the award of his Victoria Cross. The citation stated:

  Lieut Commander Robinson on the 26th February advanced alone, under heavy fire, into an enemy’s gun position, which might well have been occupied, and, destroying a four-inch gun, returned to his party for another charge with which the second gun was destroyed. Lieut Commander Robinson would not allow members of his demolition party to accompany him, as their white uniforms rendered them very conspicuous. Lieut Commander Robinson took part in four attacks on the minefields always under heavy fire.

  Cdr. Robinson, his promotion having been confirmed, received his Victoria Cross from George V at Buckingham Palace on 5 October. He did not return to the Dardanelles and while his career continued to flourish he was presented with fewer opportunities to display his distinctive brand of inspiring leadership.

  Eric Gascoigne Robinson, a Britannia term-mate of two future Admirals of the Fleet, Cunningham and Somerville, was born on 16 May 1882, into a naval family – his father John Lovell Robinson MA, was Chaplain of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He went to sea in 1898 and two years later received his baptism of fire, and his first wound, in China when as a midshipman he marched in Admiral Seymour’s Peking Relief Expedition.

  Promoted lieutenant on 15 August 1903, he became a torpedo specialist and served with the submarine depot ship Thames before joining HMS Vengeance. Shortly before the outbreak of war, Robinson married Edith Gladys Cordeux.

  After his work in the Dardanelles, Robinson served in the Eastern Mediterranean in command of the monitor M21, operating along the Palestine coast. His services were recognised by the award of the Order of the Nile in 1917 and a mention in dispatches.

  During the Allies’ war of intervention against the Bolsheviks, Robinson achieved further distinction. As the commander of a small force of Coastal Motor Boats, he helped the Royal Navy gain mastery of the Caspian Sea. On one occasion, during a reconnaisance of Fort Alexandrovsk in May 1919, Robinson led his CMBs into the Bolshevik-held harbour and sank a barge before a hastily raised white flag signalled the port’s surrender. His post-war adventures earned him the Russian Order of St Anne and he was also made an officer of the recently created Order of the British Empire. On 31 December 1920 his distinguished war services culminated in promotion to the rank of captain.

  Between the wars Robin
son held a number of sea- and land-based appointments. His last post, before retirement in 1933 with the rank of rear-admiral on the Retired List, was as captain of Devonport Dockyard. Recalled to active service in 1939, he served as a convoy commodore until ill-health forced his second retirement in 1941. He lived out the last twenty-five years of his life in Langrish, near Petersfield, Hampshire, where his public services continued as a church warden, member of the parochial church council and an elected member of Petersfield Rural Council.

  Admiral Eric Gascoigne Robinson died at Haslar Naval Hospital on 20 August 1965, and was buried in St John’s churchyard, Langrish. An altar frontal in the church commemorated the man whose name became a byword for courage among the crews of the East Mediterranean Squadron, but it was not until 1998 that a memorial headstone was placed over his grave. At a dedication ceremony attended by ex-servicemen, senior naval officers and members of his family, ‘Kipper’ Robinson was honoured again. Paying tribute to the boldest of Keyes’ ‘thrusters’, Admiral Sir Derek Reffell said: ‘The admiral was a hero, but more importantly he was a naval man from the finest mould. Now at least we can accord him the dignity he deserves.’

  F.E. STUBBS, W. KENEALY,

  C. BROMLEY, A. RICHARDS,

  R.R. WILLIS AND J.E. GRIMSHAW

  W Beach, Cape Helles, 25 April 1915

  W Beach, a small sandy cove flanked by steep cliffs lying between Tekke Burnu and Cape Helles, was one of three beaches which formed the main landing zone for the 29th Division on 25 April 1915. It represented a formidable obstacle to the covering force, the 86th Fusilier Brigade spearheaded by the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, whose orders were to seize the beach and link up with the units landing at X Beach to the north and V Beach to the east.