DAMN THE DARDANELLES ! - The Agony of Gallipoli by Laffin, John

Phoenix Mill, 1997, Alan Sutton Publ. reprint of 1980 edition, 6 x 9, glossy page stock, hard bound in dust jacket, VG/VG. condition. 224 pages, prof illustrated. ------------------------------------------------------------------- An analysis of the Allied Gallipoli offensive against the Turks in WW I, with personal accounts interspersed, and an analysis of the top commanders. `Sacred ground of lost endeavour' or `Hell heaped up'? Controversy still rages today about the Gallipoli campaign, inspired by Winston Churchill and designed to knock Turkey out of the First World War, thereby opening a supply route to arms-starved Russia. Was it one of the greatest blunders of the war, misconceived from the start and mishandled by the tacticians? Or was it a strategic masterstroke, ruined by incompetence on the spot? Whichever view is accepted, the campaign was of decisive importance, its failure paving the way first to the collapse of the Imperial Russian army and later to socialist revolution.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Damn the Dardanelles! is much more than just another account of the action on the field. John Laffin is in the unique position of having access to hitherto unpublished material and illustrations which, combined with an intimate knowledge of the Gallipoli peninsula, has prompted him to write a critical and challenging analysis of the whole campaign. Assisted by detailed maps and contemporary photographs, he examines the premises on which it was conceived, the way in which it was executed, the, personalities of the generals and the conflicts amongst them. The author's introduction declares that `The purpose of this book is to explain the defeat, to apportion the blame, and to let the soldiers speak.' In Damn the Dardanelles! he provides a forthright treatment of a subject which, almost seventy-five years after the event, continues to grip the imaginations of people throughout the world.