The Gallipoli Oak - Martin Purdy & Ian Dawson

[John_Hartley]

The book tells the story of the 6th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers – the territorial unit from Rochdale and the nearby towns of Middleton and Todmorden. It is not a full battalion history, covering only its time from the outbreak of war until the evacuation. But it loses nothing from that and, possibly, offers the opportunity for a sequel in due course.

It arrived yesterday and I’ve read it in pretty much one sitting. It’s well written and, when recounting the major actions of 2nd & 3rd Krithia, as well as the Battle of the Vineyard, is very much a page-turner. Much of the book’s setting was familiar to me, as it covers the same period as the early part of my own history of the 6th Manchesters, a “cousin battalion” in 42nd Division.

There is now a well travelled path for the writer of modern unit histories - as best you can, tell the story using the words of the men who were there. The path is well travelled because it’s a good route to take. Unlike the histories of the 1920s, which always seem to me to be books written by officers, for officers, the modern genre uses letters home and memories written by ordinary blokes. What marks out Martin and Ian’s book is the extremely rich source of original material they’ve found. It allows them to tell the stories of the major actions almost entirely in the men’s words, with only short bits, often just a few words, of their own narrative to link the quotes together. It really is an object lesson in how this can be done.

Second Lieutenant Eric Duckworth was just 19 when he was killed at the Vineyard on 7 August. His body was not recovered and identified. In 1922, his parents visited the peninsula. They had brought with them a small oak sapling, intending to plant it at the spot where Eric had been killed. In the event, they decided it wouldn’t thrive there and planted it in Redoubt Cemetery where it continues to grow happily. It is a fine way to remember Eric and, by association, the men who remain at Gallipoli with him, whose stories Ian and Martin tell so well.

Well worth having on your shelves.

[Maricourt]

Thanks for letting us know about this book, John - it will be a good addition to your own book - one of the best out on Gallipoli.

Regards ... Maricourt