World War I Articles | The Western Front Association

Articles on every aspect of the First World War written by experts in their field. Some are were first published in Stand To! or Bulletin, others have been researched and written for the web. If you would like to contribute an article please get in touch.

Duds On The Western Front

Introduction There were two military meanings to the word 'Dud'. The first was the obvious well kno…

When and Why the Doughboys Finally Joined the War in 1917

When the First World War began in August 1914, none of the 48 autonomous states that then made up th…

Pension Record Cards - claims for soldiers who were killed

The next major release of images of the Pension Record cards saved by the WFA has now been made avai…

The Real Birdsong: The Kilian Tunnel

In the BBC adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong we have seen how the character Stephen Wraysford…

The day my family came

The 20th August 2013 was a hot day. Probably not as hot as the 20th July 1918. Despite these dates b…

Leonard Maidment: missing, found, now remembered

As Serjeant Leonard Maidment nervously waited in the pre-dawn gloom of the morning of 20 July 1918 p…

The German Spring Offensive March 1918

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which marked Russia’s withdrawal from the war, was signed on 3rd March …

The Great War and March Casualities from Lewes, East Sussex

During the early years of the war, March on the Western Front was a time of preparation for the spri…

Lewes and the Great War : February Casualites

February’s Lewes casualties provide a glimpse of the contrasting life experiences and backgrounds of…

Lewes and the Great War : January Casualties

By the end of autumn 1914 the German advance on Paris had been halted and both sides had dug in for …

The Battle of the Somme - A Royal Flying Corps perspective

On 1st July 1916, the Battle of the Somme opened. With 60,000 casualties (including 20,000 dead) on …

Götterdämerung – June 1919 The End of the German High Seas Fleet by Robin…

The surrender and scuttling of the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands is a…