Item 01: Eric Susman war diary, 1 January 1915-4 April 1916 - Page 174
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[Page 174]
Saturday 5 June 1915
Dec.
12 months to-day since we left Australia – and ye Gods! what a twelve months! It seems like 12 years since we sailed from Port Melbourne hoping, as at least 90% of us hoped, to be back within six months. What a string of events since that memorable day! Xmas '14 at sea on a troopship – the tropics – Egypt – the subtle charm of the East then the weary desert marches – preparations for the great Adventure – culminating in the meeting of the M.E.F. [Mediterranean Expeditionary Force] at Mudros. – April 25th – back in Egypt again, invalided – August 6th – Lemnos – Durrants Post again, & finally the Evacuation.
And here we are at Lemnos again. Great have been our feats of arms – but with what military, political, economic or diplomatic victories? Certainly we have kept a huge Turkish Army occupied together with German & Austrian artillery and that's about all. Politically Gallipoli spells Mud & Failure with a capital M & F