Achi Baba

Achi Baba (Turkish: Alçıtepe) is a height dominating the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, located in Çanakkale Province.[1] Achi Baba was the main position of the Ottoman Turkish defenses in 1915 during the World War I Gallipoli campaign.[1] Mediterranean Expeditionary Force Commander-in-Chief Sir Ian Hamilton had set the capture of Achi Baba as a stated priority for operations during the Allied landing at Cape Helles on 25 April 1915.[2] Four separate attempts were made by the Allies to seize Achi Baba and the village of Krithia between April and July, but the heights remained in Turkish hands for the duration of the campaign.[2]

Achi Baba is referenced in the closing stanza of the following poem published in 1915:

On Achi Baba's rock their bones
Whiten, and on Flanders' plain,
But of their travailings and groans
Poetry is born again.

— from 'A Renascence' by Robert Graves[3]

See also
  • Krithia, nearby, also called Alçıtepe in Turkish

References
  1. Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, p. 5
  2. Duffy, Michael. "The Attempt on Achi Baba, 1915". www.firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  3. Graves, Robert. "A Renascence". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 22 January 2018.

Sources
  • Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1997. ISBN 0-87779-546-0.


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