Field Of Bones: The Gallipoli Campaign

During August and September 1915 almost 3000 young volunteer Irish soldiers died on the killing-fields of Gallipoli on the Turkish Adriatic. They had sailed from Dublin earlier that year as a division of Kitchener's Army. At Suvla Bay they fell to gunshot-wounds and shellfire, while thirst, sunstroke and dysentery reduced their chances of survival. Hundreds were to be burned alive in raging bush-fires. The Irishmen in this conflict of 'unparalleled brutality, ferocity and waste' were of all creeds and classes. Former 'Larkinites' from Dublin's docks fought alongside Trinity students, stockbrokers and barristers. Unionists from Portadown and Ballymena marched with nationalists from Castlebar and Skibbereen. Some enlisted out of a sense of patriotic duty, others simply in order to 'get regular meals'. Whole groups of friends such as 'The Dublin Pals' and 'The Toffs in the Toughs' enlisted - and died - together. In post-war Ireland political revolution led to the removal of Gallipoli from memory. One popular ballad told the Volunteers 'you fought for the wrong country, you died for the wrong cause, when the greater war was at home'. The bone-strewn strands of Suvla were forgotten. Almost ninety years later, the author came across a quiet country road in the Irish midlands called 'The Dardanelles', which sent him on a journey of discovery, and recovery. Here, in heart-breaking detail, built from letters, diaries and archival sources, is the story of The 10th (Irish) Division, many of whom still lie today in Suvla Bay's deserted fields of bones. Foreword by Keith Jeffrey.

About the Author :
PHILIP ORR, a former teacher and military historian, is author of the best-selling The Road to the Somme: Men of the Ulster Division Tell Their Story (Belfast 1987). He lives in Carrickfergus, County Antrim.

Review :
‘Masterly and moving… Philip Orr enhances his already high reputation as a military historian for not only illuminating and meticulous command of detail but for a sense of balance and a fair-mindedness too rare in work on the long-neglected history of Irish soldiers in the First World War. Field of Bones is an absorbing study to be pondered by all students of the folly, the foibles, and the fortitude of man.’ – Professor Joe Lee ‘In this marvellously resonant book, Philip Orr has recovered the history of one of Ireland’s great forgotten battles… Gallipoli was as important a First World War battle for Ireland as the Somme was for Ulster.’ – Professor Keith Jeffery ‘Masterly and moving… Philip Orr enhances his already high reputation as a military historian for not only illuminating and meticulous command of detail but for a sense of balance and a fair-mindedness too rare in work on the long-neglected history of Irish soldiers in the First World War. Field of Bones is an absorbing study to be pondered by all students of the folly, the foibles, and the fortitude of man.’ – Professor Joe Lee ‘In this marvellously resonant book, Philip Orr has recovered the history of one of Ireland’s great forgotten battles… Gallipoli was as important a First World War battle for Ireland as the Somme was for Ulster.’ – Professor Keith Jeffery