William Scurry’s Drip Rifle & The Evacuation of Gallipoli
On the 9th January 1916, the disastrous Gallipoli campaign came to an end with the successful evacuation of the last remaining allied troops on the peninsular. The campaign began on the
25th April, 1915 and lasted eight months with no real gains made and the original objective of taking
Constantinople (Istanbul) proving impossible. With casualties from combat and disease rising daily the decision was made to evacuate the allied forces in the Dardanelles.
In October 1915, the British commander of the expedition General Ian Hamilton was sacked and replaced with General Sir Charles Monro whose appraisal of the situation in November led to his recommendation that the British Mediterranean expeditionary force at Gallipoli be evacuated. This was agreed by the British government in December and planning for the evacuation began.
Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove were the first sectors to be evacuated with the last troops leaving before dawn on the 20th December. It was initially estimated that as many as 30,000 casualties would be suffered if the Ottomans realised the allies were evacuating.
As a result a series of deceptions and ruses were used to give the impression that the British and ANZAC lines were still fully manned. One of these was Lance Corporal William Scurry’s ‘Drip Rifle’ which saw rifles rigged to fire as water dripped from a suspended can above the rifle into a pan attached to the trigger. The rifle was secured in place by sandbags with a round loaded into the chamber. Once ready to evacuate the pan would be punctured and in time water would pour or drip into the lower pan until there was enough water in it to pull the trigger and fire the rifle leading the enemy to believe that the trenches were still inhabited and the usual routine exchanges of
sporadic rifle fire were continuing.
W. Beach, Helles, on 7th January 1916, just prior to the final evacuation (source)
Scurry’s ingenious invention saw him mentioned in despatches, awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and promoted to sergeant (see image #6). He was later commissioned and was awarded a Military Cross in October 1916. By the end of the war he was a Brevet Captain and an artillery (mortar) instructor. Despite shrapnel wounds which later made him blind he served again during World War Two as a Captain with the 17th Garrison Battalion and commanded an internment camp. He died in 1963 aged 68. In early 1916 he wrote to his mother telling her about his invention and sent her the magazine he’d taken from his Lee-Enfield which was left behind at ANZAC Cove as part of the deception.
British stores at Suvla Bay burning on the 20th December 1915 (source)
Other deceptions included the use of dummy artillery pieces made from old cart wheels and scrap corrugated iron (see image #6) to disguise the fact the guns had been withdrawn. In the trenches dummies dressed in uniform were placed in the trenches (see image #5). Scurry’s drip rifle idea was deployed in the last hours of the evacuation as the last rear guards, approximately 2,000 men, were withdrawn. The Newfoundland Regiment was one of the last rear guard elements to evacuate the peninsular on the 9th January while the Plymouth Battalion of the Royal Marines Light Infantry were the very last to leave, fitting as they had been amongst the first British troops to land in April.
The eight month long Dardanelles campaign saw 252,000 allied casualties amongst the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and the French Oriental Expeditionary Corps with an estimated 220,000 Ottoman troops being killed or wounded. The evacuation was completed without the loss of a single man to enemy fire with one soldier killed when an ammunition magazine exploded prematurely. 35,268 men, 3,689 horses and mules, 127 guns, 328 vehicles and 1,600 tons of equipment and stores were evacuated. It was without doubt the best executed part of the campaign and one of the most brilliant large scale evacuation operations ever to be executed.
For once it hasn’t been too long since the last recap, roughly a month, but a lot of ground has been covered from more early breechloaders through to experimental squeezebore ammunition. Other posts include a look at the Colt Model 1971, the Norwegian Krag rifles made for the Nazis during World War Two and a look at the Schwarzlose Model 1898, a pistol years ahead of its time.
Other non-firearms posts have looked at the history and origins of the Victoria Cross, Hardit Malik - the first Indian fighter pilot and lots of quotes of the day.
The Historical FirearmsBook Club will be returning this month. With reviews of some of the books I’ve been reading lately and also hopefully reviews from you guys too. I’m hoping to post around 26th February so if you’d like to submit a short review of a book you’ve read recently please do. More info about that here.
In other news the Patreon page now has some physical rewards outside of the monthly hi-res desktop backgrounds. There are now bookmarks and keyrings available. More on that here.
Thanks again for following and reading the blog. Thanks for your support, much more to come and some new projects in the offing! if you have any questions, suggestions feel free to send me a messagehere.
William Scurry’s Drip Rifle & The Evacuation of Gallipoli
On the 9th January 1916, the disastrous Gallipoli campaign came to an end with the successful evacuation of the last remaining allied troops on the peninsular. The campaign began on the
25th April, 1915 and lasted eight months with no real gains made and the original objective of taking
Constantinople (Istanbul) proving impossible. With casualties from combat and disease rising daily the decision was made to evacuate the allied forces in the Dardanelles.
In October 1915, the British commander of the expedition General Ian Hamilton was sacked and replaced with General Sir Charles Monro whose appraisal of the situation in November led to his recommendation that the British Mediterranean expeditionary force at Gallipoli be evacuated. This was agreed by the British government in December and planning for the evacuation began.
Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove were the first sectors to be evacuated with the last troops leaving before dawn on the 20th December. It was initially estimated that as many as 30,000 casualties would be suffered if the Ottomans realised the allies were evacuating.
As a result a series of deceptions and ruses were used to give the impression that the British and ANZAC lines were still fully manned. One of these was Lance Corporal William Scurry’s ‘Drip Rifle’ which saw rifles rigged to fire as water dripped from a suspended can above the rifle into a pan attached to the trigger. The rifle was secured in place by sandbags with a round loaded into the chamber. Once ready to evacuate the pan would be punctured and in time water would pour or drip into the lower pan until there was enough water in it to pull the trigger and fire the rifle leading the enemy to believe that the trenches were still inhabited and the usual routine exchanges of
sporadic rifle fire were continuing.
W. Beach, Helles, on 7th January 1916, just prior to the final evacuation (source)
Scurry’s ingenious invention saw him mentioned in despatches, awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and promoted to sergeant (see image #6). He was later commissioned and was awarded a Military Cross in October 1916. By the end of the war he was a Brevet Captain and an artillery (mortar) instructor. Despite shrapnel wounds which later made him blind he served again during World War Two as a Captain with the 17th Garrison Battalion and commanded an internment camp. He died in 1963 aged 68. In early 1916 he wrote to his mother telling her about his invention and sent her the magazine he’d taken from his Lee-Enfield which was left behind at ANZAC Cove as part of the deception.
British stores at Suvla Bay burning on the 20th December 1915 (source)
Other deceptions included the use of dummy artillery pieces made from old cart wheels and scrap corrugated iron (see image #6) to disguise the fact the guns had been withdrawn. In the trenches dummies dressed in uniform were placed in the trenches (see image #5). Scurry’s drip rifle idea was deployed in the last hours of the evacuation as the last rear guards, approximately 2,000 men, were withdrawn. The Newfoundland Regiment was one of the last rear guard elements to evacuate the peninsular on the 9th January while the Plymouth Battalion of the Royal Marines Light Infantry were the very last to leave, fitting as they had been amongst the first British troops to land in April.
The eight month long Dardanelles campaign saw 252,000 allied casualties amongst the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and the French Oriental Expeditionary Corps with an estimated 220,000 Ottoman troops being killed or wounded. The evacuation was completed without the loss of a single man to enemy fire with one soldier killed when an ammunition magazine exploded prematurely. 35,268 men, 3,689 horses and mules, 127 guns, 328 vehicles and 1,600 tons of equipment and stores were evacuated. It was without doubt the best executed part of the campaign and one of the most brilliant large scale evacuation operations ever to be executed.
