FROM DARTMOUTH TO THE DARDANELLES SOLDIERS’ TALES OF THE GREAT WAR Each volume cr. 8vo, cloth. 3_s._ 6_d._ net. I. WITH MY REGIMENT. By “PLATOON COMMANDER.” II. DIXMUDE. The Epic of the French Marines. Oct.-Nov. 1914. By CHARLES LE GOFFIC. _Illustrated_ III. IN THE FIELD (1914-15). The Impressions of an Officer of Light Cavalry. IV. UNCENSORED LETTERS FROM THE DARDANELLES. Notes of a French Army Doctor. _Illustrated_ V. PRISONER OF WAR. By ANDRÉ WARNOD. _Illustrated_ VI. “CONTEMPTIBLE.” By “CASUALTY.” VII. ON THE ANZAC TRAIL. By “ANZAC.” VIII. IN GERMAN HANDS. By CHARLES HENNEBOIS. LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN 21 BEDFORD STREET, W.C. FROM DARTMOUTH TO THE DARDANELLES A MIDSHIPMAN’S LOG EDITED BY HIS MOTHER LONDON [Illustration: LOGO] WILLIAM HEINEMANN _First Published June 1916._ _New Impressions July, September, October 1916._ _London: William Heinemann, 1916._ _FOREWORD_ _THE responsibility for the publication of this book lies with me, and with me alone. I trust that that great “Silent Service,” one of whose finest traditions is to “do” and not to “talk,” will see in it no indiscretion._ _To state that these pages make no claim to literary merit seems almost superfluous, since they are simply a boy’s story of ten months of the Great War as he saw it. In deference to the said tradition the names of officers and ships concerned have been suppressed—those of the midshipmen mentioned are all fictitious._ _The story has been compiled from a narrative written by my son during a short spell of sick leave in December 1915. Considering that all his diaries were lost when his ship was sunk, it may at least be considered a not inconsiderable feat of memory. Originally it was intended only for private circulation, but many who have read it have urged me to put it into print; and I have decided to do so in the hope that their prediction that it would prove of interest to the public may be justified._ _In so far as was practicable, I have tried to tell the story in my son’s own words; but it may possibly be argued that at times words and phrases are such as would not normally be used by a boy of barely sixteen. To that charge I can only reply that in the main even the words are his own, and I have faithfully reproduced his ideas and opinions._ _Those who have come in contact with the boys who left us as children, and returned to us dowered by their tremendous experiences with knowledge and insight so far in advance of their years, will find nothing incongruous in reflections commonly foreign to such extreme youth. It is one of the logical results of the fiery crucible of War._