All standard members of The Western Front Association should have received their print copy over the weekend; all digital members were sent their copy this morning and can also download it via their Member Login. 

Communication Lines p.2 

An introduction from the editor Matthew Leonard

It’s April 2022, and Europe and the world is again staring into the abyss of war. To many of us the notion of a third global conflict has (up to now) been unthinkable. Yet, as Western democracies struggle with Russia’s naked aggression, the possibility of wider conflict increases with every passing day. On the ground, thousands are dying, and millions are being displaced. Many Ukrainian villages, towns and cities, particularly in the east of the country, are being destroyed, echoing the words of John Masefield, and ‘creating a waste so utter that even the ruin was ruined’. Who amongst can see the tragic images from Mariupol, Kharkiv and Kherson and not think of Ypres, Douaumont or Craonne? Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

[Continued in your edition of Stand To! Available to members world wide in print or digital form]. 

Contents

The Camera Returns (107) by Bob Grundy and Steve Wall pp.3-4 

Two Serial Enlisters and Deserters. The story of two Victorian soldiers by John Slypp. 5-8 

A Runner’s Story: Private Tom Haslam Broadhead MM, 7th Battalion, The East Yorkshire Regiment by John Broadhead. pp.9-12

Duel on the Roman Road. A micro–analysis of an artillery–tank action at the Battle of Amiens Part 2 by Geoffrey Vesey Holt and David Pearson FSA. pp.13-21 

How to Join the RFC One man’s recollection of joining the Royal Flying Corps by Gareth Jones. pp.22-26 

A German Gun from Fosse 8, Loos A Rare Survivor by Michael Taylor. pp. 27-30 

Surviving to Fight: Britain’s success in countering gas warfare in 1915 by Captain Michael ‘Rocky’ Salmon.  pp. 31-36 

Fighting a War on Two Fronts Robert Jones, Director of Military Orthopaedic Surgery WWI by Tom Scotland. pp. 37-42 

The Great War Dead of West Norwood Cemetery by Peter Hodgkinson and John Clarke. pp. 43-48 

Book Reviews 

Garrison Library. pp. 49-56 

An opening article by Richard van Emden looking at the fascinating story of the three editions of 'Boy Soldiers'. 

Boy Soldiers of the Great War Revisited by Richard van Emden

  • The Boy Scouts in the Great War by Craig Armstrong
  • Of No Earthly Use. The 2nd Line Territorial Force Divisions and the Western Front 1914–18 by KW Mitchinson 
  • The Mountain War, A Doctor’s Diary of the Italian Campaign 1914 – 1918 by Isaak A Barasch with an introduction by Hew Strachan 
  • Hindenburg, Ludendorff & Hitler: Germany’s Generals & the Rise of the Nazis by Alexander Clifford
  • The Italian Empire and the Great War by Vanda Wilcox 
  • The British Way of War: Julian Corbett and the Battle for a National Strategy by Andrew Lambert 
  • Deserters of the First World War: The Home Front by Andrea Hetherington
  • A Voice from the Trenches 1914–18: From the Diaries and Sketches of Bernard Eyre by Bernard Eyre Walker and Sara Woodall (Editor)

There are over 2,000 book reviews covering every aspect of the First World War available in the Stand To! digital archive and online under 'World War I Book Reviews'.

Stand To! No.126 Cover: An 18-pounder gun being hauled through the mud at Broodseinde Ridge to a position further forward, in support of the advancing Australians, two days before the initial attack on Passchendaele Ridge. Identified, left of the gun, left to right: Gunner (Gnr) W E Drummond Gnr J Brannon (to Drummond’s right) Gnr C V Cox (in front of Brannon) two men unidentified behind Cox 34401 Gnr A Hewitt (in front of Cox) Dvr A C Sampson (standing on wheel, back to camera) Gnr G Dowling (foreground, pulling rope on front wheel). Right side of gun, left to right: Dvr Hughes Dvr F Peace unidentified Bombardier T (R?) Garniss Sergeant W Reynolds (extreme right, standing back). Cover image © Colourised by Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) – www.photogra-fix.com