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The 163rd Infantry Brigade (54th Division) attack towards Anafarta, 12th August 1915

The ‘myth’ of the ‘vanishing’ Norfolks is not only alive and well, it continues to flourish. Recent press and media attention (notably the made for the TV film ‘All the King’s Men’) have tended to obscure serious attempts to put the record straight. In this context it is useful to look again at the background to and events of that fateful afternoon of 12th August 1915.

Despite the chaos and lethargy of the first few days following the British landings at Suvla on 6/7th August and the abject failure to prevent Turkish forces occupying the overlooking Tekke Tepe Ridge enclosing the Suvla plain to the east, the C-in-C retained a determination to seize control of these heights before Turkish positions became fully fortified.

For this purpose the 54th Division, which landed on the 10th, was earmarked for a local offensive planned for the 13th August. Ideally, Hamilton wished to use this fresh and eager force whilst it retained is full vigour but the anxieties of IX Corps Commander for his perimeter defence meant that the edge of the 54th Division was blunted by confused counter-marching, over 24-hours continuous duty in the trenches and lack of drinking water supplies. General Stopford was also greatly concerned by the threats posed to the 54th Divisional attack by the activities of Turkish snipers in the Anafarta plain and was greatly relieved when, at the Corps conference on the morning of the 12th August the day before the planned attack, the services of 163rd Brigade were offered by Major General Inglefield (Commander of 54th Division) as a force to clear the plain and make way for the main attack. It was in this hastily prepared Brigade attack - in which all component forces incurred heavy casualties that the myth of the disappearing Norfolks was born.

All the participating battalions lost heavily in the attack; the 1/5 Norfolks, advancing beyond the Turkish positions on the plain, lost many men ‘unaccounted for’ or ‘missing in action’. King George V’s special interest in the fate of some of his Sandringham Estate workers, personally known to him, serving in the 1/5 Norfolks crucially kept the issue alive and ripe for speculation and various theories have over time been offered to explain their disappearance. In fact the remains of the ‘missing’ Norfolks were located by a Graves Registration Unit in 1919 and buried as unidentified members of the Norfolk Regiment in a mass grave in Azmak Cemetery, Suvla. The names of the ‘missing’ Norfolks are commemorated on the Helles memorial.

Philip Dutton (IWM)