Inside GHQ

Orlando ‘Orlo’ Williams was privy to the plans, personalities, and politics that dominated the Gallipoli campaign. Amusing, informed, and often acerbic, Orlo’s Gallipoli diary is one of the most insightful accounts of the campaign and the inner workings of General Sir Ian Hamilton’s headquarters.

‘Inside GHQ’ is a crucial, deeply researched, and authoritative piece of scholarship. It will prove essential reading for historians of both the First World War and the Gallipoli campaign.

—Aimée Fox, University of St Andrews and editor of The Military Papers and Correspondence of Major General Guy Dawnay, 1915–1919

A waspish judge of character and a lively observer of events, Orlo Williams is amusing, enthusiastic, critical, enthralling and depressing in turn, reflecting his contemporary emotions—but he is never dull.

—Peter Hart, historian and author of Gallipoli

It is rare to be permitted so close a view of very senior command at work. … The book is organised chronologically, with each chapter given a useful introduction by the editors, plus footnotes to the main text where points need explaining. … Plainly all was not well at GHQ (MEF) and added to this was friction between the Army and the Royal Navy and between GHQ and the War Office in London.

This volume … is mercifully free from the swarms of typos which infest so many modern British books and the publishers and editors are to be congratulated. The maps are good, and there is a very handy list of dramatis personae. This is an important, well-produced book and useful even for non-Gallipoli specialists.

—Andy Simpson, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Volume 104 (2026)

[D]o we really need more books about the Gallipoli Campaign? In the case of Captain Orlo Williams’s diary, the answer is a definite yes. … Orlo’s diary provides a revealing and hitherto largely overlooked account of the day-to-day operations of an operational-level headquarters. … He was, essentially, the forgotten figure in the corner of a group photo of celebrities. … Orlo was a gifted diarist. … Unlike the so-called diary of his superior, General Ian Hamilton, Orlo’s honesty and attention to detail hook the reader immediately. … His perceptive comments on Hamilton and Kitchener are particularly valuable.

The editors have done a terrific job, not only in uncovering this golden nugget from a dark corner of the archives but also in adding helpful summaries of the campaign at the start of each chapter to guide the reader. I strongly advise serious readers of the Gallipoli Campaign to obtain a copy of this insightful and frank diary of a modest and unpretentious citizen-soldier.

—Mesut Uyar, University of New South Wales, Canberra