Game to the Last: The 11th Australian Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli

by James Hurst

"Game to the Last" reveals the story of the men of what would become 'one of the finest battalions which served in the war', the West Australian 11th Infantry Battalion, AIF, during the grueling Gallipoli campaign of 1915. The narrative follows the battalion members as they leave their homes and lives in Western Australia, embark for overseas, experience the excitement and boredom of exotic Egypt, and undergo their baptism of fire in the first wave of the Australian and New Zealand landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. "Game To the Last" casts its net wide to find and tell these men's stories and is the culmination of many years' research. Author James Hurst has visited the men's training grounds and battlefields, homes and graves. Many previously unpublished personal accounts provide the heart of the narrative while extensive research provides context and colour.

Genres: World War I

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Hurst book 'Game to the Last' is one of my all-time favourite titles. Only in reminiscing recently did I dig up my copy and re-read this book to remind myself why.

Game to the Last reveals the story of the men of what would become ‘one of the finest battalions which served in the war’, the West Australian 11th Infantry Battalion, AIF, during the grueling Gallipoli campaign of 1915. It takes the battalion members from their homes in Australia to Egypt and war, and re-creates their part in the first wave of the Gallipoli Landing and the extraordinary five battles and eight months of trench warfare that followed.

EIGHT MONTHS ... FIVE BATTLES ... and the men that you follow from leaving home to their battles far away, and, for some the return to Australia post war - is what resonates with you. Their perspective become your own.

Hurst follows a group of individuals through the Gallipoli Campaign, showing the attrition of warfare – casualties, illness, war strain. It shows their suffering and achievement in light of who they were – stockmen, farmers, timber getters, railway workers, clerks, accountants, shopkeepers, professionals, doctors – and where they came from – wives, jobs, homes.

A marriage of personal detail with famous historical events. It is a group and individual biography. It tells a very different side of the Gallipoli Campaign to the familiar – it does not cover the same personalities and events as most other books, but follows a different thread, covering different people and events. Many of these battles are omitted from most other works and have been reconstructed for this book.

A book that will be forever on my TBR pile. And one that is going to be gifted again and again.

[KarenH · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the course of consulting Google for info on the 11th Battalion, my grandfather's Battalion, I came upon numerous references to this book.

My delay in getting hold of a copy was the result of a presumption that it may be a dry collection of data and dates, through which I would have to trawl to find a few relevant pieces.

I was so wrong. This book is a gem. The narrative style had me engrossed from the first page to the last. I wished my grandfather (who died when I was just 9) were alive so I could ask him about his experiences and about these men who by the end I felt I knew, and some of who would have been his mate; particularly those from Kalgoorlie.

Richard Flanagan's 'Narrow Road to the Deep North' gave me a greater understanding of WWII than ever before. Though a completely different style of book, Game to the Last achieved a similar feat for WWI and the Gallipoli campaign.

Thank you James Hurst.

[Mick Maye]

history of the 11th Australian infantry battalion at Gallipoli. Interesting to read the history of a single unit and men involved. Great counterpoint the normal histories taken at a higher level.