Krithia is a small Turkish village in the Eceabat District of Çanakkale Province, Turkey, about 4 miles from the tip of the Gelibolu Peninsula.
During the Gallipoli campaign, the village was an objective of the first day of the landing, 25 April 1915. It was never reached. Over the following months, Turkish defenders successfully repulsed several assaults by the invading British and French troops.
First Battle of Krithia Even more than the Anzacs, British and French forces suffered disastrously on their earlier landing, at Cape Helles, at the foot of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Fifteen Victoria Cross medals were awarded in the first two days but a huge number of troops were killed-in one British battalion, 70 per cent of men were either killed or wounded-and large amounts of supplies and ammunition were lost. General Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, determined that the British and French should try to take two strategic inland points-the village of Krithia and a neighbouring hill, Achi Baba-from where they could push north, removing the Turks from the high country and joining up with the Anzacs. The allies were sent into battle on 28 April 1915. Turkish forces under the German commander General Liman von Sanders (who also held the Turkish rank of Field Marshal, conferred in August 1914) resisted strongly. Allied planning was uncoordinated and the attacks poorly led. The allies suffered heavy losses and were forced to abandon the attack after 10 hours.