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Here come the girls! The women volunteers at the Army Pay Office Woolwich from August to October 1914
Abstract August 2014 will witness the centenary of the start of the First World War. It is considered that much of the historical aspect will be focused on the all-male fighting army, with little attention being paid to the women's contribution during the course of the war. Yet also in August 1914 the first women to volunteer for the war effort ma…
Did Kitchener’s decision to raise his ‘New Armies’ carelessly wreck the pre-war plans to achieve smooth and effective British military expansion?
The Liberal Party, which had been in power since the General Election of 1906, was nervous of German expansionism and had, by 1914, edged Britain into a much closer relationship with Russia and France than had previously been the case. Brigadier-General Henry Wilson, who was appointed Director of Military Operations in 1910, has traditionally be…
Visiting and Revisiting the battlefields, 1919-1938
/world-war-i-articles/visiting-and-revisiting-the-battlefields-1919-1938/
Throughout the Great War the battlefields and the hinterland behind them held a fascination for people. Trying to understand what the major theatre of operations was actually like remained a preoccupation of huge numbers of British people for fairly obvious reasons: family members and friends were fighting and dying out there and often their own …
Evidence in Camera. A cautionary tale by Dr A J Peacock
/world-war-i-articles/evidence-in-camera-a-cautionary-tale-by-dr-a-j-peacock/
[The following article first appeared in the third edition of Stand To! December 1981 pp3-6. Western Front Association Members will increasingly have access to many, and eventually all past issues of Stand To!] During the 1980-81 academic year, the Extra-Mural Department of the University of Hull sponsored a short course on World War One. As a res…
The Use of Wireless at the Battle of Amiens 8 - 11 August 1918
/world-war-i-articles/ma-dissertations/the-use-of-wireless-at-the-battle-of-amiens-8-11-august-1918/
The Use of wireless at the Battle of Amiens 8 - 11 August 1918 Author: Andy Powell MA A dissertation submitted as part of the requirements for the degree of MA in British First World War Studies at the University of Birmingham. This work won the WFA's prize for the best dissertation of 2013 which was awarded at the WFA President's Conference of 2…
To what extent and why did the voluntary ethic characterise Winchester's response to war in 1914 and 1915?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM DEPARTMENT OF WAR STUDIES 'To what extent and why did the voluntary ethic characterise Winchester's response to war in 1914 and 1915?' Dissertation for MA in British First World War Studies. September 2015. Derek Whitfield LIST OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations List of Tales Glossar…
'We Too Were Soldiers' by Dr Vivien Newman
/world-war-i-articles/we-too-were-soldiers-by-dr-vivien-newman/
WAAC workers and Chief Ordnance Office Staff, Rouen 1917 ‘We Too Were Soldiers’ 1 By Dr Vivien Newman Viv Newman's long-standing interest in the Great War led, after many years teaching women's war poetry at A level, to a PhD thesis entitled Songs of Wartime Lives: Women's Poetry of the First World War (2004) University of Essex. The …
Field Marshal Haig assessed by John Terraine
/world-war-i-articles/field-marshal-haig-assessed-by-john-terraine/
Field Marshall Haig Essay on Leadership and War (John Terraine. First published in Stand To! Number 26, Summer 1989 and originally uploaded to the old Wesstern Front Assocaition website 19 May 2008) The Seventieth Anniversary of the First World War 1918, the 'year of victory' was 'Haig's year' if it was anybody's. In 1988, when the seventieth…
Vera Brittain - The Militant Pacifist: Misconceptions of her Importance in Military History
By Dr. Phylomena H. Badsey Originally published by the Journal of the Centre for First World Studies. Posted here with permission. Vera Brittain (1897-1970) is best known to this audience for her sixth book Testament of Youth An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925, published in 1933 and based on her own war diary, Chronicle of Yout…
Romania
/world-war-i-articles/romania/
By Harald Heppner and Rudolf Gräf World War I afforded the first opportunity for modern Romania to participate in a war which had a larger than regional horizon (South East Europe). The most important reason for participation was interest in gaining territories belonging to Austria-Hungary in which Romanians, as well as others, lived. The attack o…
The First Tanks at Elveden by David Fletcher
/world-war-i-articles/the-first-tanks-at-elveden-by-david-fletcher/
Drive up the A11, through Suffolk, as if you are heading for Thetford in Norfolk and if you can take your eyes off the road for a moment you will see the massive US Air Force base at Mildenhall, on the left. Then, you will see, sticking up above the trees, the tall War Memorial, commissioned by Lord Iveagh to commemorate those from the three adjace…
Haig and the Cavalry
/world-war-i-articles/haig-and-the-cavalry/
By Bob Bushaway Reproduced with the permission of the 'Journal of the Centre for First World War Studies'. Why are historians interested in Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and his reputation? There are probably three main reasons. First, he remains one of the most controversial figures in British history, both the victor of Britain’s Great War…
Captain Horace Coomber
/world-war-i-articles/captain-horace-coomber/
Captain Horace Coomber By Gareth Morgan This article first appeared in the Australian Society of WWI Aero Historians and is published with the kind permission of the author. The Manchester Regiment and 45 Squadron R.F.C. By Gareth Morgan “The most popular officer we ever had” Many airmen who lost their lives during the Great War were…
The Battle Against Venereal Disease in Wartime Britain (1914-1918)
/world-war-i-articles/the-battle-against-venereal-disease-in-wartime-britain-1914-1918/
The Battle Against Venereal Disease in Wartime Britain (1914-1918) by Emily Payne (This articles first appears in Stand To ! 76 April 2006) Introduction to Venereal Disease in Britain during the First World War The outbreak of war in August 1914 brought about demands upon Britain beyond the military requirements of international conflict. Manpow…
'The Lost Raiders Found': The Tyneside Scottish at Armentières
/world-war-i-articles/the-lost-raiders-found-the-tyneside-scottish-at-armentières/
During the Great War trench raids were perceived as an operational necessity in order to dominate No Man's Land, to take prisoners and to ensure British and empire troops retained an offensive spirit. These raids frequently came at a heavy cost in lives and, if care was not taken, could result in identification being provided to the enemy - the …
Discipline in the BEF: An analysis of executions in British Divisions 1914-1918
It is well recorded that despite a dubious disciplinary record, Australian troops were amongst the most effective of those available to Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. [1] This observation is at odds with the example of the Guards Division which also had a favourable reputation, but whose discipline was strict.[2] It is therefore potentially useful…
The Battle of Cambrai - why did it succeed and what went wrong? November 1917
/world-war-i-articles/the-battle-of-cambrai-why-did-it-succeed-and-what-went-wrong-november-1917/
The Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 turned out, for both Britain and Germany, to be a major signpost showing how to break the trench deadlock of the previous three years. The lessons of the operational successes and failures would be digested by both sides over the forthcoming winter. For the British, especially, the battle failed to live up to …
British Corps Commanders in the Great War
/world-war-i-articles/british-corps-commanders-in-the-great-war/
As identified by Andrew Simpson in his PhD thesis,[1] there is remarkably little written about British Corps command in the Great War and for this reason the role of Corps is possibly not as clear as it should be. Although falling outside the scope of this article, it is clear that in the latter years of the 19th Century and the early years of the …
The Battle of Mount Street Bridge, Dublin, 1916
/world-war-i-articles/the-battle-of-mount-street-bridge-dublin-1916/
Dublin, Ireland is very far from the killing fields of the Western Front. Yet it was here in the spring of 1916 that thousands of British soldiers found themselves in action in what was then considered the second city of the British Empire. The graveyards of Dublin hold the remains of a number of those that fell in action, their neglected and often…
The Battle for the South Dublin Union 1916
/world-war-i-articles/the-battle-for-the-south-dublin-union-1916/
On 24 April 1916, Patrick Pearse declared an independent Irish republic from the steps of the General Post Office on Sackville Street, Dublin. Irish Volunteer forces occupied a number of strategic positions throughout Dublin city. This was to be the beginning of a weeklong bloody conflict that was to become known as the Easter Rising. Unlike castl…
The Bombing of London by airships, bomber aircraft and seaplanes 1914 - 1918
/world-war-i-articles/the-bombing-of-london-by-airships-bomber-aircraft-and-seaplanes-1914-1918/
The Bombing of London By Ian Castle (Reproduced here under Creative Commons license from the 1914-18 Encyclopedia of the First World War Germany’s aerial bombing campaign against Great Britain in the First World War, with London as its primary target, was the first sustained strategic bombing campaign in history. These raids, using airshi…
The Enemy Above: British Reactions to German Zeppelin Raids in the Great War by Frank A Blazich Jr.
The Enemy Above: British Reactions to German Zeppelin Raids in the Great War by Frank A Blazich Jr. In Stand To! No. 86 August/September 2009 pp 6 - 10 ‘It is Far Better to Face Bullets,’ poster from 1915. Source: Fairchild Memorial Gallery, Lauinger Library, Georgetown University Introduction On 6 April 2008, The Sunday Times in London repor…
Götterdämerung – June 1919 The End of the German High Seas Fleet by Robin Brodhurst
The surrender and scuttling of the Kaiser’s High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands is a perfect example of the folly of war, of man’s inhumanity to man, but also of the ingenuity of the human mind, featuring, as it does, two men who are perhaps archetypal examples of great British eccentricity and thus to be celebrated. Kiel Mutiny:…
A draft of 100, all boys from the Kings Liverpool Regt
/world-war-i-articles/a-draft-of-100-all-boys-from-the-kings-liverpool-regt/
Most people seeking to trace the steps of a soldier who served in WW1 will run into the same dead end that I did when I was trying to follow my father's journey through that war. His service record, the document that would have provided the necessary details, no longer exists because most of them were destroyed in the London blitz of 1940 - and tha…
Dunsterforce: The Fighting in North-West Persia During 1918
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The start of the Russian Revolution in the Spring of 1917 heralded the decline of Russia as an effective member of the alliance that was fighting the Central Powers who were led by Germany and Turkey. By December of that year revolutionaries had seized power in Russia and had signed a separate peace with the Central Powers at Brest-Livotsk. This re…
The Hong Kong and Singapore Mountain Battery in Egypt, Sinai and Palestine
/world-war-i-articles/the-hong-kong-and-singapore-mountain-battery-in-egypt-sinai-and-palestine/
In 1847 the British authorities in Hong Kong began using Indians as gun lascars, or general workers, because the climatic conditions were unsuitable for white soldiers, and also because Indians were much more economical to employ and to administer. The practice spread throughout the British possessions in the Far East and by 1908 all the gunners we…
The Prince and the Pilot
/world-war-i-articles/the-prince-and-the-pilot/
On a windswept hill overlooking the Yorkshire mill town of Halifax stands the area's most visible landmark: the Wainhouse tower. This is a Victorian-era construction and a 'folly'. It was, theoretically, built as a chimney for a local industrialist's factory, but it was never used as such. Above: The Wainhouse Tower at dusk. Adjacent to the Wa…
A Perspective on the Western Front by an Indian Army Office on the Western Front by Dr DeWitt C Ellinwood
[This article first appeared in Stand To! No.63 January 2002 pp 29-32. Members of The Western Front Association have access to the full digital archive running to 116 editions and some 2000 articles such as this one}. When Britain entered the war in August 1914, it was immediately apparent that the British Isles could not supply the number of tr…
‘The Black Man’, ‘The Brat’ and Londoners on the Somme
/world-war-i-articles/the-black-man-the-brat-and-londoners-on-the-somme/
Reflections on the Capture of Thiepval, September 1916 by Prof Peter Simkins. I have long been interested in 18th (Eastern) Division’s capture of the village of Thiepval in September 1916. Indeed, my well-known fascination with 18th Division has prompted some fellow historians, such as Gary Sheffield, to refer to the formation as ‘Simmo’s Own’. Th…
British Divisional Commanders During the Great War - First Thoughts
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[This article first appeared some years ago in Gun Fire Edition 29. Although these are not dated, it is likely Gun Fire Issue 29 was published around 1995. All of these magazines are now available to WFA members' via the Member Login. Joining the Western Front Association gives you access not only to the 59 editions of Gun Fire but also to all 110+…
'The Story of the Iron Twelve' [Part 1] by Hedley Malloch
/world-war-i-articles/the-story-of-the-iron-twelve-part-1-by-hedley-malloch/
This article first appeared, in two parts, in the journal of The Western Front Association, Stand To! No. 87 and No. 88. Members of the WFA have access to the entire Stand To! archive editions 1 to the present day. See Join the WFA. This is the story – told over two successive issues of Stand To! - of eleven British soldiers, trapped behind the l…
'Behind the Lines - The Story of the Iron Twelve' [Part 2] by Hedley Malloch
/world-war-i-articles/behind-the-lines-the-story-of-the-iron-twelve-part-2-by-hedley-malloch/
This article, Part 2 of 2 parts, first appeared in Stand To! No. 88. April/May 2010. This and all issues of Stand To! are available to Members to view via their Member Login. In the first part of the story of eleven British soldiers, trapped behind the lines in the retreat from Mons to the Marne in the summer of 1914, Hedley Malloch told how they…
A Perspective on the Western Front by an Army Officer from India by Dr. DeWitt C. Ellinwood
This article first appeared in the January 2020 edition of Stand To! the journal of The Western Front Association. Members receive Stand To! three times a year and our in-house magazine Bulletin three times a year. Digital Members receive these in digital form and have access to them online. All members have access to the Stand To! archive comprisi…
Crossing the Devastated Zone, 1917: Lessons and Consequences for the British Expeditionary Force by Rob Thompson
The German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, 14 March – 5 April, 1917, is something of a footnote in the study of Great War military operations yet the engineering and logistic lessons taught were of crucial importance to the success of BEF mobile operations in 1918. It represented the BEF’s only experience of a mobile pursuit against an enemy re…
The loss of HMT Dane
/world-war-i-articles/the-loss-of-hmt-dane/
Like most youngsters growing up in the 60s and 70s The Great War was a long time ago, and although my Grandad, Fred Booty, had medals in his china cabinet, along with an old photo of his brother Arthur, in Army uniform (who was the subject of a “Centenary of Relatives Lost in the Great War” article in the May 2016 Suffolk Branch Newsletter), the on…
The Somme Film - Some Notes Gun Fire
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[This article first appeared in the Yorkshire Branch journal ‘Gun Fire’ Book 1 1985 pp9 - 15. The entire series of 59 editions published between 1985 and 2004 has been digitised by The Western Front Association and is available to members via their Member Login. A list of all articles across the 59 editions is available by clicking on the icon be…
Who was Gordon Shephard - the man who never was?
/world-war-i-articles/who-was-gordon-shephard-the-man-who-never-was/
My interest in Gordon Shephard stems largely from the fact that his Irish adventures are ignored by the British records1,2, and that he and his First World War adventures are ignored by the Irish, certainly those of a republican leaning. Hence the title of this article, with apologies to Euan Montague for stealing the title of his Second World War …
Doc ‘Pete’: A Baltimorean with the Royal Fusiliers, 1917-18
/world-war-i-articles/doc-pete-a-baltimorean-with-the-royal-fusiliers-1917-18/
As the US went to war in April 1917 without tanks, aircraft, heavy artillery, or more than a handful of infantry divisions, a legion of its physicians readied themselves for immediate deployment to the Western Front. In a twist of irony, the first US soldiers sent to France and Flanders were armed only with the Hippocratic Oath. This vanguard estab…
Tommy Capper's 'Immortals' : How effective was the 7th Division at the 1st Battle of Ypres?
University of Birmingham, , 4th August 2014 'Tommy Capper's Immortals' : How effective was the 7th Division at the 1st Battle of Ypres?” Major-General Thompson Capper, C.B., D.S.O. The Immortal 7th Division…. For Dad 1921-2014 'Tommy Capper's Immortals…
The British Invasion or 'The Western Front without the Trenches'
/world-war-i-articles/the-british-invasion-or-the-western-front-without-the-trenches/
[This article first appeared in Bulletin No. 117 Pages 21-24. Western Front Association members received both this magazine and Stand To! three times a year as part of their membership package.] The now shuttered ‘Sandy’s Cycle Shop and Books’ was tucked into an out-of-the-way corner of the Leaside Business Park. But visibility, or rather invisib…
The Men in felt hats : Secretary of State for War R.B.Haldane and the creation of the Territorial Force Reserve
In March 1910, two years after the formation of the Territorial Force (TF), R.B.Haldane, the Secretary of State for War, announced the creation of the Territorial Force Reserve (TFR). The reserve was to have three elements: a reserve for the TF itself; a Technical Reserve (TR), and the Veteran Reserve (VR). The reserve for the TF was to prove so…
The King Crater Incident and the Courts Martial : November / December 1916
/world-war-i-articles/the-king-crater-incident-and-the-courts-martial-november-december-1916/
The Bantam Division is the stuff of legend. Its correct military designation was 35th Division but it was associated with the eponymous fighting cock because its twelve infantry battalions were composed of short but robust, tough soldiers. They were raised in a blaze of publicity in 1914, embodied as a division in 1915, joined the British Expeditio…
Reduced and Reconstituted British Divisions, 1918
/world-war-i-articles/reduced-and-reconstituted-british-divisions-1918/
During the spring and summer of 1918, both the War Office and GHQ in France faced a difficult dilemma. Having already reduced infantry brigades from four to three battalions, the German offensives of March and April had thrown further strain on British manpower. The liability for conscription had been increased but, although the BEF could still exp…
To What Extent was the Empire’s Commemoration of Those who Served During the First World War Equal?
[This article is by Matthew Cogan aged 19, and is based on his essay which won the Colin Hardy Memorial Prize. Matthew is now (2020-2021) in his first year studying history at the University of Oxford.] The First World War was the bloodiest war the world had ever seen when it ended in 1918. It was a truly worldwide conflict; both the first and la…
How Far was the Shells Crisis of 1915 Exploited by David Lloyd George for his own Political Gain?
[This article is by 17-year old Jack Moyse and is based on his essay which was the runner-up for the Colin Hardy Memorial Prize. Jack is still (in 2021) a pupil at Portsmouth Grammar School.] There is no doubt that a national crisis like a war, or a pandemic like the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, places immense pressure on politicians to perform and …
"And Bert’s gone syphilitic" – The Real Tragedies Behind the Cane Hill Hospital Memorial at Croydon.
In 1981 nearly 6,000 bodies were exhumed from the cemetery of Cane Hill Hospital, formerly the 3rd Surrey County Lunatic Asylum. They were cremated and their ashes scattered at Croydon (Mitcham Road) Cemetery. In 2009 a considerable correspondence took place on the Great War Forum, members investing time and effort in putting forward the cases of s…
Census 1841 to 2021
/world-war-i-articles/census-1841-to-2021/
Anyone researching a person who served during the First World War will have some methods in common, and some of their own related to the context and purpose of their search. Over the last five years one of my responsibilities has been to research and refresh those we feature in the daily item ‘Remember On This Day’. This has been running for at lea…
A Family at War
/world-war-i-articles/a-family-at-war/
One of the most persistent and annoying heresies about the past is that it was much simpler than the present. We, the people of now, live complex, challenging lives; they, the people of then, lived simple, uncomplicated lives. There is a word to describe this, but I do not wish to bring the WFA into disrepute by placing it in print. Perhaps I may …
The Search for Daniel Lightfoot
/world-war-i-articles/the-search-for-daniel-lightfoot/
The search began with the war memorial on the wall of a former pub, the Dog & Partridge, 5 Hot Lane, Burslem, which was opposite my primary school and at the back of the brickworks where my father worked. I have known it virtually all my life. Only when my friend Mick Rowson and I decided to compile a Great War Roll of Honour for Burslem did I…
From the Suvla Plain to Victory: William Ralph Peel
/world-war-i-articles/from-the-suvla-plain-to-victory-william-ralph-peel/
On the 16 November 1918, Lt Col William Ralph Peel and the men in his 10/Manchester Regiment were lined up smartly in the main square of a sprawling village on the outskirts of Maubeuge. Its population, only days earlier, had finally been relieved from a German occupation that had begun over four years previously in August 1914. The purpose of th…
The Censuring of Lieutenant Colonel John MacCarthy-O’Leary
/world-war-i-articles/the-censuring-of-lieutenant-colonel-john-maccarthy-o-leary/
In February 1918, 55th (West Lancashire) Division took over trenches in the Givenchy sector. The division’s units had sustained severe losses during the German counter-attack at Cambrai at the end of November and had since been rebuilding and training in the rear. During that counter-stroke, 1/5th South Lancashire, of 166 Brigade, had been almost w…
Everard Wyrall (1878-1932): Military Historian
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Last April [2021] I was asked to supervise a Wolverhampton University MA dissertation on 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers. The battalion was in 50th (Northumbrian) Division TF, so before doing anything else I consulted my copy of the divisional history by Everard Wyrall. And then something happened that might have happened at any point in the past fo…
Fletching Church: Where Soldiers of the Great War Sleep
/world-war-i-articles/fletching-church-where-soldiers-of-the-great-war-sleep/
St. Andrew and St. Mary the Virgin is the parish church of Fletching, a charming little village in East Sussex, which nestles in the Weald around 13 miles north of the South Downs and borders the southern edge of the Ashdown Forest. It is thought that Fletching was founded in the late 5th century AD as an Anglo-Saxon fort. It appears in the Domesda…
Field Artillery and Infantry on the Western Front during the FIrst World War
/world-war-i-articles/field-artillery-and-infantry-on-the-western-front-during-the-first-world-war/
In August 1914, and again in November 1918, the Royal Field Artillery of the British army was fighting in partnership with the forward divisional infantry, directing accurate targeted fire onto enemy strongpoints to facilitate infantry objectives. For various reasons, both practical and doctrinal, this cooperation was partially lost, on the Western…
How Reference numbers were used in WW1 Pension claims at Chelsea and in the Pension Issue Office
In this article the author looks at those pension reference systems used by the Ministry of Pensions, with specific reference to Chelsea and the Pension Issue Office, across the period of 1914 to the 1920s. Within the monolith that was the Ministry of Pensions, the two largest departments were Chelsea, which dealt with all pensions for disabled so…
Football in the First World War
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For the the 2021/2022 season, Saturday 14 May marks the playing of the FA Cup final, 150 years on from the first ever final between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers. Above: The Wanderers v Royal Engineers match programme - 1872 The result of the game will be important, not only to the supporters of Chelsea and Liverpool, but for millions o…
Private Alfred Berry and the Zeebrugge Raid 1918
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The Zeebrugge Raid of St. George’s Day 1918 was an audacious attempt by the Royal Navy to neutralise the activities of the German U-boats that were intent on bringing Britain and her allies to their knees. They were creating havoc in the English Channel, at least a third of allied shipping carrying food, munitions and other equipment – amounting to…