The claim of this well-intentioned book is to give an account of the Second Battle of Krithia, which was fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula between 6 and 8 May 1915. However, we do not reach the beginning of the battle until page 187, and it ends on page 257. Thus, we have seventy pages out of 320 on the titular topic of this book.
Nonetheless, let us not be too negative too quickly. I found the descriptions of the Krithia battle lucid and persuasive. As the author, Mat McLachlan, states, this was one of the most poorly thought-out and conducted battles in a war where such phenomena were not unknown. Anzac troops were rushed down from Anzac Cove, given the vaguest of orders as to where the Turkish enemy was to be found, and, with minimal artillery or any other support, instructed to advance and defeat them. The result was that many attacks hardly got beyond the attackers’ front line, and when they did the troops were cut down by unsubdued machine-gun and artillery fire.
Krithia: The forgotten Anzac battle of Gallipoli by Mat McLachlan
Hachette, $34.99 pb, 333 pp
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