Grasping Gallipoli: Terrain Maps and Failure at the Dardanelles, 1915

The failure of the Gallipoli campaign was instantly blamed on a great untruth – that the War Office was unprepared. This book, incorporating information unavailable elsewhere, shows that in fact the WO and the Admiralty had amassed a huge amount of data. Aerial reconnaissance had played a part – even Lawrence of Arabia had done his bit! The War Office knew all about Greek plans to capture the peninsula and one plan was even Anglo-Greek. The authors examine all the intelligence and how it was used or ignored and in the process, in the words of the late Richard Holmes they ‘illuminate a wildly beautiful landscape, which never fails to charm and shock me in equal measure.’