About: The Straits Impregnable

The Straits Impregnable is a fictionalised autobiography written and published during the First World War. The author Sydney Loch had served in the First A.I.F. in the Gallipoli Campaign and the original manuscript was written as an autobiography of this service. By the time the manuscript was complete, Sydney had been returned wounded and sick to Australia and was still in active service. With wartime censorship in effect in Australia, his publisher Henry Champion advised that it should be edited and published as a novel to pass the censor. This was done and the first edition of 2,000 copies was well received and sold out quickly. Many names were changed with some very thinly disguised pseudonyms such as Capt. Carrot in place of Capt. Charles Bean. Sydney also used a pen name, Sydney De L