Fatal Charge at Gallipoli

The Story of One of the Bravest and Most Futile Actions of the Dardanelles Campaign - The Light Horse at The Nek - August 1915

Armed only with rifles, bayonets and raw courage, the men of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade left the shelter of their rocky trenches to storm The Nek, a narrow stretch of ridge held by the Ottoman Turks. The first wave of attackers were cut down almost as soon as they stood up. Those that followed knew they were going to die. Yet they too charged without question, stumbling over the bodies of their fallen comrades before they also fell.

The commander of the 10th Light Horse Regiment attempted to have the third wave cancelled, claiming that 'the whole thing was nothing but bloody murder', but he could not convince the Brigade Major.

Using the letters and diaries of those who fought and died in this famously futile action, award-winning journalist and best-selling author, John Hamilton takes the reader on a journey from the rush to recruit in August 1914 when war was declared, through the training camps to the unforgiving terrain of Gallipoli and the unbending Turkish defenders, and finally to that fateful morning and that fatal charge.

Part of a trilogy by John Hamilton, this title was first published in 2004 by Pan Macmillan Australia, only being sold in the Australian and New Zealand markets, under the title Goodbye Cobber, God Bless You: The Fatal Charge of the Light Horse, Gallipoli, August 7th, 1915.