
Through a commander’s eyes: the reality of life at Helles
Reviewer Jim Grundy finds Darlington’s letters provide a detailed firsthand account of the daily realities and pressures faced by a commander during the Gallipoli Campaign.

Some impressions
By P.J. Bothwell, Bernard de Broglio (Editor)
In 1922, war between Turkey and Britain was but hours away. A resistance army led by Mustafa Kemal had swept the Greeks from Anatolia and was now ready to march north to Constantinople and liberate the capital. But in its way stood a small British garrison at the Dardanelles.
This affectionate account of the British Army at Chanak was written by a peripatetic Englishman, Percival James Bothwell, under the pseudonym ‘Z’. He was branch secretary of the YMCA in Chanak.
Bothwell’s account was originally published as a slim paperback by S. Dirmikis & Son, Constantinople, probably in 1923.
This modern edition is a faithful reproduction of the original text. It has been illustrated with contemporary photographs and two maps. Included as appendices are a biography of Bothwell, two stories by Bothwell from the YMCA magazine, The Red Triangle, and orders of battle for British forces at Chanak 1922/1923.
Branch secretary of the YMCA in Chanak, and witness to the Turkish-British stand-off in 1922.
Read more about P.J. Bothwell
by Colonel Sir Henry Darlington
Read more →
by Ian M. Burns
Read more →
by C.E. Hughes
Read more →