Firestep magazine

Between 2002 and 2007 The London Branch of The Western Front Association published a series of 13 half-yearly magazines called 'Firestep'.

These were very professionally produced and contained excellently written articles from a large number of contributors. Now, these magazines are available for WFA members via our Searchable magazine archive.

If you are a current member of the WFA and wish to access issues of Firestep login to your membership here:

Firestep

The first of these is numbered 'Volume 2, Number 2': this is because earlier issues of the magazine were in a much different format.

Although not stated in these magazines, the editorial and production was undertaken by Arthur Potton.

Contents listing
Volume 2, Number 2 contents:

Submarines stranded in Sussex 1919 and 1921 Giles Allen

Diary of a Grandson Ken Ellis

The Americans Norman Tree

The Child's Unfinished Slate Hilary Wheeler

London's Pioneer Battalions 1914-1919 KW (Bill) Mitchinson

The War on the German Home Front 1914-1918 Ian Passingham

Book Review: Pillars of Fire by Ian Passingham Charles Harvey

Londoners on the Firestep: Pte Frank Cotterill Arthur Potton

Letter to the Editor and Forthcoming Attractions

Volume 3, Number 1 contents:

The Re-instatement of the Royal Naval Division Memorial CLW Page

At The Back of The Front Michael Orr

HMS Euryalus and the Lancashire Landing Howard Mallinson

The Flanders Offensive 1917: Haig's Battle RW Bushaway

Londoners on the Firestep: Rifleman Sidney Walter Rush Arthur Potton

Tailpiece: "Every Little Helps" Leslie Graham

Volume 3, Number 2 contents:

The Battle of Jutland and the Jack Cornwell Legend Mark Connelly

Rowland Fielding and the Civil Service Rifles (1/15 London) Jonathan Walker

The Hull Pals: Oppy Wood 1917 Irene Progin

The Bird Man of Salonika: Paul Denys Montague Simon Moody

John Shaw Challenger Leslie Graham

Don't Mention the War Robin Paterson

How the High Wood Monument was Saved Stanley Simm Baldwin

Why Passchendaele? Gordon Corrigan

A Soldier of the London Regiment Remembered in Breconshire Ray Westlake

Volume 4, Number 1 contents:

Cemeteries and Memorials at Risk George Karger

Londoners on the Firestep: Third in a series. Private Claud Senecal: The Honourable Artillery Company Arthur Potton

Wartime Morale and Tradition in an Exclusive Territorial Battalion KW Mitchinson

Army Service Corps Caterpillar Tractors Lt Col (Retd) MHG Young late RCT

Reminiscences of 1914-18 War by CW Ragg Michael Orr

Tailpiece: "Delirious": Pte HM Hemsley, 3rd London General Hospital, September 1918

Volume 4, Number 2 contents:

Remembering Hilary Wheeler

Lieutenant Druce Robert Brandt, 1st Battalion, The Rifle Brigade Joy Thomas

At the Front: The 1st Battalion of the HAC 1914-17 Michael Orr

London's War Memorial Heritage: An Introduction Maggie Goodall (Friends of War Memorials Conservation Officer)

The Bite of War's Reality: CS Jagger's "Letters from Home" Jonathan Black

Haig: Guilty by Association? Emma Baronenas

The Barnbow Canaries Anne Batchelor

Spare a Thought for the Munitionettes Leslie Graham

Volume 5, Number 1 contents:

Artillery and The Salient John Terraine

The Greatest Trench Raid of the War John Lee

To Bridge or not to Bridge Aedificator Pontium

The British Army and the Russian Jews Charles Messenger

The Lewis Gun Robert G Segel

Hythe Edward Croft

The Railway Operating Division (ROD) Royal Engineers Niall Ferguson

The Clearing Up Army Leslie Graham

RAF Northolt during the Great War Mark Bristow

Fat, Tea Leaves & Rabbit Skins Leslie Graham

Private Leonard Charles Bennett Rosemary Bennett

Voice from a War Grave George Sewell

Volume 5, Number 2 contents:

The Cenotaph Geoffrey Spencer

Some Reflections on the Capture of Thiepval, September 1916 Peter Simkins

A Personal Reflection on 1 July 1916 JM Bourne

Fort Douaumont at Verdun: Forerunner of the Maginot Line Christina von Holstein

General Sir Herbert Plumer and 'Passchendaele': A Reassessment Gerald Casey

Prudential Assurance Company WW1 War Memorial Pedro Gaspar

Book Review: The Sculpture of Gilbert Ledward by Catherine Moriarty Hilary Wheeler

Last Resting Place Rosemary Bennett

Volume 6, Number 1 contents:

The Civil Service Rifles in the Great War Arthur Dark

Nobody's Child Chris McCarthy

The Household Battalion John W Harvey

Irish Soldiers and World War 1: An Exploration of Betrayal Michael Moore

The Household Battalion 1916-1918: Appointment of the Commanding Officer Gerald William Harvey

The Nissen Hut and its Inventor Leslie Graham

"Oh Rats!" Elspeth Johnstone

No Man's Well David Paterson

Volume 6, Number 2 contents:

Irish Soldiers and World War 1: Decorated for Bravery or Shot at Dawn? Michael Moore

The First Battle of Britain: A Statistical Study Steven C Suddaby

"A much over-rated weapon": British Perceptions of the Heavy Machine Gun before 1914 Benjamin Smith

The Wordsmiths of War Elspeth Johnstone

24th Infantry Division War Memorial Battersea Park, London Pedro Gaspar

A Proper Bloody Lady! A Personal Memoir of Jill Knight Michael Forsyth

The Civil Service Rifles in the Great War: "All Bloody Gentlemen" Ian Passingham

Volume 7, Number 1 contents:

Seven British Actors who Served during the Great War Mark Bristow

The Army Service Corps in London 1914-1918 Lt Col Michael Young

The Recalled Reservist: Lance Corporal Nelson Newman 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers Arthur Potton

A Miscellany Leslie Graham

Volume 7, Number 2 contents:

The BEF's Signal Service before and during the Storming of the Hindenburg Line Michael Markham

Edith Cavell Memorial Nancy Treves Administrator at the War Memorials Trust

John James William Hayward: An Englishman Abroad John JW Coppen

Horses on The Western Front Elspeth Johnstone

Oberleutnant Karl Ludwig: Disaster at the Ziegelruckenstollen Dagmar Bohm

German Prisoners in the UK Rosemary Bennett

Volume 8, Number 1 contents:

A Man on the Spot: Brigadier-General RE Sugden CB CMG DSO and Bar Peter Simkins

Establishing London's Territorial County Associations KW Mitchinson

German Casualties in the War of 1914-1918: A Comment and a Plea John Hussey

Remembering the Great War in London: 31st May 2006 Ray Westlake

Somewhere in France: Philip Gibbs and 'the writing fellows on the run' 1914-15 Jonathan Walker

The 1914-18 War: A Horse War Graham Winton

Give a Man a Horse he can Ride Rupert Edward Inglis

Envoi: Wealdstone Memorial Detail

Volume 8, Number 2 contents:

The Ramblings of an Itinerant Military Historian Nigel Cave

The Hampstead Heavies John Ridler

The Rifle Brigade Memorial Nancy Treves Administrator at the War Memorials Trust

SS/14683 Private George Henry Gardner, Army Service Corps Pauline Mounsey and Rose Stallwood

4536 Private Thomas Godfrey 4th (City of London) Battalion (RF) Philippa Godfrey

Sir Eric Geddes and the British Expeditionary Force's Transportation Network 1916-18 Christopher Phillips

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