Baby 700 Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery

Infobox Military Cemetery
name= Baby 700
body= Commonwealth War Graves Commission


use_dates=April-December 1915
established=1919
designer=
coordinates=
nearest_town=Gallipoli, Turkey
total= 493
unknowns= 450
by_country=Allied Powers:
*Australian: 33
*New Zealand: 10
*British: 1
by_war=
World War I: 493
source= [http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/baby_700_cemetery.htm Battlefields 1914-1918]

Baby 700 Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. It contains some of soldiers killed during World War I during the battles at Gallipoli. This was an eight month campaign fought by Commonwealth and French forces against Turkish forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front (France/Belgium) and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.

One of the hills in the Sari Bair range was shown on Allied maps as being 700 feet above sea level, and its summit marked with a small circle. Another 700 feet hill was shown just North of it and marked with a larger circle, leading to the names Baby 700 and Big 700 being assigned to them by the Commonwealth forces. Baby 700 retained its name throughout the campaign but Big 700 was later renamed Battleship Hill.

The summit of Baby 700 was an immediate objective for the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 and was reached successfully by the 3rd Australian Brigade on the morning of the landing, but the invaders were driven off of it by the defending Turks later in the afternoon. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to recapture it over the following months, with major assaults on 2 May and 7 August but it remained in Turkish hands for the rest of the campaign.

The cemetery was constructed after the Armistice from remains recovered from the surrounding area. Special memorials commemorate ten Australian soldiers thought to be amongst its 450 unidentified burials.

References

*cwgc cemetery|66603
*cite web | url =http://www.gallipoli-association.org/contentpage.asp?pageid=26 | work = Gallipoli Association |title = Baby 700 | accessdate=2008-08-07