Embarkation Pier Cemetery

Embarkation Pier Cemetery is to the left of the road heading north from North Beach, Anzac. Various headquarters were established in the area in August 1915 and later on a casualty clearing station. The pier itself was constructed for the purpose of evacuating casualties from the heights and valleys in front of the cemetery during the ‘August Offensive’ between 6 and 12 August 1915, but had to be abandoned when the area came under heavy enemy rifle and shell fire. The cemetery was constructed after the war by bringing in burials from smaller cemeteries nearby and in the hills.

Of the 944 soldiers buried or commemorated in Embarkation Pier only 282 have identified graves. Seven of these are of Australians. A further 118 Australians are ‘believed to be buried’ in this cemetery and each of them is named on a Special Memorial.

Location Information

The Anzac and Suvla cemeteries are first signposted from the left hand junction of the Eceabat- Bigali Road. From this junction travel into the main Anzac area. After 12.8kms the cemetery will be found on the left.

Embarkation Pier is on the north side of the mouth of Chailak Dere, at the north end of Ocean Beach (or North Beach). The cemetery is a little way inland, between the beach and the road from Anzac to Suvla.

Visiting Information

The Cemetery is permanently open and may be visited at any time. The location/design of this site, makes wheelchair access impossible.

Please note that in the absence of a cemetery register, visitors are advised to locate the Grave/Memorial reference before visiting. This information can be found in the CASUALTY RECORDS within this page.

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 landings were made 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.

Early in August 1915, the Embarkation Pier area was occupied by the headquarters of two divisions, and later by the 16th (British) Casualty Clearing Station. The pier was made for the purpose of evacuating wounded from the Battle of Sari Bair, but it came under heavy rifle and shell fire and was abandoned after just two days.

Apart from five original burials, the cemetery is made up of burials brought in after the Armistice from the cemeteries known as Chailak Dere Nos 1 and 2, Mulberry Tree, and Apex, and from isolated graves.

There are now 944 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in the cemetery. There are special memorials to 262 casualties known or believed to be buried among them but 662 of the burials are unidentified.