Finding First World War maps: Gallipoli

Maps of the Gallipoli campaign can aid in identifying the areas in which units and individuals served and tracking their movements through a battle.

Maps used in the Gallipoli campaign

1:40,000 scale maps were used at the time of the landing at Anzac Cove. Two map sheets covered the Gallipoli peninsula. These maps had little detail and were not accurate.

1:20,000 scale maps were developed from captured Turkish maps. These maps became available to troops in July and August 1915, and were more detailed and accurate than the 1:40,000 maps used previously.

Late in the Gallipoli campaign detailed large scale maps were drawn up. These ranged in scale from 1:20,000 up to 20 feet to an inch. The large scale maps included sections of trench line, tunnels, artillery fire plans, and cemetery plans.

In 1916, the Turkish Mapping Directorate produced a series of 1:5,000 maps with a detailed representation of the terrain. These maps incorporated tracings of the trench systems.

The Memorial also holds examples of these and other maps and plans from the Gallipoli campaign. Some of the maps were used during operations while others are related to post-war commemoration and research.

Map References

Map references identify a specific location and are often included in unit war diaries. Gallipoli map references are taken from either the 1:40,000 or 1:20,000 scale maps and are unique to the map scale. For example the map reference for Fisherman’s Hut is 237.Q.4 on the 1:40,000 map sheet and 80.H.5 on the 1:20,000 map sheet.

The map references consist of three parts. The first part of the reference, the “237” in the example above, identifies the 3,000-metre square in which the reference is located.

Each 3000-metre square was divided into 25 squares of 600 metres assigned a letter between “A” and “Z”, with “E” being excluded. The second part of the reference, the “Q” above, identifies the 600-metre square the location falls within.

The 600-metre squares were subdivided into 200-metre areas, which were allocated numbers 1 to 9 (“4” in the example above).

Where to find Gallipoli maps

A list of all the Gallipoli maps held at the Memorial, including those with digital images, can be found using the keywords “Gallipoli maps” in the Memorial’s Collection search [www.awm.gov.au/search/all]. Printed maps held in the Research Centre are listed under “Books” while digitised images of these maps will be listed under “Published Collection”.

• 1:40,000 scale maps of Gallipoli: use the keywords “Gallipoli 1:40,000”
• 1:20,000 scale maps: use the keywords “Gallipoli 1:20,000”
• 1:5,000 scale 1916 Turkish survey maps: use the keywords “Turkish 1:5,000”
• Large scale maps of Gallipoli: use the keywords “Gallipoli trench diagram”
• Aerial photograph mosaics of Anzac Cove: use the keywords “Gallipoli aerial photomosaic”.

Digital images of Gallipoli maps are also available on the McMaster University website.

Useful references

Volumes I and II of The official history of Australia in the war of 1914—1918 include summary maps and descriptions of the terrain at Gallipoli.

The Memorial’s Mapping Gallipoli online exhibition provides information on the background and history of the maps. It includes digitised images from the Gallipoli map collections as well as references to further resources.