About the mysterious disappearance of one battalion fraction five, the Royal Norfolk regiment, in the First World have been a lot of rumors and legends. Different sources give different figures, some otvergaet that disappeared was 145, others claim that more than 200. There are those that puts the figure at 2,000.

Let's start from the beginning.

The mentioned event occurred in August 1915 during the ill-fated campaign at Gallipoli (European Turkey).

Norfolk entered in Gallipoli 29 July 1915. This campaign was aimed at control of the Dardanelles - a long narrow channel, which is almost 65 kilometers along the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula and connecting the Mediterranean and the Black sea. on August 10, that is in the midst sessuale terrible summer heat, Norfolk landed in the Bay of Salva and saw the place that has already become the last refuge for many unfortunate soldiers.

Near the shore was the salt lake.

Dry up in the summer in the summer, it is unbearably glistened in the sun thick crust of salt crystals. Right behind the strip of beach began the battlefield-the plain of Salva bordered next chain of hills stretching from North to South and turned a plain in a giant arena.

Gallipolis the campaign was carried out in a disadvantageous theater, famous modern history; and the eyes of norfolks, trying to convince themselves that they can get out of this adventure appeared nightmarish picture of this hell.

Conditions were terrible. Trenches resembled a hot oven; scorching wind carried the stench of death and raised above the valley the clouds of dust. Food, trenches, corpses and latrines filled disgusting fat green flies "corpse of a fly, so named because they are huge hordes swarming on the bodies of killed and wounded, a Terrible form of dysentery spared no one, the soldiers at the front was turned into a walking skeletons.

Troops, thinned by the epidemic, have been exhausted. Corpses were lying everywhere in the great number; the hands and face of the dead, and here and there came out of the sand, was a horrible feature of the surrounding landscape. Morale fell, in the army there was an atmosphere of hopelessness. But sir Iain Hamilton, chief of the Mediterranean expeditionary forces, believed that the only chance to change the course of the campaign and to achieve victory is faster to introduce fresh forces in the battles on the main line.

The operation began in 16 hours powerful artillery preparation, which lasted 45 minutes. However, the relationship was in a deplorable condition, and have not received the necessary information artillery opened fire at the appointed time, but without a clear coordination purposes.

163 brigade, including the battalion "one shot four", has not overcome and 900 meters, when it became obvious that the intention to cross the open space in the light of day was a serious mistake.

Immediately it became clear that the enemy had a much larger force than expected; a solid machine-gun fire brigade was pressed to the ground. But on the right flank of the battalion "one shot five" did not meet with serious resistance and went on the offensive.

Here is how sir Hamilton described the events that followed in bringing war Minister Lord Kitchener:

"During the battle. with honor held 163-rd brigade, has been a truly mysterious thing... To fight desperately resisted the enemy -- Colonel sir, Bochum, experienced and well-proven officer, steady progress at the head of his battalion. The battle was hot and bloody, the ground was soaked with blood, and numerous wounded were left on the battlefield and only at night returned to the original position. However, Colonel with 16 officers and 250 soldiers continued to press the battle. They finally entered the forest, and we had neither seen nor heard. None of them have not seen, none of them came back".

267 people disappeared without a trace!

But as was commented on what he saw, for its part, twenty-two new Zealand from the third infantry platoon first infantry companies:

"On "height 60" and entrenched themselves there soldiers fell, despite a gusty wind, cloud silver "fog". It was quite dense, nearly "solid" and reached about eight hundred feet long, two hundred in height and three hundred wide. Then there marched the British regiment, the first in the fourth division of the army of Norfolk (actually it was a regiment of the fifth division 1/5 - approx. author) - apparently sent in reinforcements to those already there."

All the witnesses were unanimously confirm that several hundred soldiers, included in walking on the road cloud disappeared in it and none of them came from the opposite side.

After about an hour ' cloud" gradually rose and moved North to Bulgaria. And with it, obviously, and the regiment - all two hundred and fifty men. Anyway position did not have a single soldier. Norfolk regiment vanished without a trace. All this occurred in the presence of observers from other military units, which did not hear any shots or sounds of a struggle. Thanks to their reports at the command was an assumption that the missing soldiers treacherously captured prisoner..

Here are statements soldiers ANZAC (Australian and new Zealand Army corps) 4/165 minesweeper F. Reichart and 13/416 minesweeper R. of Nunes:

"The day was clear, as it can be a beautiful day in the Mediterranean. The picture somewhat violated only a few - 6 or 8 clouds in the shape of a loaf of bread, all exactly (completely) identical, which hung above the height of the 0". It was observed that despite the breeze from the South, blowing with the speed of 4-5 mph, these clouds had not changed its position and shape, as well as moving under the action of the breeze. They continued to hover at an altitude of about 60 , seen from our vantage point, located at an altitude of 500 feet (above sea level).

The same motionless, reposing on the earth directly below the clouds, was similar to the shape of the cloud, which had about 800 feet long, 250 foot tall and 200 feet wide. This cloud was quite dense, almost hard and was located in the 14-15 chanah (1 chain = 6.6 ft = 20,12 meters) from those occupied by the British territory. All this was watched by 22 participants of the 3rd platoon of the 1st field company, including and I from our trenches on the Rhododendron Spur, about 2500 yards to the southwest from the lying clouds. Our vantage point was located approximately 300 feet above the height of the 0". As it turned out, this strange cloud saddled dry bed of the stream and the road in the hollow Kajik-Dere, and we saw well and the ends and sides of this cloud lying on the ground. Color it was, like other clouds, light grey.

Soon appeared the Fourth Norfolk regiment of the British, several hundred people, who at this depth the road in the valley of the brook in the direction to the height of the "60". However, when they came to this cloud and without hesitation continued on his way right through it, no longer went out of him to expand the military order and to fight for the height of the 0". About an hour later, when the last person has disappeared from the column in this cloud it very slowly and gradually rose over the earth as usual fog or cloud, not yet acceded to other similar clouds, mentioned at the beginning of this report. Now they looked "peas in a pod". All this time the group of clouds continued to hover in one place, but as soon as strange "earthly" cloud went up to their level, they all moved away to the North, i.e. in the direction of Trait, Bulgaria. For about 45 minutes, they disappeared from sight.

We, the undersigned, declare that the incident described above is true from

the word".

The division has officially written down the "missing", and immediately after the Turkish surrender in 1918, Britain demanded his return. The Turks swore and swore that regiment (and anyone in the area) they captured not captured in the fighting with him never came and never even knew about its existence.

In the official report of the British campaign in the Dardanelles indicates that "the regiment was swallowed up in the fog of unknown origin". Fog this reflected the sun's rays so that blinded artillery gunners, causing fire support to ensure failed. Two hundred and fifty men were missing.

In 1918 the British reappeared on the Gallipoli Peninsula, but as a side who won the final victory in the war. Soldiers occupying forces, bypassing the battlefield, found the insignia of the Royal Norfolk regiment and after brief questioning found that some Turkish peasant had to take out from your site many bodies, which he passed in the nearest ravine. on September 23, 1919, the officer in charge of the problems of graves, triumphantly announced:

"We found Norfolk battalion "one shot five" - a total of 185 tel: 122 Norfolk, the rest - from Cheshire battalion "two fraction four". We managed to identify only the corpses of ordinary Barnaby and Carter. Bodies were scattered on the territory of two and a half square kilometers (!!!), 750 metres behind the line of defense of the Turks. We found farmer, who after the fight discovered in his field lots of dead British soldiers and dropped them into a little ravine. That is confirmed by the initial assumption that Norfolk not gone far deep into the enemy's defences, and were gradually destroyed on the battlefield".

More than strange the statement contradicts itself because it is 750 metres "for line of defense", this is not a battlefield, but almost a kilometer behind the front lines.

Also amazing is the fact that out of 185 found, was identified only two.

Found that only 185 267 (as stated in the statement of Hamilton) missing.

But the main thing is what has held official sources, not just trying to explain the bewilderment and horror of this farmer, who claimed that the corpses found on their own field were badly mutilated.

"Broken, and as if dropped from a great height..." - as he described proizoshedshie. Fearing the impure forces, he threw the body into a ravine.

And lastly, I want to give an official statement of the Turks on this issue:

"...when conducting Galipolli operations Turkish side did not make any fighting in the area near the Bay of Solve the hollow Kajik-Dere. And not captured British soldiers during all combat operations near the Bay of Sula."