Brigadier-General (later Sir) Herbert Hart left New Zealand in 1914 as a major with the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and returned in 1919 as a much decorated brigadier-general. Initially, Hart served as William Malone’s second-in-command in the Wellington Infantry Battalion. He commanded the Wellington Battalion during the closing stages of the Gallipoli campaign, and then served as a battalion and brigade commander on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918.
During this time Hart kept a diary, which is now widely regarded as one of the most important personal sources relating to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. His service on the Western Front is the principal focus of the diary. Exceptionally well written, it includes gripping descriptions of both combat and life behind the front line and on leave in France and United Kingdom. Only one diary by a New Zealand battalion or brigade commander has previously been published (William Malone’s), and because he was a more senior commander Hart was involved in and comments on a much wider range of issues than are dealt with in that or any other published New Zealand diary. The publication of this edition of Hart’s diary will attract considerable international interest.
This important publication will also include an introductory chapter on Hart’s early life, and a concluding chapter about his diverse and distinguished career after the war, including his term as Administrator of Western Samoa from 1931 to 1935.
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AUTHOR
John Crawford is the New Zealand Defence Force Historian and has written on many aspects of the history of the New Zealand Armed Forces and defence policy. In 2007 he edited, with Ian McGibbon, Exisle’s monumental book New Zealand’s Great War. His other major publications include To Fight for the Empire: An Illustrated History of New Zealand and the South African War, 1899-1902; Kia Kaha: New Zealand in the Second World War; and with the assistance of Peter Cooke, No Better Death: The Great War diaries and letters of William G. Malone. John Crawford lives in Wellington.
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