History buffs and mystery lovers, get ready to be captivated! During the First World War, on August 21, 1915, a chilling enigma developed in the steep Dardanelles hills, Türkiye. More than 800 soldiers from the fifth Norfolk regiment of the British army marched to a strange and low -side cloud, and disappeared without a trace. Ocular witnesses, including 22 New Zealand soldiers, observed in disbelief while the cloud wrapped the troops and then moved away, without leaving signs of men. No bodies, without prisoners, without answers. Despite capture or combat theories, mystery endures, disconcerting historians and the debate caused. What happened to these 800 men? We separate this disturbing story and explore the theories behind one of the strangest disappearances in history.

The fateful march towards the cloud

On that fateful August 1915, the 5th Norfolk Regiment, part of Great Britain’s Campaign, received the order to advance a hill in the Dardanelles Suvla Bay area, Turkey. The campaign was aimed at taking control of the strategic narrow of the Ottoman forces, but it was an exhausting effort marked by intense fighting and logistics failures. The more than 800 soldiers, hardened by the battle but tired, moved to a valley to the hill, without realizing that they were entering one of the greatest mysteries in history.

According to the stories of eyewitnesses, a dense and peculiar cloud descended over the valley, wrapping the regiment as they climbed. New Zealand soldiers, placed 600 meters away on a nearby hill, observed with astonishment while the cloud swallowed to the troops. As the men ascended, they disappeared more deeply in the fog. When the cloud got up and moved away, the hill was disturbingly empty, without soldiers, without signs of fighting, only trees and shrubs in sight. The entire regiment had disappeared, without leaving a trace.

The 22 New Zealandes, part of the Training Forces Training forces, provided detailed testimonies, as recorded in the 1965 bookThe cloudBy historians Reichardt and Frame. Their accounts describe a cloud “in the form of bread”, flimered by the breeze, which seemed to deliberately cover the regiment before rising and dissipate. This was not a typical phenomenon of fog or climate, it was an anomaly that challenged the explanation.

Theories and speculation

The disappearance caused immediate speculations. The most entrenched theory suggests that the Ottoman forces, known for their fierce defense in Gallipoli, ambushed and captured the regiment. A special forces unit could have used the cloud as a coverage to quickly take the welded prisoner. However, postwar investigations question this. The Ottoman records, meticulously reviewed after the 1918 armistice, showed no evidence that the 5th Norfolk regiment was captured or murdered. Türkiye insisted that they never met these men, and none of the 800 appeared in lists of prisoners of war or among the 27,000 British victims in Gallipoli, according to the Imperial War Museum.

Another theory points to the chaotic nature of the Gallipoli campaign. The injured land, poor communication and brutal struggle could have taken the regiment to disoriented or disperse, perhaps falling into a ravine or being eliminated in an unregistered skirmish. However, the absence of bodies, equipment or any physical evidence undermines this idea. The clear vision of the hill’s New Zealandes, described as without obstacles after the cloud rose, makes it unlikely that men simply be lost.

More fantastic theories have emerged, fed by the mysterious details. Some speculate that the cloud was a rare atmospheric phenomenon, such as a lenticular cloud, which could have disoriented troops or even caused an event of massive victims through lightning or toxic gases. Others venture in the paranormal, which suggests extraterrestrial or supernatural forces, although no credible evidence backed these statements. The lack of closure has made the incident a magnet for conspiracy theories, and some compared it to the Bermuda triangle.

The historical context and Ottoman denial

The Gallipoli campaign was a logistics nightmare for the allies, with more than 44,000 deaths and 97,000 injured, according to historical records. The fifth disappearance of the Norfolk regiment occurred during a failed impulse to break the Ottoman lines, a period marked due to lack of communication and great losses. The cloud incident, however, stands out for its uniqueness. New Zealand witnesses, considered reliable by military historians, were not right to manufacture their history, and their consistent accounts for decades give credibility to mystery.

The Ottoman forces, led by Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk), were formidable, but their postwar cooperation with allied researchers was exhaustive. The absence of Norfolks in their records, despite the exchanges of detailed prisoners and victims reports, deepens the enigma. The British government, desperate for answers, even pressed Turkey to obtain information, but no trace of men was found. The regiment was officially declared “missing”, not dead or captured, a rare designation that feeds speculation until today.

The legacy of the disappearance

The mystery of the 5th Norfolk Regiment has suffered for more than a century, inspiring books, documentaries and debates. It remains one of the unresolved cases of more disconcerting of the World War, along with events such as the Angel of the Mons. The lack of physical evidence, not rifles, uniforms or remains, appears of the typical losses of the battlefield. Historians like Nigel McCrery, author ofThe missing battalion, he argues that the truth can be in a combination of factors: a strange environmental event, a human error or an unregistered otoman action. However, no theory completely explains the role of the cloud or the total absence of evidence.

For the descendants of the lost soldiers, the mystery is a disturbing legacy. The families did not receive closure, and the incident became a symbol of the meaningless tragedy of the war. The story also underlines Gallipoli chaos, where bad planning and brutal conditions charged innumerable lives beyond the battlefield.

A mystery that pursues the story

The disappearance of 800 British soldiers in a cloud on August 21, 1915 remains one of the most disconcerting mysteries in history. Was it an Ottoman ambush, a strange natural event or something beyond the explanation? The stories of the eyewitness, the Ottoman denials and the lack of evidence keep the debate alive, challenging our understanding of the darkest moments of the First World War. As we reflect on this mysterious story, a question persists: what could make a complete regiment disappear without a trace? Fans of history, what is your theory? Battlefield Chaos or something more strange?