James Hurst. Game to the Last, The Eleventh Australian Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli.

James Hurst. Game to the Last, The Eleventh Australian Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli, ISBN: 0195553314, 2005, 376 pages, $59.95

Perth born but Canberra resident James Hurst has written an exceptional story of the 11th Australian Infantry Battalion that landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April and served until the end of the campaign. The focus of the book is the men of the West Australian battalion who endured Gallipoli during 1915.

War was declared in the middle of the Australian 1914 Federal Election with the Prime Minister Joseph Cook pledging Australia's resources to Britain and the Opposition Leader and soon to be Prime Minister Andrew Fisher declaring Australia would contribute "our last man and our last shilling". From Perth and Fremantle, the south west, the goldfields and the country areas men rushed to join the 11th Battalion which officially came into being on 17 August 1914.

The stories of the men and the officers who joined the battalion in 1914 are well told and I feel the strength of the book is the excellent writing which is easy to follow being focused on individuals but fully covering the story of the battalion. From Black Boy Camp the battalion joined the convoy to Egypt and at Colombo the 3rd Brigade commander, Col Sinclair MacLagan came aboard ship to dine with the 11th Battalion officers which was first the battalion and their brigadier has met!

Following training in Egypt, the battalion moved to Lemos and then half the battalion was in the first wave to land at Anzac Cove on the morning of the 25th. Members would fight that day on Battleship Hill, Baby 700, Walker's Ridge and Second Ridge. On Battleship Hill Captain Eric Tulloch fired at and missed a Turkish officer who may have been Mustafa Bey Kemal. Tulloch withdrew his outnumbered party from Battleship Hill to avoid being surrounded and destroyed and the position was never regained in the campaign.

I was looking forward to reading the account of the 11th Battalion's Gabe Tepe raid of 4 May 1915 since I had previously heard the author give a presentation on the action. The raid was the first carried out by the AIF in the First World War and for Sergeant John McCleery who was later awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his part in the landing on 25 April his wounds meant that his war was over. However he did return to Gallipoli for the 75th anniversary in 1990. He died the following year aged 103 years!

All the major 11th Battalion actions and many of the minor actions on Gallipoli are covered. James Hurst's new narrative history of the battalion on Gallipoli complements and expands upon the 1940 Battalion history Legs Eleven by Captain Walter Belford and Fremantle to France by Ian Gill published in 2003.

The 11th Battalion was one of the finest Australian infantry battalions and deserves this exceptional story of its service on Gallipoli. As well as being well written it is supported by well selected photos. As well as that magnificent photo of the battalion on the Great Pyramid of Cheops in January 1915 there are many Australian War Memorial photos as well as photos from the author's and other collections. Eight maps have been specially drawn for the edition and the bibliography shows the wealth of materials used.