Cyril Brudenell White’s genius move created confusion and allowed the Allies to evacuate

The Allies expected to lose half their men in the Gallipoli evacuation but a mastermind invented “silent stunts” and not one man died.

Australian General Sir Cyril Brudenell White organised the successful Gallipoli evacuation.

When we hear about Gallipoli, we most often hear about the disastrous landings and the catastrophic loss of life.

But until now we’ve heard little detail about the Gallipoli evacuation in December 1915, a huge success that saved tens of thousands of Diggers’ lives thanks to one brilliant tactic.

Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Brudenell White masterminded “silent stunts” – a stroke of genius that confused the Turks and allowed the Allies to withdraw safely right under the enemy’s nose.

His story is told in a new episode of the free weekly In Black and White podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters, with Australian war historian Mat McLachlan:

Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours has published a new book called The Gallipoli Evacuation, by Peter Hart, who was the oral historian of the UK’s Imperial War Museum for 40 years.

McLachlan says military chiefs planned to lose 50 per cent of their men as casualties in the evacuation.

“That was the figure that they were happy to accept, because the lines were just so close to each other, the feeling was any movement out of the trenches would be spotted immediately by the Turks, who would then launch an attack,” McLachlan says.

Instead, not a single life was lost.

White implemented “silent stunts” in the weeks before the evacuation, where artillery fire or sniping from the Anzac lines came to a halt.

Lt Col Brudenell White and Lt Col Neville Howse on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. Picture: Australian War Memoria

The Gallipoli Evacuation, by Peter Hart.

The simple idea was that when troops began evacuating, the Turks would not interpret the silence as a withdrawal.

During the silent stunts, curious Turks would often approach, and sometimes the Allies would open fire, mowing down the enemy.

“It was an absolute act of genius, because it created so much confusion and so much caution in the Turks that it did enable the Anzacs over several weeks … to start to move out,” McLachlan says.

Brudenell White was killed in this 1940 air crash near Canberra. Picture: National Archives of Australia

White’s plan succeeded despite the incompetence of British MPs, who openly talked about the evacuation underway, which was then reported in newspapers worldwide.

“The only reason the Turks didn’t react was they thought it must have been a ruse,” McLachlan says.

“They thought there was no way the British would be silly enough to talk about a secret evacuation in parliament, so therefore they dismissed it.

“So the Brits managed to pull off quite an elaborate double bluff of the Turks … completely without meaning to. It was extraordinary!”

White, who was from St Arnaud, was killed in 1940, along with three federal ministers, in an infamous plane crash near Canberra after flying from Melbourne.

To learn more, listen to the interview in the In Black and White podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or web.

See In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper Monday to Friday for more stories and photos from Victoria’s past.