25 April 1915

[Dolphin]

This book is sub-titled The Day the Anzac Legend was born and, as the title suggests, it's a detailed account of the landing at Anzac Cove. It's meant for Australasian readers, so events at Helles and Kum Kale are really mentioned only in passing.

The author has chosen to give an account in chronological order of events all over the landing site, rather than to divide the action into geographical areas and write about the sequence of events at particular locations. Hence, it's apparent that while a was happening at one place, b was going on elsewhere, while c was also taking place. This helps to give a good impression of the confusion that was part of the action on the fateful day.

Fortunately for the reader, the book is well supplied with maps, often of fairly small areas, that greatly assist one to follow developments on that most confusing landscape.

I'm by no means an expert on the Anzac landing, but the book appears to be a good account of the day. I noticed what I think is a very minor error, where the Tsar is referred to as Grand Duke Nicholas - I think he's being confused with his cousin, the Army Commander-in-Chief.

Another point that might be noticed only by dedicated Rugby followers is that Major Blair Swannell of the 1st Battalion, AIF, is correctly referred to as an international player, but this doesn't give him his full glory as a dual international, having played for both Great Britain and Australia.

According to a local bookshop, the first edition of the book has been sold out, though I saw several copies in a Borders store this morning. The rapid sales are a testament to the book's worth. I'd suggest that it's as good account of the first Anzac Day as we're likely to get.

Gareth

[armourersergeant]

Another point that might be noticed only by dedicated Rugby followers is that Major Blair Swannell of the 1st Battalion, AIF, is correctly referred to as an international player, but this doesn't give him his full glory as a dual international, having played for both Great Britain and Australia.

I think a certain memeber of this forum may be interested in the comments on this chap, being as he is a relation!

regards

Arm

[Krithia]

I heard Swannell's memorial plaque recently turned up, but don't know where it is now, hopefully its with the family.

I thought he was an English international player before immigrating to Australia were he became a coach/referee ?

[Dolphin]

I thought he was an English international player before immigrating to Australia were he became a coach/referee ?

Krithia

B I Swannell was English, but he didn't play for England.

He played 116 times for Northampton RFC, scoring 16 tries and 6 conversions, and was selected for the Great Britain tour of Australia in 1899 [Captained by the Rev M M Mullineux - who served as a Chaplain with the NZEF in France] when he played in the 3rd International, won 11-10, and the 4th, won 13-0.

During the 1899-1902 South African War he served as a Lieutenant in the Buckinghamshire Imperial Yeomanry. He also served in the Royal Naval Reserve.

Swannell was also selected for the 1904 Great Britain tour of Australia and New Zealand [Captained by D R Bedell-Sivright, who died at Gallipoli on 5 September 1915]. He played in the 3 Internationals v Australia, all victorious: 17-0, 17-3 and 16-0, scoring a try in the 3rd. He also played v New Zealand (lost 3-9) and the tour matches v Canterbury-South Canterbury-West Coast (won 5-3), v Otago-Southland (won 14-8) and v Auckland (lost 0-13).

After the tour, he settled in Australia in 1905 and played for Sydney, then North Sydney, as well as NSW and Australia. He played for NSW 7 times. Swannell also coached at St Joseph’s College and refereed schoolboy matches (and he was known for wearing his Great Britain blazer when doing so).

Gareth

[MartinWills]

Gareth,

Would I be right in saying that the two games in New Zealand were the first two internationals played in New Zealand?

I seem to recall that the CWGC also managed to award him the M.C. in error a couple of years back - something I believe they have now corrected.

[michaeldr]

Here's a link to the CWGC leaflet 'GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN - The Commemoration of Rugby Players'

http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/cwgc_rugby.pdf

[Dolphin]

Would I be right in saying that the two games in New Zealand were the first two internationals played in New Zealand?

Martin

Yes. The NZ v GB match at Athletic Park, Wellington, on 13 August 1904 was NZ's first home international (and their second anywhere - after playing Australia in Sydney on 15 August 1903). NZ's second home international was v Australia at Tahuna Park, Dunedin, on 2 September 1905.

Regards

Gareth

[AndyMacdonald]

NZ's second home international was v Australia at Tahuna Park, Dunedin, on 2 September 1905.

I interviewed two guys who were in the crowd at this game, both later serving in WW1 with the NZEF.

[Krithia]

This book appears out of print now and I think the publishers may be thinking of doing another run at some time, however if you cannot wait it is downloadable at a $20 charge via www.ebooks.com. Looks good from what I have seen so far, just need to get it on my PDA for a read.

[Dolphin]

This book appears out of print now.

It is certainly difficult, if not impossible, to order it through most of the larger Australian bookshops. However, I was in Borders' bookshop in the Sydney northern suburb of Hornsby this morning, and there were about a dozen copies on sale. That's the good news if you're looking for a copy. The bad news is that despite being outposts of a large US bookshop empire, Borders' in Australia doesn't have an on-line ordering service.

Gareth

[MartinWills]

Looking on Amazon, they now list it as a paperback, with a publication date of December 2007, so don't hold your breath!

[Kate Wills]

I heard Swannell's memorial plaque recently turned up, but don't know where it is now, hopefully its with the family.

Unless it has changed hands within the last year, Swannell's plaque has been with the same owner for 40+ years.

[MartinWills]

A copy of this book recently arrived and I have made a start - my initial impressions are good and I was pleased to see that the author has set out to tell the story as it was on the day without the benefit of analysis, hindsight, revisionism etc. It leaves the reader to draw his own conclusions. I shall add more when I reach the end of the volume.

[PMHart]

Hi chums,

Here is a review I've written for the Australian War Memorial magazine Wartime. I'm putting it it here because I think this book is of more interest than it inititally appears. It is also a very enjoyable book to read! I haven't edited the review yet so I'm sure there are lots of bloopers!!!!

Pete

This book is a temptation to any Gallipoli enthusiast. David Cameron’s method is simple but beguiling: he has recast Charles Bean’s magnificent geographically dominated account into a chronological narrative encompassing the whole of the events at Anzac on 25 April 1915. Into this framework he has layered in copious personal experience accounts that include key Turkish accounts. I initially was sceptical, especially on encountering the spectacularly misjudged couple of paragraphs that summed up the Allied naval assault of 18 March 1918, which contained a series of errors that undermined my confidence in the author – who by his own account is not a historian. He has no grasp of the differences between super-dreadnoughts, dreadnoughts, pre-dreadnoughts and battlecruisers. This wouldn’t really matter, but in itself the details are really not that complex and indicate a complete lack of interest in maritime affairs despite the list of naval sources that are lovingly inserted in the bibliography, but were clearly never read. The Inflexible wavers between being a battleship and a battlecruiser, the Irresistible is apparently a battlecruiser although it was actually a pre-dreadnought etc, etc. This is compounded by the irrelevant intersections throughout the book of the exploits of the AE2, these have nothing to do with ANZAC and serve only to distract from the narrative that he has gone to such efforts to create.

But boy what a narrative it is!

I read most of the book during a recent tour of Gallipoli in May 2007 with a British Army logistics unit, which included a full day at Anzac. Whatever doubts I had were washed away by the sheer power of the story as Cameron tells it. The chance to walk the exact ground in the footsteps of these men would entrance and enthral anyone. To teeter down the Zig Zag path from Plugge’s Plateau into Rest Valley, to climb up on to Russell’s Top, to nervously walk down a muddy Walker’s Ridge, to search for the Cup, to overlook Dead Man’s Ridge and Bloody Angle from Quinn’s Post with the voices of the dead playing in your ears. The heroism of certain individuals created a legend that Australians rightly will never forget. Names ring out like clarion bells: Loutit, Margetts, Bennett, Westamacott, Talbot Smith and Braund. Cameron’s book is a salute to their initiative, determination, endurance and all too frequent sacrifice.

One thing that clearly emerges from the time-sequenced narrative is the utter brilliance of the Turks. The heroic defence of the very few men that face the initial landings. Their retirement time and time again just before their positions were overrun by massively superior numbers. The deadly accurate sniping that stripped units of first their senior officers, then the subalterns, the senior NCOs and finally of every individual that showed initiative and courage. Advance to contact is always painful, but in amidst the gullies, ridges and dense undergrowth of Anzac it was usually fatal. Significantly when the Prisk and his men on Pine Ridge came under sustained ‘friendly’ fire on falling back towards Bolton’s Ridge they suffered no casualties. Perhaps not every Australian bushman was a crack shot despite all the legends? Then when the Turkish reinforcement battalions arrived they flung themselves into battle with no thoughts of their personal survival under the inspiring leadership of Mustafa Kemal and the often forgotten Colonel Sefik Aker. The importance of artillery support, as always in the Great War is correctly emphasised time and time again.

Perhaps Cameron brushes things under the carpet: the overblown accounts of the initial almost unopposed landings, who was the officer Major Bennett had to threaten with a revolver to keep him in line, the ubiquity of men drifting back to the beach is referenced, but nevertheless significantly underplayed while the incompetence of senior commanders who constantly failed to grasp the tactical situation is not really nailed to the ground. He also uses ‘decimated’ time and time again when he clearly does not mean one in ten; he thinks the Nek is of ‘strategic’ importance – the Kilid Bahr Plateau and the Narrows were of strategic importance, the Nek is just tactically significant. But this is not intended as an analytical book; it is a story and a bloody good one. In the end I loved this book and if you want to relive the battle I can recommend nothing more than you read this and the Official Australian History by the 'Blessed Bean' - side by side. Then visit Anzac…

[rcrawley]

Thanks for that Peter. Nigel told me about this book when I saw him last at the AWM. I think I will have to go and have a read.

Cheers,

Rhys

[DW Cameron]

Hi all,

I'm extremely pleased with the comments regarding my book 25 April 1915. I'm especially honoured (but not surprised) that P. Hart has provided a fair and honest critque. Ity goes without saying that I am greatly pleased that someone with such knowledge of the campiagn likes the book. It encourages me to keep writing the second book of the trilogy (the August Offensive at Anzac).

Thanks again

Dave

Hi chums,

Here is a review I've written for the Australian War Memorial magazine Wartime. I'm putting it it here because I think this book is of more interest than it inititally appears. It is also a very enjoyable book to read! I haven't edited the review yet so I'm sure there are lots of bloopers!!!!

Pete

This book is a temptation to any Gallipoli enthusiast. David Cameron’s method is simple but beguiling: he has recast Charles Bean’s magnificent geographically dominated account into a chronological narrative encompassing the whole of the events at Anzac on 25 April 1915. Into this framework he has layered in copious personal experience accounts that include key Turkish accounts. I initially was sceptical, especially on encountering the spectacularly misjudged couple of paragraphs that summed up the Allied naval assault of 18 March 1918, which contained a series of errors that undermined my confidence in the author – who by his own account is not a historian. He has no grasp of the differences between super-dreadnoughts, dreadnoughts, pre-dreadnoughts and battlecruisers. This wouldn’t really matter, but in itself the details are really not that complex and indicate a complete lack of interest in maritime affairs despite the list of naval sources that are lovingly inserted in the bibliography, but were clearly never read. The Inflexible wavers between being a battleship and a battlecruiser, the Irresistible is apparently a battlecruiser although it was actually a pre-dreadnought etc, etc. This is compounded by the irrelevant intersections throughout the book of the exploits of the AE2, these have nothing to do with ANZAC and serve only to distract from the narrative that he has gone to such efforts to create.

But boy what a narrative it is!

I read most of the book during a recent tour of Gallipoli in May 2007 with a British Army logistics unit, which included a full day at Anzac. Whatever doubts I had were washed away by the sheer power of the story as Cameron tells it. The chance to walk the exact ground in the footsteps of these men would entrance and enthral anyone. To teeter down the Zig Zag path from Plugge’s Plateau into Rest Valley, to climb up on to Russell’s Top, to nervously walk down a muddy Walker’s Ridge, to search for the Cup, to overlook Dead Man’s Ridge and Bloody Angle from Quinn’s Post with the voices of the dead playing in your ears. The heroism of certain individuals created a legend that Australians rightly will never forget. Names ring out like clarion bells: Loutit, Margetts, Bennett, Westamacott, Talbot Smith and Braund. Cameron’s book is a salute to their initiative, determination, endurance and all too frequent sacrifice.

One thing that clearly emerges from the time-sequenced narrative is the utter brilliance of the Turks. The heroic defence of the very few men that face the initial landings. Their retirement time and time again just before their positions were overrun by massively superior numbers. The deadly accurate sniping that stripped units of first their senior officers, then the subalterns, the senior NCOs and finally of every individual that showed initiative and courage. Advance to contact is always painful, but in amidst the gullies, ridges and dense undergrowth of Anzac it was usually fatal. Significantly when the Prisk and his men on Pine Ridge came under sustained ‘friendly’ fire on falling back towards Bolton’s Ridge they suffered no casualties. Perhaps not every Australian bushman was a crack shot despite all the legends? Then when the Turkish reinforcement battalions arrived they flung themselves into battle with no thoughts of their personal survival under the inspiring leadership of Mustafa Kemal and the often forgotten Colonel Sefik Aker. The importance of artillery support, as always in the Great War is correctly emphasised time and time again.

Perhaps Cameron brushes things under the carpet: the overblown accounts of the initial almost unopposed landings, who was the officer Major Bennett had to threaten with a revolver to keep him in line, the ubiquity of men drifting back to the beach is referenced, but nevertheless significantly underplayed while the incompetence of senior commanders who constantly failed to grasp the tactical situation is not really nailed to the ground. He also uses ‘decimated’ time and time again when he clearly does not mean one in ten; he thinks the Nek is of ‘strategic’ importance – the Kilid Bahr Plateau and the Narrows were of strategic importance, the Nek is just tactically significant. But this is not intended as an analytical book; it is a story and a bloody good one. In the end I loved this book and if you want to relive the battle I can recommend nothing more than you read this and the Official Australian History by the 'Blessed Bean' - side by side. Then visit Anzac…

[Ozzie]

Welcome to the forum Dave, hope you enjoy it.

Cheers

Kim

[DW Cameron]

Hi Kim,

Thanks!!!

Welcome to the forum Dave, hope you enjoy it.

Cheers

Kim

[Krithia]

Hi Dave, and another welcome to the forum, always good having another Gallipoli nut online. Read your book and thought it was great. I like the way you have reworked the Bean account as a chronological narrative and freshened up the story of the landing with the Turkish accounts. Its very well written, well done.

It is surprising that no one after Bean, with the exception of Denis Winter has written a book to cover 25 April 1915. And in the last few months we have had your marvellous volume and also Peter Williams "The Battle of Anzac Ridge". I have a similar work which is already with the publishers, hopefully due out later this year.

I'll send you over a PM (personal message) later re a query or two on your book.

Cheers, Steve

p.s. Get writing the next one !

[DW Cameron]

Hi Steve,

Much thanks!!!

Keen to hear more about your book if your able. There can never be tooo many books on Gallipoli - WW1 as far as I'm concerned - nor to many researchers - authors. The men and women of this period need to be honoured for everything they did for us.

This is a great forum - wish I knew about it before writing the first book (e.g., correcting errors like those pointed out by Peter). I'm sure that you and others will be able to come to my rescue in trying to complete the second manuscript!

Thanks agian - best wishes DAVE

Hi Dave, and another welcome to the forum, always good having another Gallipoli nut online. Read your book and thought it was great. I like the way you have reworked the Bean account as a chronological narrative and freshened up the story of the landing with the Turkish accounts. Its very well written, well done.

It is surprising that no one after Bean, with the exception of Denis Winter has written a book to cover 25 April 1915. And in the last few months we have had your marvellous volume and also Peter Williams "The Battle of Anzac Ridge". I have a similar work which is already with the publishers, hopefully due out later this year.

I'll send you over a PM (personal message) later re a query or two on your book.

Cheers, Steve

p.s. Get writing the next one !

[alliekiwi]

Looking on Amazon, they now list it as a paperback, with a publication date of December 2007, so don't hold your breath!

I managed to get a copy of this today (in paperback, despite it not being December yet ), and am looking forward to reading it!

I must say I find the reviews on this forum very helpful, as it gives me an idea of whether or not a book will be something I'll enjoy.

Allie