The British 29th Division made the main landing at five beaches on the toe of the peninsula around Cape Helles. They aimed to capture the dominating hill of Achi Baba and then advance from the south on the Narrows forts assisted by naval gunfire support.

The two divisions of the Anzac Corps, commanded by General William Birdwood, made a secondary landing near Kabatepe, about 25 kilometres to the north. They aimed to seize the heights of the Sari Bair ridge and drive across the peninsula to Maidos (present day Eceabat) to prevent Turkish reinforcements being sent to Helles and to cut off Turkish troops being driven back by the British.

The Anzac force was landed at An Burnu, over a kilometre north of the intended landing site, on a narrow front with their units bunched and intermixed, and facing a steep range of hills rather than the open country they had expected. Amid the confusion on the beach, some officers managed to gather groups of men and lead them forward into the rugged and unfamiliar country.

In the twisting ridges and ravines units soon became split up and cut off from each other. Enthusiasm and inexperience drove many small groups to advance far from their main units-some got further inland than any Australians would for the rest of the campaign, but hampered by lack of artillery support, they did not hold these positions beyond that first day.

Only two companies of Turkish soldiers (about 160 men) opposed the initial landing at Ari Burnu, but they took a heavy toll of the Australians. By mid-morning Turkish reinforcements were rushed to the sector The battle then raged along the gullies and ridges with the front line swaying back and forth as each side sought the advantage.