Little Gully

26/04/2025

Best Gallipoli books from a Turkish perspective?

Here are five essential works in English.

https://littlegully.com/blog/best-gallipoli-books-from-turkish-perspective/

25/04/2025

Every year, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the Town of Bury commemorate the bravery of our antecedent Regiment, 1st Battalion the Lancashire Fusiliers, during the Gallipoli Campaign. The first landings took place at 0600 on 25 April 1915 and the Battalion won everlasting fame by winning six Victoria Crosses that day, the so-called “6 VCs before breakfast”.

This weekend will include a programme of commemoration events including a church service and parade through the town. We hope you will join us in remembering those who took part in the campaign.

25/04/2025

This new documentary from the Gallipoli Association expertly details how British forces faced devastating Ottoman fire on those fateful beaches V & W on 25 April 1915. Essential viewing: https://youtu.be/NZLSzbKcIe8

Just after dawn on 25th April 1915, under the cover of a formidable naval bombardment, thousands of British troops made their way towards land. In front of t...

24/04/2025

Coming soon: A unique perspective on the Gallipoli Campaign from inside GHQ 👉 https://littlegully.com/books/inside-ghq-the-gallipoli-diary-of-captain-orlo-williams/

Subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll let you know as soon as the book is available.

OOrlo Williams - Gallipoli Cipher

21/04/2025

As nears, step into the trenches at with Sydneysider Harley Matthews. His gripping firsthand account, written just weeks after the landing, captures the chaos, loss and resilience.

https://littlegully.com/blog/gallipoli-the-landing-early-days-anzac-sydneysider-story/

20/04/2025

Looking forward to this.

I've been much quieter on here over the last few months, for which I apologise. One of the reasons has been the amount of work that's been going into this, due out in September: Osprey Campaign Series CAM421: Sinai, 1916-17.

The page proofs are now all completed, and it should be going off to the printers soon. Though I say so myself, it looks great, and has some excellent original artwork by none other than Graham Turner! The subjects include the Affair at Qatia (specifically the Worcestershire Yeomanry at 1330hrs on 23 April 1916), the Battle of Romani (specifically the 3rd Australian Light Horse Regiment at 0200hrs on 4 August 1916), and the storming of El Magruntein (specifically the New Zealand Mounted Rifles on 9 January 1917) - the latter being the image also used on the cover.

I'll post more updates on publication dates etc. as we get nearer the time.

20/04/2025

Be sure to follow Stuart Hadaway's page and be notified of upcoming talks. Author of many books, Stuart has been championing this history for many years.

I'm very excited to learn that Little Gully Publishing are bringing out two new books on the use of seaplanes over Egypt, Palestine and Syria!

The first is a reprint of Cecil Hughes' excellent 'Above and Beyond Palestine', about his time with the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron (EI&ESS). I'm lucky enough to have a copy of the original 1930 edition, but it's pretty rare and expensive these days so it's really good to see it getting back into print and circulation. It's a lovely read and well illustrated, but I'll do a proper review once I've obtained a copy and seen how it compares to the original.

The second, coming soon, is by Ian M. Burns on both the EI&ESS and the Anglo-French Port Said Seaplane Squadron. Some of you may have heard me talk about the latter unit before, or seen Ian's articles on it in Cross & Cockade - the journal of the Great War Aviation Society. This is a quite incredible and endlessly fascinating unit, so I really look forward to seeing the book and seeing the unit become better known. Ian Burns is an expert on the subject, and I'm sure the book will be great, although again I'll do a proper review once I've actually seen it.

More details are on their website: https://littlegully.com/books/above-and-beyond-palestine/

10/04/2025

Win 1 of 3 copies of ‘Above and Beyond Palestine’ by C.E. Hughes in our newsletter giveaway. Subscribe now for your chance to win:

https://littlegully.com/newsletter/

Disclosure: all subscribers on 25 April 2025 will be part of the draw. Winners will be emailed on 26 April.

Image: Donald Maxwell, ‘Another Samson at the Gates of Gaza. A seaplane incident—Commander Samson, RNAS at Gaza.’

09/04/2025

A brilliant insight into media and reporting—before, during and after the Gallipoli Campaign.

https://littlegully.com/blog/gallipoli-through-the-eyes-of-journalists/

06/04/2025

High praise for Jim Grundy's Hell and Confusion: Gallipoli Day by Day – Vol 1 from Gallipoli expert Stephen Chambers.

⭐ "A remarkable and insightful book... a must-read."
⭐ Praises the "vivid, human-centred narrative" drawn from "carefully curated personal accounts."
⭐ "An essential read... told from a deeply human perspective."
⭐ Final word: "I cannot recommend it highly enough."

Get your copy today: https://littlegully.com/books/hell-confusion-gallipoli-day-by-day-vol-1/

Stephen Chambers' very generous review of my book for the Gallipoli Association is greatly appreciated.

The first volume of Hell and Confusion: Gallipoli Day by Day, "Alive With Death," can be ordered from the link in the comments below.

01/04/2025

Did we mention we deployed a new website?

Little Gully Publishing - Independent Book Publisher

23/03/2025

📢 REMINDER: Gallipoli Through Journalists’ Eyes—a free Zoom talk by Jim Grundy.

📆 25 March, 7:30pm UK time
📝 Discover how journalism shaped perceptions and possibly outcomes of the campaign

Register: [email protected]

https://www.gallipoli-association.org/events/gallipoli-through-journalists-eyes/

13/03/2025

BACK IN PRINT: ‘Above and beyond Palestine’ by C.E. Hughes—a valuable firsthand account of naval air operations in the Middle East during WWI.

This faithful reproduction includes all 63 original sketches from Hughes’ 1930 memoir, documenting the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron’s operations along the Palestine coast and beyond.

‘Few books about the War have been so cheerful or so brightly written as this modest volume.’—The Spectator, 1930

Aviation historian Ian M. Burns provides a new afterword with biographical details of Hughes’ fascinating career.

Available now in paperback and ebook formats: https://littlegully.com/books/above-and-beyond-palestine

04/03/2025

📚 UPCOMING TALK: ‘Gallipoli Through Journalists’ Eyes’ with Jim Grundy

Online via Zoom on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30pm UK time.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain new perspectives on the Gallipoli Campaign through the lens of contemporary journalism.

Presented by the Gallipoli Association. Register by emailing Warren Smith at [email protected]

Jim is the author of ‘Alive With Death,’ a compelling new history of the Gallipoli Campaign told through first-hand accounts from prime ministers to private soldiers—all written at the time, without hindsight. Discover how a naval demonstration became the first modern amphibious landing. 👉 https://littlegully.com/books/hell-confusion-gallipoli-day-by-day-vol-1

04/03/2025

Recommended!

STOP PRESS!!!! THERE'S A MARCH ZOOM TALK !!!

Those of you who attended February's zoom talk will know that there was no plan for a March talk....however we are delighted to have been offered a talk by friend of the Association Jim Grundy. Details are below. If you would like to reserve a spot for the talk then please email Warren Smith using the following email address..

[email protected]

Gallipoli Through Journalists' Eyes. 25th March 2025 7:30pm start.

In this talk, we'll consider:

What we can learn about the geography of the area and pre-war attitudes towards the Ottoman Turks from contemporary journalism?

How Britain's wars were reported before the Great War. Did that change in 1914?

The nature of the relationship between politicians, senior naval and military officers and newspaper proprietors.

How journalists in the front lines reported what they saw, both official war correspondents and those serving in the ranks.

Did journalism influence the outcome of the campaign?

About the speaker
Jim Grundy, a former Civil Servant, Chair of a social housing company and director of a brewery, is a regular visitor to Gallipoli. While there, he has retraced the steps of his father's step-father, who served at Helles and Suvla with 9th Battalion Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment.

He is the author of “Alive With Death,” the first part of a three-part history of the campaign, “Hell and Confusion. Gallipoli Day by Day,” telling the story from August 1914 to April 1915 in the words of those who were there, be they prime ministers or private soldiers; admirals, naval ratings or journalists. The second volume, “Always Nearly Winning,” which takes the story on from May to August 1915, is due out later this year.

Jim manages a number of Great War-themed pages on Facebook, including 'Gallipoli, 1915.'

14/02/2025

Six months ago, we published ‘Hell & Confusion: Alive with Death’ by Jim Grundy, the first volume in his Gallipoli Day by Day series. Covering August 1914 to April 1915, it has been widely praised, and Jim is now hard at work on Volume 2, which will continue the narrative beyond April 1915.

Gallipoli has been studied and debated for over a century—so much so that, as John Spencer asked in his review for the December journal of The Douglas Haig Fellowship:

“What is there new to say?”

“Not much, one might think, until picking up this book.”

Spencer described Hell & Confusion as “that rare thing in military history writing—a page-turner,” where Jim “lets the actors (and actions) speak for themselves, with only well-chosen, laconic, and often amusingly sardonic introductory sentences to provide context. It is a remarkable achievement.”

“Telling the story of that cataclysm, day by day, brings the catastrophe into clear relief.”

“The author has done the hard yards in the archives and amongst the library stacks, and produced a work that will save future historians many arduous days (nay weeks) of research.”

“This is just the first instalment. I'm already looking forward to Volume 2.”

14/10/2024

Alec Riley’s Netley diary now in stock at the Bitterne Local History Society shop in Southampton.

Read one soldier’s experiences of life in a First World War hospital: https://littlegully.com/books/netley-diary-1915-1916

Learn more about the history of Southampton: https://bitterne.net/

Thanks Bitterne Local History Society for keeping history alive for the future!