WI Gallipoli fails early on?

[carlton_bach]

Just guessing into the blue here:

I watched a documentary late last night that said that the beaches at Gallipoli were initially shelleed by an Ottoman warship from the Dardanelles, but it retreated after spotting a submarine. Assuming that doesn't happen, could the shelling hold up the landing long enough for more forces to be brough to bear on the landing operation? Could it get bad enough for the command to call it off on day one?

If so, what else would the Entente do? They have these forces in theatre, will they use them in the Med or put them elsewhere? Will Churchill's career recover?

 

[David S Poepoe]

Without any major losses in life I don't see Churchill even being forced to leave the Admiralty.

 

[Albidoom]

I might have watched the same documentary (if the channel was Arte)

As for the shelling strong enough to deter the invasion? Hmm, a tricky question as the ottoman forces at Gallipoli were initially not too strong (and in some cases not even in entrenched positions, though I might be wrong on that one)

On the other hand, seeing how the campaign went OTL it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that the british commander might decide to call it quits early on.

And for the troops I could imagine they could go to Saloniki (as this would be the closes theatre) and buff up the attempt to help the serbian army.
OTL France and Great Britain had sent two divisions to back up Serbia. the initial five divisions from Gallipoli would easily triple their forces which might prevent the fall of Serbia.

 

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

I might have watched the same documentary (if the channel was Arte)

As for the shelling strong enough to deter the invasion? Hmm, a tricky question as the ottoman forces at Gallipoli were initially not too strong (and in some cases not even in entrenched positions, though I might be wrong on that one)

On the other hand, seeing how the campaign went OTL it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that the british commander might decide to call it quits early on.

And for the troops I could imagine they could go to Saloniki (as this would be the closes theatre) and buff up the attempt to help the serbian army.
OTL France and Great Britain had sent two divisions to back up Serbia. the initial five divisions from Gallipoli would easily triple their forces which might prevent the fall of Serbia.

I don't see how Ottoman naval shelling would cause the British to call it quits on the first day. The Entente had about 40 battleships on the scene to the Ottomans' two hugely obsolete pre-dreadnoughts.

Because the landings could occur at any number of points, the Ottoman defense had to be planned to react to developments. Since the whole Entente plan hinged on the Ottomans being militarily incompetent, I don't think that attitude would be dispelled by the end of the first day.

Even after it became clear the Ottomans were both competent and determined, the campaign was not called off. Once committed, it doesn't seem very likely that it would have gone much differently than it did. If the Entente had been seriously hard-pressed elsewhere, perhaps an earlier withdrawal might have occurred.