The Battle of Menin Road, 1917 – The third Ypres – A gargantuan effort in WW1
Part of the Third Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Menin Road was a testing place for the British. They countered a tactic that had…
The bloody reputation of Passchendaele Ridge – Hell on Earth during the First World War
The name Passchendaele sounds as though it should refer to a place of great beauty. It evokes a sense of romance and the peace of…
The Battle of the Ourcq – The Americans make their presence felt at the Marne
Although they only arrived in the final year of the First World War, the Americans made their presence felt. The volume of manpower and resources…
Amiens: the beginning of the Hundred Days Offensive – The Allies brought enormous resources to bear
In August 1918, the Allied forces began their final great push of the First World War. Later known as the Hundred Days Offensive, this series…
WWI in East Africa, and the Legendary Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
The East African campaigns of the First World War were quite unlike the fighting that dominated Europe. Instead of the four years of trench-on-trench stalemate…
The Story Behind “In Flanders Fields” – One Of The Most Famous War Poems Of History
More so than any other modern war and certainly more than any war fought before it, The First World War was the age of the “war…
Exaggeration And Angels – The Battle of Mons, 1914
At the start of the First World War, the commanders of both sides expected fast-moving action. They believed devastating modern weapons would open gaps in…
The largest American military operation of the First World War – The Meuse-Argonne Offensive
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the largest American military operation of the First World War. Engaging over a million American soldiers throughout the last months of…
Great Disasters of the First World War
The First World War is regarded by many with horror. Ill-considered tactics, stubborn persistence, and a lack of understanding of how war was changing led…
These Weapons Caused The Deaths Of The Soldiers Who Used Them
Throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries, military technology has advanced considerably. Along the way, that evolution has taken some disastrous turns, particularly several weapons which proved…
The Dawn of the Submarine: U-21 sinks HMS Pathfinder
In 1914 submarines were still a novel idea. Many nations had not utilized them until 1900, Germany not until 1906. Soon their worth would be…
British Intelligence – Transforming Aerial Reconnaissance in World War Two
Like other European nations, the British discovered the value of photo-reconnaissance (PR) during the First World War. Seeing a new way to learn about the…