First World War in the News -- WW1 History from causes to trenches

Main page -- Latest WW1 news and articles

A boy aged 12, who fought at the Battle of the Somme, is youngest British World War I soldier telegraph.co.uk :: 2009-11-10
The child, too short to see over the edge of a trench, was recalled by another under-age WW1 soldier, George Maher, who was only 13 when he was sent to the Somme. Maher had told a recruiting officer that he was 18 to join the 2nd King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment in 1917. But his true age was revealed when he broke down and started to cry under shellfire. Maher recalled: "I was locked up on a train under guard, one of 5 under-age boys caught serving on the front being sent back to England. The youngest was 12yo. A little nuggety bloke he was, too. We joked that the other soldiers would have had to have lifted him up to see over the trenches." [United Kingdom]

Military Censorship of Photographs in World War I [link to PDF document] fas.org :: 2009-11-10
During the course of the First World War, tens of thousands of photos were withheld by the U.S. military. These included pictures that might have revealed troop movements or military capabilities, pictures that were liable to be used in enemy propaganda, or those that could affect military or public morale. The development of military controls on publication of photographs during WWI was described in a 1926 U.S. Army report that includes dozens of images that had been withheld. See "The Military Censorship of Pictures: Photographs that came under the ban during the World War - and why" by Lt. Col. Kendall Banning, U.S. Army Signal Reserve Corps, 1926. [Photographs, Pictures & Images]

The wreck of British naval submarine HMS E18 found in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Estonia bbc.co.uk :: 2009-10-26
HMS E18, with 3 officers and 28 ratings, went out on patrol in May 1916 and was never seen again. The sub was one of a handful sent to the Baltic during the Great War by Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to cut off German shipments of iron ore from Sweden and support the Russian navy. E18 left its base in the Russian port of Reval - now Tallinn - on 25 May 1916 and headed west. The following day she was reported to have engaged and torpedoed a German ship. A few days later she is thought to have hit a German mine and sunk with all hands. After the submarine's loss, Tsar Nicholas of Russia granted posthumous medals to the crew. [WW1 Submarines]

First World WAr training trenches preserved in field in Scotland bbc.co.uk :: 2009-10-26
A second set of trenches dug for training purposes during the First World War has been explored by experts in an area that saw heavy use in wartime. The line of three trenches lies 2 miles from where other remains were found to have survived in a field in Ross-shire in 2008. The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) have studied the site. RCAHMS were made aware of the trenches during a search through archive images of the area around Invergordon, an important port for the Royal Navy before, during and after the First World War. [Trenches and Fortifications warfare]

The Unknown Ally: Bulgaria in WWI -exhibition at the Museum of Military History in Vienna cafebabel.com :: 2009-10-05
"Unknown ally" is a special exhibition which runs until February 2010 at the Museum of Military History (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum) in Vienna. The exhibit explores the role of Bulgaria, and its mostly unknown alliance with the Central Powers Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The Exhibition has assembled numerous military uniforms, militaria, weapons and insignias by the new Bulgarian army during the conflict, as well as documents and photographs bearing witness to the situation on the front. Maps of the campaign, battle plans, extracts of treaties, posters and articles are among the other documents on show. [Minor groups and Areas]

10-ton deck gun from the SS Laurentic rescued from the deep bbc.co.uk :: 2009-09-27
After almost a century on the sea bed a First World War relic has been salvaged, restored and put on display. The 10-ton deck gun from the SS Laurentic was raised from the sea by a team of divers from Downings in County Donegal. They have now restored the weapon and put it on show at the local pier. The gun was one of 8 guns on the Laurentic and the second to be salvaged from the sea bed. The Laurentic was on its way to Canada to collect ammunition for the war effort in 1917 when it struck a German mine off the Donegal coast. The ship had a cargo of over 3,000 gold bars at the time - most of it now recovered. [Wrecks]

A collection of messages from WW1 troops to their nurse has turned up walesonline.co.uk :: 2009-09-27
A rare collection of personal messages from First World War troops to their nurse has turned up. Minerva Thomas worked at a Voluntary Aid Development (VAD) hospital on Stanwell Road in Penarth, Wales, where she cared for injured troops who had returned from the trenches. Her daughter kept the book, and after her death the rare collection ended up into the hands of a local collector in Penarth. The collector said: "I couldn't believe it when I first looked at it. These injured soldiers will all have passed away by now but their messages really bring them to life and make us realise they were not so different to us." [Memorabilia & Collectibles]

Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women On the Western Front [book review] dailymail.co.uk :: 2009-09-01
Diane Atkinson's WW1 book reveals the heroism of two unsung British women. In 1914, motorbike fanatics Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm travelled into London to 'do their bit' for the war effort. Volunteering for the Women's Emergency Corps, they were hired as dispatch riders, causing a minor scandal with their trousers (ending above the knee), leather boots and jackets. They beat 200 applicants for a posting to Belgium as ambulance drivers, and soon they were at the front, dodging sniper fire and bombardment to collect the fallen soldiers and to ferry the wounded to field hospitals. As news of their work spread they became known as The Angels of Pervyse. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR] [WW1 Women - Female heroines]

The First World War (August 1914 to November 1918) is also known as the Great War, The War to End All Wars, World War I and WW1.

Many of the bloodiest battles in military history occurred during the First World War. In trench warfare hundreds of soldiers died for each yard of land captured. Artillery with fragmentation shells caused the most casualties and made massed infantry attacks futile.

First World War in the News is an edited review of hand-picked World War I 1914-1918 articles.