Allies retreat from Gallipoli

On this day, Allied forces during World War I stage a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire. The Gallipoli Peninsula, which guards the opening to the Sea of Marmara, became the scene of heavy bloodshed when Allied forces first attacked Turkish forts there in February 1915. British and French battleships proved superior to Turkish land-based artillery, but naval mines decimated the Allied fleet, forcing a land battle that, over the course of nearly a full year, resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties. Roughly an equal number of Turks were killed or wounded. On January 8, 1916, after 11 months of bloody but ineffectual advances, Allied forces retreated.