Gallipoli to the Somme

Gallipoli to the Somme PDF Author: Alexander Aitken
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 1775589781
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Alexander Aitken was an ordinary soldier with an extraordinary mind. The student who enlisted in 1915 was a mathematical genius who could multiply nine-digit numbers in his head. He took a violin with him to Gallipoli (where field telephone wire substituted for an E-string) and practiced Bach on the Western Front. Aitken also loved poetry and knew the Aeneid and Paradise Lost by heart. His powers of memory were dazzling. When a vital roll-book was lost with the dead, he was able to dictate the full name, regimental number, next of kin and address of next of kin for every member of his former platoon—a total of fifty-six men. Everything he saw, he could remember. Aitken began to write about his experiences in 1917 as a wounded out-patient in Dunedin Hospital. Every few years, when the war trauma caught up with him, he revisited the manuscript, which was eventually published as Gallipoli to the Somme in 1963. Aitken writes with a unique combination of restraint, subtlety, and an almost photographic vividness. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature on the strength of this single work—a book recognised by its first reviewers as a literary memoir of the Great War to put alongside those by Graves, Blunden and Sassoon. Long out of print, this is by some distance the most perceptive memoir of the First World War by a New Zealand soldier. For this edition, Alex Calder has written a new introduction, annotated the text, compiled a selection of images, and added a commemorative index identifying the soldiers with whom Aitken served.

Gallipoli to the Somme

Gallipoli to the Somme PDF Author: Alexander Aitken
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 1775589781
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 323

Get Book Here

Book Description
Alexander Aitken was an ordinary soldier with an extraordinary mind. The student who enlisted in 1915 was a mathematical genius who could multiply nine-digit numbers in his head. He took a violin with him to Gallipoli (where field telephone wire substituted for an E-string) and practiced Bach on the Western Front. Aitken also loved poetry and knew the Aeneid and Paradise Lost by heart. His powers of memory were dazzling. When a vital roll-book was lost with the dead, he was able to dictate the full name, regimental number, next of kin and address of next of kin for every member of his former platoon—a total of fifty-six men. Everything he saw, he could remember. Aitken began to write about his experiences in 1917 as a wounded out-patient in Dunedin Hospital. Every few years, when the war trauma caught up with him, he revisited the manuscript, which was eventually published as Gallipoli to the Somme in 1963. Aitken writes with a unique combination of restraint, subtlety, and an almost photographic vividness. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature on the strength of this single work—a book recognised by its first reviewers as a literary memoir of the Great War to put alongside those by Graves, Blunden and Sassoon. Long out of print, this is by some distance the most perceptive memoir of the First World War by a New Zealand soldier. For this edition, Alex Calder has written a new introduction, annotated the text, compiled a selection of images, and added a commemorative index identifying the soldiers with whom Aitken served.

Walking Gallipoli

Walking Gallipoli PDF Author: Stephen Chambers
Publisher: Battleground Gallipoli
ISBN: 9781473825642
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Gallipoli was a First World War tragedy, a side show that had ambitious hopes to end the war early. Despite the immense gallantry displayed by those fighting, from the beginning, this grand scale 1915 operation was plagued with mismanagement; failure in high places that betrayed the heroism in the field. Though a noble disaster with casualties of over half a million, those who visit Gallipoli today owe it to those who served and died a conscious effort to see beyond the heartbreak and futility, to appreciate the what, the how and the why. There is no better way to do this today other than walking the battlefields with this invaluable guide. From the beaches and fields of Helles, to the precipitous heights of Anzac and to the plains of Suvla, this book guides the walker to the key points of the campaign. Infamous names that are synonymous with the fighting are covered; Sedd-el Bahr, Krithia, Achi Baba, The Vineyard, Gully Ravine, Kereviz Dere, Lone Pine, The Nek, Chunuk Bair, Lala Baba, Chocolate Hill, Kidney Hill and Kiretch Tepe. All of these features are set in a haunting scene of beauty and tragedy that still pervades this eastern Mediterranean peninsula. In total there are ten walks, some challenging, others not, with a narrative that helps make sense of it all.

Gallipoli

Gallipoli PDF Author: Robin Prior
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300159919
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The noted historian’s decisive and devastating history of the WWI Battle of Gallipoli “sets a new standard for assessing the Allied Dardanelles campaign" (Mustafa Aksakal, American Historical Review). The Gallipoli campaign of 1915–16 was an ill-fated Allied attempt to take control of the Dardanelles, secure a sea route to Russia, and create a Balkan alliance against the Central Powers. A failure in all respects, the operation ended in disaster, and the Allied forces suffered some 390,000 casualties. In this conclusive study, military historian Robin Prior assesses the many myths about Gallipoli and provides definitive answers to questions that have lingered about the operation. Prior proceeds step by step through the campaign, dealing with naval, military, and political matters and surveying the operations of all the armies involved: British, Anzac, French, Indian, and Turkish. Relying on primary documents, including war diaries and technical military sources, Prior evaluates the strategy, the commanders, and the performance of soldiers on the ground. His conclusions are powerful and unsettling: the naval campaign was not “almost” won, and the land action was not bedeviled by “minor misfortunes.” Instead, the badly conceived Gallipoli campaign was doomed from the start. And even had it been successful, the operation would not have shortened the war by a single day. Despite their bravery, the Allied troops who fell at Gallipoli died in vain. A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2009

Gallipoli 1915

Gallipoli 1915 PDF Author: Philip J. Haythornthwaite
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Gallipoli Peninsula (Turkey)
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description


Gallipoli

Gallipoli PDF Author: Peter Hart
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199836868
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 561

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Book Description
"First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Profile Books"--T.p. verso.

Gallipoli to the Somme

Gallipoli to the Somme PDF Author: Alexander Aitken
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 177558979X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Alexander Aitken was an ordinary soldier with an extraordinary mind. The student who enlisted in 1915 was a mathematical genius who could multiply nine-digit numbers in his head. He took a violin with him to Gallipoli (where field telephone wire substituted for an E-string) and practiced Bach on the Western Front. Aitken also loved poetry and knew the Aeneid and Paradise Lost by heart. His powers of memory were dazzling. When a vital roll-book was lost with the dead, he was able to dictate the full name, regimental number, next of kin and address of next of kin for every member of his former platoon—a total of fifty-six men. Everything he saw, he could remember. Aitken began to write about his experiences in 1917 as a wounded out-patient in Dunedin Hospital. Every few years, when the war trauma caught up with him, he revisited the manuscript, which was eventually published as Gallipoli to the Somme in 1963. Aitken writes with a unique combination of restraint, subtlety, and an almost photographic vividness. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature on the strength of this single work—a book recognised by its first reviewers as a literary memoir of the Great War to put alongside those by Graves, Blunden and Sassoon. Long out of print, this is by some distance the most perceptive memoir of the First World War by a New Zealand soldier. For this edition, Alex Calder has written a new introduction, annotated the text, compiled a selection of images, and added a commemorative index identifying the soldiers with whom Aitken served.

Two Sides of the Same Bad Penny

Two Sides of the Same Bad Penny PDF Author: Michael LoCicero
Publisher: Helion
ISBN: 9781911096689
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In 1915, Great Britain and her Empire found itself engaged at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Lacking the wherewithal to conduct both campaigns effectively, the year was one of theatre-wide learning and experiential exchange that continued to the armistice. Primarily based on a series of papers delivered at the Western Front Association's Gallipoli and the Western Front Centenary Conference (25-27 September 2015), this compendium volume contains original essays by such notable First World War historians as Stephen Chambers, Mark Connolly, Christopher Pugsley and Gary Sheffield. The various topics include command and control, military technology, logistics and British and Dominion forces.

Gallipoli

Gallipoli PDF Author: Les Carlyon
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.
ISBN: 1743535929
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 910

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Book Description
The definitive work and national bestseller "The book of the year" Alan Ramsey, Sydney Morning Herald Les Carlyon's Gallipoli is the epic story of the fighting men who forged the legend of Anzac in 1915. Taking the reader behind the lines and into the trenches, Gallipoli not only brings an infamous battlefield to vivid life but puts poignant breath in the bones of the ordinary heroes who lived and died there. War stories are rarely this personal but Carlton's meticulous research and mesmeric storytelling take readers up-close with the conflict like never before, poetically evoking an ancient landscape rooted in myth, a theatre for Alexander the Great, St Paul and the Trojan Wars, and then intimately populating it with soldiers, generals and politicians from the Allied and Turkish forces. A century on from the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915, Les Carlyon's Gallipoli endures, a masterpiece every bit as haunting and heartbreaking as the events it records. Once read, it is never forgotten.

The Somme

The Somme PDF Author: Robin Prior
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300220286
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
"Despite superior air and artillery power, British soldiers died in catastrophic numbers at the Battle of Somme in 1916. What went wrong, and who was responsible? This book meticulously reconstructs the battle, assigns responsibility to military and political leaders, and changes forever the way we understand this encounter and the history of the Western Front"--Publisher description.

Defeat at Gallipoli

Defeat at Gallipoli PDF Author: Nigel Steel
Publisher: Pan
ISBN: 9780330490580
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
The battle for Gallipoli was officially described as one of the world's classic tragedies, and in this book the participants tell the full story of this failed offensive. The bitter campaign against the Turks was ill-conceived, inadequately equipped and never likely to succeed.