GALLIPOLI DIARY

by Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1920 Original Publisher: George H. Doran Subjects: World War, 1914-1918 History / Military / General History / Military / World War I Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER H THE] STRAITS Cast anchor at Tenedos at 3 p. m., 17th March, 1915, having entered the harbour at the very same instant as le general d'Amade. Hurried over at once to a meeting aboard that lovely sea monster, H. M. S. Queen Elizabeth. Present: -- Admiral de Robeck, Commodore Roger Keyes, Admiral Guepratte, cmdg, French Fleet, General d'Amade, General Braithwaite, Admiral Wemyss, . Captain Pollen, Myself. De Robeck greeted me in the friendliest fashion. He is a fine looking man with great charm of manner. After a word or two to d'Amade and being introduced to Wemyss, Guepratt6 and Keyes, we sat down round a table and the Admiral began. His chief worry lies in the clever way the enemy are now handling their mobile artillery. He can silence the big fortress ordnance, but the howitzers and field guns fire from concealed positions and make the clearing of the minefields something of a V. C. sort of job for the smaller craft. Even when the Fleet gets through, these moveable guns will make it very nasty for store ships or transports which follow. The mine-sweepers are slow and bad with worn out engines. Some of the civilian masters and crews of the trawlers have to consider wives and kids as well as V. C. s. The problem of getting the Fleet through or of getting submarines through is a problem of clearing away the mines. With a more powerfully engined type of minesweeper and regular naval commanders and crews to man them, the business would be easy...

Genres: War, History, Australia

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.