TWO MIDSHIPMEN AT GALLIPOLI

Author: Hugh Williams

Publisher: St Edwards Press. Softback, 119 pages, 41 illustrations

Published: July 2019

Price: £12.00 (Incl UK P&P)

ISBN: 9781909650-08-4

This book combines the letters and memoirs of two of the eight young midshipmen who led the assault on W Beach on 25 April 1915. Weaving between them are the writings of Admiral Wemyss, the man in charge of the naval side of the landings and in whose flagship both young men served.

Being a son of one of the midshipmen, Hugh Williams has compiled this tribute in recognition of the bravery of all three of these men. However, undoubtedly brave though they all were, what is also clearly discernible is both the unflinching courage of the troops they landed – the Lancashire Fusiliers – who, on that first morning, famously won “Six VC’s before Breakfast”, and elsewhere the perfidy of the politicians in Westminster.

This book reveals both the humility and the humanity of all three men in the face of, what turned out to be, a humiliating defeat.

.........................................................................................................................................................................

An interesting little book that the author mentions came about following a talk he had given at a local historical society about his father's service in the First World War. Using his research and notes the next step for Hugh Williams was getting everything published into a book. Gallipoli has been important to this family for many years, inspired not only by his fathers service in the campaign, but reinforced by a large Charles Dixon watercolour of HMS Euryalus that had hung on his dining room wall. Was one of the figures depicted in this painting actually his father?

The book was an enjoyable read. It begins with an introduction to those who inspired the book; namely his father, Alfred Martyn Williams and his best friend, Hubert Malcolm Wilson, the two Midshipman in the books title. The books is laid out chronologically using passages from Alfreds memoir and letters of Hubert supported by context from Admiral Wemyss' account of the campaign. The genuine excitement, patriotism  and naivety of war is clear in these two young men's (17 years of age) accounts, with descriptions of danger that must have worried their parents, especially when Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue were sunk in 1914, an event that Euraylus was fortunate to avoid. From ship to shore, Wilson describes the build-up to, and the landing of the Lancashire Fusiliers on 25 April 1915. Whilst the story doesnt end at the landings, the accounts are lighter for the remainder of the campaign, but are nevertheless interesting that give an insight into a young mans war. Recommended.

 

Available to purchase via: