Captain A M McGrigor

Ts transcription of a series of diaries kept during his service in the First World War, the first (276pp, September 1915 - January 1916) recording his work as ADC to General Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and then as temporary ADC to Hamilton's successor, Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood, based mainly on Imbros but describing trips to Gallipoli to inspect the fronts at Helles, Anzac and Suvla, a visit to Anzac by Lord Kitchener, conditions and morale on the Peninsula, his surprise at Hamilton's supercession in October, the storms which hit Gallipoli at the end of the year and the preparations for and execution of the final evacuation, the second diary (503pp in two volumes, March 1916 - July 1917) covers his service with the Gloucestershire Yeomanry (5th Mounted Brigade until February 1917, then Imperial Mounted Brigade) in Egypt, describing the long periods of comparative inactivity punctuated by fighting in the Battles of Romani (April 1916) and 2nd Gaza (April 1917), conditions in the desert, attendance on a Hotchkiss gun course and his temporary appointment between June and August 1916 as ADC to Major General A L Lynden-Bell, Chief of the General Staff in Egypt; the final diary (502pp in two volumes, August 1917 - January 1919) covers his service on the Western Front as ADC to General Birdwood, Commanding the 1st ANZAC Corps and, from 31 May 1918, Fifth Army, describing the Third Battle of Ypres (September - October 1917) and the German spring offensive (March - April 1918), aerial warfare, the qualities of Australian troops and ineptness of the Portuguese, the development of infantry tactics, the liberation of Lille (October 1918) and Armistice celebrations, while containing many references to the personality of Birdwood and visits by distinguished persons including HM King George V, Winston Churchill, Marshal Foch, Australian premier Hughes, Sir George Arthur, the war artist Salisbury, and American generals.

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