Under The Devil's Eye - New Edition

[MartinWills]

Under the Devil’s Eye – The British Military Experience in Macedonia 1915-1918

Alan Wakefield & Simon Moody

Pen and Sword 2011

ISBN 978 1 84884 461 2

vii +264pp with maps, ORBAT, notes, sources and expanded index

£25

Original published in 2004 by Sutton Publishing this volume has been out of print for a number of years and has commanded high prices on the second hand market. This new edition from a different publisher has been expanded with additional material and includes a thorough revision of the index.

Back in 2004 it was welcomed as a very valuable addition to the slender bibliography of works on the Salonika campaign as the most significant volume sine Alan Palmer’s “The Gardeners of Salonika” which was published in 1964. In those 40 intervening years the approach to campaign volumes has changed and now leans more positively towards the use of accounts by those who served.

This original volume was widely reviewed and this new edition (not just a reprint as was stated in the WFA magazine “Stand To!”) once again makes the account widely available. Eminently readable, if you wanted just one volume of this fascinating campaign, this is the one to buy.

A number of the events chronicled in the volume have spurred people on to further detailed research. One such event described in the book was the crash of the aircraft piloted by Lt Montagu and successive expeditions to Macedonia/FYROM have resulted in the identification of the crash site, though the pilot’s place of burial still remains an enigma, though researchers are getting closer year on year.

The “Salonika” theatre of war is becoming increasingly accessible and battlefield tours are starting to be run. There is much still to be explored and re-discovered. Some locations are also beginning to attract the attentions of battlefield archaeologists and a British University dig starts there in September and may be calling for volunteers.

A local battlefield touring company has also been established which provides expert guides to the area and their services are increasingly indispensable for serious visitors enabling people to see and find so much more in a short time that would otherwise be possible. Anyone holidaying in Northern Greece (typically Halkidiki) might want to consider taking a couple of days out from lounging in the sun to see a little of the battlefields.

[CarylW]

Hadn't realised there was a review on here. I've just posted in the 'What WW1 books......' thread. It is an excellent book and now also available in Kindle format.