Old soldiers never tell their war stories? This one did: “General Johnstone tried to compliment us on our ‘work’ but was cut up too much when he heard of our losses. He was visibly affected. We marched to Mametz Wood and there Col. Plugge also tried to address us but he could not control his feelings either. We went into the trenches with 804 men. Came out with 201. Our casualties for the two stints were 603. Plugge was far too cut up to say a word about it. We camped in the woods for the night…” Onesimus William Howe served in the Auckland Infantry Regiment. His unit was the first to hit the beach at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. In fact, Howe's experiences at Gallipoli are quoted by historian Chris Pugsley in his book Gallipoli – The New Zealand Story. But it is what happened next that defined WWI for the ANZACS, when they came face to face with heavily armed Germans at the Somme. In this important new work, taken directly from his battlefield diary, see the events of 1916 as if you are there: “That left me in charge of the gun. Percy and I are the only ones left on this gun now…” Compelling, honest, surprising, uncensored.
