By the end of July the Allies began looking at alternative strategies to break the deadlock on the peninsula. Lieutenant-General Birdwood, the ANZAC commander, formulated a plan to break through the Turkish lines at Anzac and seize the heights of the Sari Bair range. Lieutenant-General Hamilton had given up on breaking out at Helles and seized upon Birdwood’s idea. He expanded the plan to include landing two British divisions behind the Turkish front line at Suvla Bay, 8km north of Anzac Cove, intended to occur simultaneously with attacks from the Anzac sector and a diversionary attack from Cape Helles.

The August Offensive opened on 6 August 1915 with an Australian attack on Lone Pine, at the southern end of the Anzac sector at Gallipoli. Four days of savage fighting secured the area for the Australians but at a heavy price. Of the Australian force that launched the attack at Lone Pine, almost half became casualties. Australian losses during the battle amounted to 2,277 men killed or wounded, out of the total 4,600 men committed to the fighting over the course of the battle. These figures represent some of the highest casualties of the campaign. Turkish casualties were estimated to be somewhere between 5000-7000.

Lone Pine served as a diversionary attack to draw the Turks’ attention away from the main offensive which the New Zealanders and other Allies were to launch the following day against the three key high points of the Sari Bair range, namely Chunuk Bair, Hill Q and Hill 971.

Archives Reference: AAME 8106, 11/17/19