Stephen Snelling

Gallipoli

VCs of The First World War

Soft-Cover Paperback First Edition Published, 1999

The landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915 represented the greatest amphibious operation carried out during the course of the First World War. What had initially been a purely navel enterprise had escalated to become a full-scale Anglo-French invasion, resulting in an eight-month campaign which Churchill hoped would knock Turkey out of the war. For a campaign that promised so much, it ultimately became a tragedy of lost opportunities. By January 1916, when the last men were taken off the peninsula, the casualties totalled 205,000.

This book tells the stories of the thirty-nine men from the Commonwealth and Empire armies whose bravery on the battlefield was rewarded by the Victorian Cross - the highest military honour - among them the war's first Australian VC, first New Zealand VC, and first Royal Marine VC. Although the total is far smaller than the number awarded on the Western Front, it represents the highest number of VCs won in any other theatre of war.

The accounts of those awarded the VC, gleaned from diaries, letters and contemporary reports written by recipients or eyewitnesses, are arranged chronologically, so offering a new perspective on the course of the campaign.

The book is also richly illustrated with over one hundred paintings, photographs and sketches.

........ Contents: . Acknowledgements . Picture Credits . Abbreviations . Introduction

. E.G. Robinson . F.E. Stubbs, . W. Keneally . C. Bromley . A. Richards . R.R. Willis . J.E Grimshaw . E. Unwin . W.C. Williams . G.L. Drewry . G. McK. Samson . W. St. A, Malleson . A,W. St C. Tisdall . C.H.M. Doughty-Wylie . G.N. Walford . W. Cosgrove . W.R. Parker . E.C. Boyle . M.E. Nasmith . A. Jacka . G.R.D. Moor . H. James . G.R. O'Sullivan . J. Somers . L.M. Keysor . W.J. Symons . A.S. Burton . F.H. Tubb . W. Dunstan . J. Hamilton . A.J. Shout . C.R.G. Bassett