Col Wilson

[michaeldr]

Both Dr. John Laffin [Damn the Dardanelles] and Prof Tim Travers [Gallipoli 1915] make use of a quote from Ashmead-Bartlett, who in turn is quoting Col Wilson

“…orders issued to the 29th Division were seldom intelligible and always had to be changed, or modified, or ignored. They could never get a definite objective for an attack, as the orders always ended up with ‘Go as far as you can and entrench.’ He described the battle of June 4th as a ‘cold blooded massacre….’”

There is a very slight difference in the wording between the two versions, but that is not my query here

My problem is that Laffin says that the Col Wilson in question was Leslie Wilson, the commander of the Hawke Battalion, RND

while Travers in his notes only uses ‘Col Wilson,’ but in his index he indicates that on this page he is referring to J. T. R. Wilson of the 88th Brigade

Does anyone know which is the correct Col Wilson?

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Stephen Nulty]

Michael

The Australian government's Gallipoli site at www.gallipoli.gov.au also quotes from Ashmead-Bartlett and states quite clearly that

"After dinner I went round with him to Colonel Hawkers and met Colonel Wilson who commands the Hawk Battalion ". The article continues by voicing some of the criticisms you mention above.

I'm not sure if this clears it up or just adds to the confusion!!

Steve

[michaeldr]

Steve,

Many thanks; that site is exactly what I wanted

Ashmead-Bartlett’s own words from his diary

Heaven only knows how Prof Travers went wrong

Thanks again

Regards

Michael D.R.