Five Months At Anzac

by Joseph Lievesley Beeston

In 1914 Lieutenant-Colonel Beeston, accompanied by his faithful dog Paddy, was dispatched overseas with the 4th Field Ambulance of the Australian Imperial Force. Chronicling his experiences of the Gallipoli Campaign, he recounts the irrepressible humour of the Australian soldiery, the privations of field life (including ration biscuits so tough that boxes of them proved an effective defence against artillery shells), and the characters alongside whom he served - the courageous private who transported wounded men to safety on a water-carrier donkey; the general who swam enthusiastically in the sea within range of a Turkish gun battery; and the soldier whose preferred service uniform comprised 'only a hat, pants, boots and his smile'...

Genres: History, War

112 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Timothy Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting, brief, work

This is an interesting, if somewhat short book. Like many biographies, it lacks a strong narrative line, because the author goes to Gallipoli and comes home rather at the whim of fate. The interest comes, not so much from his journey, or from his thoughts and reactions, as from the little details which he recalls. Some of the things he records are so strangely incongruous in what was, after all, a bitter struggle to the death, that unless an eyewitness had remarked on them, you'd never think them likely.