MAN OF IRON
Jock Vennell
Allen & Unwin
$36.99
Published to commemorate the
100 year anniversary of the Battle of Chunuk Bair, Man of Iron is the
first biography of this battle’s hero, Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone.
“The Gallipoli campaign of
which Malone was so much a part is now part of the folk memory of this
country.”
Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone is one of New Zealand's best-known
First World War soldiers, having held off fierce Turkish counter-attacks for
nearly two days before being killed by a shell from a British warship. The
defence of Chunuk Bair has been described as one of New Zealand's finest hours.
Malone and his men captured and held the heights of Chunuk Bair on the
Gallipoli Peninsula in August 1915.
William Malone was not only an outstanding military leader, as commander of the Wellington Infantry Battalion, but also a successful farmer, lawyer and family man. His letters reveal a man unfulfilled by peacetime pursuits, and war offered him a liberation of spirit and a new sense of purpose. Leaving for the front, he wrote, 'I leave a lucrative practice, a happy home, a brave wife and children without any hesitation. I feel I am just beginning to live.'
William Malone was not only an outstanding military leader, as commander of the Wellington Infantry Battalion, but also a successful farmer, lawyer and family man. His letters reveal a man unfulfilled by peacetime pursuits, and war offered him a liberation of spirit and a new sense of purpose. Leaving for the front, he wrote, 'I leave a lucrative practice, a happy home, a brave wife and children without any hesitation. I feel I am just beginning to live.'
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jock Vennell is a Wellington based writer and historian. He is the
author of The Forgotten General.
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