Gallipoli: The Final Battles and Evacuation of ANZAC

GALLIPOLI: The Final Battles and Evacuation of ANZAC

David W. Cameron

Big Sky Publishing, 2011, 358pp

David Cameron’s book on the final stages of the Gallipoli campaign follows his earlier works on the landing (25 April 1915: The Day the Anzac Legend was Born) and the August battles (Sorry Lads, but the order is to go: The August Offensive, Gallipoli, 1915). It gives a comprehensive narrative account of the later stages of the campaign, starting with the battles for Hill 60, and following through until the evacuation from ANZAC and Suvla Bay. While Cameron does not offer any startling new revelations, he does provide a very readable account of these events.

The strength of this book is in the insight Cameron provides into the personal experiences of the combatants. He brings events to life for the reader in a manner not always found in the current generation of writers. He does not, however, ignore the higher command, and as Cameron describes the August battles, the reader is left with the feeling that too many senior commanders had absorbed too well Napoleon’s dictum, ‘Ask of me anything but time’.

Certainly, many lower level commanders were not given adequate time to plan attacks, with instances where men arrived at the start line moments before an attack began, having had no opportunity for preliminary reconnaissance or pre-attack briefings. This type of hasty planning led to the initial attacks at Hill 60 being made by units that were still under-strength after (and with their men weakened in) the August offensive. They were followed into action by new units just landed on the peninsula. Neither group was successful.

The contrast between the hasty planning for Hill 60 and the effort given to planning the evacuation is painfully obvious. The latter was planned in detail, and those who remained to the end were picked men, rehearsed in the tasks they would undertake.

Cameron’s writing style is particularly effective in his description of the evacuation. Although we know the outcome, his writing develops in the reader some of the tension undoubtedly experienced at the time, as the ANZAC garrison was progressively drawn down. His description of the final night is particularly good, following events as the numbers remaining in the garrison were reduced, and the perimeter was gradually abandoned, until the final period when the ANZAC front was held for more than four hours by a garrison of just 1500 men.

At the end, only the trenches between Plugge’s Plateau and Lone Pine were held, and the last men (of the 20th Battalion) left Russell’s Top at 0325. Three mines under the Nek were detonated at 0330, leading the Turks to complain after the war that these killed some 70 men unnecessarily, as the Australians were clear by that time.

The publication standard is good, particularly the reproduction of photographs, although some of the maps are not particularly informative. There are also some internal inconsistencies – Susak Kuyu and Kabak Kuyu in the text, for example, seem to be the places spelled as Susak Kaya and Kabak Kaya on the maps.

JOHN DONOVAN