I Was There! The latest edition 'Mountains of Dead in Valleys of Myrtle'

The long term project to record (and animate) the 1939 publication ‘I Was There!’ continues with our band of volunteers beavering away to turn out approximately one edition every week. These are receiving highly satisfactory ‘hits’ on the WFA's YouTube channel.

The latest video (numbered 74) is part of Chapter/Playlist 11 which continues the personal accounts of the fighting at Gallipoli.

In this video, narrated by WFA volunteer Robin Goldsmith, we hear the account by the Hon Aubrey Herbert entitled ‘Mountains of Dead in Valleys of Myrtle’.

Hon Aubrey Herbert

The Honourable Aubrey Herbert (1880 – 1923), was a British soldier who, bizarrely, was twice offered the throne of Albania. From 1911 until his death he was a Conservative Member of Parliament.

In his lifetime he was a diplomat, traveller, and intelligence officer. He was a linguist who spoke French, Italian, German, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, and Albanian as well as English. Herbert’s journeys included forays through Japan, Yemen, Turkey, and Albania. He frequently dressed as a tramp on his travels.

Despite poor eyesight, Aubrey managed to join the Irish Guards by simply purchasing a uniform and boarding a troopship bound for France. During the Battle of Mons, he was wounded and briefly taken prisoner.

After a recovering in the UK, and barred from re-enlisting due to his eyesight, Herbert was able to obtain employment in military intelligence in Egypt by Lord Kitchener's military secretary, Oswald FitzGerald.

When the Gallipoli campaign commenced General Godley offered him an appointment as liaison officer and interpreter on his staff.

His ability to speak Turkish was to prove useful and during the campaign he arranged a truce which lasted eight hours, on 24 May 1915, in order to allow for the burying the dead. This episode features his account of this incident.

Gallipoli — I Was There!

These stories, from Chapters 9 and 11, focus on personal accounts of the Gallipoli Campaign. 

• My Last Hours in the Irresistible — A Heroic Story by L-Cpl Powell RM, Mar 17-19, 1915
• Through Death Valley with the ANZACs by Private Fred Fox, AIF, April 23-25, 1915
• Dauntless in the Face of Death — landing on Gallipoli by Major A H Mure, Apr 25, 1915
• 'My Own Dark Hours' as C-in-C at Gallipoli by General Sir Ian Hamilton, April 24-25, 1915
• Heroic Fiasco of 'Y' Beach on Gallipoli by Sir Ian Hamilton, April 26, 1915
• When our Dead Clogged our Trenches by 'Anzac', April 27, 1915
• Gallipoli - Snipers' Paradise and Soldiers' Hell by A. P. Herbert, May - June, 1915
• Moving Letters from an Anzac Dugout by General Sir John Monash, May 30 - June 27, 1915
• Mountains of Dead in Valleys of Myrtle by the Hon Aubrey Herbert, May - June, 1915

Two more Gallipoli episodes are coming soon. And a future playlist/chapter will cover the latter stages on the Peninsula.

Please visit and subscribe to The Western Front Association's YouTube channel for future releases.

Explore more

The videos are being grouped (following the format in the original magazine) into 'Chapters' (on YouTube these are 'playlists') and can be seen here: