Azmak Cemetery, Suvla

Photos: Eric Goossens

Suvla Bay is north of Anzac Cove. From Eceabat to Suvla Point via Anzac Cove is a distance of about 27 km. Inland is the Salt Lake, and farther inland again is the Suvla Plain and low hills that with the exception of some isolated farms and three small villages have been largely uninhabited since 1915.

The prominent hills on the edge of the Suvla Plain are, from west to east, the W Hills, Scimitar Hill, and the twin summits of Chocolate Hill and Green Hill. The plain is so flat that the importance of these hills is out of all proportion to their actual height.

It remains a region of solitude and reflection amid several quiet cemeteries and small farms. There are seven major memorials at Suvla; we visited two of them (The Turkish Memorial and Green Hill Cemetery). During the campaign there were 33 British cemeteries established.

After the war these were concentrated into four CWGC cemeteries; Lala Baba Cemetery, Hill 10 Cemetery, Azmak Cemetery and Green Hill Cemetery. Together they contain over 5,000 dead, more than half of whom are unknown.

Visiting Information:	Wheelchair access to this cemetery is possible via main entrance. For further information regarding wheelchair access, please contact our Enquiries Section on telephone number 01628 507200.
Location Information:	Azmak Cemetery stands at the foot of the line of hills which stretches North-Eastward along the coast from Suvla Point and on the south side of Azmak Dere, a watered ravine which runs south-westward into the north side of the Salt Lake.
Historical Information:	The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea. The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac. On 6 August, further troops were put ashore at Suvla, just north of Anzac, and the climax of the campaign came in early August when simultaneous assaults were launched on all three fronts. The aim of the Suvla force had been to quickly secure the sparsely held high ground surrounding the bay and salt lake, but confused landings and indecision caused fatal delays allowing the Turks to reinforce and only a few of the objectives were taken with difficulty. With Hill 10 Cemetery, Azmak recalls the northern part of the Suvla operations and the attempts to take and hold the Kiretch Tepi ridge and the high ground to the east. The cemetery was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from small cemeteries and isolated sites in the area. Among those cemeteries concentrated into Azmac were 5th Norfolk, under the foothills of Teke Tepe; Oxford Circus; Kidney Hill and Jephson's Post, from Major J N Jephson, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who led the assault which took the place and was mortally wounded there a week later. There are now 1,074 First World War servicemen buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 684 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials commemorate by name a number of casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Also among the unidentified graves are those of 114 officers and men of the 1st/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment (the Sandringham battalion) who died on 12 August 1915.
No. of Identified Casualties:	390