Eyewitnesses from the Great War

In 1913 Julius Koettgen, a pacifist and a socialist, was drafted into the ranks of sapper battalion No. 30. He dutifully fought in the ranks of the Kaiser’s armies during 1914 and 1915 and saw action in France and Belgium where he describes the terrible events which were to become known as ‘the rape of Belgium’ and also details the extent of the fi

In March 1915, a young French artist-turned-soldier went missing in action. He left behind a remarkable series of letters which, due to wartime security, had to be edited and published anonymously under...

In 1914, the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Regiment was a cavalry regiment with its headquarters in Kirkcaldy and squadrons based in Dunfermline, Cupar, Dundee and Forfar. The regiment was sent to Gallipoli...

‘Follow me! I will lead you!’ were the last words of Lt. Col. George Brenton Laurie, who commanded the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and was killed at Neuve Chapelle in March, 1915. He died with...

Edward Gleichen commanded the 15th Infantry Brigade during the tumultuous opening battles of the Great War. The division was mobilized by 10 August 1914, and fought in the opening battles at Mons, Le...

The 1st of July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, was the blackest day in the history of the British Army. 60,000 men became casualties on that one day alone.In a major new...

During the Great War Adolf Hitler served in the ranks of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment from 1914 to 1918, and was awarded the Iron Cross. In later years, under the masterful control of Doctor Goebbels, Hitler was successfully portrayed by the Nazis as a valiant front-line soldier who, for four long years, had fought many hard battles