With Manchesters in the East

Manchester volunteers bring their civilian habits and loyalties into overseas service in Gerald B. Hurst's account of his battalion during the First World War. He begins with its roots in local volunteer training, the officers who led it, and the decision to serve abroad in 1914. The chapter sequence carries the battalion through the Sudan and Gallipoli to Egypt, the Suez Canal and Sinai, combining a personal narrative with regimental history.

At Gallipoli, attention falls on the texture of daily life: uncomfortable meals, oppressive heat, sleep beneath the stars and the morning call to readiness. Letters from home reveal how strongly family ties shape these Territorial soldiers. Hurst also describes stalled operations at Cape Helles, specialist work in the trenches and individual acts of courage. Readers interested in military service can follow his account of how a battalion drawn from Manchester's working and business life experiences war.