VCs of the First World War: The Sideshows

This is the latest volume in the series covering the Victoria Crosses won in World War I, away from the Western Front and Gallipoli. The book opens with the stories of four VC-winners who took part in the prolonged struggle to drive the Germans out of Africa. It goes on to document the acts of heroism performed by 14 men from mid-1917 in Palestine, as the British went on the offensive and attacked the Ottoman army from bases defending the Suez Canal. The most VCs were won in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, where British troops acted firstly to protect the country’s oil interests and later to prosecute the war against the Turks. No fewer than 20 VCs were won during this time.