At the gates of the Dardanelles

The French at Gallipoli, in their own words. Translated into English for the first time, At the Gates of the Dardanelles presents the complete war diary — the Journal des marches et opérations — of the General Headquarters of the Corps expéditionnaire d’Orient, covering the campaign from pre-landing planning in February 1915 to the evacuation in December.

The daily entries record the landing at Kum Kale, the long grinding battles at Cape Helles, and the constant work of a corps headquarters at war: operational orders, intelligence summaries, artillery coordination, and the daily traffic between the French command and its British allies. The diary reveals a professional, well-led force whose contribution to the campaign has been all but absent from the English-language literature.

Thomas P. Iredale’s translation is annotated and extensively mapped, with appendices covering casualties, landings and evacuations — both an engaging read and a valuable work of reference. A foreword by Dr Edward J. Erickson, author of Gallipoli: The Ottoman Campaign, places the diary in its historiographical context.

Every copy unlocks the original French records behind the translation. Enter the access code printed in your book to download the complete GHQ diary as a searchable PDF — 351 pages, bookmarked by volume, with the seven volumes also available individually. The Pièces justificatives — the corps’ supporting documents from April to September 1915 – are included and likewise searchable. So are the complete page images of every item exactly as digitised, colour maps included, along with the Minute: the handwritten draft from which the fair copy was compiled.

I wish that Thomas P. Iredale’s ‘At the Gates of the Dardanelles’ was available when I wrote ‘Gallipoli: The Ottoman Campaign’ in 2009. There is almost nothing in the English language historiography of the First World War about the French Army’s efforts against the Ottomans in 1915 … Tom’s new translation provides a massively overdue look at the tactical operations, planning, and logistics of the French expeditionary corps at Gallipoli.

The text has been annotated, providing valuable information about individuals and events as well as insights into the thinking of the French commanders … The CEO war diaries reveal a well prepared, well led, and professionally trained army at war.

Tom Iredale’s splendid addition to the field fills a critical void in how we in the English-speaking world should evaluate the Gallipoli Campaign. It will immediately become a “must have” for the bookshelves of historians, Gallipoli enthusiasts, and war gamers.

Dr Edward J. Erickson — from the foreword

Meet the trope that is true: the little examined, in the English historiography, role of the French at Gallipoli. Thanks to Tom Iredale, for the first time, we can now read the war diary of the Headquarters of the Corps expéditionnaire d’Orient, the ‘Journal des marches et opérations’.

The first impression is one of professionalism … Reference to 25th April reminds us that the French achieved the objectives set for them at Kum Kale; no other allied contingent could make that claim. It was particularly interesting to note how the French landed their field artillery, the famous 75s, right on the beach, giving direct fire support. We can contrast that with what happened at Anzac, where the landing of the artillery was delayed for fear the guns might be lost.

Everything is recorded in great detail as befits a professional military. The editor provides a mass of contextual information, useful maps and some fine photographs. Appendices list reinforcements, stores, ammunition landed throughout the campaign. They provide some real insights into what was required to maintain an army there.

Tom Iredale has given us access to a wealth of new information, for which historians should be forever grateful, shedding so much more light on the challenges faced by the French. ‘At the Gates of the Dardanelles’ belongs in every Gallipoli library. Highly recommended.

Jim Grundy — author of Hell & Confusion: Gallipoli day by day