'Sorry, Lads, But the Order is to Go'

`A man was blown thirty feet into the air by a naval shell, his limbs out-spread, his whole body silhouetted against the sky. Yet another shell and the charred trunk of another man's body fell near us... One moment they were working their rifles like men possessed, and shouting defiance, and the next they lay crumpled up in the trench.'

The plan for the August Offensive was one of the most complex and ambitious of the Gallipoli Campaign. It was a do-or-die effort on the part of the Allied forces to break the stalemate with the Turks and finally seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula. But it would turn out to be a long and costly battle.

'Sorry, Lads, But the Order is to Go' is the first book since Charles Bean's Official History to provide a narrative account of the August Offensive in detail. Through the use of letters, diaries and interviews from both Commonwealth and Turkish soldiers, David Cameron recreates the five days that defined the August Offensive, including the battles of Lone Pine, The Nek, Chunuk Bair, Hill Q and Hill 971. Not only do we gain access to the thoughts and experiences-sometimes the very last---of men who were on the frontlines, but also the devastating effects that poor leadership, treacherous terrain, scanty provisions and fatigued and depleted troops would have on the success of the offensive.

While soldiers on both sides fought courageously, even in the face of certain death, the August Offensive continues to be a grim chapter in the Gallipoli story, one in which bodies and minds were shattered and lives senselessly lost.

About the Author

David Cameron is a Research Fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Histology at the University of Sydney and an Associate Member of the Centre for Archaeological Research at the ANU in Canberra. David is recognised as a world authority on hominid evolution, with his area of specialisation being the evolution of hominid facial morphologies through time. He has worked extensively on hominid fossils, as well as fossil surveys and excavations, in many countries, including Hungary, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, India, and Vietnam.