The Dardanelles; Campaigns and Their Lessons
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919. Presumed First U. S. Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xiii, [3], 361, [1] pages. Footnotes. Maps. Appendices (including List of Authorities Consulted, Order of battle of the Expeditionary Force, The arrangements made with regard to water for the Sulva landing, and Marshal Liman von Sanders' views and statements). No dust jacket present. Cover and pages have some wear and soiling. Major-General Sir Charles Edward Callwell, KCB (2 April 1859 – May 1928) was an Anglo-Irish officer of the British Army, who served in the artillery, as an intelligence officer, and as a staff officer and commander during the Second Boer War, and as Director of Operations & Intelligence during the First World War. He was a noted writer of military biography, history, and theory. In 1886 Callwell was awarded the Trench Gascoigne Prize Essay Competition gold medal by the Royal United Service Institution for his essay Lessons to be learned from the campaigns in which British Forces have been employed since the year 1865. On 1 October 1887 Callwell served as a Staff Captain in the Intelligence Branch at Army Headquarters. On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Callwell was recalled to active service, being appointed Director of Military Operations at the War Office with the temporary rank of major-general. He carried out much important work successfully, not least the preparation of various plans for the organization of the Dardanelles campaign, an operation which he personally opposed. In 1921 he was awarded the Chesney medal of the Royal United Service Institution for his services to military literature. ‘By the middle of February the imposing armada that had been designated to carry the operation through had, with the exception of a very few vessels still on the way, assembled in the vicinity of the Dardanelles, and only favorable weather was now needed to begin…’ The Dardanelles is a frank, studious, yet enthralling examination of the broad strategical aspects of the campaign during the Great War. Severely restricted in munitions, supplies and forces due to more pressing needs in other ‘theatres of war’, the Allies suffered both great losses in furious battles as well as successful landings and evacuations. This volume aims not to furnish the reader with an account of the war as a great and thrilling adventure, but to reveal the tactical elements of the campaign from which there is much to learn. As such, episodes of explosive fighting are only touched upon, while the tactical elements of the enterprise are favored. The famous landing of the Gallipoli peninsula, for example, is dealt with in exquisite detail, as is the strategy behind forcing the straits without military cooperation, and the volume also aims to reveal in new light the art of amphibious warfare. The Dardanelles is a must read for all military enthusiasts. C. E. Callwell was a well-known military historian. His military experience is also extensive – a retired colonel by the outbreak of war, Callwell was recalled and immediately promoted to Temp Major-General and Director of Military Operations. This vast experience of war and military operations manifests itself in an objective and thorough text, made all the more readable through Callwell’s smooth and accessible prose style. Condition: Good.
Keywords: First World War, Dardanelles, Military Expedition, Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, Ottoman Empire, Amphibious Landing, Helles, Anzac, Ian Hamilton, Sulva, Evacuation, Maritime Landing, Liman von Sanders, Balkans, Monro, Military Aviation, Artillery
[Book #89579]
Price: $175.00