Allanson commanded the 6th Gurkha Rifles during one of the regiments pivotal actions at Gallipoli. The attack on Sari Bair, where the Gurkhas captured the ridge but were forced to retire after coming under artillery fire, potentially by mistake from the British Navy The published diary of Cecil Allanson is an interesting document not least because of when it was published in August 1916 just seven months after the evacuation. It was a bringing together of the diaries that he kept during the campaign, detailing not only what happened but also his thoughts and observations. Many of these observations are highly critical of the Gallipoli campaign and are more important for the fact that they were not the product of hindsight like many accounts that were published after the war.