For the troops who landed at Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915, the village of Krithia was their object. The narrative begins with an introduction to the Gallipoli theatre and the beaches on which the troops landed. The initial attacks in three Battles of Krithia from 28 April to 6 June were broadly based but became more focused offensives until evacuation on 13 January 1916. Still debated is the question, “Was Gallipoli a failure for the Allies and victory for the Turks?” Although withdrawal was an acceptance that its goals were unmet, but Author Stephen Chambers sees the start of a learning curve for the British Army. Chambers has also written a guide book of the Gallipoli campaign and concludes this book with six battlefield tours, advice to tourers, and an exposition on the Gallipoli Legacy.
Letters and other writings from the warriors themselves are source documents for the author. The narratives are supplemented by many maps. Historic and contemporary photographs and drawings permit comparisons between scenes in war and peace. The portraits of the warriers put faces to the to the names. Among the most poignant pictures are those of the soldiers next to those of their grave markers.
Although not overlooking the big picture, Krithia is what I term “small history”. Much of it is tales of individuals, their backgrounds, observations and opinions. There are many figures from whom to pick favorites. Mine is William Forshaw, the “Cigarette VC” who had to keep his cigarette to light the fuses of the bombs he threw. Do not miss the drawing of him on page 233. I felt sympathy for Fr. William Finn, the first Catholic (I assume among the British forces) killed in the War.
Note the uncensored letter from MP Captain Harold Cawley, another fatality, to his father also an MP, in which he described Major General Sir William Douglas:
He has a third-rate brain, no capacity to grasp the lay of the land, and no originality or ingenuity…He has been in the trenches three times since he landed, hurried visits in which he saw next to nothing...He is always thinking of himself, his food, his promotion, his health. P. 181
This is similar to the correspondence of another politician-soldier, Theodore Roosevelt, to Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge in which he spoke of his commander, Major General William Shafter; “Our General is poor; he is too unwieldy to get to the front…Not since the campaign of Crassus against the Parthians has there been so criminally incompetent a general as Shafter”
I had a superficial knowledge of Gallipoli, Churchill’s unsuccessful attempt to force the Bosporus, first by naval, then by land assault, in which Australia and New Zealand won their nationhood. Krithia deepened my understanding, The ANZACS remain a giant memory in the Antipodes, but most of the Allies involved were from Britain and its Empire, and the French outnumbered the ANZACS. Both Britain and France relied heavily on their colonial troops; the British, Indians and French, Senegalese. Gallipoli was a complex campaign, with three thrusts, including diversionary attacks such as that against Krithia. Though its goals were not achieved, it would serve as a case study that would yield benefits both in the Great War and World War II.
Krithia is a short, fairly quick, but worthwhile read. For me it converted Gallipoli from a name in a long-ago war to a place in which people to whom I can relate fought and died. Formerly seeming unfathomably remote, I can now envision it as a site at which tourers can learn, appreciate and pay homage. I recommend it to anyone seeking a more personal, up-close view of the Gallipoli campaign.
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