Achi Baba

{{Short description|Landform in Turkey, defense in the Gallipoli campaign}} '''Achi Baba''' ({{langx|tr|Alçıtepe}}) is a height dominating the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, located in Çanakkale Province.<ref name="Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary p. 5">''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary'', p. 5</ref> Achi Baba was the main position of the Ottoman Turkish defenses in 1915 during the World War I Gallipoli campaign.<ref name="Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary p. 5"/> 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.<ref name="Duffy">{{cite web|last=Duffy|first=Michael|title=The Attempt on Achi Baba, 1915|url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/achibaba_jul.htm|work=www.firstworldwar.com|accessdate=7 June 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Duffy" />

thumb|''Night attack by Turkish troops on the left wing of the English positions near Achi Baba on Gallipoli'' (A. C. Michael)

Achi Baba is referenced in the closing stanza of the following poem published in 1915:{{quote|On Achi Baba's rock their bones<br/>Whiten, and on Flanders' plain,<br/>But of their travailings and groans<br/>Poetry is born again.|from 'A Renascence' by Robert Graves<ref>{{cite web|title=A Renascence|last=Graves|first=Robert|publisher=Poetry Foundation|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54006/a-renascence|access-date=22 January 2018}}</ref>}}

==See also== * Krithia, nearby, also called ''Alçıtepe'' in Turkish

==References== <references />

==Sources== * ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary'', Third Edition. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1997. {{ISBN|0-87779-546-0}}.

Category:Gallipoli campaign Category:Landforms of Çanakkale Province