Author(s): Nathalie Philippe

History

Lindsay Merritt Inglis was a young man who found a talent for soldiering with the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force, commanding a Machine Gun company and rising to the rank of Major. From Egypt to the Somme, Messines and Le Quesnoy, he was driven to harness the tactical use of machine guns, the killing weapon of the First World War. A keen observer and prolific writer, Inglis’ large collection of papers include letters he wrote throughout the war, to his future wife May Todd, whose love helped sustain him through the horrors of war, alongside his later memoirs, carefully interwoven for this book by Dr Nathalie Philippe, historian and lecturer in French at the University of Waikato. Major General Inglis’ commentary and observations provide fascinating insights into the nature of leadership and command, in addition to revealing the human side of the conflict.