Official War History of the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment 1914-1919.
Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1924. Octavo, original lettered brown cloth, [xvi], 260 pp., 18 double sided photo plates, 22 maps (many folding, including the large map of Palestine bound at the rear). Additional to the listed plates is a colour plate of the insignia of 2, 6, and 9 Squadron and the Hat-Band. Touch of flecking affects the cloth, spine ends a bit rubbed, but a handsome copy overall, internally excellent. One of the great New Zealand regimental histories of the First World War, remarkable for its comprehensive series of photographic plates detailing many aspects of the Gallipoli campaign, and the excellent maps. Fittingly, the book is prefaced by the famous poem of Rupert Brooke, another Gallipoli casualty, titled 'Dedicated to the Memory of the Fallen who Died that we Might Live'.
Iconic Gallipoli images include a battlefield on Armistice Day, the beach landing, two images of Walker's Ridge, a view from the heights into Sulva Bay, the famous periscopic riflemen, Destroyer Ridge, Big Table Top, Camel's Hump, and so forth. Likewise, the maps have been carefully prepared and include detailed small-scale battle plans, through to entire operational campaigns. For example, the map of Hill 60 details both Ghurkas and New Zealand infantry.
Aside from extensive fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula, the Wellington Mounted Rifles fought in Egypt (Romani, Bir El Abd, Katia), and Palestine (Gaza, Beersheba, Ras El Nagh, Jaffa, Jerusalem) and the Jordan Valley. Item #2347
Price (AUD): $650.00