Diary of Alexander Meiklejohn, Royal Engineers, serving with the ANZAC signals at Gallipoli during the First World War.

The diary covers the period March-November 1915, and begins when Meiklejohn arrives in Egypt, where he witnesses the Battle of the Wazzir, a riot involving large numbers of ANZAC troops in Cairo, on 2 April 1915. He is stationed onboard the ‘Arcadian’ in the signals office, and attached to Ian Hamilton’s staff. Meiklejohn witnesses the landing on 25 April opposite Cape Helles from onboard ship, then on 30 April, he is transferred to a cable ship ‘Levant’. On 2 May, Meiklejohn describes laying cable at ‘Kaba Tepe’, before landing there under shrapnel fire. That night, ANZACs stormed the enemy’s position.

Most of the diary describes the period when Meiklejohn was amongst those stationed on or near the beach, during some of the heaviest of the action during the campaign. He describes making dugouts on the hillside, near misses from bullets, shrapnel and shell, and sheltering in the infamous Suicide Gully, as well as rations and other daily experiences. He also describes an occasion on 23 May, when Turkish generals asked for an opportunity to bury their dead, and were invited to dinner as arrangements for a truce the following day were made.

The diary ends in November, as plans to evacuate the peninsular were beginning to be implemented.