Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story

"Can any one of us be persuaded into the belief that his duty lies in safety here at home, while the other fellow goes out to endure all manner of hardship, to be wounded, yea to die for his country? Has the call come to me?..." (p.31) Gallipoli is perhaps our most enduring myth, New Zealand's 'finest hour', a bitter, bloody and tragic campaign in which 2721 young men lost their lives of the 8556 who fought there. The campaign is glorified in our observance of Anzac Day, but the true story of New Zealand's involvement has never been told. Army historian Christopher Pugsley has collated his extensive research and interviews with survivors to provide a narrative which takes into account every aspect of Gallipoli and its impact on both the New Zealanders who fought there and upon the country that sent them. In this book, Gallipoli comes alive through the eyes of those who fought in the campaign, through the pages of their letters and diaries, and through the authors research into a vast field of unpublished primary source material. The book provides the first major evaluation of one of our most important events in history, and many decades later strips bare the myth of Anzac and does full justice to the reality of that epic campaign.