THE CHANAK CRISIS - 1922

The Chanak Crisis, also called the Chanak Affair in September 1922 was the threatened attack by Turkish troops on British and French troops stationed near Çanakkale (Chanak) to guard the Dardanelles neutral zone.


In the early 1920s, military forces from Britain, France and Greece occupied large portions of western Turkey under the Treaty of Sevres, which was imposed on Turkey following its defeat in the First World War. British troops were stationed around Chanak (now called Canakkale), a small seaport on the Dardanelles strait, the international sea route that divides Europe and Asia.


In the Autumn of 1922, nationalist Turkish forces, under Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, which opposed the presence of foreign troops, began efforts to push the Greek armies out of Turkey and restore Turkish rule in the Allied occupied territories of Turkey, primarily in Istanbul. Turkish troops marched against British and French positions in the Dardanelles neutral zone.


An Air Arm was required immediately to support Allied forces from this threat, and to this effect, on 16th September, 1922, Middle East Headquarters, Egypt, received orders to despatch a small Headquarters Staff, a Stores Park Staff, a Bristol Fighter Squadron - namely 208, and a Snipe Flight of 56 Squadron. As a result two flights of Bristol Fighters, under the command of Squadron Leader A. ap Ellis, entrained immediately at Moascar Station for Aboukir in preparation for embarkation at the Alexandria Docks.


The shipping available in Egyptian waters was of a most limited description and it was only owing to the need for extreme urgency that a very badly equipped ship, the S.S. Podesta, was taken over to transfer the RAF. On 25th September the Squadron embarked for operations in Turkey.


Click on the document link below to read an extract from the magazine “Constantinople 1922/23” in which the feelings of the passengers for this vessel were summed up.


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NewsArticles ChanakCrisis Podesta.pdf