Clarence Palmer the British Spy Mystery

Clarence Palmer was the Gallipoli spy who might have ended World War I earlier.

Anzac refers to Australıan and New Zealand Corps. On April 25th 1915 during WW1 there was an Anzac landing at Gallipoli peninsula at the location what is known today as Anzac Cove. Gallipoli landing on April 25th was the begining of one bloodiest battles of 20th century. The battles and ocuupation took for 8 months. Many young people died from both sides.

Anzac Cove is located right by a very steep hill. Why the landing was made here was a mystery. A lot of the historians referered this due to the high current at the sea, the landing was made at a wrong location. Recently on History Channel a doumentary clarified the subject.

Clarence Palmer the British spy with Australian Submarine AE2

Clarence Palmer was the Gallipoli spy who might have ended World War I and countless lives earlier. Clarence Palmer was a Cambridge educated Naval officer. After unsuccessful naval attacks of Allied forces on March 18th 1915. The British sent the Australian submarine AE2 through the minefields at Dardanelles. The submarine ran aground, the crew captured. Only one wasn't wearing a uniform: Clarence Palmer.

Palmer escaped from Turkey once war was declared and gave his carefully charted map of the challenges to an assault on the Dardanelles. Then he reappeared on the submarine AE2. He was speaking fluent Turkish. The Turks thought that he was a spy and threatened him with execution. Palmer to save his neck, he offered Turks to give the details of the expected landing plan. But he reversed it. He told the Turks the main landing was going to be [far to the north of Anzac Cove]. The German commander in charge of the Turkish forces, General Otto Liman von Sanders, kept 20,000 men in the north because he felt that is where the main landing would be … because he believed Palmer.

Palmer survived the war in a Turkish prison camp, resurfaced as a British diplomat, and died in 1936. He was decorated for his role on the submarine. What remains a mystery is what his precise role was. ''But the hat that he was wearing on the submarine is still in the Turkish Military museum in Istanbul.

Military Museum is open except Mondays and Tuesdays. Prefer going there in the afternoon. At 3pm there is Mehter (Ottoman Military Band) live concert.