|
The Landings at Sulva Bay, 1915: An Analysis of British Failure During the Gallipoli Campaign, by Michael J. Mortlock
Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Co., 2007. Pp. xi, 237 . Illus., maps, append., notes, biblio., index. $35.00 paper. ISBN:0786430354.
Although focused on the Sulva Bay operations, in this work Mortlock provides a pretty good account of the entire Gallipoli operation, from it's perhaps brilliant conception through its poor implementation and on to its surprisingly well executed conclusion.
Written by a university librarian with an ancestor who served in the campaign, the book has many excellent eye witness accounts and some fine word portraits, as it examines how inept "Old Boy" leadership, careless staff work, and brilliant fighting by the enemy turned what might have been a most important Allied victory into a bloody reverse.
An excellent look at the campaign from the Allied side, the book is, however, flawed when it deals with the other side. Mortlock has clearly not kept up with the most recent scholarship on the Turkish Army in the Great War, by such notable scholars as Pierre Oberling and Edward Erickson; thus he adheres to the traditional view that the Turk?s victory was due to their German advisers.
Nevertheless, as an analysis of the campaign from the Allied side, this is a valuable read.
Reviewer: A. A. Nofi
Buy it at Amazon.com
|
