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Gallipoli Diaries : The Anzacs’ own story, day by day – Jonathan King
” Should I meet with any bad luck, I want you to feel I have done my best to play the game as gentlemen play …”
Those are the words of Capt. William Knox, in a letter home to his wife. Anzac is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a collection of volunteer divisions created early in the Great War of 1914–18, in support of the Commonwealth war effort against the German powers.
Gallipoli, for Australians, is probably the most well remembered battle of the First World War, that their band of volunteer soldiers took part in, being the Austalians first test in war as a new nation. They were therefore understandably keen to prove to the world that they had the right stuff. It would be a long time though, before the families back home, and the nation as a whole, heard of the awful conditions on the peninsula and the waste of life that took place there.
War historian Jonathan King has gathered together extracts from actual letters and diaries, written by hundreds of Anzacs at Gallipoli, to give a day by day account of the trials and hardships faced by these men. There are also many period photos scattered throughout the text.
