CRAWSHAY-Williams, Eliot. Leaves from an Officer's Notebook. London, Edward Arnold, 1918.
8vo. Original dark blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt; pp. xvi, 264, plates after photographs; cloth a little marked, occasional light spotting; a good copy of a scarce work.
First edition, presentation copy, incribed and signed by the author on front fly-leaf. The Welsh liberal politician, and later writer of novels had served Churchill as secretary in 1907, and during the First World War at the Western Front and in Northern Egypt, as the country was attacked by axis forces. More than half of the volume is dedicated to this rarely documented front during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, which saw the battles of Romani (beginning of August 1916) and of Bir el Abd (August 9). The Ottoman army was still a considerable force and the ANZAC troops first looked as if they were loosing ground. However, the Ottoman forces evacuated the gains of August 9 the following day.
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