Gallipoli- V-Beach and the fort of Sedd-el-Bahr, seen from the 'River Clyde', 25 April 1915 (Dardanelles campaign) RMG PV0974, William Lionel Wyllie, circa 1915

Gallipoli: v-beach and the fort of sedd-el-bahr, seen from the 'river clyde', 25 april 1915 [dardanelles campaign] (updated october 2014) this is a finished watercolour of v-beach at cape helles on the gallipoli peninsula during the morning of 25 april 1915. The turkish fort on the right is sedd-el-bahr (or seddülbahir). In the lower left foreground is one of the lighters that was placed ahead of the landing ship 'river clyde' (1905). It is covered in dead soldiers of the british expeditionary force. The imperial war museum has a photograph (negative number a03076) of the gallipoli landing at this point on a copy of which wyllie is likely to have based this version of the event, which may have been intended as the basis of a magazine illustration, though that remains to be confirmed. It might also have been a drawing wyllie considered for inclusion in his co-authored book 'sea fights of the great war' (1918) but if so it is not suprising it was omitted and illustration of the dardanelles campaign represented by images of the offshore bombardment and so on, rather than the slaughter on the beaches. Pae0996 is a preliminary grey wash sketch for it, extensively annotated. Date: circa 1915. Dimensions: 301 mm x 470 mm. Collection: Fine art.