The Myth of the Missing Seven Minutes - The Charge of the Light Horse at the Nek

Thursday 10 October 2013 - Graham Wilson

One of the most well-known actions involving the AIF during the First World War is the so-called “Battle of the Nek”. Unlike much larger actions involving the AIF later in the war, the action at The Nek is fairly well-known to the average Australian with any sort of an interest in Australian military history. Not the least of these reasons is that the charge of the 8th and 10th Light Horse Regiments features as the climax of Peter Weir’s 1981 film Gallipoli, starring a young Mel Gibson alongside Mark Lee. Gallipoli repeats a number of myths associated with the battle, including the well-known “fact” that one of the reasons for the bloody failure of the assault was that there had been a deadly seven minute delay between the end of the preparatory bombardment and the launching of the first assault wave. This deadly hiatus, we are told, gave the Ottoman defenders more than enough time to re-man their trenches and lay in wait for the doomed Australians. While this is the accepted story, however, dating back to the first publication of the relevant Official History volume in 1924, the facts, as revealed by the contemporary records―made at the time and on the spot―show the deadly delay to be non-existent. My talk with discuss and demonstrate this.