Sign-In
Cart
Gallipoli Diary 1915
Hardcover
Military BiographiesTravel GeneralWorld War I
ISBN13: 9780645235906
Publisher: Little Gully Publishing
Published: Nov 15 2021
Pages: 360
Weight: 1.61
Height: 0.94 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
We had a look around, through periscopes, at the remains of recent fighting. The dead were on top, and we, the living, were below the general ground-level. The usual order of life and death were reversed.
So wrote Alec Riley in his account of an ordinary soldier in an extraordinary conflict, the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915.
A signaller with the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, Riley was well placed to serve as an eyewitness to the sharp end of the campaign, being with the infantry but not of it. His task, and that of the small unit he served with and whose story he tells, was to maintain communications between the forward trenches and senior commanders in the rear, a conduit for at times unrealistic orders one way, and all-too-real situation reports the other.
During his time on the peninsula, Riley kept meticulous notes, which form the basis of this account. He also took his camera to war, the resulting photos - some of which were used in the British official history of the campaign - flesh out his detailed story of life in and behind the lines.
After four months on the peninsula, suffering from jaundice, septic sores and dysentery, Riley was evacuated sick, destined first for Mudros and then Blighty. He made sure to save his diary and camera.
Although Gallipoli had done for Riley, Riley was not done with Gallipoli. Even while on the peninsula, he and his comrades had looked beyond the war.
We tried to imagine what the place would be like when the armies had gone. Achi Baba would be green again, the trenches would fall in and flatten; communication-trenches, through which thousands of men had passed, would be long and shallow depressions, and frogs and tortoises the only inhabitants of gully and nullah.
Remarkably, Alec Riley returned to find out, revisiting the peninsula at least twice. In 1930, he spent ten days wandering across the now overgrown fields of battle on a lone pilgrimage, revisiting places he knew intimately 15 years before.
This pilgrimage, and a subsequent second visit, was intended to form the basis of a book, again illustrated with his trusty camera. Sadly, the original manuscript has been lost. But the editors have identified two extracts that appeared in print, which they present alongside a faithful transcript of Riley's diary and notes.
Also included is an unpublished introduction by General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force of which Riley had been a small part, and with whom Riley had a decade-long correspondence.
Chapters on the flora, fauna, and geography of the peninsula, along with its history modern and ancient, formed part of Riley's guide to the battlefields. They provide useful context for today's visitors to Gallipoli.
The editors of the diary, Michael Crane and Bernard de Broglio, have added copious footnotes and detailed biographical notes on the officers and men who come to life in Riley's writings, as well as an order of battle and summary of arms for the 42nd Division at Gallipoli. Fourteen maps illustrate the actions, large and small, that Riley describes, alongside 47 black and white photographs showing the battlefield in 1915 and 1930.
Gallipoli Diary 1915 offers the reader a rare perspective on the Gallipoli campaign. Alec Riley saw Helles in war, and returned to explore what remained when the armies had gone.
1 different editions
Also available
Also from
Riley, Alec
Also in
World War I
The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel: Romanovs, Revolutionaries, and the Forgotten Titan Who Fueled the World
Brunt, Douglas
Hardcover
The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series
Tuchman, Barbara W.
Paperback
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
Brunt, Douglas
Paperback
The Guns of August: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic about the Outbreak of World War I
Tuchman, Barbara W.
Paperback
The War That Made the Middle East: World War I and the End of the Ottoman Empire
Aksakal, Mustafa
Hardcover
American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis
Hochschild, Adam
Paperback
My Struggle: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kampf
Hitler, Adolf
Murphy, James
Mein Kampf, Kamphf English Kampt
Paperback
Two World Wars and Hitler: Who Was Responsible?: Anglo-American Money, Foreign Agents and Geopolitics
MacGregor, Jim
O'Dowd, John
Paperback
The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism
Bacon, John U.
Paperback
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
Brunt, Douglas
Hardcover
Ring of Fire: A New History of the World at War: 1914
Churchill, Alexandra
Eberholst, Nicolai
Hardcover
The Killing Season: The Autumn of 1914, Ypres, and the Afternoon That Cost Germany a War
Cowley, Robert
Hardcover
Those Who Know The Sky: Hobey Baker, The Dawn of Aviation, and The War to End All Wars
Margiotti, Thomas F.
Hardcover
The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series
Tuchman, Barbara W.
Paperback
Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Anderson, Scott
Paperback
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War
Englund, Peter
Graves, Peter
Paperback
The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I
Fitzharris, Lindsey
Paperback
The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War
Bascomb, Neal
Paperback
The Myth of the Great War: A New Military History of World War I
Mosier, John
Literary Group International
Paperback
The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931
Tooze, Adam
Paperback
Black Soldiers, White Laws: The Tragedy of the 24th Infantry in 1917 Houston
Haymond, John A.
Hardcover
The Africa Ship: Ludwig Bockholt, Zeppelin L 59, and the Most Daring Rescue Mission of Wwi
Etzold, Dominic
Hardcover
The Other Trench: The WW1 Diary and Photos of a German Officer
Pfeifer, Alexander
Cross, Philipp
Paperback
The White Lady: The Story of Two Key British Secret Service Networks Behind German Lines
Fry, Helen
Hardcover
Verdun: The Lost History of the Most Important Battle of World War I, 1914-1918
Mosier, John
Paperback
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918
Barthas, Louis
Paperback
The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi
Hardcover
The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I
Ujifusa, Steven
Paperback
The Last Cavalryman: The Life of General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. Volume 48
Ferguson, Harvey
Hardcover
The Zimmermann Telegram: America Enters the War, 1917-1918; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series
Tuchman, Barbara W.
Paperback
Anglo-French Military Planning, 1905-1914.: Before the First World War: A Study in 'Military Diplomacy'
Krause, Michael D.
Paperback
Walking Since Daybreak: A Story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the Heart of Our Century
Eksteins, Modris
Paperback
Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar: Diaries and Letters, 1913-1918
Nicholson, Nicholas B. a.
Azar, Helen
Hardcover
The Great War and the Transformation of Habsburg Central Europe
Zahra, Tara
Judson, Pieter M.
Hardcover
Italian Adriatic Fleet 1915-18: The Fierce Naval War with Austria-Hungary
Cernuschi, Enrico
Paperback
The Other Trench: The WW1 Diary and Photos of a German Officer
Cross, Philipp
Pfeifer, Alexander
Hardcover
Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars
Bourne, Stephen
Paperback
World War I for Kids: Amazing Facts, Key Players, Heroic Acts, Major Battles, and How the War Changed the World
Burrows, James
Paperback
The Football Battalions: The Elite Footballers Who Fought in the Great War
Evans, Christopher
Hardcover
Orchestrating Power: The American Associational State in the First World War
Finney, Nathan K.
Hardcover
The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World
Herwig, Holger H.
Paperback
The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America's Unknown Soldier and Wwi's Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Hardcover
Worlds of Wartime: The First World War and the Reconstruction of Modern Politics
Kelly, Duncan
Hardcover
My Reminiscences of East Africa: The German East Africa Campaign in World War One - A General's Memoir
Lettow-Vorbeck, General Paul Emil Von
Paperback
500 World War I & II Facts - Interesting Events & History Information To Win Trivia
Matthews, Scott
Paperback
Prolonging the Agony: How the Anglo-American Establishment Deliberately Extended WWI by Three-And-A-Half Years.
Docherty, Gerry
MacGregor, Jim
Paperback
The Blitzkrieg Myth: How Hitler and the Allies Misread the Strategic Realities of World War II
Mosier, John
Paperback
Democracy's Foot Soldiers: World War I and the Politics of Empire in the Greater Caribbean
Goldthree, Reena N.
Hardcover
Fighting the Flying Circus: The Greatest True Air Adventure to Come Out of World War I
Rickenbacker, Eddie V.
Paperback
The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America's Unknown Soldier and Wwi's Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Paperback
The Storm of Steel: From the Diary of a German Storm-Troop Officer on the Western Front
Jünger, Ernst
Hardcover
The Story of the American Legion: The History and Founding of the U.S. Veterans Organization in the Aftermath of World War One
Wheat, George Seay
Paperback
The Aviator: A Biography of James R. McConnell, Lafayette Escadrille Fighter Pilot
Tom, Steven T.
Hardcover
The First World War in the Baltic Sea Volume 1: Essen's Triumph, 1914 to February 1915
Harris, Mark
Hardcover
World War I for Teens: An Enthralling Guide to the Conflict that Redefined Nations
Wellman, Billy
Hardcover
Burning Beethoven: The Eradication of German Culture in The United States During World War I
Kirschbaum, Erik
Paperback
Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea
Massie, Robert K.
Paperback
Citizen of the Shadows: The Lives and Lies of Lothar Witzke
Hornick, Robert N.
Friedland, Paul
Paperback
Guardians of the Pass: America's Rainbow Division Against the Final German Offensive of World War I
Thompson, Robert
Hardcover
A Footnote to Freedom: Reclaiming the Life and Legacy of a Black Battalion Soldier
Dixon, Lance B.
Paperback
Victory at Sea: The Story of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz: The Admiral Who Defeated Japan
Mitchell, Gary
Paperback
George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I
Carter, Miranda
Paperback
The Greatest Spy: The True Story of Churchill's Secret Agent Who Became the Model for James Bond, 007
Harte, John
Paperback
History of Naval Warfare: A Captivating Guide to the Strategies, Battles, and Innovations That Have Shaped Maritime History
History, Captivating
Hardcover
Delta Force: A Memoir by the Founder of the U.S. Military's Most Secretive Special-Operations Unit
Knox, Donald
Beckwith, Charlie A.
Paperback
Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda
Hamilton, John Maxwell
Paperback
War and Remembrance: The Story of the American Battle Monuments Commission
Conner, Thomas H.
Hardcover