LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 62

LITERATURE.

BOOK NOTICE.

‘‘Official History of the Otago Regiment, (N.Z.B.F. in the Great War, 1914-

1918. By

Lieutenant A. E. Byrne,

M.C., Otago Regiment, N.Z.E.F. With maps and illustrations. Printed by J. Wilkie and Co. (Ltd.), Princes street, Dunedin.

Scarcely three years have run since the close of the greatest war in human history, and already for some its memories are becoming dim. (Not for those who lost loved ones, or saw them come home maimed or permanently weakened ; scarcely, surely, for any who endured for months or years the constant strain of anxiety for sons, husbands, or brothers exposed to the perils and sufferings of war. But the war is over, the great danger we fought to avert no longer threatens, and there is some fear lest with a portion of the community the cares, interests, and pleasures of everyday life should crowd out memories of the Great War and all it meant to our country and people, and of the debt owing to our brave soldiers. It would be r. lasting reproach to their countrymen if any returned soldier should suffer from want of sufficient and timely aid to enable him to win a good place for himself in civil life, or, if he is incapacitated, to render him all possible alleviations of his lot. And the memory of the part our men took in the great conflict should be perpetuated ! and their brave deeds be known to the young in every New Zealand household. Thus it is well that standard official histories have been compiled while the fullest means existed of obtaining full and exact particulars of every engagement. The history under notice has been written by Lieutenant Arthur E. Byrne, who is well known in Otago journalism, as the special record of Otago and Southland soldiers, and is published by the authority of the Otago Regimental History Committee. It appears in the form of a well-got-up volume, with numerous illustrations of military scenes and of distinguished soldiers, and several maps on a large scale, showing clearly the features of the chief scenes of conflict. Of the style of the book it is sufficient praise to i say that it is worthy of the theme. Lieutenant Byrne has worthily given, to quote from Ins own preface, ‘‘a permanent setting to the fame which the sons of Otago and Southland achieved at Anzac and Holies, on the Gallipoli Peninsula; at Armentieres, the Somme, Messines, Passchendaele, Picardy, Bapaume, and Mormai Forest, the battlefields of France and Flanders.” What poignant, yet glorious, memories do not these r.ames evoke! Tributory forewords .are contributed by (Major-general Sir A. H. Russell, and by Brigadier-general W. G. Braithwaite, of the Second New Zealand Brigade. The former points out that since the small population of Otago could not keen up the full strength of the regiment which bears its name, men from all parts of the Dominion were drafted in with the Otago men, so that, though specially representative of Otago, the regiment is also representative of the country as a whole. He pays a tribute to the memory of Sergeant Travis, of Ryal Bush, Southland, a born soldier, “bravest of the brave,” who enlisted when the war broke out. and after daring perils for years with an apparently charmed life, fell in action on July 25. 1918. Both pay the highest tribute to the courage and endurance of our men generally. Brigadier-general Braithwaite j says: “No task was over too formidable | for them, and to their eternal glory it j can be claimed that they never once failed 1 toy carry out the duty' allotted to them. I \\ nether the Otago men were scaling the j steep and scrubby slopes of Gallipoli, or j charging the German wire entanglements ] under close machine gun fire, as at the j Bellevue Spur, Passchendaele, on October 12. 1917, they always displayed the highest courage, and an initiative surpassed by none and equalled by few other troops.” An accompanying publisher’s note explains that the cost of publication of the volume is borne bv the Consolidated Canteen and Regimental Funds Disposal Board. It is to be hoped that the whole of the present edition of 3000 copies will be speedily sold out, and a new edition called for, as this would cover all expenses and allow of some profit to the fund, which, of course, is employed for the benefit of returned soldiers. It is desirable that every household in Otago should possess a copy of this history, at once a memorial of the gallant deeds of our soldiers and an outline of the Great War as fought in the Gallipoli region and in France and Flanders. Our children should grow up familiar with the record of New Zealand soldiers in the Great At*ar, and inspired bv the example , of their unconquerable spirit. Should our country and the British Empire be again endangered as they were seven years ago, we shall need again the same spontaneous chivalry and devotion that sent our untried youth to engage it; the dealiest conflict on the other side of the world. It should be the deepest prayer and the most persevering aim of all that war mav be averted and national antagonisms give place to friendship and common pursuit by all nations of the great objects of human wellare. Certainly those who have seen and suffered rhe horrors of modern warfare will lie the last to provoke another such conflict. But the courage, selfdevotion and enduraie'o of our soldiers, and their physirai .-treiigi fi and hardihood, j are needed to win the victories of peace well as the victories of armed warfare. A hatever the future of our people and of the world may lag flic deeds of our sol diers will never lose then lustre, and the spirit impelling them wili always be called for. The first part of the book is devoted to the Gallipoli campaign, the introductory chapter giving a brief review of the outbreak of hostilities, of the call to arms,

the embarkation of the Lain Expeditionary Force, the period of training in Egypt, the declaration of war by Turkey, and the fighting about the Suez Canal; the second tells of the beginning of the great Gallipoli enterprise. The great misfortune was that this was not undertaken simultaneously with the attempt to force the Dardanelles passage, instead of when this had failed and the enemy were prepared for a land attack. Lieutenant Byrne quotes the address Sir lan Hamilton issued to the troops under his command. It deserves to be held in memory : Soldiers of France and of the King,— Before us lies an adventure unprecedented in modern war. Together with our comrades of the fleet we are about to force a landing upon an open beach in face of positions which have been vaunted by our enemies as impregnable. The landing will be made good bv the help of God and the navy; the positions will be stormed, and the war brought one step nearer to a gh rious close. “Pvcmember,” said Lord Kitchener when bidding adieu to your commander, ‘'Remember, once you set foot upon the Gallipoli Peninsula, you must fight the thing through to a finish.” The whole world will be watching your progress. Let us prove ourselves worthy of the great- feat of arms entrusted to us. lan Hampton, General. That the enterprise was not brought to a finish was owing to no failure of the troops to whom it was entrusted, but to its inherent difficulties-. By the European world it was probably regarded as hopeless throughout. And with less valorous troops the landing would have been impossible. We recall how the news of that immortal landing took us bv surprise, our thrill of pride at the achievement of our troops, the blended pride and misgiving felt at the King’s tribute to their splendid gallantry, with its -implication of terrible losses suffered. But only by degrees did we learn what a hard thing our men were up against. A few days after the landing an advance was attempted, dome high positions were temporarily gained bv the Otago Battalion, but could not- be held, and the losses in killed and woun-aecV were very heavy, amounting to practically half the strength in men and officers. As to the sufferings of our men through the campaign, Lieutenant Byrne savs : ‘‘ln no other theatre of war in which our infantry afterwards served did the conditions under which they lived and fought ever approach those winy prevailed on Gallipoli Peninsula. Brom the moment of landing they had lived in a narrow strip of country with the sea at their backs and surrounded on all other sides by the enemy. At the most it was only a mile in depth ; and whether in ‘rest’ or in the line the men were always within rifle shot of the enemy, and nowhere were they free from the harassing attentions of his guns. The landing had been effected in the face of an enemy superior in numbers and gun-power, and securely established in positions vhich in peace-time manoeuvres would have been regarded as impossible for infantry attack. Their superb physique, iron endurance, and perfectly-trained condition were the prime factors that enabled them not only to distinguish themselves ov their prowess in battle, but to withstand the strain of the incessant and heavy fatigues, the constant exposure to heat by dav ' and cold by night, the unchanging monotony of the diet and the lack of water.” Reading this record one aces over again the alternations of hope and fear in those months of 1915. the expectations raised by the great offensive of August with its attacks on Sari Bair and (’fiuimk Ra.fr: the disappointment, the waiting; the incredulity with which Tumours of the projected withdrawal were leceived the relief tempering the bitterness of failure when the withdrawal was successfully accomplished. Til its way it was almost as notable a- feat as the landing, being carried through without arousing the suspicions of the enemy. 'i he ravages of disease in the crowded quarters, the severity of oncoming winter, the difficulties of transport, showed persistence in the Gallipoli enterprise to be mere waste of precious life. So “at 2.25 on December 20, the last of the garrison filed down to the beach Without interruption or hindrance they stepped into the lighters and moved silently out to the covering ships ready to receive them ; the piles of stores burst into flames—and Anzac was of the past. ’ But the memory of Ansae will abide as a. permanent heritage of the British people and a perpetual inspiration to .New Zealanders to live up to the standard there set of gallantry and endurance.