In this updated commemorative edition, published 100 years after the April 25, 1915, landing, the Gallipoli story is told using the words of the diggers, drivers, soldiers, and war correspondents at the frontline. War historian Jonathan King has gathered together an unequalled series of extracts from letters and diaries, written by hundreds of Anzacs at Gallipoli, accounting for every one of the 240 days of the eight-month campaign—even identifying the actual days of the week. It is all here—the fear, the frustration, and the boredom, as they scrounged for bully beef; went mad from the flies, the lice, and the stench of the unburied dead; swapped cigarettes with enemy Turks; dodged shrapnel while swimming at the beach; celebrated birthdays; sheltered from rain and shivered in snow; and waited for action while praying for deliverance. Gallipoli Diaries unlocks the experience of the everyday Australian, from the soldiers, war correspondents, and leaders who were at Anzac Cove, by giving a distilled day-by-day account of every one of the 240 days of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.
