As the forces of the Balkan League reached the Thrace line and began a limited form of trench warfare the Royal Navy sailed north form Cyprus in three large fleets protecting transports bearing the final death of the Ottoman Empire to its homeland. The fleet protecting the forces of Operation Green Dragon left the combined fleet early as they headed towards Southern Anatolia. When they reached the Aegean every port or island that they passed was covered in Greek and British flags as the Royal Hellenic Navy had secured all of the many islands in the Aegean for Greece. When the fleets reached Akçay the forces assigned to Operation Snowfall detached and began to wait for confirmation that the forces assigned to Operation Monolith had reached their positions for the landings so achieve optimal surprise on the shattered Ottoman forces.
The forces that were defending the Gallipoli peninsula was made up of the forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal Pasha who had taken command of some off the forces routed from Albania and other shattered forces and been assigned to defend the Gallipoli peninsula. When the assault began the defenders were far from ready for it and the bombardment led by HMS Lionheart destroyed tore apart the few defensive positions above the beaches. As the defences of the peninsula burned the infantry began to storm the stores led by the Grenadier division charging forward though the weak Ottoman fire plasma flashing through the air. Mustafa Kemal Pasha began to order Ottoman forces to the beaches under attack and in fact sent a request for reinforcements and began to plan for a counterattack before a shot from HMS Lionheart landed just above his position collapsing the bunker he was based in eliminating him from the vital early stages of the battle.
As the British pushed on breaking though the Ottoman defences one by one the defenders attempted to establish defensive positions against the British only for their plasma artillery and naval bombardment to set their defences aflame. When Mustafa Kemal Pasha awakened from his brief coma, he realised that the peninsula was lost and that the Ottoman forces needed to withdraw immediately to extend the Thrace Line to Gallipoli. Unfortunately, the Ottoman high command refused and instead withdrew forces from the Greek front and ordered him to throw the British from Ottoman soil and despite his better sense telling him to disobey Mustafa Kemal Pasha followed his orders and prepared for the second battle of Gallipoli.
The counterattack began with a brief Ottoman bombardment in a hope to eliminate the plasma artillery and keep the British forces in the ruined Ottoman bunkers that would become the focus of the battle. Then across the front line four thousand Ottoman soldiers fixed bayonets and charged at the British with explicit orders to throw them back into the sea, despite the all the firepower that the British threw at them the Ottomans managed to reach melee range and the true battle began. The ruined and half constructed Ottoman bunkers and defences became the scene of brutal hand-to-had fighting where no mercy was asked for or given. The Ottomans managed to break through the first line and it seemed that they might be victorious with a small force of Ottoman soldiers rising their flag atop the ruins of Mustafa Kemal Pasha's bunker and then the British counter attacked with their full force. The Ottoman vanguard was cut off and eliminated within a two days and all of Gallipoli fell to the British and for the first-time enemy forces could threaten Constantinople and the Thrace Line the end of the Ottoman Empire drew near.
-Extract from Joakim Brodén's book Cliffs of Gallipoli: The death of the Ottoman Empire.
The forces assigned to Green Dragon were the smallest of the Imperial forces in the initial invasion forces as Anatolia had few Ottoman troops as a garrison and was isolated from Constantinople and through that the Ottoman government and military command. Green Dragon was made up of multiple naval landings across the coast of southern Anatolia ranging from Mersin to Anamur the first goal was to form a single beachhead and then push north towards Ankara. The landings were nearly unopposed with the few untrained defenders routing when the naval bombardment began. As the Anatolian coast fell to the British the protests in Ankara turned to blood.
-Extract from John Flanagan's book the Birth of a revolution: Operation Green Dragon
The Ankara revolution while it seems to have come out of the blue in fact had its roots from the Italian declaration of war with the Ottoman government withdrawing from their internal focus and throwing all their available forces at Libya. At first the opposition to the war was few and far between as many hoped that the war would herald the beginning of Ottoman resurgence and then the battle of the Gulf of Sidra happened. The Ottomans reeled from the defeat and protests exploded across the country then the Balkan league invaded and as it seemed that it could not get any worse the Akrotiri incident happened and the United Kingdom joined the war.
When word came of Green Dragon the protests in Ankara long the largest exploded with thousands pouring into the streets demanding that the government and the military defeat the British and throw them from Anatolia or surrender to the Balkan league and the United Kingdom. The local government had long since collapsed and the only group with any power in the region was the Ottoman military and as the protests expanded their overworked and underpaid soldiers were unable to deal with the workload and then martial law was declared. The military command in the region folded the police force into the army and sent them out to patrol the streets and keep the protests down. Three days after the declaration the largest protest to date appeared with demands to end martial law and withdraw military forces from Ankara. As the tired and overworked military personal dealt with the angry and insulting people of city one snapped in the worst way possible. The name of the soldier has been lost to history, but his deed is immortal as the people of Ankara screamed at him, he snapped and opened fire into the crowd. The protesters at first routed as the rest of the military opened fire and declared that anyone in the streets would be considered a rebel and treated as such.
As the people of Ankara were shot down by the men assigned to protect them any hope of a peaceful resolution was gone, and the people of Ankara turned to revolution. The volatile city had its final spark when a day after the first shooting two young children were shot by soldiers after the children insulted the men. When news of the shooting got out to the wider population of the city, they rioted the centre of the city fell to the people before the soldiers could launch a coordinated counterattack. As the military forces started to realign themselves and work out was going on they realised that they had to crush the revolt now or the city would fall to the revolt and the already near anarchic Anatolia would collapse into nothing more then zones of occupation by the neighbouring nations. So, all the forces available to the Ankara garrison assaulted the heart of the city and managed to break through the defences and it seemed that the revolt would fail and be consigned to the dust bin of history. Until the conscripted police force joined the revolt and turned their arms on the men that seconds before they had been fighting alongside to crush the rebels. The force sent to crush the revolt was defeated and the red flags of the Ankara revolt flew for the first time over the city.
-Extract from Benito Mussolini's book Ankara: the home of the revolution
Attero!
Dominatus!
Constantinople is burning
Denique!
Interimo!
The Empire has fallen
We stand at the gates of Constantinople
With one and a half million men
With five kings in our ranks
They will lead the charge
Plasma artillery leading our way
A million grenades has been launched
The Ottomans must pay for their crimes
The heart of the empire has been broken
George V's orders:
Serve me Constantinople on a plate!
Disregard the losses
The city is ours to take
The price of a war must be payed
Thousands of lives has been lost
The price must be paid by the men
That started the war in the 50's
The summer of the year 12′
The year when the Ottomans will fall
We are inside the gates of Constantinople
The heart of the empire has fallen
King George's orders:
Serve me it is head on a plate
Disregard the losses
The empires land is ours to take
March!
Fight!
Die!
In Constantinople!
March!
Fight!
Conquer!
Constantinople!
-lyrics of Sabaton's song Attero Dominatus about the fall of Constantinople.