Jeff Hatwell's epic tale is shaped by the lives of two extraordinary individuals thrown into the extraordinary and surreal work of the Gallipoli campaign as soldiers of the First AIF in WWI. Percy Black and Harry Murray were plain hard-working Australians of their era whose paths crossed in Western Australia when they enlisted in support of country and empire.
This is a story of those brave individuals certainly, but the powerful narrative is moulded around them and paints a complex and thorough picture of the heroism, loyalty, inventiveness, mateship, stoicism and strength of the many individuals, on all sides, caught up in the horror of the 'war to end all wars'.
A well-wrought chronicle of two unassuming, iconic Anzacs, Black and Murray, who acted with resolve and fortitude under great pressure and in the most difficult of circumstances. In the laconic way these two would have said they simply did what they had to do, they did their job.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
List of Maps
Foreword
Preface
1. Colonists and Convicts
2. Blackboy Hill to Cairo
3. Distinguished Conduct
4. Officers and Gentlemen
5. Western Front
6. Mouquet Farm
7. 'Sheer Valour' at Stormy Trench
8. Death in the Wire
9. The Path of Duty
10. Commanding Officer
11. Homecoming
12. The Sunlit Plains
13. Great-hearted Men
Appendix: A Note on Decorations
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Review:A superb read that continues in the tradition of C.E.W. Bean - Kim Beazley, MP
