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.

A Christmas Party then Tragedy : 30 December 1915

The band of the Royal Marines played, a film show ran and then tragedy as a series of explosions...

How to research Canadian Soldiers from the First World War

We are sometimes asked about how to undertake research for servicemen who were killed in the Grea...

The First Phosgene Attack on British Troops : 19 December 1915

The first use of phosgene gas against British troops by the German army took place on 19 December...

A Sobering Aspect of the Christmas Truce : 25 December 1915

Many of the accounts of the Christmas ‘Truce’ in 1914 focus on the exchange of gifts and the supp...

The Raid on Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool : 16 December 1914

Much has been written about the German naval raid on the East Coast on 16 December 1914. A lot of...

From Schoolboy to Battalion Commander: Cecil Crichton-Browne : 13 Decemb...

Captain (Acting Major) Cecil Harold Crichton-Browne was aged just 22 when he died on 13 December...

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 bu...

Each One a Pocket Hercules: The Bantam Experiment and the case of the 35...

Each One a Pocket Hercules (1) : The Bantam Experiment and the case of the 35th Division Few epis...

The Men in felt hats : Secretary of State for War R.B.Haldane and the cr...

In March 1910, two years after the formation of the Territorial Force (TF), R.B.Haldane, the Secr...

The Indian Cavalry at Cambrai : 30 November 1917

Cavalry in the First World War was rarely used, at least in its traditional mounted role. A famou...

The Abandoned St Quentin Memorial to the Missing

In 1926 the French government raised serious concern at the number of free-standing memorials bei...

Don’t forget the ‘War Donkey’

There are many books, dramas and films that have brought different aspects of the Great War to th...