The Eleventh - The History of the 11th Australian Infantry Battalion 1914-1919 Volume 1 by Wes Olson

[gilly100]

It was a privilege to attend the book launch yesterday (10 September 2023) in the Perth Town Hall of Wes Olson's sixth book, (one of which covers the 2/11Bn in WW2) this one on the 11th Bn AIF at Gallipoli. Volume 2, in the coming years, will cover the Western Front. It was great to see all the family descendants turn up, and who provided so much of the first-hand accounts, photos and diaries etc, many of which are new to the public forum. His use of Trove and the digitised newspaper accounts from the soldiers, so common in 1915, certainly dug deep across all the papers around at that time, proving a valuable resource.

Also welcome are the accounts around the rifle and mg fire opposition faced at the initial Landing as told by so many that were there that early morning on 25 April. Albert Facey gets vindicated (as he should), as does another 3rd Reo whose service record indicates a later arrival TOS at Gallipoli (7 May).

Refreshing also to see the 3rd Brigade Commander - Ewen Sinclair-MacLagan given due respect for his decisions that day, given the nature and rapidity of unfolding events and information available.

His piecing together of the different sections, platoons and companies that first few days is accomplished, and it was pleasing to see Sgt George Mason DCM and his experiences explained correctly from his hard to follow account in the Bean Diaries so many of have spoken about in the past. I know now I had it wrong.

The listings of casualties in all the major actions add to the quality and the overall coverage of the bigger events like the Landing (including all those believed present that day), the 4 May Gaba Tepe raid, 28 June stunt and Leane's Trench are excellent.

I don't see another book coming out on the 11th Battalion AIF anytime soon, other than Vol 2.

Congratulations Wes, you nailed it!

 

PS - To think it was only recently (Nov 2022) that Neville Browning OAM launched his 16th Battalion AIF unit history - Bayonets and Barbed Wire, at the same venue, and which, only reinforces the seriousness, that those in Western Australia, take their military history.

Ian Gill

 

Edited 11 September , 2023 by gilly100
grammar

[Fedelmar]

It certainly was a wonderful event and great to see not only the family members but past and present serving ADF soldiers, well known and respected WA military historians and other local dignitaries present.

Wes has worked long and hard with his research and the depth of the documents resourced is indicative of what we have available in first hand accounts that gives us a truthful account of events when people accept the challenge to seek out the truth.

Congratulations Wes!

Bright Blessings

Sandra 

 

 

Edited 15 September , 2023 by Fedelmar
reworded

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

Interesting

But is it the same as Belford's book with 600 + pages

 

[gilly100]

Steve

It's 537 pages as Volume 1 covering formation, Gallipoli and return to Egypt. Volume 2 will be the Western Front, so I expect that to be pretty large also. Given the amount of available digitised records nowadays, I think it will be the premier overall work on the 11th Battalion.

Ian

[woronora]

Hi

 

When will the book be available for sale and where?

Cheers

John

[gilly100]

John

It is only available direct from the author. If you message me privately, I can put you in touch with the author.

Privately/self-published books, printed and bound in Australia (better than offshoring) is becoming very expensive (with less and less options), so most who operate in this fashion seek to avoid doling out books to dealers who always demand a big discount from the author so they can make a bigger profit and ultimately render the author a loss. The book is very competitively priced given its size and hard-bound status and is fully Australian made, unlike others who outsource to China. $60.

Ian

[Fedelmar]

On 15/10/2023 at 11:40, gilly100 said:

John

It is only available direct from the author. If you message me privately, I can put you in touch with the author.

Privately/self-published books, printed and bound in Australia (better than offshoring) is becoming very expensive (with less and less options), so most who operate in this fashion seek to avoid doling out books to dealers who always demand a big discount from the author so they can make a bigger profit and ultimately render the author a loss. The book is very competitively priced given its size and hard-bound status and is fully Australian made, unlike others who outsource to China. $60.

Ian

Some of those that are outsourced, the paper goes horribly brown in about a year and makes you wonder what they are like in 20+ years time.

[Fromelles]

On 15/10/2023 at 14:40, gilly100 said:

If you message me privately, I can put you in touch with the author.

 

Hi Ian,

I sent you a message a while back, but it would appear you may not have seen it

Dan

[Michelle Young]

Wes, it’s never a great idea to put an email address on the public forum. I’ve edited so spammers can’t harvest it. The better way is to communicate via private messages. 

[Gavin F]

A bit late to the party, but would  love to get a copy. 
Very interested in volume 2 when it becomes available as my GG Uncle served with the 11th on the Western Front.

I have an original letter he wrote during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 to my grandfather.

How would I get in contact with Wes to register an interest?

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi Gavin and welcome to the forum.

Ian has said that he is contact with the author.  Click over his name as per the illustration and click the Message button.  He should get an alert.  I've always found him very helpful.

Cheers, Bill

[Gavin F]

Thanks Bill much appreciated.

regards

Gavin

 

[Paul Tubman]

Thanks to Gavin F on recommending. I too a little late to the party but have recently purchased from a Qld vendor.

Very keen to see Volume 2 in due course.

Have just joined this forum today too.