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.

Ministry of Pensions Regional Offices

After the First World War, the Ministry of Pensions (for a short time) created a number of region...

The R38 disaster 24 August 1921

At the start of the war, in contrast to Germany, the British had limited experience of airships....

The 'fake' French Aristocrat at Etaples

In the vast expanse of Etaples Military Cemetery are thousands of headstones. Each of these repre...

The Low Moor Munitions Factory Explosion

Monday, August 21 in 1916 was a fine and sunny day, but would be remembered in the area of Low Mo...

Using the RFC to unlock the workings of widow’s pensions

It was only in early 1915, 6 months in to the war, that the War Office began paying pensions to t...

The Baralong Incident 29 January 1917

The Baralong was a 'three island' tramp steamer built in 1901 by Armstrong & Whitworth. She w...

The Camera Returns No.7 by Bob Grundy and Steve Wall

[This edition of The Camera Return was originally published in Stand To! No.29 in the Spring of 1...

Cecil Patrick Healy: the only Australian Olympic Gold medalist to die in...

Cecil Patrick Healy - the only Australian Olympic Gold medalist to die in war – was a prominent f...

The First RFC Pilot to land in France 13 August 1914

At 6.25am on 13 August 1914, No.2 Squadron Royal Flying Corp mobilised for France. They were to f...

‘The Scum of the Earth’

In 1813 the Duke of Wellington, angered by incidents of looting amongst his army, wrote sourly: ‘...

Finding the Horses and Mules for the British Army during the First World...

During the First World War, commandeering horses and mules was crucial to the British Army's mobi...

The Safe Passage of BEF Troopships August 1914

Comparatively little outside of the Official History has been written about the defensive measure...