CRUSADING AT ANZAC. A.D.1915. SIGNALLER ELLIS SILAS. 1ST EDITION 1916.

Offered is a 1^st edition (1916) softcover book by Signaller Ellis Silas of the 16^th Battalion A.I.F (B Coy) who was a ‘1^st Day Lander’. Front and rear cover has separated but is intact, the main body is in one piece and in good overall condition. Comes with extracts from service records and biographical notes.

Overall an excellent book with first-hand sketches and incidents faithfully recorded about everyday life and death at Gallipoli, that was not recorded in the unit histories or Beans.

Ellis Luciano Silas was born on 13/7/1885 in London, son of Louis Ferdinand Silas, artist and designer, and his wife Letizia Sara, née Paggi, an opera singer. He was educated by private tutors, then worked in his father's studio and studied under the well-known artist Walter Sickert. His main interest became marine art and he painted in English coastal towns before sailing for Australia in 1907. He spent time painting in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before settling in Perth.

When war was declared in 1914 Silas, who had served for three years in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, enlisted on 16 October 1914. He joined the 16th Battalion, as a private and was made a signaller, although his preferred duty was as a medical orderly. After sailing for Egypt in December, the battalion trained at Heliopolis. Silas found army life extremely distasteful but conscientiously practiced signaling and continued sketching and painting whenever he was able. On the evening of 25 April 1915 his unit landed at Gallipoli. Silas served with distinction at Pope's Hill, Quinn's Post and Bloody Angle and recorded his experiences in a detailed diary and sketchbook. Constant duty at the front took its toll and on 28 May he was evacuated from Gallipoli suffering from neurasthenia; after signaling almost continuously for several days he had been found unconscious and delirious and later developed an enteric fever. He convalesced in Egypt and England before being discharged from the A.I.F., medically unfit, on 17 August 1916. His book, Crusading at Anzac, based on his diary and sketchbook, was published in 1916.

Silas remained in London while awaiting return passage to Australia, executing works depicting his war experiences, three of which were purchased for the Australian War Memorial collection. These were 'The Roll Call', 'The Attack of the 4th Brigade, A.I.F., at Bloody Angle', and 'Digging in at Quinn's Post or The End of a Great Day'. He was one of only three artists to record Australian participation at Gallipoli from first-hand experience and the only one of these to paint battle scenes. He returned to Australia in 1921.