MONS, ANZAC AND KUT
By an MP
(Lieutenant Colonel the Hon Aubrey Herbert MP)
Edited by
EDWARD MELOTTE
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
2009
This is the superb Great War diary of Aubrey Herbert; aristocrat, politician, diplomat, poet, polyglot and traveller, the model for John Buchan's romantic hero, Sandy Arbuthnot in Greenmantle, and one of the most interesting figures of his age.
Born almost blind, his sight, even after surgery, precluded him from official military service. On the outbreak of war he therefore attached himself unofficially to the Irish Guards on their way to France and was made an honorary Lieutenant. Wounded and briefly captured during the Retreat from Mons, he went on to join the Intelligence Bureau in Egypt before being attached to the New Zealand and Australian Division at Gallipoli. There he personally persuaded General Ian Hamilton, the overall Commander, to agree to a temporary truce with the Turks to enable the burial of the dead and the recovery of wounded from no-man's-land. Later in Mesopotamia, his efforts to buy the release of the beleaguered British garrison at Kut were less successful.
Herbert remained an MP throughout the war and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel but his reputation and influence ensured that he made a contribution out of all proportion to his rank. His extraordinary war experiences brought him into close contact with a wide cast of characters, not least T E Lawrence, Compton McKenzie and leading military and political figures.
The Diaries were originally published anonymously in 1919, the author using pseudonyms or simple initials for many of the characters. This highly collectable edition not only benefits from a full Introduction by the Author's great grandson, a serving Army officer, but has been significantly expanded using Herbert's original diaries introducing many of his more scathing thoughts and views and exposing the real identities of the characters with whom he engaged. This revisec book will provide historians and enthusiasts alike with a new and unique insight into military and political thinking from the perspective of one engaged at both levels.
24 x 16 cm. xvi + 217 pp + b/w photo plates.
Very good + condition, head of the spine lightly bumped but otherwise like new.