The Allied evacuation of Gallipoli came as a surprise to many, not least to the Turks. It was only in the last days leading up to evacuation that the Anzac troops realized that something was going on. Stores were being destroyed, supplies were not replaced. Eventually the men were told that they were leaving. Miraculously, this information did not make it over to the Turkish soldiers and the secret evacuation went off without a hitch.

It was anticipated, however, that when the Turkish army learned of the retreat, they would begin an assault. Therefore the pretence of normality was kept up. The ships brought in to evacuate troops openly unloaded men and supplies during the day, and then secretly boarded greater numbers overnight.

As they prepared to leave, the men improvised ways to fool the Turks into thinking the trenches were still manned. These included ‘drip’ rifles, which were fully loaded and rigged up so that water dripped into a tin, pulling a cord around the trigger taut so that it fired every few seconds. When the first two contingents were moving out, the remaining men ran up and down the trenches firing guns already set up to make the Turks believe the trenches were still fully manned. When those men also departed, they left the trenches lined with booby traps, such as those described by Captain Curtis.