Gallipoli

The Turks tell a story about two New Zealanders they took prisoner in August 1915. The Turks asked them where they were from

New Zealand they said

Never heard of it, the Turks replied

Several Germans nearby overheard the exchange. They told the Turks that New Zealand was in the South Pacific, literally at the other end of the world. The Turks were incredulous

Why are you HERE? they demanded

Well, the New Zealanders explained, they thought the war would be like playing rugby

I knew the basics of Gallipoli but I had not read it in depth. In Britain it is all put down to Winston Churchill who thought it would break the deadlock of the Western Front. If the allies could knock Turkey out of the war it would provide a backdoor to Germany.

For Britain it was just a fiasco but for Australia and New Zealand it was a definining moment. I was moved to think how many people now visit Gallipoli from Australia and New Zealand.

I tell people in England I am going there to visit sometime and they say Where is it ? They have no idea.

I was put off by the size of this book and it moves slowly to start with as the build up to the actual invasion takes place. It all started with a naval engagement

Did people really believe that the Turks would run away just because some warships turned up and shelled the shore?

Nothing seems to have changed, we seem to see our enemies in racial terms in that somehow they are inferior to the white races and will not stand and fight.

This has been solidly overturned as people in Black pyjamas beat the US in Vietnam.

At Gallipoli even once they were making no progress no one seemed to be able to make a good decision and untimately they had to evacuate.

How do you encourage men to go into the next battle knowing the level of casualties that previous efforts have created.

We are judging it from today's standpoint whereby we want to have a war where casualties are very light or non existent.

Yesterday I heard that British casualties in Iraq since the 2003 invasion are now 160. The US have more that ten times that.

These were a day's casualties at Gallipoli.

A great book and very upsetting read, one of the saddest books I have ever read. Highly recommended.

Excellent Account (15/16 people found this helpful)

Les Carlyon's new book (published in 2001 in Australia) covering the Allied campaign against Turkey in the Dardanelles is one of those books that you find hard to put down once you start. In over 540 pages of narrative we get to hear the soldiers speak of their terrible trials and tribulations fighting in a harsh environment against a formidable enemy.

The book's main focus is upon the Australian involvement but the author does not neglect the role of the other Allied contingents, soldiers and sailors of the British and French Empires. Nor does his forget the enemy, 'Johnny Turk', who many Australian soldiers later came to respect regardless of the horrific fighting that they had endured.

I suppose many people will ask why Australia continues to make such a fuss over Gallipoli. When you take into consideration that the Australia of 1914 sent out of its small population over 332,000 men to serve overseas and of those 215,000 or more became casualties, (of which 60,000 died). A casualty rate of 65 per cent. Taking those figures into consideration you get an idea of why WW1 and particular Gallipoli means so much to many Australians.

The book is well told and the author uses numerous first-hand accounts of the soldiers, from both sides, who fought during this campaign. The narrative is engrossing, full of interesting facts and stories and just pulls you along further and deeper towards an ending we all know but made more alive and new by the author's style of writing.

I don't think that this book will offer any serious readers of this campaign anything new or startling, but I think that anyone who has a passion for Gallipoli will find this a well told account and close to being the definitive book on the subject. Many aspects of the book, particularly the stories of the blunders made by the Allied High Command still make me shake my head even though I have read it all before.

"We mounted over a plateau and down through gullies filled with thyme, where there lay about 4000 Turkish dead. It was indescribable. One was grateful for the rain and the grey sky. A Turkish Red Crescent man came and gave me some antiseptic wool with scent on it... The Turkish captain with me said: "At this spectacle even the most gentle must feel savage, and the most savage must weep' ... I talked to the Turks, one of whom pointed to the graves. 'That's politics,' he said. Then he pointed to the dead bodies and said: 'That's diplomacy. God pity all us poor soldiers.'" - Captain Aubrey Herbert, ANZAC, May 1915 (taken from the inside dust-jacket of the book).

Gallipoli by L.A.Carlyon (11/11 people found this helpful)

Carlyon pulls no punches with this authoritative account of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. He gives no quarter to rank or reputation and the reader will left astonished at the tactics,actions and decisions as the campaign stumbles from one disaster to the next. Unfortunately these costly errors were paid for in human life and suffering. An excellent book on this campaign!

Excellent Account (9/9 people found this helpful)

Les Carlyon

Reader Reviews:

Like Playing Rugby (0/0 people found this helpful)

Excellent Account (15/16 people found this helpful)

Gallipoli by L.A.Carlyon (11/11 people found this helpful)

Excellent Account (9/9 people found this helpful)

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