Bombardment of Smyrna ends

On 9 March 1915 the British bombardment of the fortifications of Smyrna, begun four days earlier, came to an end. In the afternoon a boat under a white flag came out to the ships of Vice-Admiral Richard Peirse carrying an envoy of the Turkish governor, the vali. The admiral presented his terms, and the two sides agreed a truce until 10 a.m. on 11 March. The guns in the gulf fell silent.

Four days without a decision

From 6 March the bombardment went much worse than the British had expected. When on the morning of that day the minesweepers moved onto the minefield under the cover of the ships, well-hidden batteries unexpectedly opened fire on them: four 152 mm guns on the Paleo Tabia headland, five 120 mm guns in the Badenilik work, set on a slope about 45 metres above the sea, and field guns on the shore. The battleship Triumph, the cruiser Euryalus and several minesweepers were hit. Two officers were wounded, one of whom died, and six sailors. A Turkish communiqué reported four killed and seven wounded on its side over the first two days. The same day the Russian cruiser Askold joined the squadron.

On 7 March Triumph destroyed a field battery near Chiflik, but many guns remained undetected. The broken ground and poor light made them hard to spot, and the seaplanes could not help because of bad weather and engine failures. On 8 March, when Triumph hit one of the guns on Paleo Tabia, all three heavy batteries suddenly returned fire, as if they had never been shelled at all. The Turks, however, fired inaccurately and fell silent after half an hour. In the evening Peirse reported to the Admiralty that after four days the only certain result was the destruction of one heavy gun and four field guns. The experience was the same as at the Dardanelles: the defenders sat out the bombardment in shelters, and the ships could not come closer until the minefields had been cleared.

On the night of 8–9 March the minesweepers made a determined attempt. The battleships repeatedly put out the Turkish searchlights, and the boats managed to clear a passage to within about 3 kilometres of the Yeni Kale fort. It cost, however, the loss of the trawler Okino, which struck a mine and sank within a few minutes. Only a few men survived, including the skipper, and ten members of the crew were killed. According to Turkish accounts, the next day the sea washed wreckage of the trawler and sailors’ caps ashore.

Talks under a white flag

As early as the evening of 6 March the Admiralty informed Peirse that the aim of the operation might perhaps be achieved by negotiation. The vali of Smyrna was Rahmi Bey, an influential member of the Committee of Union and Progress, known for his goodwill towards the British and French living in the city. According to British information, he openly regretted that Turkey had entered the war. In London it was hoped that, fearing destruction, he would agree to the de facto neutrality of the port.

On 9 March the governor’s answer was awaited all day. Both battleships approached the forts with a white flag and a signal calling for talks, but soon after noon one of the batteries fired on Triumph. The ships were withdrawn, and after 3 p.m. they began shelling the battery that had violated the white flag. Half an hour later a boat carrying the vali’s envoy came out from the direction of Urla. According to a report by the American ambassador in Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau, the American consul general in Smyrna, George Horton, came aboard Euryalus with him. The envoy explained that fire had been opened by the battery commander’s mistake.

Peirse delivered a statement from the British and French governments. He gave assurances that the Allies bore no hostility towards the Ottoman authorities or the inhabitants of Smyrna, and that they held the governor himself in respect. He demanded that the forts and batteries be handed over for destruction and that the mines and other obstacles be removed, so that ships could freely enter the port. In return he promised that the fleet would neither attack nor occupy the city, that the vali would keep his authority in the vilayet, and that he would receive a considerable sum of money to help those harmed by the war. The talk went off in a friendly atmosphere, and the truce was set until the morning of 11 March.

The British, however, were not sure that the vali could push the agreement through against the military, who had only just fired on the white flag. Peirse also knew that time was short. The Admiralty had warned him that at any moment he might be forced to send both battleships to the Dardanelles, where the decisive attack on the strait was approaching.