ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
One of the most important sources for this book has been the recollections of a large number of the participants in the drama which took place in Greece and Turkey during the period 1919-23.
I should therefore like to thank all those who gave me assistance by interview and correspondence, or who lent me documents or photographs; in particular: Field Marshal Earl Alexander, Brigadier Sir Norman Gwatkin, Brigadier J. S. Blunt, Colonel J. Judge, Colonel W. A. Asher, Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. Codrington, Major J. B. Carmichael, Major L. Ridgway, Major I. N. Tubbs, Captain G. Whitaker, Mr. W. T. Henson and Mr. Harold Wykes.
I am grateful to Major F. C. Bedwell, who searched on my behalf among the remaining papers of General Sir Charles Harington, which are in the possession of his widow, Lady Harington.
Owing to periodic defence reorganisations, a number of regiments and units which served in Greece and Turkey have disappeared from the Army List, and in consequence many of their records of service and war diaries have been lost or discarded. Nevertheless a number of serving and retired officers entered into the spirit of my search for information, but for reasons of space I have been forced to list their names in my note on sources at the end of this book. I must, however, pay particular thanks to Major John Ainsworth, who unearthed a great deal of valuable material at the R.H.Q. of the Royal Sussex Regiment; and to Major P. R. Adair, Regimental Adjutant of the Coldstream Guards, who assisted me enormously in contacting retired officers of his regiment. To one of these, Captain A. B. C. Reynolds, I am indebted for many kindnesses and for the opportunity to inspect and use his splendid contemporary photographs.
Like many other writers on subjects involving military matters, I am obliged to Mr. D. W. King of the Ministry of Defence (War Office) Library for the unfailing help I received from him and his staff, in particular Mr. C. A. Potts, for whom no request was too much trouble. The assistance I received from the Royal United Services Institution Library also went a long way to make this book possible.
I should like to record my indebtedness to the Libraries of the House of Commons, The Times and the London Library. Mr. G. Reynolds, M.P., then Minister of Defence for the Army, was most helpful in allowing me to see certain War Office papers, and I must thank the Rt. Hon. William Whitelaw, M.C., M.P. and Mr. Geoffrey Block of the Conservative Research Department for their guidance with regard to the first ‘‘22 Committee’.
No one would dare to write anything touching upon the life of Kemal Ataturk without constant recourse to Lord Kinross's definitive biography. I should also like to thank Lord Kinross for his advice on sources, as also Mr. John Terraine and the Hon. C. M. Woodhouse.
With regard to my documentary sources contained in the Public Record Office and previously unpublished, the mass of material only became coherent in the hands of Mrs. Joan St. George Saunders, who also stormed on my behalf the twin fortresses of the British Museum Reading Room and the Newspaper Library at Colindale. To Mr. A. J. P. Taylor, who presides benignly over the Beaverbrook Library, I am much indebted for further unpublished material and background information from the Lloyd George papers, and I should like to thank him and the staff of the library for their kindness and efficiency.
Throughout the writing of this book ~ have been assisted by Lady Paulina Pepys, whose research, industry and enthusiasm have all been invaluable. Finally I should like to thank Mrs. Meriel Rebbeck, who, on this occasion as on others, has had the unenviable task of reading my handwriting.
Needless to say, all judgments, opinions and prejudices expressed are my own.
D.W. |