Searchable Magazine Archive

Since the inception of The Western Front Association, our flagship journal ‘Stand To!’ has been printed several times a year, including a number of bumper ‘special editions’. Other magazines have been produced by branches (Gun Fire, Firestep) and a number of Factsheets have been produced as well. We have also acquired ‘The Royal Naval Division’ Magazine, and the full set of Purnell’s ‘History of the Great War’ has been digitised.

Quite a number of 'partworks' (magazines published over a number of weeks) were published between the 1920s and the start of the Second World War. These inter-war magazines are also available to interrogated via the WFA's Searchable Magazine Archive. These include 'I Was There!', 'Twenty Years After' and 'World War 1914-1918: A Pictured History.' 

With thousands of articles across tens of thousands of pages and countless 'keywords', hitherto it has been impossible to find in these publications words or phrases to track down information or to follow particular themes.

However, using the portal link below, it is now possible to search for anything from ‘Abacus’ to ‘Zulu’. Pieces can be found referencing ‘Submarines’ and ‘Bully Beef’ and covering subjects from the ‘Chinese Labour Corps’ to ‘Venereal disease’.

Do you want to find every reference to General Hunter-Weston? Or the village of Serre? Use the portal link below to locate the articles.

If you are a current member of the WFA and wish to access the Searchable Magazine Archive login to your membership here:

The ten featured publications are:

Stand To!

The Western Front Association's flagship publication was first published in 1981. To date (October 2025), we've published over 137 editions, including ‘specials’. While our early Stand To! magazines are considered collector's items, this platform allows members to search topics or browse the entire back catalogue from the first to the latest edition.

Bulletin

The Western Front Association's 'Bulletin' was first published in 1980 and has evolved over the years from a number of sheets typed out and stapled together to the magazine that is issued today. The main purpose of the Bulletin has been to bring news about The WFA to members.

I Was There!

'I Was There' was a part-work published just before the outbreak of the Second World War which provided - in weekly editions - first hand accounts of the war by people 'who were there'. It was originally planned that the series would be in forty parts, but somewhere along the way, the publishers extended this to 51 magazines.

World War 1914-1918: A Pictured History

The publication in 1934-35 of a weekly magazine called 'World War 1914-1918 A Pictured History' was probably intended to bring images of the war to a large proportion of the UK population. The first issue had a foreword written by the well known author HG Wells. Each of the issues, which ran to 55 in total, cost just 7d.

Twenty Years After

Quite a number of 'partworks' (magazines published over a number of weeks) were published between the 1920s and the start of the Second World War. The last of those dedicated to the history of WW1 came out in November 1937 and was called 'Twenty Years After'. Originally intended to be published in 'about 40 weekly parts' the first set of magazines ran to 42 editions.

History of the First World War - Purnell

128 editions of 'The History of the First World War' were produced between 1969 and 1971 in weekly parts by Purnell & Sons.

The magazines present a fascinating glimpse of what constituted the 'top end' of Great War thinking and historiography in the 1970s but the pieces were largely written before the major archives and collections were open to scholars, and a decade or so before the more scholarly, archive-based, revisionist works which transformed and shifted the whole direction of First World War studies. The Purnell's history presents a view of the past which whilst interesting and worthy, should be viewed with the above caveats in mind.

Gun Fire

Between 1985 and 2004 a magazine was regularly produced by Dr Alf Peacock, who was (between 1988 and 1997) the Chairman of 'Northern Area' (subsequently the 'Yorkshire and Humberside' Branch) of The Western Front Association. The magazine - entitled 'Gun Fire' - examined a wide range of aspects of the First World War. It was very well received and produced to the highest standards. A total of 59 editions of 'Gun Fire' were produced.

Firestep

'Firestep' was a magazine published by the London Branch of The Western Front Association between 2002 and 2007.

Royal Naval Division (RND) Magazine

The Royal Naval Division, or as it became known ‘Winston Churchill’s Little Army', had its foundations at the beginning of the First World War. The army only had six regular divisions bound for France. So, naval reservists which were not required for the fleet could be a useful addition when formed into three Brigades. One of marines, battalions named Chatham, Portsmouth, Plymouth and Deal. Two naval brigades, Drake, Hawke, Benbow, Collingwood, Nelson, Howe, Hood and Anson.

Military Fact Sheets

In the 1980s and 1990s a series of 'Military Factsheets' were produced by The Western Front Association. These have been long out of print and have become very difficult to obtain.

Despite the passage of time these factsheets remain extremely useful to anyone wanting a deeper understanding of aspects of the Great War.