Imbros & Gallipoli Revealed - New Book Released - Order Now

 

Jim Claven’s new book – From Imbros Over The Sea - the Imbros & Gallipoli Exhibition Guide. Photo Kostas Deves 2023.

“Imbros, that queen of the isles, sleeps like a goddess wrapt about in a garment of violet and silver …” Imbros, 3 May 1915, Captain John Gillam, Royal Army Service Corps. 

Recently our Secretary – the historian Jim Claven – curated a new pictorial and historical display telling the story of the role of the northern Aegean Island of Imbros (modern day Gokzeada) in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16.

This Imbros & Gallipoli Revealed Exhibition was launched in June 2023 by the Imvrians’ Society of Melbourne at the Parkdale Greek Orthodox Church, with our President Mr Lee Tarlamis OAM MP officiating representing the Minister for Veterans, the Victorian Government and the Victorian Veterans Council.

To complement this project Jim Claven has written a new book –From Imbros Over the Sea - Imbros & Gallipoli Revealed – A Pictorial & Historical Overview and An Exhibition Guide.

It is now available for order (details below).

A Unique Offering

The book is unique, possibly the first book dedicated to telling the story of Imbros and Gallipoli in any detail. He covers the long history of Imbros and its people, the coming of the Gallipoli campaign and its major impact on the Island.  He tells the story in both words and pictures, drawing on many archival collections in Australia and overseas. It publishes many of these images – photographs and artworks – for the first time. It is certainly the first time that so many of these – along with Mr Claven’s own photographs of Imbros – have been published together, accompanied by Jim’s historical commentary, in a single, accessible volume.

The book comprises some 132 pages telling the Imbros-Gallipoli story in detail, includes a detailed timeline listing key events concerning Imbros connection to Gallipoli, references for further reading and is illustrated with 80 photographs and 3 original maps from the Exhibition.

“This is a story that needed to be told. As we delve into the archives of the Gallipoli campaign, the story of Imbros – like that of Lemnos and Tenedos – emerges from the records. My small contribution to the re-telling of this story will hopefully stimulate a new conversation and other researchers on their own journey of discovery to tell Imbros’ Gallipoli story in all its aspects”, Mr Claven said.

The book takes its title from a famous war poem Stand with me, Achilles, written by Patrick Shaw-Stewart, an officer with the British Royal Naval Division, as he rested on Imbros during the campaign.

Imbros from myth to Gallipoli

The book outlines Imbros place in Greek myth and history and then proceeds to explain the various aspects of why and how Imbros came to be involved in the campaign – from the arrival of the first Allied ships off Imbros to the evacuation of the Peninsula and the end of the campaign.

Boats in Kephalos Bay, Imbros 1915-16. AWM Collection.

Imbros Transformed– The Forward Base for the Campaign

It sets out how Imbros was transformed into the forward military and naval base for the campaign, with the erection of new piers and navigational aids, with anti-submarine nets to protect the hundreds of Allied ships that would come and go from its harbour at Kephalos Bay. It also tells the story of the great storm that hit Kephalos Bay and its Allied shipping in November.

The Allied base on Imbros, August 1915. AWM Collection.

It explains the establishment of the various army camps and supply depots, medical facilities and road ways. These included the Allied Bakeries established on Imbros to supply the army with fresh bread, vital sustenance to the diet and morale of the troops.  The Army camps would fill with troops returning from the Peninsula for rest and again at the end of the campaign. It also discusses the establishment of the war cemeteries on Imbros and some of the burials there, including Australians.

The Australian Field Bakery on Imbros. 1915. Courtesy AWM.

The shores of Kephalos Bay were home to the Allied Headquarters of the campaign – as well as the home for its war correspondents. The former would be guarded by troops on rotation from the Peninsula, including soldiers from two Australian battalions. It was at the latter that the Australian war correspondent Charles Bean compiled The Anzac Book, a volume of writings and drawings by Australians soldiers at the front that would become a best-seller across Australia.

Aircraft at Kephalos on Imbros, 1915-16. Pollard Collection/Cross & Cockade Archive.

It explains Imbros’ role as an Allied airbase, with seaplanes, aircraft and balloons as well as a helium-filled airship. The world’s first purpose built aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal would be anchored in Kephalos Bay for many months, its seaplanes departing and returning from their missions in support of the troops on the Peninsula.

The airship and its hangar on Imbros, with a local villager in the foreground. Imbros, 1915. Watercolour by Horace Moore-Jones. AWM Collection.

Inspiring Imbros

Imbros would inspire some Allied soldiers and sailor to write poetry or make artworks. On the 13^th July, while staying on Imbros, Patrick Shaw-Stewart would one of the most famous poems of the war, Achilles in the Trench, the poem ending with the soldier returning to Gallipoli “From Imbros over the sea”. Charles Bean and his Australian correspondent’s team would assemble the famous and best-selling Anzac Book while staying at “Villa Pericles” at Kephalos. Others drew and painted scenes of the island, including the New Zealand soldier-artist Horace Moore-Jones who depicted the various Allied camps and aircraft within the natural environment of Imbros – as well as watercolours of villages and churches. Both Australian Sapper Alec Holland of the Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train and Charles Bean would produce artworks depicting Imbros from the sea during their Gallipoli service.

Priest from Panagia on Imbros visiting the Allied base at Kephalos, 1915-16. Pollard Collection/Cross & Cockade Archive.

Discovering Imbros and its People

“Here I am, living in a Greek village, speaking the language of Demosthenes to the inhabitants.” Imbros, June-July 1915, Patrick Shaw-Stewart, Royal Naval Division

The book also tells the story of the how the campaign impacted on the local population, as they interacted with their new soldier-visitors, in the harbour and on its shores or as they  traversed the Island’s hinterland, visiting its villages and towns, experiencing its environment and history. Imbros and Gallipoli is also the story of the meeting of two peoples – the overwhelmingly Hellenic population of the Island and the soldiers, sailors and airmen of many lands – from Australia, New Zealand and Britain – during often brief periods of respite from the terrible fighting on the Peninsula.

Some would be invited to take part in local village celebrations, in an intimate encounter with Imbros’ population. They would write of hearing the songs, seeing the dances and enjoying the food and beverages – and hospitality of the island. They would rest atop Castro, gazing across at Samothrace, musing on Homer and the ancient history of the land on which they walked, before taking a refreshing swim in its waters.

Importantly this tells the story of Imbros from another light – from the view of the young men who came there from far away, who captured its life in their own words, photographs and artworks, leaving behind legacy for all, including the descendents of both the Imbrians and the veterans who served there.

Australian soldiers playing a game with Greek children in the courtyard of a stone house on Imbros. January 1916. AWM Collection.

Along with the many photographs reproduced in the book, this story is complemented by the creation of maps, detailing the location of Imbros in the Northern Aegean, its main villages and contours as well as the various Allied establishments on the Island (see below). 

A Story in Pictures – Unique and Printed Together for the First Time

The book is lavishly illustrated with 80 photographs, drawn from the Exhibition, some of which are reproduced here. These include photographs of Imbros during the campaign reproduced with permission from the Australian War Memorial as well as those from the collection of the First World War Aviation Society in the UK. The vast majority of these images have never before been published and certainly not in a volume dedicated to telling the story of Imbros and Gallipoli. To the many archival photographs are added a number from the author’s private collection, depicting Imbros and its Gallipoli campaign- connected locations today.

Australians at Kephalos, 1915-16. Pollard Collection/Cross & Cockade Archive.

Approaching the entrance to Kephalos Bay. The great barrier of the Tusla Peninsula can be seen at left, with Cape Kephalos at the end. 2015. Photo Jim Claven.

Kephalos Bay, with the Tusla Peninsula in the distance. 2015. Photo Jim Claven.

The Author

Jim Claven is a trained historian who has both BA and MA degrees from Melbourne’s Monash University. His is freelance writer and published author, including Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed (2019) and Grecian Adventure (2021) as well as numerous historical articles in a range of journals and newspapers. Secretary of the Melbourne-based Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee he has worked on the creation of the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial in Albert Park, the Australian Pier Memorial on Lemnos and the Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed photographic exhibition, to name only a few of his many commemorative projects. Amongst his other interests, he has been researching the Hellenic link to Anzac for over a decade, both in Australia and overseas.

Historian Jim Claven on Imbros. 2015. Photo Jim Claven.

Order Now

The book is now available and copies will be shipped to purchasers in November. The book will sell for $35 each plus postage. You can order your copy by clicking on the following link - Imbros & Gallipoli Revealed Book Order Form

You can also contact either George Xinos at georgexinos@gmail.com.au or Jim Claven at jimclaven@yahoo.com.au.

Jim Claven, Secretary Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee & Imbros & Gallipoli Revealed Exhibition Curator and Author