The Desert Column

Published in 1932, and adapted from his war diaries, Idriess shares his part in World War I, first in Gallipoli, then Sinai, and Palestine. Idriess was a private in the Australian 5th Light Horse Regiment, Second Light Horse Brigade. He was wounded three times, the worst was the third time, when he was returned to Australia, as unfit to continue fighting.

Idriess writes with a passion for those he fights beside, he shares his frustrations with the big picture decisions made by high command (such as withdrawing at key moments, of taking a fortification or a town only to abandon it to be reoccupied by the Turks, and of the inferior weapons and air support they receive, when compared to the soldiers in France) and he shares his own thoughts of those things happening around him, including the boredom of war.

As this was adapted from his diaries some years later (the diary covers the period 18 May 1915 to 2 January 1918), he adds some narrative passages, which pad out the often abrupt diary entries, but help the cohesive nature of the writing.

As always Idriess writes well. An example from the Gallipoli trenches at Lone Pine [P39]
We stumbled in the darkness instinctively ducking our heads, only to thud into the wall of the tunnel where it twisted and turned. The floor was uneven with puddle holes of putrid water. Of course no one dare strike a light; we were going through to the most dangerous spot of the whole Gallipoli line. The route smelt like a cavern dug in a graveyard, where the people are not even in their coffins. We are right in Lone Pine now and the stench is just awful; the dead men, Turks and Australians are lying buried and half-buried in the trench bottom, in the sides of the trench, and built up into the parapet. They have made the sandbags all greasy. The flies hum in a bee-like cloud. I understand now why men can only live in this portion of the trenches for forty-eight hours at a stretch...

5 stars.