Gallipoli Diary

by Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton

On the heels of the South African War came the sleuth-hounds pursuing the criminals, I mean the customary Royal Commissions. Ten thousand words of mine stand embedded in their Blue Books, cold and dead as so many mammoths in glaciers. But my long spun-out intercourse with the Royal Commissioners did have living issue—my Manchurian and Gallipoli notes. Only constant observation of civilian Judges and soldier witnesses could have shown me how fallible is the unaided military memory or have led me by three steps to a War Diary— (1) There is nothing certain about war except that one side won't win. (2) The winner is asked no questions—the loser has to answer for everything. (3) Soldiers think of nothing so little as failure and yet, to the extent of fixing intentions, orders, facts, dates firmly in their own minds, they ought to be prepared

Genres: War, History, Australia

427 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, GCB, GCMG, DSO, TD (16 January 1853 – 12 October 1947) was a British Army officer

Reviews

[Oscar Lilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the "what-ifs" section of the annals of military history the Gallipoli campaign ranks high. I very much appreciate the impossible task given Hamilton. not rendered impossible due to their fierce enemy, and they were fierce, but by the arrogance, apathy, ignorance, and general carelessness of the leadership in England. Hamilton actually shows a great deal of constraint considering how he was treated and how many men were lost because of inadequate support. The appendix added with the testimony of the Artillery Commander at Hellas especially reinforced how incompetent was the support from home. The comparison between happened at Gallipoli compared to the Artillery support at Gaza shows just how possible the taking of Constantinople really was. It wasnt the dreamers who should be judged- Winston and Hamilton, both of whom were maligned for the effort, but the dimwitted bureaucrats who seemed to absolutely ensure failure at Gallipoli.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

General Hamilton relates his experience from the time he was given the command of the expeditionary force to the Dardanelles to the point where he was removed from command due to the decision to end the endeavor.

This is an honest, clearly written and informative memoire. A remarkable story of command and the problems he encountered.