First World War: Difference between revisions

From FIBIwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
← Older editNewer edit →
Maureene (talk | contribs)
29,860 edits
Maureene (talk | contribs)
29,860 edits
Line 112: Line 112:
===Anglo-Indians===
===Anglo-Indians===
“Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1914, brought immediate mobilization in India and by 1915, the British war drain produced hundreds of officer vacancies in the regular army which became accessible to Anglo-Indians for the first time since the East India Company's ban of 1791. Conscription was enforced systematically among the Anglo-Indians at odds with the experience of other Indian communities treated more leniently. (Abel:1988) By 1916, perhaps 8,000 Anglo-Indians had joined British units as in the case of the many "India-born" recruits accepted by the [[39th Regiment of Foot| Dorset Regiment]]. Jhansi's Anglo-Indian Battery, part of the Anglo-Indian Force, attached to the 77th Royal Field Artillery, had the largest concentration of Anglo-Indian conscripts and volunteers and earned a distinguished record in the Mesopotamian conflict. In total, 50-75% of the adult Anglo-Indian population saw active service although non-emergency enlistment in the British Army remained closed to them. (Dover:1937) Most were immediately sent abroad while others were employed by the sudden munitions and supply boom, for instance, at Kanpur where the army's leather processing centre had been located since after the Mutiny. (Thomas:1982)” <ref>  
“Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1914, brought immediate mobilization in India and by 1915, the British war drain produced hundreds of officer vacancies in the regular army which became accessible to Anglo-Indians for the first time since the East India Company's ban of 1791. Conscription was enforced systematically among the Anglo-Indians at odds with the experience of other Indian communities treated more leniently. (Abel:1988) By 1916, perhaps 8,000 Anglo-Indians had joined British units as in the case of the many "India-born" recruits accepted by the [[39th Regiment of Foot| Dorset Regiment]]. Jhansi's Anglo-Indian Battery, part of the Anglo-Indian Force, attached to the 77th Royal Field Artillery, had the largest concentration of Anglo-Indian conscripts and volunteers and earned a distinguished record in the Mesopotamian conflict. In total, 50-75% of the adult Anglo-Indian population saw active service although non-emergency enlistment in the British Army remained closed to them. (Dover:1937) Most were immediately sent abroad while others were employed by the sudden munitions and supply boom, for instance, at Kanpur where the army's leather processing centre had been located since after the Mutiny. (Thomas:1982)” <ref>  
[http://home.alphalink.com.au/~agilbert/mills1.html "Some Comments on stereotypes of the Anglo-Indians: Part II"] by Megan Stuart Mills from the International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies 1996, quoting
[https://www.international-journal-of-anglo-indian-studies.org/index.php/IJAIS/article/view/83 "Some Comments on stereotypes of the Anglo-Indians: Part II"] by Megan Stuart Mills from the International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies 1996,Vol. 1 No. 2,  quoting
*Abel, Evelyn. (1988). The Anglo-Indian Community. Chanakya Publications: Delhi.
*Abel, Evelyn. (1988). The Anglo-Indian Community. Chanakya Publications: Delhi.
*Dover, Cedric. (1937). Half-Caste. London: Martin, Secker and Warburg.
*Dover, Cedric. (1937). Half-Caste. London: Martin, Secker and Warburg.
*Thomas, David A. (1982). Lucknow and Kanpur, 1880-1920: Stagnation and Development under the Raj. South Asia. 5, 68-80. </ref>
*Thomas, David A. (1982). Lucknow and Kanpur, 1880-1920: Stagnation and Development under the Raj. South Asia. 5, 68-80. </ref>


In 1916 the Anglo-Indian Association was asked to raise a battalion of Anglo-Indian soldiers - an Anglo-Indian force; some of them served in Mesopotamia<ref>[http://home.alphalink.com.au/~agilbert/hawesint.html "Christopher Hawes in Conversation with Glenn D'cruz"] in ''The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies'' Volume 3, Number 1, 1998.</ref>.  By the September of 1917 the Anglo-Indian Force had drawn more than 950 men.[25]<ref>   
In 1916 the Anglo-Indian Association was asked to raise a battalion of Anglo-Indian soldiers - an Anglo-Indian force; some of them served in Mesopotamia<ref>[https://www.international-journal-of-anglo-indian-studies.org/index.php/IJAIS/article/view/122 "Christopher Hawes in Conversation with Glenn D'Cruz"] in ''The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies'' Volume 3, Number 1, 1998.</ref>.  By the September of 1917 the Anglo-Indian Force had drawn more than 950 men.[25]<ref>   
[http://home.alphalink.com.au/~agilbert/satoshi.html "Loyalty, Parity, and Social Control-The Competing Visions on the Creation of an ‘Eurasian’ Military Regiment in late British India"]  by Satoshi Mizutani ''The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies'' Volume 10, No. 1, 2010, quoting
[https://www.international-journal-of-anglo-indian-studies.org/index.php/IJAIS/article/view/71 "Loyalty, Parity, and Social Control-The Competing Visions on the Creation of an ‘Eurasian’ Military Regiment in late British India"]  by Satoshi Mizutani ''The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies'' Volume 10, No. 1, 2010, quoting
*[25] Anonymous (ed.), ''The Anglo-Indian Force'' (Allahabad, 1918), p.40. This book, by C T Robbie,  is available in the India Office Records at the [[British Library]] IOR/L/MIL/17/5/4318</ref>
*[25] Anonymous (ed.), ''The Anglo-Indian Force'' (Allahabad, 1918), p.40. This book, by C T Robbie,  is available in the India Office Records at the [[British Library]] IOR/L/MIL/17/5/4318</ref>


Revision as of 11:16, 8 November 2024

Great Britain and hence India were at war from 4 August 1914. The war with Germany ended 11 November 1918, however hostilities continued on other Fronts. The official end date for Great Britain is taken as 31 August 1921 and this is the date to which the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a responsibility.

First World War information including that relevant to British India, including the involvement of the Indian Army and of Anglo Indians in the British Army. During the First World War compulsory service was deemed necessary and the Indian Defence Force Act was passed in 1917. European British men between the ages of 18 and 41 were subject to compulsory service within India. Thus men serving overseas were not sent as conscripts, but had voluntarily joined either the Indian Army, or the British Army.

Hampshire Regt WW1 Shield with India noted

General information

Expeditionary Forces

Seven expeditionary forces served during World War I

  • Indian Expeditionary Force A served on the European Western Front
  • Indian Expeditionary Force B served in the East African Campaign
  • Indian Expeditionary Force C composed of the Imperial Service Infantry Brigade served in British East Africa
  • Indian Expeditionary Force D served in the Mesopotamia Campaign
  • Indian Expeditionary Force E served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
  • Indian Expeditionary Force F served in the First Suez Offensive
  • Indian Expeditionary Force G served in the Gallipoli Campaign

The Indian Divisions of 1914-1918 [1]

Division Theatres Arrival in first theatre
1st (Peshawar) - Remained in India
2nd (Rawalpindi) - Remained in India
3rd (Lahore) France & Flanders, Mesopotamia October 1914
4th (Quetta) - Remained in India
5th (Mhow) - Remained in India
6th (Poona) Mesopotamia From November 1914
7th (Meerut) France & Flanders, Mesopotamia October 1914
8th (Lucknow) - Remained in India
9th (Secunderabad) - Remained in India
10th Egypt Formed in Egypt 1914
11th Egypt Formed in Egypt 1914
12th Mesopotamia Formed in Mesopotamia 1915
13th - Not formed
14th Mesopotamia Formed in Mesopotamia 1916
15th Mesopotamia Formed in Mesopotamia 1916
16th - Remained in India
17th Mesopotamia Formed in Mesopotamia 1917
18th Mesopotamia Formed in Mesopotamia 1917
Burma Division - Remained in India
1st Indian Cavalry France & Flanders November 1914. Renamed 4th Cavalry Division in November 1916
2nd Indian Cavalry France & Flanders December 1914. Renamed 5th Cavalry Division in November 1916

Anglo-Indians

“Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1914, brought immediate mobilization in India and by 1915, the British war drain produced hundreds of officer vacancies in the regular army which became accessible to Anglo-Indians for the first time since the East India Company's ban of 1791. Conscription was enforced systematically among the Anglo-Indians at odds with the experience of other Indian communities treated more leniently. (Abel:1988) By 1916, perhaps 8,000 Anglo-Indians had joined British units as in the case of the many "India-born" recruits accepted by the Dorset Regiment. Jhansi's Anglo-Indian Battery, part of the Anglo-Indian Force, attached to the 77th Royal Field Artillery, had the largest concentration of Anglo-Indian conscripts and volunteers and earned a distinguished record in the Mesopotamian conflict. In total, 50-75% of the adult Anglo-Indian population saw active service although non-emergency enlistment in the British Army remained closed to them. (Dover:1937) Most were immediately sent abroad while others were employed by the sudden munitions and supply boom, for instance, at Kanpur where the army's leather processing centre had been located since after the Mutiny. (Thomas:1982)” [2]

In 1916 the Anglo-Indian Association was asked to raise a battalion of Anglo-Indian soldiers - an Anglo-Indian force; some of them served in Mesopotamia[3]. By the September of 1917 the Anglo-Indian Force had drawn more than 950 men.[25][4]

The Anglo Indian Battery, an Artillery unit which was part of the Anglo Indian Force, served in Mesopotamia and returned to India at the end of the war and was based at Trimulgherry. The Government of India decided the unit should be a permanent part of the forces, but it appears not to have survived the cuts of the post war slump

  • Britain’s Betrayal In India: The Story of the Anglo-Indian Community by Frank Anthony 1960. Archive.org version mirror from Digital Library of India. Chapter VII "World Wars I and II", page 122, includes the Anglo Indian Battery.

Temporary Commissions & Indian Army Reserve of Officers 1917-1921

IOR Ref - (L/MIl/9/435-623)

The First World War necessitated a reserve force of British Army officers for the Indian Army to supplement regular recruitment of cadets from Sandhurst, Wellington and Quetta. Temporary commissions were, therefore, granted to British Officers, NCOs and enlisted men of the required educational standard.

Fortunately, the individual names in this section are listed in searchable indexes on the National Archives Access to Archives website (See External links. The full record will show birth details and army service.

In the same index volume, on the open shelves in the British Library, is a further typed list of about 2,500 names compiled from a card index relating to medal claims. This index gives rank, unit , date of release and post-release address.( It does not actually show medal entitlement)

Finally the volume contains an index of 815 British Army other ranks commissioned into the Indian Army during the First World War. Fuller reference is shown as WO339 (pieces 139092 -139906) held at The National Archives – (See War Office: Officers' Services, First World War, Long Number Papers (numerical) in External links

The British Library has the book, in five volumes, covering the First World War, Alphabetical list giving particulars of officers of the Indian Army Reserve of Officers / [issued by] Army Headquarters, India, Military Secretary’s Branch. The catalogue entry states "Contents: [v.1]. 26th June 1916 _ v.2. 24th January 1917 _ v.3. 31st December 1917 _ v.4. 30th June 1918 _ v.5. 31st December 1918". The shelfmark is OIR 355.37 Open Access. There are also the records, Applications for appointments to the India Army Reserve of Officers ‎ (1916-1918) IOR/L/MIL/9/552 to IOR/L/MIL/9/552. Search by name, in the British Library's Archives and Manuscripts catalogue.

FIBIS database: A List of Officers (I.A.R.O.) recruited to or Re-engaged during the Year 1916 and up to the middle of January 1917

Fibis members can contact Fibis research should they wish to access further detail from these records. research@fibis.org

British Army troops in India

Territorial Force troops

Territorial Force troops were sent to India so that regular units could be released for service in France.[5]

On 22 September 1914 the government of India agreed to send 32 British and 20 Indian regular army battalions to Europe in exchange for 43 Territorial Force battalions. [6]

  • The 43rd (Wessex) Division - All units assembled at Southampton on 9 October. Sailing via Malta and Suez, the main body of the Division went to Bombay, landing on 9 November, with three units (4th, 5th and 6th Devons) landing at Karachi two days later. [6]
  • The 44th (Home Counties) Division - All units that were going to India assembled at Southampton and sailed on 30 October. They all went to Bombay, landing between 1 and 3 December.[7]
  • The 45th (2nd Wessex) Division On 25 November 1914 it was decided to send from the 2nd Wessex 10 battalions of infantry and the artillery. Two battalions (2/4th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and 2/4th Hampshire Regiment went to Karachi (arriving 9 January 1915) via Aden; the rest landed at Bombay (4-8 January 1915).[8]

See British Army Territorial Force troops arriving in 1914‎ for those Regiments and Batteries arriving with the first two Divisions above, and their initial postings.

The Territorial Battalions in India generally experienced a movement of personnel, as drafts were provided for Regiments in Mesopotamia, and men transferred to specialist services. The Battalions in India in turn received drafts from Britain. As an example, 1/5th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry lost nearly half its original personnel in 2½ years in India. [9] Wounded and other ill soldiers from Mesopotamia were returned to India for treatment and convalescence. Some of these sadly became part of the group of soldiers who died in India.[10]

A regimental history which describes experiences of Territorials in India during the Great War is A Strange War: Burma, India and Afghanistan 1914-1919 by C P Mills, available at the British Library UIN: BLL01008454962. The Regiment was the 2/5th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. An general history is Terriers In India: British Territorials 1914-19 by Peter Stanley, available at the British Library UIN: BLL01019072648, where the catalogue description states "a rich mix of social and military history".

Garrison Battalions

Garrison Battalions were not part of the Territorial Force, but in many ways the experience of Garrison Battalions in India was similar to that of Territorial Force Battalions in India.

Garrison Battalions were made up of soldiers unfit for front line duty. This decision was made at time of enlistment or after previous front line service where the soldier had suffered wounds or sickness. They were sent to various parts of the empire on garrison duties to release fit soldiers for front line duty.[11] By the end of the war there were 18 Garrison Battalions in India.[12]

In India, men unfit for frontline duties in regiments about to leave India for war zones, were transferred into Garrison Battalions already serving in India.[13]

Some of the soldiers who served in the Garrison Battalions in India served on the North West Frontier in Afghanistan in 1919, in the 3rd Afghan War, almost certainly along the lines of communication.[14]

Very little has been written about the Garrison Battalions of World War I in post-war regimental histories. Battalions were disbanded within days of returning from service overseas and their four or five year existence was apparently regarded as of little consequence in regimental history. [15]. A diary, including a description of the journey to India of a “unit of middle-aged and medically downgraded men”, and letters home may be found in 1st Garrison Battalion The Manchester Regiment, India, Singapore, Hong Kong & Siberia by Robert Bonner.

The April 1919 Indian Army List[16] shows the following Garrison Battalions: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Garrison Battalions, Bedfordshire Regiment; 1st Garrison Battalions Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), East Yorkshire Regiment; 2nd Garrison Battalion, Essex Regiment, 1st Garrison Battalions Gordon Highlanders, Lincolnshire Regiment, Manchester Regiment, Norfolk Regiment; 2nd Garrison Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers; 1st Garrison Battalions Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Royal Irish Fusiliers, Royal Irish Rifles, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Somerset Light Infantry, South Staffordshire Regiment and Yorkshire Regiment.

Special Service Battalions

Formed from April 1919 in India from drafts of demobilisees (from Mesopotamia) arriving by ship in Bombay. See "Mutiny in India 1919" for more details about these Battalions. One Special Service Battalion, No.17, served in the Third Afghan War

Regular British Army troops in India

Some regiments fighting in Mesopotamia appear to have had Depots in India. As an example the 2nd Battalion, Norfolk Regiment appears to have had soldiers in India, although generally it is stated this Battalion was in Mesopotamia.

External links

Historical books online

The Wanderings of a Temporary Warrior : a territorial officer's narrative of service (and sport) in three continents by Captain Alban F L Bacon (late Hampshire Regiment) [2/4 Battalion] 1922. Archive.org. India, Egypt/Palestine, Western Front.
Memoirs of the Great War by James Racine c 1920. Pages 80-102 cover the author's voyage to India from October 1916 and his period in India as an officer with the 2/5th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment in Secunderabad until the Battalion was transferred to Egypt. Archive.org
Letters from Mesopotamia in 1915 and January, 1916 from Robert Palmer 1916 Archive.org. He went with a draft from the 6th Hants, (Hampshire Regiment) in India since November 1914, to reinforce the 4th Hants. Both these regiments were part of the Territorial Force. He was killed June 21, 1916, aged 27 years. The initial letters were written in India.
  • India page 39 A Wreath of Memories: George Joachim Goschen (Viscount) 1917. "Sept. 1914 he was commissioned in 1/5th Bn. East Kent Regt. (TF) & sailed with the regt. for India soon after. At the end of 1915 it was transferred to Mesopotamia".[19]
  • Diary of 2/4th Battalion the Border Regiment, 1914-19 [in India and Afghanistan] 1920. Archive.org. This Battalion was formed during the First World War and was part of the Territorial Force. Archive.org
  • Memoirs Of A Camp Follower (1934) by Philip Gosse. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Full title/some editions: Memoirs of a Camp-Follower : a Naturalist Goes to War. At least one later edition published under the title A Naturalist Goes to War. The author was a doctor in the RAMC, a Temporary Captain, who served in France and Belgium 1915-1917, then subsequently in India, based at Poona, 1917-1918. Review of the book. JRAMC. Scroll to the end.

Indian Army troops in India

Indian Army troops were involved in actions on the North West Frontier.

Aden

Burma

At sea

During the First World War ships of the Royal Indian Marine carried troops and other war stores from India to Egypt, Mesopotamia and East Africa. When mines were detected off the coasts of Bombay and Aden during the First World War, the Royal Indian Marine went into action with a fleet of minesweepers, patrol vessels and troop carriers. The Royal Indian Marine also played a leading role in landing troops in Mesopotamia and their small river craft did very useful work on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.[20]

Recommended reading

  • Yeats-Brown, Francis Lives of a Bengal Lancer . An autobiographical account of a Bengal Lancer covering the period from 1905 until the end of the First World War. Describes his deployment in India, France and Mesopotamia. See review in Biographies reading list. Also see Mesopotamia Campaign.
  • Spencer, William First World War army service records : a guide for family historians The National Archives, 2008 See Review in Military reading list.

FIBIS resources

Records

British Library holdings

  • Also see Medal Rolls for British Library records in respect of rolls of honours and rewards.
The links for the following catalogue references are National Archives Discovery links. For British Library equivalent links, search directly in the British Library’s "Search our Catalogue Archives and Manuscripts".
  • IOR/L/MIL/14/142 1914-1921. Indian Army Officers Casualty Returns: Alphabetical lists of casualties by death among British officers of the Indian Services in the Great War giving rank, age, unit, date, place and cause. Possibly may provide information additional to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database information (refer below). British Library article about these records, which indicates Warrant Officer (Conductor) and NCOs (i.e. men other than privates) deaths are included.
  • IOR/L/MIL/15/22 British Army in India: Burial returns of officers and others in India, 1914-1918. Also available on LDS microfilm 2029981 ( see FamilySearch Centres). Possibly may provide information additional to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database information (refer below)
  • IOR/L/MIL/7/17154-18939 Collection 425 First World War 1914-1918 ‎ (1914-1920). There is no TNA catalogue link, but it appears most of the records have been destroyed.
  • IOR/L/MIL/17/5/245-299 1903-1947. Military Department Library: Indian Army Orders. Includes volumes coving the war years from IOR/L/MIL/17/5/256 1914
  • IOR/L/MIL/17/5/1133-1231 Military Department Library: Indian Army Divisional and Brigade Movement Programmes/Distribution Lists. The dates appear to be for 1914/early 1915, and 1920 only. Most are titled "Distribution of the troops...."
  • IOR/L/MIL/17/5/2380-2420 Military Department Library: Indian Army First World War - General ‎ (1914-1931)
  • IOR/L/MIL/17/5/2421-4246 1914-1921. Military Department Library: Indian Army First World War - War Diaries.
The entries which include War Diary in the individual entry are from IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3001. War diary, Army Headquarters India, Indian Expeditionary Force 'A' [France]. IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3086-3149; IE Force 'B' and ‘C’ [East Africa] IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3150-3222; IE Force 'D' [Mesopotamia] IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3223-3892, including IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3788 A table of the contents of the war diaries of the Mesopotamian Campaign; IE Force 'E'/'E' & 'G'/Egypt and F. IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3893-3950; IE Force 'G' [Mediterranean] IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3951- 3953; Aden Force IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3954-4056; India, Afghan War IOR/L/MIL/17/5/4057-4065; India, Frontier Operations IOR/L/MIL/17/5/4066-4121; Persia IOR/L/MIL/17/5/4122-4223.
Some of these volumes are Indian Army Casualty Returns, explained in the British Library article "Finding Indian soldiers who served in World War One"
  • The Military Department Library also contains items relating to the First World War catalogued according to regions including Mesopotamian Campaign IOR/L/MIL/17/15/65 to IOR/L/MIL/17/15/138.
  • History of the Great War based on official documents by direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Consists of 108 volumes published 1920-1949. For details of the different volumes, refer External links below, Some volumes are available online, refer Historical books online below.
  • An account of the operations of the 18th (Indian) Division in Mesopotamia, December 1917 to December 1918, with the names of all the units which served with the division and a nominal roll of all the officers by Walter Edward Wilson-Johnston 1919.
  • The Railway Gazette Special War Transportation Number, originally published in September 1920, as part of The Railway Gazette and Railway News. Described at the time as ‘the first connected account’ of the role of railways and inland water transport in supporting the British military campaign during the Great War of 1914-18. Contains a wealth of detail on operations on most Fronts inc. the organisation of wartime transportation; statistics and Fronts, including Railway Operations in Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine & East Africa. Available at the British Library as part of UIN: BLL01013904893 or in a 2013 reprint edition UIN: BLL01016871224. Also available in a reprint edition[21].
  • See also Temporary Commissions & Indian Army Reserve of Officers 1917-1921, above
  • See also Indian Army

The National Archives

War Diaries

Included in the many records held at the National Archives Kew is the series WO 95 - War Office: First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries.

In addition to Battalion war diaries, there may be higher level Brigade and Division war diaries, which may provide information about Battalions not be found in the relevant Battalion diaries, or some Battalion diaries may not have survived. The vast majority of war diaries for RFA units [Royal Artillery] were kept at the brigade level.[22]

Some War Diaries, many of which are handwritten, have been digitised and are available (on a pay basis) online from various sources: from the National Archives through the Discovery catalogue[23] (download as one file, rather than page by page); from Naval and Military Archive (Western Front only)[24], part of Naval & Military Press, which also publishes print and DVD-ROM versions; and through Ancestry which contains two databases "UK, WWI War Diaries (France, Belgium and Germany), 1914-1920" and "UK, WWI War Diaries (Gallipoli and Dardanelles), 1914-1916", containing selected, and at times part, war diaries only.[25][26] (Download page by page). The Ancestry databases also contain War Diaries for some Indian, Australian, New Zealand, and other regiments. (Ancestry search hints.[27][28])
Transcribed (the handwriting has been deciphered for you!) (series title) Gallipoli Diaries edited by Martin Gillott, publisher Great War Diaries and some Western Front (series title) Great War Diaries from the same editor/publisher, both series for British and some Indian Army regiments, are available through Amazon.co.uk [29] in Kindle editions which have a Search facility (anyone with Kindle Unlimited can read them for free). (Download of a free Kindle App is available onto a PC, Mac or tablet - you don't need Kindle).

  • The TNA downloads include for "other" (non infantry/cavalry) units the very informative "List of Royal Artillery, Army Service Corps, Machine Gun Corps and Medical Units" WO 95/5494. Includes Tank Corps.[30]
  • Details of War Diaries available at the National Archives, Kew, UK for Indian Army Regiments.
Category:India including Category:All Indian units collaborativecollections.org. The website also includes pages in respect of British, American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and other units.
WO 95/5484: 1915 Nov. - 1920 Mar., WO 95/5485: 1920 May - 1921 Dec., WO 95/5486: 1922 Jan.-Dec.

The Australian War Memorial website[31] contains Australian and New Zealand Army War diaries (available for free).

Other

  • The National Archives also holds many maps relating to operations during the War, which however have not been digitised. For more details, see the Research Guide Military maps of the First World War. As an example, military maps for Mesopotamia are to be found in WO 302.

Other

Findmypast, a pay website, contains a database "British Red Cross Register Of Overseas Volunteers 1914-1918"[32] (located in Armed forces & conflict/Regimental & service records) which appears to be transcripts of data from the British Red Cross website. This database also contains records for members of other volunteer organisations: Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU), First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), Order of St. John Ambulance, Scottish Women’s Hospital, Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) and Liverpool Merchants’ Hospital. There is also a findmypast database "British Army, British Red Cross Society Volunteers 1914-1918"[33], (located in Armed forces & conflict/First World War), also of transcripts from the British Red Cross website. Update At 5 August 2024, the latter database no longer appears to be available on findmypast.
Details of Red Cross work may be found in the 1921 HMSO publication of 823 pages: Reports by the Joint War Committee and the Joint War Finance Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England on voluntary aid rendered to the sick and wounded at home and abroad and to British prisoners of war 1914–1919, with appendices, now available online refer Historical books online below.

Related articles

External links

"Northeasterners in the World Wars" by P. Ramirez. includes an Excel file download for all CWGC Indian Army deaths for WW1. Brahmaputra Studies Database.
History of the Great War Wikipedia.
Note, many of these volumes are available online, see Historical books online, Official histories, political memoirs, etc. below.
Digital First World War Resources: Online Official Histories — The War At Sea And In The Air by Dr Robert T Foley defenceindepth.co
Digital First World War Resources: Online Archival Sources by Dr Robert T. Foley January 19, 2015. Also see Comments at the bottom of the article. defenceindepth.co
  • British Army Medical Categories 1914. The criteria subsequently changed at various times throughout the War.[34]
  • A Guide to WW1 Causes of Discharge - Paragraph 392 of King's Regulations 1912
  • War Records Revealed. British, Commonwealth and other military records. Information about various categories of records and medals, especially relating to WW1.
  • Geoff's WW1 Search Engine Also includes a WW2 Search. Considered by some to have a superior Search to the CWGC website.
  • Cross & Cockade International (CCI) Journal of the First World War Aviation Historical Society. Cross & Cockade GB was formed in, and published from, 1970 as the British arm of Cross & Cockade in the USA, which was formed in 1960. The name changed to Cross & Cockade International when the US society ceased in 1986. In 1986 Cross & Cockade [USA] amalgamated with/became associated with Over the Front, Journal of the League of WWI Aviation Historians, which holds the archives of Cross & Cockade [USA] 1960-1985. British Journals are available at the British Library and Imperial War Museums. The IWM catalogue lists the USA Journals holdings as C&C Vol 1 1960- Vol 23 1982 (LBY E.J. 5156 but also see LBY E. 45573), OTF Vol 1 1986- Vol 11 1996 (LBY E.J. 64).
CCI Journal Index up to Vol. 50 and Recent Journals. CCI Journals include a series of articles "Gazetteer of Flying Sites in the UK and Ireland 1912–1920", catalogue details for the Gazetteer articles, together with Index.
C&C [USA] Index: Volumes 1-26 1960-1985 missing 5 issues. Over the Front Index: Volumes 1-16 1986-2001 toto.lib.unca.edu. University of North Carolina at Asheville holds the volumes listed.
Links to "The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle - World War One" on 314th.org
For more about the Nafziger Orders Of Battle Collection, and current alternative method of access, see British Army - Locating a regiment.
The Indian Army - 1st January 1917: Cavalry Regiments by Paul Watson October 4, 2006 orbat.com, now archived.
The Indian Army - 1st January 1917: Sappers and Miners; Railway Battalion; Divisional Signal Companies by Paul Watson November 15, 2006 orbat.com, now archived.
Indian Army 1917 Mountain Artillery Batteries by Paul Watson November 22, 2006 orbat.com, now archived.
Update "Registers accessed from Lahore Museum digitised, records of WW-1 soldiers from undivided Punjab now a click away" by Divya Goyal 10 November 2021. indianexpress.com. Phase-1 of the platform Punjab & World War One will be launched with details of three districts – Ludhiana, Jalandhar (then Jullundur) and Sialkot (now in Pakistan).
"Indian Labour Corps" by Radhika Singha. encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net.
"The Short Career of the Indian Labour Corps in France, 1917–1919" by Radhika Singha. Abstract of an article, with footnotes. Also with a link to "supplementary materials", containing downloads of photographs. International Labor and Working-Class History Volume 87 Spring 2015 , pp. 27-62. cambridge.org
Radhika Singha is the (later) author of The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict, 1914–1921. "Interview: Radhika Singha" by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan c 16 July 2021. amp.scroll.in .
"North East India and the First World War" by Pratap Chhetri February 4, 2016. The Indian Labour Corps: Lushai Labour Corps, Khasi Labour Corps, Garo Labour Corps, Naga Labour Corps, Manipur Labour Corps and enlistments from Tripura. These men served on the Western Front, in Mesopotamia and in Egypt. "The Centre for Hidden Histories" [WW1]

Historical books online

Official histories, political memoirs, etc.

  • History of the Great War Based on Official Documents: Military Operations. See the various Fronts mentioned above.
Military Operations Italy 1915-1919 by Brigadier-General Sir James E Edmonds and Major-General H R Davies HMSO 1949. Archive.org. Part of the series History of the Great War based on Official Documents.
Official History of the Great War: The Occupation of the Rhineland 1918-1929 by Brig-Gen Sir JE Edmonds, originally written 1944, is available in a reprint edition[35], which in turn is available on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3, located in Military Books (locate through the Search)/Germany. Also includes some information about return of POWs, see pages 30 (digital page 61) and 48 (digital page 79).
Some other volumes in the Official History series appear below in following sections.
Memories And Reflections (1852-1927) by The Earl of Oxford and Asquith 1928. Vol 1, Vol 2. 2nd files: Volume One, Volume Two Archive.org Books to Borrow/ Lending Library.
Life of Herbert Henry Asquith Lord Oxford and Asquith by J A Spender and Cyril Asquith 1932. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org
H. H. Asquith Wikipedia. UK Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916.
Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon Wikipedia. He was UK Foreign Secreary 1905 to 1916.
  • The Supreme Command, 1914-1918 by Lord Hankey 1961. Volume One, Volume Two Archive.org Books to Borrow/ Lending Library.
Hankey: Man of Secrets by Stephen Roskill 1970. Volume I 1877-1918, Volume II 1919-1931, Volume III 1931-1963 Archive.org Books to Borrow/ Lending Library.
Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey Wikipedia. “He is best known as the highly-efficient top aide to Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the War Cabinet, which directed Britain during the First World War”.
  • Life of Lord Kitchener by Sir Arthur George 1920. (Volume I; Volume II); Volume III Archive.org. He was appointed Secretary of State for War in August 1914 and died in 1916 when the ship HMS Hampshire struck a German mine.
The Tragedy of Lord Kitchener by Reginald Viscount Esher 1921 Archive.org
Kitchener by Brig.-General C R Ballard. A book in the series Private Lives Library. Probably a 1936 reprint, originally published 1930. Archive.org
Kitchener : the man behind the legend by Philip Warner 2006, first published 1985. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
  • War Memoirs of David Lloyd George. New edition 1938. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org. Originally published in 6 volumes 1933-1937. I; II; III; IV; V not available online; VI. Archive.org. USA edition (volumes split slightly differently) 1914-1915, 1915-1916, 1916-1917, 1917, 1917-1918, 1918 Archive.org. It is stated elsewhere that the new edition is complete and unabridged apart from essential revisions. David Lloyd George was Prime Minister of the UK 1916-1922.
See below for a book by Lord Beaverbrook about events in 1921-22.
  • The World Crisis publications by The Rt. Hon. Winston S Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty 1911-1915. Archive.org
The World Crisis 1911-1914 First published 1923; The World Crisis 1915 F. p. 1923; The World Crisis 1916-1918 Part I F. p. 1927; The World Crisis 1916-1918 Part II F. p. 1927; The World Crisis The Aftermath F. p. 1929; The World Crisis The Eastern Front F.p. 1931
The World Crisis 1911-1918. Abridged and Revised edition 1932, first published 1931. Sandhurst editon of The World Crisis 1933
The World Crisis 1911-1918 Revised edition 1938. Volume 1, Volume II
Documents published as companion volumes to Winston S. Churchill Vol.3. 1914-1916 The Challenge of War and Vol.4 1916-1922 The Stricken World by Martin Gilbert. The following all contain Winston S. Churchill in the title, and are by Martin Gilbert. Companion Vol.3 Pt.1, July 1914 - April 1915 1972, 2nd file, 3rd file 1973. Companion Vol. 3 Pt. 2, May 1915 - Dec. 1916 1972. 2nd file. Companion Vol.4 Pt.1, Jan. 1917-June 1919 1978. Companion Vol.4 Pt.2, July 1919-March 1921 1978; Companion Vol.4 , Pt. 3, April 1921- November 1922 1977. For later editions, see Second World War, scroll down. (Earlier editions by Randolph S Churchill all containing Winston S. Churchill in the title Companion Vol.I Pt.I 1874-1896 1967; Vol.II 1901-1914 Young Statesman 1967; Companion Vol.II Pt.1 1901-1907 1969; Companion Vol.II Pt. 2, 1907-1911 1969; Companion Vol.II Pt.3 1911-1914 1969) All Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
  • Politicians and the War 1914-1916 by the Rt. Hon. Lord Beaverbrook Volume 1 1928, Volume 2 1932 Both Archive.org
Reprint edition 1960 in one volume Archive.org Texts to Borrow. Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook Wikipedia. Newspaper proprietor and Member of Parliament who became Minister of Information in February 1918 responsible for propaganda.
The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George by Lord Beaverbrook 1963 Archive.org. Archive.org Texts to Borrow version with better illustrations. Events in 1921-22.
Edward M. House Wikipedia. An American diplomat, he was President Woodrow Wilson's chief advisor on European politics and diplomacy during World War I (1914–18) and at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

General history of the war, including origins

Second edition, revised 1930. See the "Preface" for the types of revisions. Two volumes combined including Volume II digital page 612. Each volume is separately numbered. All Archive.org
A Short History of the Great War, dealing particularly with its military and diplomatic aspects and the part played in it by the United States by William L McPherson, Military Critic of the New York Tribune. 1920 Archive.org.
Atlas to accompany The World War: a Short Account... Link to pdf download, Combined Arms Research Library [CARL] Digital Library [USA].
History of the First World War by B. H. Liddell Hart 1972 Archive.org Lending Library. One opinion is "A very polemic and distorted view… Liddell-Hart was out to damn the generals".[40] B. H. Liddell Hart Wikipedia.
The Role Of British Strategy In The Great War by CRMF Cruttwell 1936 Archive.org
The First World War Battlefield Guide: Volume 2 The Forgotten Fronts edited by Colonel John Wilson November 2016 published by [British] Army Headquarters. Link to a pdf download or Direct pdf. Both from The Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, chacr.org.uk.
History of the Blockade. Emergency Departments by H W Carless Davis 1921. "For Official Information only". National Library of Australia.
These two books, and a 1920 book by W E Arnold-Forster (the latter probably the record available at The National Archives ADM 186/603, date 1920, although no author is given) are discussed in the article "British Official Histories of the Blockade of the Central Powers during the First World War" by Marion C Siney. jstor.org. She also wrote
The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1914-1916 by Marion C Siney 1957. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.

The Army, military service, allowances etc.

The Volunteer Training Corps Handbook by F A M Webster 1915 Archive.org. Volunteer Training Corps were intended for internal defence, and were also a means of recruiting for Lord Kitchener's army.
"British Emergency Legislation" by H. Geraldine Lester California Law Review Vol. 7, No. 5 (Jul., 1919), pp. 323-339 (17 pages). Legislation from April 1917 to December 1918. Both jstor.org
Titles including Manual of Emergency Legislation, Supplements, Defence of the Realm Manual (up to 7th edition 1919) 1914-1919. Archive.org
"Aliens Restriction Act 1914" An article by Jonathan Swan from Criminal Law and Justice Weekly Volume 180 August 13 2016, pages 575- 577. Archive.org
See Memoirs below for The War Diary of a Square Peg by Maximilian A Mügge, a British citizen of the group subsequently called in the newspapers "enemy alien Britons".
Some (but seemingly not all) legislation (text of Acts) is available at legislation.gov.uk, with Military Service Acts in Public General Acts 1917-1918, Chapter 12, page 13 and 1918, Chapter 5, page 7 HMSO. Archive.org
Conscience and Politics; the British Government and the Conscientious Objector to Military Service, 1916-1919 by John Rae 1970 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.

Medical Services, including Veterinary

Other books in this series: Medical Services: Diseases of the War Volume I, Volume II; Medical Services: Surgery of the War Volume I, Volume II; Medical Services: Pathology 1922-1923 Archive.org. Medical Services: Hygiene of the War, 1923, published by HMSO, Vol. I, Vol. II Google Books, Vol. I, Vol. II Archive.org mirror versions.
Medical Services: Casualties and Medical Statistics of the Great War by Major T. J. Mitchell and Miss G. M. Smith. 1931 HathiTrust Digital Library. Archive.org version.
Veterinary Services edited by Sir L.J. Blenkinsop and J.W. Rainey HMSO 1925, catalogue link to file. File wellcomecollection.org. Also available Archive.org
Sanitation in the trenches by Champe Carter McCulloch MD 1917. Reprinted from articles in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Archive.org

Corps, Munitions, Equipment, Railways etc.

  • The Business of War by Isaac F Marcosson 1918. Archive.org. The Quartermaster General (QMG) of the British Army and the Army Service Corps.
  • The Royal Army Service Corps: A History of Transport and Supply in the British Army, Volume II by Colonel R H Beadon 1931. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Includes the First World War period, with chapters on the British Expeditionary Force , Gallipoli, the Balkans, Egypt and Palestine, Mesopotamia, East Africa, Italy, North Russia, England and India.
A Short Account of Canteens in the British Army by John Fortescue 1928 HathiTrust Digital Library, (possibly not accessible in USA etc). Also available Archive.org. Includes WW1, when the organisation was known as the Expeditionary Force Canteen, EFC. It appears that at least in the later years of WW1, Canteen personnel were either Army Service Corps personnel, or were administered by the ASC. Medals awarded were inscribed Canteens.
All volumes have been reprinted by Naval & Military Press, and it is believed that all are included in the one online book on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3, of 7364 digital pages (located in Military Books/Britain).
The Great Munition Feat, 1914-1918 by George A B Dewar 1921 Archive.org.
Doing their Bit: War Work at Home by Boyd Cable 2nd impression 1916 (first printed 1916 also) Archive.org. Also see Western Front for works of fiction by this author.
On Her Their Lives Depend : Munitions Workers in the Great War by Angela Woollacott 1994. Archive.org Lending Library.
  • Women's War Work Information officially compiled for the use of recruiting officers, military representatives and tribunals. Issued by the War Office September 1916. HMSO. Includes "Munitions Work" page 31. Archive.org.
  • Our Girls in Wartime Rhymes by Hampden Gordon, Pictures by Joyce Dennys. Catalogued 1917. Archive.org
  • "Women’s War Work" Page 1054, Volume 32 Encyclopaedia Britannica 12th edition 1922. Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection. For a stated transcription, or partial transcription, see External links above.
  • Helmets and body armor in modern warfare by Bashford Dean 1920. Another file (images differ in colour) Archive.org
  • The Motor Cycle. Link is to Volume 16, January to June 1916. Links for other available online volumes may be accessed here. Archive.org. Mention of Despatch Riders and the Motor Machine Gun Service (MMGS).
  • Tanks
The "Tanks" : (by request, and with permission) by Colonel E.D. Swinton, Royal Engineers. 1918. Archive.org. Reprinted from The World’s Work (a monthly magazine, published in New York).
Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier by Major-General J F C Fuller 1936 Archive.org. During WW1 Fuller was Chief of the General Staff of the Tank Corps. His fight for Tanks during and after the war.
The Tank Pioneers by Kenneth Macksey 1981 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
There are additional online Tank books linked on the page Western Front-Historical books online-Tanks.
Available at the British Library, not known to be available online, The Railway Gazette Special War Transportation Number, originally published in September 1920. For more details see British Library holdings, above.
  • British Railways and the Great War ; organisation, efforts, difficulties and achievements by Edwin A Pratt 1921. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org
The rise of rail-power in war and conquest, 1833-1914, with a bibliography by Edwin A Pratt 1915 Archive.org

In the Air

Zeppelins, the Past and Future by Edwin Campbell 1918 Archive.org
Zeppelins against London by Kenneth Poolman 1961. Archive.org Lending Library

Naval

  • History of the Great War based on Official Documents: Naval Operations. Volumes I-III by Sir Julian Stafford Corbett, Volumes IV-V by Henry Newbolt. Published 1920-1931. Archive.org : Volume I, includes Cameroons and the Far East; Volume II, includes Gallipoli; Volume III includes Gallipoli and Mesopotamia; Volume IV , includes Mesopotamia. Volume V. Naval-History.net has transcribed editions which additionally contain maps from a separate case for Volumes II and III.
For information about revised editions, including an online version on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3, see Royal Navy.
History of the Great War based on Official Documents: The Merchant Navy by Archibald Hurd 1921-1929. Volume I, Volume II, Archive.org. Volume III is available as a transcribed edition on Naval-History.net
  • World War I Naval Staff Monographs seapower.navy.gov.au (Royal Australian Navy). (To locate in the Seapower website use the Search term Naval Staff Monographs). Compiled by the Historical Section of the Training and Staff Duties Division of the Naval Staff from Admiralty records and original papers in the temporary custody of the the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. The various volumes are described in a page from Naval-History.net.
  • The Naval History of the World War by Thomas G Frothingham, Captain, U. S. Reserves.
[Vol.1] Offensive Operations 1914-1915 2nd printing 1925, first published 1924. First page of a review academic.oup.com.
[Vol.2] The Stress of Sea Power 1915-1916 1926
[Vol.3] The United States in the War 1917-1918 1926 All Archive.org.
Also see General history of the war above for another book by this author. Although there are references elsewhere referring to him as a US Naval Captain, he was a Captain in the US Army.
The Naval Memoirs of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes. Scarpa Flow to the Dover Straits 1916-1918 1935. Archive.org
More Sea Fights of the Great War, including the Battle of Jutland by W L Wyllie, C Owen and W D Kirkpatrick 1919 Archive.org
Submarines, mines and torpedoes in the war by Charles W Domville-Fife 1914 Archive.org
The Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner translated from the German by Mrs Russell Codman 1917. An abridged translation of a 1916 book by Georg-Günther Freiherr(n) von Forstner, commander of the first German U-boat. Archive.org. Librivox recording, English language Archive.org. Als U Boots Kommandant gegen England 1916 Archive.org
Submarine and Anti-submarine by Henry Newbolt 1918 Archive.org.
Under the Periscope by Mark Bennett, late Lieut. RNR 1919 Archive.org
We Dive at Dawn by Lt.-Com. Kenneth Edwards 1941. HathiTrust Digital Library. About Submarines. There is no Contents page, but includes a description of the Illustrations, which gives some idea of the Contents. (Gallipoli etc pages 110-182), and there is an Index at the back of the book. Also available Archive.org and Archive.org Texts to Borrow.
Bibliography: Submarines-British WW1 page 200 Submarine Warfare in the 20th and 21st Centuries: A Bibliography by Michaela Lee Huygen 2003 Archive.org
Paravane (weapon) (Wikipedia) was an device used against naval mines and submarines . It was "essentially an aeroplane". The Paravane fitted to merchant vessels was called the Otter.
  • Books by E. Keble Chatterton, late Lieutenant-Commander RNVR :
Q-Ships and their Story 1923 Archive.org. Q-ship Wikipedia. Q-Ships were armed ships, originally merchant ships, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks.
Danger Zone; the Story of the Queenstown Command 1934 HathiTrust Digital Library. Also available Archive.org
Seas of Adventures: the Story of the Naval Operations in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Aegean [1914-1918] 1936 HathiTrust Digital Library. Also available Archive.org and also Pomeranian Digital Library at Politechnika Gdańska/ Gdansk University of Technology, Poland (where image format is image/x.djvu).
Also see Gallipoli and East Africa (First World War).
  • Raiders of the Deep by Lowell Thomas 1928. Archive.org.
  • "I. D." New Tales of the Submarine War by David Masters 1935. Pomeranian Digital Library at Politechnika Gdańska (Gdansk University of Technology). Archive.org mirror version. The Foreword says "One of the most inspiring phases of the sea war was the way in which British merchant seamen faced the attacks of German submarines..."
  • Pushing Water by Eric P Dawson, Lieutenant, RNVR. 1918 Archive.org. The Auxiliary Motor Boat Patrol, also known as the Mosquito Fleet.
  • The Dover Patrol, 1915-1917 by Admiral Sir Reginal Bacon [1918] Volume I, Volume II. Archive.org. A later edition was published 1932, which although titled The Concise Story of the Dover Patrol, included much new and additional material. Archive.org.
The Dover Patrol : the Straits, Zeebrugge, Ostend : including a Narrative of the Operations in the Spring of 1918 by Jackstaff (J J Bennett) 1919 Archive.org.
Dover during the Dark Days by a "Dug-Out" (Lieut.-Commander Stanley W Coxon RNVR). With contributions by other officers of the Dover Patrol. 1919 Archive.org. A volume in the On Active Service Series.
Keeping the Seas by Captain E R G R Evans 1920 Archive.org. Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans Wikipedia. He became famous as "Evans of the Broke" after the battle of Dover Strait in 1917.
The Immortal Story of Zeebrugge & Ostend by H C Ferraby 1920. Events in April 1918. Archive.org.
  • From Snotty to Sub [by W. B. C. W. Forester, edited by E. L. Forester] 1918 Archive.org. For another book by this author, see Gallipoli.
  • Stories of the Ships by Lieut Lewis R Freeman RNVR, Official Press Representative with the Grand Fleet 1919 Archive.org
Sea-Hounds by Lewis R Freeman, Lieut. RNVR 1919 Archive.org
Lewis R. Freeman Wikipedia. American explorer, journalist and war correspondent.
Brass Hats and Bell-Bottomed Trousers; Unforgettable and Splendid Feats of the Harwich Patrol. Being Volume Two of 'By Guess and by God' by William Guy Carr 1939. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. Harwich Force Wikipedia.
By Guess and by God: The Story of the British Submarines in the War by William Guy Carr 1930 Snippet view Google Books
  • Bless our Ship by Captain Eric Wheler Bush, Royal Navy 1958. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. Born 12 August 1899, he had become a Naval Cadet at age 12 in 1912, and went to sea at the outbreak of war still aged 14. Many of his classmates on other ships died as a result of enemy torpedo action. Biographical details archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Served in the Navy to 1948.
  • The Sailor's War, 1914-18 by Peter H Liddle 1985. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
  • The U-Boat Wars, 1916-1945 by John Terraine. 1989. File 2, 1990 edition. Both Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
  • The True Glory : the Royal Navy, 1914-1939 by Max Arthur 1996. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. Personal accounts.
  • Naval Intelligence
40 O.B. Or How the War was Won by Hugh Cleland Hoy 1932 Archive.org.
The Eyes of the Navy; a biographical study of Admiral Sir Reginald Hall, K.C.M.G., C.B., LL.D., D.C.L by Admiral Sir William James 1955 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
'Blinker' Hall, Spymaster : the man who brought America into World War I by David Ramsay 2009 edition, first published 2008. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
The Codebreakers : the secret intelligence unit that changed the course of the First World War by James Wyllie and Michael McKinley 2015. 2016 edition with title Code Breakers... Both Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
"Bibliography" English language WW1 Naval Warfare books from uboat.net

Memoirs

Soldiers and Statesmen 1914-1918 by Field-Marshall Sir William Robertson 1926. Volume I (but incorrectly catalogued); Volume II Archive.org.
  • Experiences of a Dug-Out, 1914-1918, by Major General Sir C E Callwell 1920 Archive.org. The author was appointed to the high ranking role of Director of Military Operations (DMO) at the War Office at the outbreak of the war. [Dug-Out: a retired officer, recalled to employment].
  • The First World War, 1914-1918: Personal Experiences of Lieut.-Col. C. à Court Repington 1920. [An autobiography]. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org. Charles à Court Repington 1858-1925. Wikipedia. The author was a former British Army officer who was military correspondent for The Times 1904–1918, who had many influential contacts with officers in the Army's highest ranks.
  • War Memories by Princess Marie de Croy 1932 Archive.org. A resident of Belgium, her house was turned into a hospital until the Germans took it over. In 1915 she was convicted by the Germans for sheltering Allied soldiers. Nurse Edith Cavell who was tried at the same time was shot for her part in these activities, however Princess Marie was sent to a civil prison in Germany which held criminals such as murderers and remained there until the war ended in 1918. Princess Marie of Croÿ Wikipedia.
  • Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925 By Vera Brittain. Ninth impression 1935, first published August 1933. Archive.org
Chronicle of Youth : the War Diary, 1913-1917 by Vera Brittain. 1982 edition, first published 1981. Archive.org Lending Library.
  • Accounts about Russia
    • Russia's Agony by Robert Wilton, correspondent of The Times at Petrograd. 2nd Impression 1918. Archive.org. He was also the author of The last days of the Romanovs from 15th March, 1917 1920 Archive.org.
    • War and Revolution in Russia, 1914-1917 by General Basil Gourko 1919 Archive.org. First published 1918 as Memories and Impressions of War and Revolution in Russia, 1914-1917 by Vladimir Iosifovich Gurko.
    • With the Russian Army, 1914-1917 : being chiefly extracts from the diary of a Military Attache by Major-General Sir Alfred Knox 1921 Volume I, Maps for Vol. 1; Volume II, Maps for Vol. 2 All Archive.org. Maps are also at the back of each volume, but perhaps missing some, or they need to be rotated.
    • My Mission to Russia and other Diplomatic Memories by Sir George Buchanan, British Ambassador, Petrograd [Saint Petersburg], 1910-1918. Vol. I, Vol. II published 1923. Archive.org
    Petrograd, the city of trouble, 1914-1918 by Meriel Buchanan, daughter of the British Ambassador 1918 Archive.org.
    • Page 102 The Way of a Transgressor by Negley Farson 1936 Archive.org Lending Library. 2nd file Archive.org. An American, at the beginning of the war he went to Russia, initially as representative of an American backed London export business trying to get war contracts with the Russian Government. He was in Petrograd when the Bolshevik Revolution broke out. He subsequently joined the Royal Flying Corps page 297 and was posted to Egypt page 303. Negley Farson Wikipedia. He went on to become one of the most renowned foreign correspondents of his day.
    • With the Armies of the Tsar : a Nurse at the Russian Front, 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough 1975. First published 1974 with title Nurse at the Russian Front: A Diary 1914-18. Archive.org Lending Library. The author “was a 27-year-old Englishwoman employed as a governess to a family in Moscow when war broke out. She volunteered with the Red Cross..." "An Englishwoman’s Epic Russian Journey: #9 Best War Memoir" by Edward Lengel author of World War I Memories: An Annotated Bibliography of Personal Accounts Published in English Since 1919.
    • Field hospital and flying column : being the journal of an English nursing sister in Belgium & Russia by Violetta Thurstan 1915 Archive.org. The author was with the Red Cross. Biographical details.[46] Violetta Thurstan Wikipedia. Following the publication of her book, she was in charge of hospitals in Belgium, and Salonika, and was appointed to the Air Force. She helped in the civil war in Spain in 1937, and served during WW2.
    • Survival through War and Revolution in Russia by D Fedotoff White, [Dimitri] also written as Dmitry Nikolaevich Fedotov-White. 1939. Archive.org. Dmitrii Fedotoff-White (Wikipedia) Imperial Russian Navy officer who fought for the White forces during the Russian Civil War. Survival page 194 indicates he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. This appears to be from 22 June 1918, and he left in 1919, (demobilised by May). He was known as Daniel Fedotoff White, and was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the DSC. However his British Navy service is not detailed in the book.
  • Memoirs of the Foreign Legion by M. M. [Maurice Magnus, an American who committed suicide in 1920, before the book was published]. With an introduction by D. H. Lawrence. 1925 Archive.org. Maurice Magnus Wikipedia. Maurice Magnus page 154 American Fighters in the Foreign Legion, 1914-1918 by Paul Ayres Rockwell 1930 Archive.org. Books About The French Foreign Legion, noting some of the titles are fiction/adventure stories. booksandwriters.co.uk
  • A Roumanian Diary by Hans Carossa 1929. 1930 USA version. Translated by Agnes Neill Scott from the German Rumänisches Tagebuch (1923/4?). Archive.org. Hans Carossa Wikipedia. German novelist and poet, WW1 German military doctor.
  • The beauty and the sorrow : an intimate history of the First World War by Peter Englund 2011. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. Accounts of twenty individuals.

Secret Service and Spies

  • The Secret Corps : a Tale of "Intelligence" on all Fronts by Captain Ferdinand Tuohy 1920 Archive.org. Tuohy also wrote The Battle of Brains 1930, consisting of some true stories, some semi-fiction, about Secret Service/spies, much of which had appeared serially in the Graphic, available at the British Library UIN: BLL01003689091 and also available Snippet Google Books searchable, but not viewable, should become available to those in North America etc c 2026.
  • Secret Service by Major-General Sir George Aston, formerly of the Naval Intelligence Department and the Secretariat of the War Cabinet 1930 Archive.org
  • The National Archives series KV1 The Security Service: First World War Historical Reports and Other Papers is available as a series of free downloads from the National Archives website, catalogue entry. This series contains the official history of the Security Service work during World War I. The duties of the Security Service were principally the control of aliens within and entering the UK, and counter-espionage within the UK and within the Empire.
  • Detective & Secret Service Days by Edwin T Woodhall 1929. Archive.org. Mirror from STOU Digital Repository Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand. Note, the latter website has been noticed to be unavailable at times, possibly it may only be accessible during "office hours". The 1937 edition was titled Detective and Secret Service Days. The author chronicles his experiences beginning briefly with his early days in 1906 in the London Metropolitan Police Force, and then on to when he subsequently became attached to the CID at Scotland Yard, the Special Political Department, the Secret Service Department and the Special Central Department. Part of the book is discussed in an article.[47] Details of the author casebook.org. He was also the author of Spies of the Great War : adventures with the Allied Secret Service by Edwin T. Woodhall 1932. Extracts from the latter book are included in Fifty Amazing Secret Service Dramas c 1937? Archive.org.
  • Red Dusk and the Morrow; Adventures and Investigations in Red Russia by Sir Paul Dukes, former Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service in Russia. 1922 Archive.org
Operation Kronstadt : the true story of honor, espionage, and the rescue of Britain's greatest spy, the Man with a Hundred Faces by Harry Ferguson 2009, first published 2008. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. A daring naval rescue attempt in 1919, commanded by Augustus Agar, using Coastal Motor Boats (CMBs), to save the British agent Paul Dukes trapped in Russia during the power struggle between the former Tsarists and Bolsheviks.
  • The following book appears to have been published under three slightly different titles: Memoirs Of A British Agent; Memoirs of a British agent : being an account of the author's early life in many lands and of his official mission to Moscow in 1918; and British Agent, by R H Bruce Lockhart 1932. Archive.org version; two transcribed formats: gwpda.org and spyculture.com, now archived. Profile: Robert Bruce Lockhart spyculture.com. R. H. Bruce Lockhart Wikipedia.
The Diaries of Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart. Volume One 1915-1938 edited by Kenneth Young 1973. Archive.org Lending Library
  • Reilly : Ace of Spies by Robin Bruce Lockhart 1984. Originally published 1967 as Ace of Spies. Digital book file 1, Digital book file 2 Archive.org Lending Library. The author was the son of Robert Bruce Lockhart above who was one of Sidney Reilly's fellow spies. A television miniseries was made in 1983, based on the book. Reilly, Ace of Spies Wikipedia.
Master Spy : a true story of Allied espionage in Bolshevik Russia by Edward Van Der Rhoer 1981. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. About Sidney George Reilly.
Peter Hopkirk was with The Times of London for nineteen years, as chief reporter and Middle and Far East specialist.
  • Also see the various Fronts mentioned above.
  • Also see Fiction, below.

India and the Indian Army. The Empire.

Gazette of India Extraordinary 18th March 1920, The Calcutta Gazette March 31, 1920 Archive.org
Also see FIBIS resources above for a transcription of the the British Officers' names from this listing.

History series and periodical publications

  • The Times History of the War. Illustrated. 22 Volumes including Index. Appears to be based on (but not a reprint of) the weekly publication by The Times, London from August 25, 1914 to July 27, 1920; Title varied: pts. 64-273, The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War.[49] Individual volumes include Contents, Index (at the end) and alphabetical Index of Illustrations (at the end). Vol 22: Index 1921. Vol 1: The Battlefield of Europe 1914. (This title appears to be the American edition); Vol 2, Vol 3, Vol 4, Vol 5 all 1915; Vol 6, Vol 7, Vol 8, Vol 9 all 1916; Vol 10, Vol 11, Vol 12, Vol 13 all 1917; Vol 14, Vol 15, Vol 16, Vol 17 all 1918; Vol 18, Vol 19, Vol 20 all 1919; Vol 21 1920.
  • The "Manchester Guardian" History of the War. In 9 volumes. About this publication theguardian.com. Available to those in North America etc.: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4 Google Books; HathiTrust Vols 1-4. The series is available at the British Library UIN: BLL01002857927 .
  • Nelson’s History of the War by John Buchan Archive.org. Link to the 24 volumes in the series, published 1915-1919: Vol. 1, From the Beginning of the War to the Fall of Namur; Vol. 2, From the Battle of Mons to the German Retreat to the Aisne; Vol. 3, The Battle of the Aisne and the Events down to the Fall of Antwerp; Vol. 4, The Great Struggle in West Flanders; Vol. 5, The War of Attrition in the West; Vol. 6, The Campaign on the Niemen and the Narev; Vol. 7, From the Second Battle of Ypres to the Beginning of the Italian Campaign; Vol. 8, The Midsummer Campaigns, and the Battles on the Warsaw Salient; Vol. 9, The Italian War, the Campaign at Gallipoli; Vol. 10, The Russian Stand, and the Allied Offensive in the West; Vol. 11, The Struggle for the Dvina, and the Great Invasion of Serbia; Vol. 12, The Retreat from Bagdad, the Evacuation of Gallipoli, and the Derby Report; Vol. 13, The Position at Sea, the Fall of Erzerum, and the First Battle of Verdun; Vol. 14, From the Fall of Kut to the Second Battle of Verdun; Vol. 15, Brussilov’s Offensive and the Intervention of Rumania; Vol. 16, The Battle of the Somme; Vol. 17, From the Opening of the Rumanian Campaign to the Change of Government in Britain; Vol. 18, From the German Overtures for Peace to the American Declaration of War; 19, The Spring Campaigns of 1917; Vol. 20, The Summer Campaigns of 1917; Vol. 21, The Fourth Winter of War; Vol. 22, The Darkest Hour; Vol. 23, The Dawn; Vol. 24, Victory.
A revised, largely rewritten and condensed series was published in 1923 as A History of the Great War by John Buchan Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, Volume IV Archive.org.
These volumes appear to have most, but not all, of the content of the weekly periodical The War Illustrated (greatwardifferent.com, archived). The weekly magazine numbering system was that 26 weekly editions constituted a Volume (Volume 1 was 26 weekly editions 22 August 1914 to 13 February 1915), and the series continued for 234 issues, or nine volumes to 8 February 1919. It appears that there was republication of these nine volumes. The following is a collection of weekly magazines on a date, not volume, basis: Aug-Dec 1914, 1915:1, 1915:2, 1916:1, 1916:2, 1917:1 (missing one issue), 1917:2, 1918:1, 1918:2, 1919 to 8th February 1919. Also contains the 1st issue of a continuation title The New Illustrated. Archive.org. The War Illustrated available at the British Library to 8 Feb. 1919, and also as Volumes 8 and 9 UIN: BLL01006815546. The New Illustrated (or variant title) appears to have continued to 20 March 1920.
  • The Great War. The Standard History of the All-Europe Conflict. "Profusely illustrated". A series of 13 volumes, edited by H. W. Wilson and J A Hammerton. Volumes 10-13 have title The Great War. The Standard History of the World-Wide Conflict. Originally published as 272 weekly magazines. Volumes 1 [to Aug. 1914], 4 [1915], 7 [1915-16], 9 [1917] full view, and Volumes 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 restricted to North America etc readers. HathiTrust Digital Library, with rotatable pages. Archive.org editions to Volume 9. Volumes 1-13 are also available to read online at HKUL ebooks, Volume 13 includes General Index. The University of Hong Kong. Details of the publication thegreatwar.miraheze.org, now archived.
In 1999 there was a 6 volume reprint by Trident Press International of the 13 Volume series under the original title, and also under the title The Great War -the Illustrated History of the First World War with Volume 1 also titled Opening Moves and Volume 4 Carnage. 1999 reprint edition of original Volume 3 and Volume 4 Archive.org Books to Borrow.
  • A Popular History of the Great War edited by Sir J A Hammerton c 1933 Archive.org, most from the Public Library of India Collection. A series of six volumes which is an original narrative "embodying the gist of post-war revelations and official documents" (according to the Editors Introduction) but making use of material from the 13 volume series The Great War, see previous entry. Vol. 1 1914, Vol. 2 1915, Vol. 3 1916, Vol. 4 1917, Vol. 5 1918, Vol. 6 Armistice and After
  • The Children's Story of the War by Sir Edward Parrott. Ten volumes published 1915-1919. Archive.org
  • Harper's Pictorial Library Of The World War 1920 Archive.org. Links to 12 volumes. The 12 titles are listed on the Volume 1 file.
  • The Story of the Great War. Published by Collier and Son, New York in sixteen volumes. Scroll down to Contents outline. There is an associated eight volume series, (perhaps condensed to 80%, with fewer illustrations) with some editions titled The Story of the Great War. History of the European War from Official Sources. Complete Historical Record of Events to date. Edited by Francis J Reynolds and Allen L Churchill , published c 1916-1920.
Sixteen volume series, mostly Archive.org: Vol. 1; Vol. 2; Vol. 3; Vol. 4 (includes The Dardanelles); Vol. 5; Vol. 6; Vol. 7; Vol. 8; Vol. 9 (includes Mesopotamia, East Africa); Vol. 10; Vol. 11; Vol. 12; Vol. 13, (includes Palestine); 14; 16 Hathi Trust Digital Library
Eight volume series Archive.org Vol.1; Vol. 2; Vol. 3 (includes the Dardanelles); Vol. 4 (includes Mesopotamia); Vol. 5 (includes Mesopotamia, East Africa); Vol. 6; Vol. 7 (includes Palestine and Mesopotamia); Vol. 8
  • The Great War by George H Allen et al. 1915-1921. v. 1. Causes of and motives for.--v. 2. The mobilization of the moral and physical forces.--v. 3. The original German plan and its culmination.--v. 4. The wavering balance of forces. --v. 5. The triumph of democracy. First Volume, Index; Second Volume, Index; Third Volume, Index; Fourth Volume, Index; Fifth Volume, Index Archive.org
  • The Great World War: A History. General Editor Frank A Mumby. Published 1915-1920. Archive.org
Volume I

Contents
To December 1914

Volume I

Contents
To April 1915

Volume III

Contents
To August 1915

Volume IV

Contents
To December 1915

Volume V

Contents
To May 1916

Volume VI 1917

Contents
To February 1917

Volume VII 1919

Contents
To February 1918

Volume VIII

Contents
To November 1918

Volume IX1920

Contents

Index- All Volumes

  • The Times Documentary History of the War published 1917-1920 Archive.org
Volume I Diplomatic-Part 1 Volume II Diplomatic-Part 2

Index Vols I, II

Volume III Naval- Part 1

Index

Volume IV Naval-Part 2

Index

Volume V Military- Part 1

Index

Volume VI Overseas-Part 1

Index

Volume VII Naval-Part 3

Index

Volume VIII Military- Part 2

Index

Volume IX Diplomatic-Part 3

Index

Volume X Overseas-Part 2

Index

Volume XI Naval-Part 4

Index

  • Current History: A Monthly Magazine of the New York Times. Initial volumes also had the title The European War. A similar series issued quarterly (same content) included the title European War for all quarterly volumes up to Volume XX to October 1920. Archive.org
Volume I From the Beginning to March 1915

Contents-Index

Volume II April 1915-September 1915

Contents-Index

Volume III October 1915-March 1916

Table of Contents and Index

Volume IV April-September 1916

Index

Volume V October 1916-March 1917

Index Part 1-Index Part 2

Volume VI April-September 1917

Index Part 1-Index Part 2

Volume VII October 1917-March 1918

Index Part 1-Index Part 2

Volume VIII April-September 1918

Index Part 1-Index Part 2

Volume IX October 1918-March 1919

Index Part 1-Index Part 2

Volume X April-September 1919

Index Part 1-Index Part 2

Volume XI October 1919-March 1920

Index

Volume XII No Index.
Volume XIII October 1920- March 1921

Index

Volume XIV April-September 1921

Index

Volume XV October 1921-March 1922

Index

Volume XVI April-September 1922

Index

The final volume of the quarterly series of the same monthly magazines, Volume XX of the quarterly series, appears to be an update of the earlier periods and may include content which is not included in the half yearly volumes. The content for the quarterly series up to June 1919 appears to be identical to the half yearly volumes. Volume XX July 1919-October 1920, Cumulative Index of the quarterly series. At least some of the quarterly editions are available on Archive.org
1918 [No.1 and No.2] Early economic effects of the European War upon Canada by Adam Shortt; Chile by LS Rowe 1918; [No.3] War administration of the railways in the United States and Great Britain by Frank Haigh Dixon and Julius H. Parmelee. 1918; [No.4] Economic Effects of the War upon Women and Children in Great Britain by Irene Osgood Andrews 1918 Archive.org Some pages poor quality,Microform version; No.5 Direct Costs of the Present War by Ernest L Bogart 1918; No.6 Effects of the war upon insurance, with special reference to the substitution of insurance for pension by William F Gephart 1918; No.7 The Financial History of Great Britain 1914-1918 by Frank L McVey 1918;
1919 No.8 British War Administration by John A Fairlie 1919; No.9 Influence of the Great War upon Shipping by J Russell Smith 1919; No.10 War Thrift by Thomas Nixon Carver 1919; No.11 Effects of the Great War upon Agriculture in the United States and Great Britain by Benjamin H Hibbard 1919; No.12 Disabled Soldiers and Sailors Pensions and Training by Edward T Devine 1919; No.13 Government Control of the Liquor Business in Great Britain and the United States by Thomas Nixon Carver 1919; No.14 British labor conditions and legislation during the war by M B Hammond 1919;
1920 No.19 Prices and price control in Great Britain and the United States during the World War by Simon Litman 1920; No.24 Direct and Indirect Costs of the Great World War by Ernest L Bogart 1920. Second Revised edition of No.5 Direct Costs of the Present War. All Archive.org.
The series includes Economic And Social History Of The World War: British Series. HathiTrust Digital Library editions accessible in USA etc. The following are all Archive.org. Elsewhere some volumes are referred to by an Issue number, but whether this is a general classification, or for a particular library is unclear.
1921 publications Prices and wages in the United Kingdom, 1914-1920 by Arthur L Bowley (1921) Issue 1; War Government of the British Dominions by Arhur Berriedale Keith (1921); Allied shipping control; an experiment in international administration by J A Salter (1921);
1922 Bibliographical Survey of Contemporary Sources for the Economic and Social History of the War by M E Bulkley (1922); A Manual of Archive Administration including the Problems of War Archives and Archive Making by Hilary Jenkinson (1922) Issue 4; The Cotton Control Board by Hubert D Henderson (1922) Issue 5;
1923 Labour In The Coal-Mining Industry (1914-1921) by D G H Cole (1923); Trade Unionism and Munitions by D G H Cole (1923); Workshop Organisation by D G H Cole 1973 reprint of 1923 original. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library; Food production in war by Sir T H Middleton (1923) Issue 8; The British coal-mining industry during the war by Sir R A S Redmayne (1923) Issue 7; Labour Supply and Regulation by Humbert Wolfe (1923);
1924-27 The industries of the Clyde Valley during the war by W R Scott and J Cunnison (1924); British War Budgets by F W Hirst and JE Allen (1926) Isssue 16; Rural Scotland during the War by David T Jones (first author) (1926) Issue 17;The War and the Shipping Industry by C Ernest Fayle (1927); War & Insurance by Sir Norman Hill (first author) (1927) Issue 18;
1928-1930s British Food Control by Sir William H Beveridge (1928); Dictionary of Official War-Time Organizations by N B Dearle (1928); An Economic Chronicle of the Great War for Great Britain & Ireland 1914-1919. With a Supplement dealing briefly with the years 1920,1921 and 1922 by N B Dearle (1929) Issue 22; Taxation during the War by Sir Josiah Stamp (1932) ; The Consequences of the War to Great Britain by Francis W Hirst (1934) Issue 24.
Supplementary publication: Losses of Life Caused by War 1923. Part I- Up to 1913 by Samuel Dumas, Part II - The World War by K O Vedel-Petersen. Pages 129-182. A preliminary report. Archive.org.
  • Official German Documents relating to the World War, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1923. Volume I, Volume II Pdf downloads, Digital Repository of GIPE, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics [Pune].
  • Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, Supplement, The World War, a publication of the US Department of State, is available for the following years (scroll down): 1914; 1915; 1916; 1917, Supplement 1, Supplement 2, the latter Volumes I and II (total 3 Volumes for 1917); 1918, Supplement 1 (Volumes I and II), Supplement 2 (total 3 Volumes for 1918) digicoll.library.wisc.edu.
A text version, which is searchable, is available on the US Department of State: Office of the Historian website: 1914, 1915, 1916, for 1917 and 1918 scroll down to items 97-99 and 104-106.
Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States. The Lansing papers, 1914–1920 (in two volumes): United States Government Printing Office Washington 1939 and 1940. Transcribed, searchable editions from Office of the Historian: Volume I, Volume II. Digitised editions: Volume I, Volume II digicoll.library.wisc.edu. Robert Lansing was a lawyer, diplomat, Secretary of State during the Wilson Administration, and member of the American mission to negotiate a peace treaty following World War I.
  • Blackwood’s Magazine, sometimes shortened to Maga. (Earlier editions were titled Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine) Archive.org. Contains many war related articles.
Vol.196, 1914:2 (6 separate monthly issues) - (same content, one volume but poor quality file), Vol. 197, 1915:1, Vol. 198, 1915:2, Vol. 199, 1916:1, Vol. 200, 1916:2, Vol. 201, 1917:1, Vol. 202, 1917:2, Vol. 203, 1918:1, Vol. 204, 1918:2, Vol. 205, 1919:1, Vol. 206, 1919:2, Vol. 207, 1920:1, Vol. 208, 1920:2, Vol. 209, 1921:1. Vol. 210, 1921:2, Vol. 211, 1922:1, Vol. 212, 1922:2. For those in North America etc, Hathi Trust Digital Library, Google Books Vol. 196 or Vol. 196 may be better quality files.
The weekly issues are being uploaded to the Patreon.com platform by the Vickers MG Collection and Research Association, and at 1 September 2023 Issues 1-22 were available to download as pdfs for free, and more uploads were expected.
The weekly magazines are available as a database on the pay website findmypast, titled Britain, The Great War, I Was There located in Armed Forces & Conflict/First World War, which advises the 51 editions ran from 29 September 1938 to 19 September 1939. To browse the pages, do not use a Search term but click on the Search icon, when a series of 1186 pdf images, (each of two pages), will be displayed in image order. From any image you can navigate to the next image, or the previous image. (This function is located near the top of the findmypast webpage, not near the actual image). Part 1 consists of 29 images, perhaps larger than the average, if in fact all issues are included.
Some of the weekly issues (Parts 1-41, (for the period to 23 April 1918) and Part 46 (Sept-Oct 1918) are available on the Library subscription website "The First World War" by Adam Matthew Digital, module "Personal Experiences", see Subscription websites - First World War databases for details of this database. To locate this publication, it is classified as a "Printed Book" and it appears in five separate listings, the editions to Part 41 in four listings and Part 46 as a separate listing. The British Library is listed on the database website as a Participating Library. Card holders of the State Library of NSW can access The First World War: Personal Experiences module on their home computers.
  • Not currently available online: History of the First World War published by Purnell c 1969-1970 (editor Barrie Pitt) also known as Purnell’s History of the First World War. Published as a series of 128 weekly magazines, with 8 volume binders, and available at the British Library UIN: BLL01009938748. Also appears to have been reprinted in 8 Volumes 1970-71 (example Volume 8 Google Books snippet).
20th Century published by Purnell Reference Books, twenty volumes in total. 1979 revised editions of Purnell's History of the 20th Century, ten volumes in total, published 1971.
WW1 period: Vol.4,Vol.5Vol.6. Postwar:Vol.7, Vol.8, Vol.9, Vol.10, Vol.11, Vol.12 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
  • The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I. Editor-in Chief Brigadier Peter Young 1984.
Vol.1 1914, Vol.2 1914-15, Vol.3 not online, Vol.4 1915-16, Vol.5 1915-16, Vol.6 1916-17, Vol.7 1916-17,Vol.8 1917-18, Vol.9 1917-18, Vol.10 1918-19,Vol.11 1919-21,Vol.12 (includes) Index Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.

Those who died

  • The Bond of Sacrifice: a Biographical Record of all British Officers who fell in the Great War.
Volume I: August-December 1914 edited by Colonel L A Clutterbuck, and Commander W T Dooner 1916 Archive.org.
Volume II: January-June 1915 c 1916 Archive.org. Only two volumes were published.
Both volumes are available on findmypast (pay website).
  • Officers died in the Great War, 1914-1919. London : His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1919. British Library digital file. Also available on findmypast and Ancestry (pay websites).
  • The Roll of Honour. A biographical record of all members of His Majesty's naval and military forces who have fallen in the war by the Marquis De Ruvigny. Volume I, Volume III. Archive.org. Lib.militaryarchive.co.uk versions, archived at Archive.org. Vol. II, Vol. IV. Vol. V. The latter three volumes require Flash to (still) be installed on your computer in order to read the volumes, however many no longer have this application. Only published in these five volumes, the majority of the biographies relate to deaths in the early years of the war. Families needed to pay to be included, so entries reflect wealthier service personnel. All volumes are available on the pay websites Ancestry and findmypast.

Volunteers

British Committee of the French Red Cross. Complete Report 1914-1918 c 1919. Archive.org.

Prisoners of War

  • Prisoners of War by Tighe Hopkins 1914 HathiTrust Digital Library. Search HathiTrust for other digitised books on this topic.
  • The Prisoners of War Information Bureau in London: a Study by Ronald F. Roxburgh 1915 Archive.org.
  • List of Places of Internment produced by the Prisoners of War Information Bureau in 1919 is, according to the reprint description, an alphabetical listing of Prisoner-of-War camps in Britain and the Commonwealth during the First World War. However there are indications elsewhere, that it is a listing of camps in existence at the publication date of January 1919 and does not include closed camps. It is available in a reprint edition,[50] which in turn is available as an online book on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3 titled Prisoners of War Information Bureau: List of Places of (located in Military Books/Britain, letter P). Also available at the National Archives Library, Kew.
A later book which is available at the British Library is Prisoners of War in British hands during WWI : a study of their history, the camps and their mails by Graham Mark. The Postal History Society, 2007. UIN: BLL01014480516 . Graham Mark's book is about camps in the UK and is believed to be the most comprehensive for the UK, including many small work camps.[51]

Miscellaneous

The London Censorship 1914-1919 by members of the staff past and present. Great Britain. Postal Censor's Department. [London, 1920] , British Library Digital Collection.
A Book of Poems for the Blue Cross Fund (to help horses in war time) 1917 Archive.org. Poems about horses.
A Check List of the Literature and Other Material in the Library of Congress on the European War by Herman H B Meyer 1919 Archive.org
Practical instruction in cutting out and making up hospital garments for sick and wounded (approved by the Red Cross Society) : knitted articles and women's apparel including dressmaking (illustrated with sheets of diagrams drawn to scale for practical use) by Emily Peek 1914 Archive.org
The Grey Sock [Knitting pattern booklet] c 1914 Archive.org. "How to Knit a Perfect Sock for a Soldier" (Great War Forum post[52]).
  • The subscription website UK Parliamentary Papers includes many Papers and Reports in respect of the First World War. See Subscription websites-online newspapers, journals and directories for details and suggested access. Your Library needs to have subscribed for the module for this period. Included are War Cabinet Reports. Also available
    • Army. The official names of the battles and other engagements fought by the military forces of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914-1919, and the Third Afghan War, 1919. Report of the Battles Nomenclature Committee as approved by the Army Council. Command Papers/ Accounts and Papers/ Session: 1921/Paper Number: Cmd. 1138.
    This paper, or extracts, is available as a section in another publication, page 1 India's Contribution To The Great War published 1923 by the Indian Government. Archive.org. Note, printed "sideways" (landscape orientation) so may be difficult to read on a fixed computer screen.
    • General Annual Reports on the British Army (including the territorial force from the date of embodiment) for the period from 1st October, 1913, to 30th September, 1919. (Acronym sometimes used is GARBA). Command Papers/ Accounts and Papers/ Session: 1921/Paper Number: Cmd. 1193.

After the War

In preparation for the peace conference that was to follow World War I, in the spring of 1917 the British Foreign Office established a special section with the responsibility of preparing background information that might be needed by British delegates to the conference. Initially in the form of 162 Confidential editions, these were reprinted in 1920. Most of these volumes were also concentrated into 25 new Volumes, published by H M Stationery Office 1920.
Series: Peace Handbooks Archive.org. The 25 Volume Series, with some individual volumes. (There may be additional individual volumes catalogued under individual titles). Also available full view HathiTrust A and B. Details of the contents of the 25 Volumes nla.gov.au.
Series: Peace Handbooks World Digital Library, a past project of the U.S. Library of Congress. Library of Congress has 153 digital volumes for multiple countries.
Assize of Arms: The Disarmament of Germany and her Rearmament (1919–1939). In two volumes by J H Morgan 1945. Volume I Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. There was in fact only one volume ever published (see Gatzke's book following, page 3).
For more online books by J H Morgan, see General history of the war, above.

Fiction

The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan. First published 1915. Archive.org. Librivox Audio Archive.org. Wikipedia details of the book.
Greenmantle by John Buchan 1916 Archive.org. Librivox Audio, catalogued Version 2. (Other files are available). Archive.org. Wikipedia
Mr. Standfast 1919 Archive.org. Librivox Audio Archive.org. Wikipedia.
Hemingway's First War : the Making of A Farewell to Arms by Michael S Reynolds 1976. Archive.org Books To Borrow/Lending Library.
That's Me in the Middle: The Journals of Bartholomew Bandy Volume Two by Donald Jack 1978 reprint, first published 1973.
It's Me Again. The Journals of Bartholomew Bandy Volume Three by Donald Jack 1976, first published 1975. Cover title The Bandy Papers. All Archive.org Texts to Borrow. A series of novels chronicling the exploits of a World War I fighter ace Bartholomew Wolfe Bandy. The Bandy Papers Wikipedia. “The books are noted for their humour and word play, as well as technical and historic accuracy.” Review of Volume Three, the final volume set in the WW1 period.

References

  1. ↑ Order of Battle of Divisions :India (scroll down) The Long, Long Trail. The British Army in the Great War of 1914-1918. Accessed 23 May 2018.
  2. ↑ "Some Comments on stereotypes of the Anglo-Indians: Part II" by Megan Stuart Mills from the International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies 1996,Vol. 1 No. 2, quoting
    • Abel, Evelyn. (1988). The Anglo-Indian Community. Chanakya Publications: Delhi.
    • Dover, Cedric. (1937). Half-Caste. London: Martin, Secker and Warburg.
    • Thomas, David A. (1982). Lucknow and Kanpur, 1880-1920: Stagnation and Development under the Raj. South Asia. 5, 68-80.
  3. ↑ "Christopher Hawes in Conversation with Glenn D'Cruz" in The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies Volume 3, Number 1, 1998.
  4. ↑ "Loyalty, Parity, and Social Control-The Competing Visions on the Creation of an ‘Eurasian’ Military Regiment in late British India" by Satoshi Mizutani The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies Volume 10, No. 1, 2010, quoting
    • [25] Anonymous (ed.), The Anglo-Indian Force (Allahabad, 1918), p.40. This book, by C T Robbie, is available in the India Office Records at the British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5/4318
  5. ↑ Territorial Force Wikipedia accessed 18 Feb 2014
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The 43rd (Wessex) Division “The Long, Long Trail”. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  7. ↑ The 44th (Home Counties) Division “The Long, Long Trail”. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  8. ↑ The 45th (2nd Wessex) Division “The Long, Long Trail”. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  9. ↑ Page 96,The History of the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert’s) 1914-1919 by Everard Wyrall 1927.
  10. ↑ Khyber Pass 1/5th Royal West Surrey, Murree, Aug 1916 Great War Forum 28 August 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  11. ↑ Anderson, Donny CSM David Moody 12673, Gordon Highlanders Rawalpindi War Cemetery Great War Forum 3 July 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  12. ↑ ddycher [Dave] Garrison Bn's to India 1917 Great War Forum 31 May 2015 Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  13. ↑ ddycher Garrison Bn's to India 1917 Great War Forum 6 June 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  14. ↑ Frogsmile. Sgt William Connelly, 1st Batt Gordon Highlders, NW Frontier Victorian Wars Forum 26 March 2013, now archived.
  15. ↑ themonsstar 1st Garrison Battalion The Manchester Regiment Great War Forum 21 January 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  16. ↑ Indian Army List April 1919, page 672
  17. ↑ Royal Sussex Regiment “The Long, Long Trail”. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  18. ↑ Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment) (“Green Howards”) “The Long, Long Trail”. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  19. ↑ Turner Donovan December 2019 item 117.
  20. ↑ Abstract of a paper "Royal Indian Marine in the First World War" by Kalesh Mohanan presented at the India And The Great War Conference at The United Service Institution of India, New Delhi: 5-7 March 2014, now an archived webpage
  21. ↑ Railway Gazette – Special Great War Transportation Number Naval & Military Press.
  22. ↑ rflory. ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY Great War Forum 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  23. ↑ Discovery catalogue
  24. ↑ Naval and Military Archive
  25. ↑ UK, WWI War Diaries (France, Belgium and Germany), 1914-1920 consisting of WO 95/1096–3948 records. However, within this series, there appears to be a further selection of diaries available - not all are included. Also UK, WWI War Diaries (Gallipoli and Dardanelles), 1914-1916 consisting of WO 95/4263-4359 records. Similarly, not all diaries within this range may have been included. Ancestry.
  26. ↑ stiletto_33853 Ancestry vs National Archives Great War Forum 26 January 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2020. Ancestry diaries may have large parts (many months) missing compared to TNA files
  27. ↑ MrSwan. Ancestry war diaries Great War Forum 17 December 2017. Google cache version, archived.
  28. ↑ Guest. Finding War Diaries: Beating Ancestry's Poor Indexing Great War Forum 27 January 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  29. ↑ Gallipoli Diaries and Great War Diaries and Gallipoli Diaries with overlap. amazon.co.uk
  30. ↑ WO 95/5494 List of Royal Artillery, Army Service Corps, Machine Gun Corps and Medical Units with the Division, Corps or Army they fought with. The National Archives.
  31. ↑ Australian Imperial Force unit war diaries, 1914-18 War
  32. ↑ British Red Cross Register Of Overseas Volunteers 1914-1918 findmypast
  33. ↑ British Army, British Red Cross Society Volunteers 1914-1918 findmypast
  34. ↑ Muerrisch [Langley, David]. level of fitness needed for service Great War Forum 15 November 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  35. ↑ The Occupation of the Rhineland 1918-1929 Naval & Military Press.
  36. ↑ Greenwoodman. Official Inquiry into Conduct of WW1 Great War Forum 19 June 2006. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  37. ↑ Report of the Committee on the Lessons of the Great War Naval & Military Press reprint edition.
  38. ↑ Page 292 Longman Companion to the First World War: Europe 1914-1918 by Colin Nicolson. Google Books
  39. ↑ Who's Who in America 1938 page 957. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Crunchy. Lyn Macdonald books Great War Forum 21 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  41. ↑ Dust Jacket Collector. A good general book on World War 1 for a beginner Great War Forum 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  42. ↑ seaJane. Medicine and Healthcare in the Great War - the bibliography Great War Forum 11 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021. Contains a link to a download, which you then may need to locate in your downloads folder.
  43. ↑ frev. Norwegian Matron on Indian Hospital Ship Great War Forum 3 October 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  44. ↑ Francis, Paul FIRST WORLD WAR - Ministry of Munitions and Munitions Factories Airfield Information Exchange Forum 15 November 2013.
  45. ↑ "Saw television!" by Paul K Lyons December 5, 2011 The Diary Review
  46. ↑ Light, Sue. Violetta Thurstan Great War Forum 23 August, 2005. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  47. ↑ "Monocled Mutineer, Percy Toplis" pixelsurgery.com
  48. ↑ Clarke, Jon. Book: "The Secrets of the German War Office" Axis History Forum 18 May 2015, quoting Thomas Boghardt's book Spies Of The Kaiser. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  49. ↑ "I: ‘The Times’ History and Encyclopaedia of the War – its early issues and ambition" libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk
  50. ↑ List of Places of Internment Naval & Military Press reprint edition.
  51. ↑ Moonraker. German POW Camps in the UK? Great War Forum 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  52. ↑ knittinganddeath. How to Knit a Perfect Sock for a Soldier Great War Forum blog 29 September 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=First_World_War&oldid=90592"