['Peninsula Press']

Six issues of 'Peninsula Press', the exceptionally rare Gallipoli field news bulletin, offered as one lot: Numbers 33 (Tuesday 29 June 1915), 34, 46, 57, 74, and 84 (Monday 18 October 1915)

[Imbros], 'R.E. Printing Section, G.H.Q., M.E.F.', 1915.

Broadside (approximately 336 × 213 mm), six individual issues, printed in two columns (recto only).

The first five numbers are printed on good-quality paper; Numbers 34, 46, and 57 are creased across the middle; Numbers 33, 74, and 84 are creased where folded down to pocket-size, and have some closed tears to the margins; Number 74 is uniformly tanned and a little finger-marked; Number 84, printed on inferior-quality acidic paper, is heavily tanned and brittle, and has had some expert conservation to a break across the middle; other minor signs of age and use (including some relevant pencilling, mainly contemporary); in summary, three numbers are in excellent condition, two are in very good condition, and the last one is a decent copy.

The individual dates of publication of the other four items are Wednesday 23 June (34), Monday 5 July (46), Friday 16 July (57), and Wednesday 18 August (74).

'Peninsula Press' began as a daily newsletter, with the first issue on 10 May 1915; it ceased with Number 96 on 10 January 1916. It was issued daily with few exceptions until 31 July, and approximately twice-weekly thereafter. It was printed on Imbros and issued to Allied troops in the Middle East by General Headquarters, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. One main aim was to counter the misinformation spread by 'furphies' or 'latrinograms'. 'As befitted its purpose as an official communication, the tone of the paper was always self-congratulatory and dismissive of the enemy. It was good propaganda writing ... From early July 1915 a most significant change is noticeable in the "Peninsula Press". There was a marked reduction in comment on the Peninsular campaign in sharp contrast to the frequency of reference in earlier editions' (David Kent, 'Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society', December 1992).

With all due respect to the author of that article, we suggest he did not read very closely Number 57, issued on Friday 16 July. It contains a very detailed account (upwards of 1000 words) dated the previous day, of an attack by French and British forces against 'Turkish defences on this side of Krithia' on 12-13 July. 'During the night of the 13-14th, as on the previous night, the enemy counter-attacked but without success. Thus the whole of our original objectives is in our hands, except one small portion of about 300 yards. Our losses have not been ascertained, but in the confused and hand-to-hand fighting which took place over that portion of the line in which there is a labyrinth of trenches, we fear they may be considerable'.

Two British battalions had been trapped between their furthest objective and this small portion of re-occupied trench; their fate is described in the last paragraph, headed 'Later'. 'We are most glad to be able to say that both battalions have made their way back in detachments and that their total casualties are not so very serious as might be expected seeing they had been in the midst of the Turkish lines. This makes the battle of the 12-13th an unqualified success and is at the same time as satisfactory and surprising as the reappearance of Jonah out of the whale's belly'.

Charles Bean records that the newsletter 'was posted at the headquarters of many units, as well as on the Beach, the troops crowding to read it' ('Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918', Volume 1). Oliver Hogue, in 'Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles' (London, 1916) writes as one of those troops: 'That "Peninsula Press", little thing though it was, used to be read and re-read till we could almost repeat all its contents word for word. It gave us the war news on all fronts in a nutshell'. The survival rate of these pieces of paper under such circumstances cannot have been high, an observation borne out by their rarity in collecting institutions in Australia and New Zealand - and there appears to be no complete set. Not in Dornbusch; not in Fielding and O'Neill; research notes quoted above are from Stuart Braga. [6 items].