Brigadier-General Herbert Hart landed at Gallipoli on 26 April 1915, commanded the Wellington Battalion during the closing stages of that campaign, then served as a battalion and brigade commander on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918. Throughout the war he kept a diary, in which he recorded his experiences in the great battles on Gallipoli, the Somme and Passchendaele. Hart's diary is now widely regarded as one of the most important personal sources relating to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Exceptionally well written, it includes gripping descriptions of both combat and life behind the front line and on leave in France and United Kingdom. While Hart can appear quite detached at times, he is also a very human observer of the events around him, understanding the plight of his men, finding humour in the most unlikely situations and noticing unexpected details at moments of high tension. As a first-hand account of life in the firestorm of World War One, The Devil's Own War is hard to beat.

Table of Contents

Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Glossary -- Introduction: An Ambitious and Zealous Country Boy -- 1 From Carterton to Cairo, August 1914- April 1915 -- 2 'On a Grim Business', Aprilâ July 1915 -- 3 'We do not like Admitting it is a Failure', August 1915-March 1916 -- 4 'That is the Way at War', April-August 1916 -- 5 'The Somme is the Maelstrom Drawing all Troops in Turn', August-October 1916 -- 6 'Steadily Engaged on Trench Warfare', October 1916-February 1917 -- 7 A New Brigade, March-July 1917 -- 8 'One Big Sea of Slush': Passchendaele, July 1917-February 1918 -- 9 'Everything Looks Black', February-July 1918 -- 10 'At the War Again', July-November 1918 -- 11 'So it is All Over', November 1918-April 1919 -- Conclusion: 'Amongst His Own People', 1919-1968 -- Notes -- Index.

Author Biography

John Crawford is the New Zealand Defence Force Historian and has written on many aspects of the history of the New Zealand Armed Forces and defence policy. In 2007 he edited, with Ian McGibbon, Exisle's monumental book New Zealand's Great War. His other major publications include To Fight for the Empire: An Illustrated History of New Zealand and the South African War, 1899-1902; Kia Kaha: New Zealand in the Second World War; and with the assistance of Peter Cooke, No Better Death: The Great War diaries and letters of William G. Malone. John Crawford lives in Wellington.