Now It Can Be Told
The British forces are depicted as enduring the harsh realities of war, their experiences often misrepresented by official reports.
I
British soldiers, including the 'Old Contemptibles,' are shown retreating, wounded, and parched, yet maintaining a defiant spirit.
IX
The troops whose morale and recognition the correspondents sought to support through their reporting.
X
British soldiers are described as being blown to bits, gassed, and maimed far from G.H.Q.
XIV
The British noncombatants are criticized for their cheerful, callous spirit and easy optimism during the war.
XV
Refers to the British troops and their growing bitterness and fury toward generals and staff officers due to high casualties and poor leadership.
XVIII
The fighting men who carry out plans of the High Command and feel irony and hatred towards the staffs.
Part II: The School of Courage
The British troops are depicted as popular with French civilians, adapting to local life, and forming bonds with the peasantry.
I
The British Regular Army is described as having withered away, its spirit carried on as tradition.
IV
The British rank and file are portrayed as silent about their reasons for fighting, driven by love of home.
VII
British soldiers are described as sauntering in Ypres before the gas attack, and later as part of the New Army men of the West Riding moving through the city at night.
XI
British troops are quartered in French and Flemish villages, establishing friendly relations with civilians.
XII
British soldiers garrison Vaux, strolling openly and engaging in chivalrous night skirmishes with the Germans.
XIII
British officers and soldiers are depicted organizing and using the bathhouse, suffering from lice.
XIV
British officers and New Army battalions are present, training and reviewing near the front.
XVIII
The British soldiers, both in the trenches and behind the lines, are described as suffering from an overwhelming boredom that eroded their intellect and morals.
Part III: The Nature of a Battle
British troops, including Londoners, Scots, Guards, Yorkshires, and Leinsters, are seen moving in dense masses, covered in chalk and blood, trudging toward the fighting lines.
I
The British High Command, which concealed its objectives and minimized their importance when hopes were unfulfilled.
II
British soldiers are depicted moving in the night, with one soldier kissing a woman in an estaminet before joining the dark column.
Béthune: The Black Country Capital
The British army is depicted marching through Béthune in full fighting-kit, grim and sweating, as they head toward the Battle of Loos.
VI
The British troops, including the 3rd and 14th Divisions and the Indian Corps, are the soldiers sacrificed in the subsidiary attacks.
IX
British supporting troops (21st and 24th Divisions) fail to arrive, leaving the Scots isolated on Hill 70.
The Price of Victory at Loos
Refers to the lightly wounded men, mostly 'Jocks,' and the severely wounded soldiers from various British units.
XII
British soldiers guard captured German guns, and London boys and Scots lie dead in the trenches.
Part IV: A Winter of Discontent
British soldiers endure trench-foot, mud, and constant bombardment; their spirit is exemplified by a sergeant who jokes after losing a leg.
I
British soldiers are described as sitting in wet trenches under bombardment and suffering from senseless attacks.
II
British soldiers endure the wet and mud with humor and philosophy, but are also subject to orders against fraternization.
III
The British soldiers, particularly those in the 49th (West Riding) Division and Ypres salient, are the main subjects of the chapter.
IV
The collective British soldiers, including Midland men, Robin Hoods, Sherwood lads, and men from various shires, who fought and died at the Hohenzollern redoubt.
Christmas in the Trenches, 1915
British soldiers in the trenches and billets, expressing contemptuous irony about Christmas, yet engaging in small acts of sentiment like buying cards.
VI
The soldiers in the trenches and at the banquet, including the bluejackets from the Grand Fleet who visit the front.
The Spirit of Ireland in Flanders
The British forces are portrayed as a diverse family of nationalities and races, including Scots, Welsh, French-Canadians, and English regional groups.
X
British soldiers are billeted in villages, make beds of straw in barns, and tramp through the blizzard.
XI
British soldiers are ordered to hold the derelict trench J.3, resulting in five hundred deaths.
XII
British forces in Flanders are in winter quarters, following the news of Verdun with secret terror and debate.
XIV
The British take over Arras in February 1915, and British soldiers are seen in billets, queues of wounded, and traffic through the city.
XVIII
The cavalry troopers, including a sergeant-major and a sergeant, who show cool courage and make a grimly humorous suggestion for a 'slight attack'.
XIX
The 74th Brigade (Lancashire men, Royal Fusiliers, Royal Engineers, Welsh pioneers) carries out the mine assault and holds the craters temporarily before being driven out.
The Heart of a City
British soldiers of all types—English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand—tramp up and down the rue des Trois Cailloux.
I
British soldiers, mostly young boys, come to Amiens for brief respites, spending money and flirting with shopgirls before returning to the trenches.
III
British soldiers of various types and units tramping through Amiens, showing strain and forced hilarity.
IV
The narrator, a British observer, witnesses the scene.
VII
English officers are the targets of the girls' enticements in the dark streets of Amiens.
IX
English officers billeted in Amiens who formed romantic attachments with local women and then abandoned them.
XII
English soldiers visit the cathedral, some kneeling in prayer, others reflecting on home and the war.
XIII
English soldiers pass by the wounded French soldiers.
XIV
British soldiers walk out with French girls along the towpath.
XVI
The British troops, described as exhausted and thinly spread, holding the line against the German advance.
XVII
British troops hold lines outside Amiens alongside Australians and French.
Part VI: Psychology on the Somme
British troops are depicted with pride, rivalry, and protective egotism in the trenches.
I
The British Army is depicted as growing in strength and readiness, with new artillery and aircraft being prepared for the Somme.
II
The British armies are described as not gloomy but uplifted by the belief that trench warfare would end.
IV
Represented by the diverse troops from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and colonial forces passing through Boulogne.
V
The British armies are described as fighting with desperate sacrificial valor, their youth cast into the furnace of battle.
VII
British troops, including various regiments, are described advancing and capturing ground.
VIII
The British forces, including English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh battalions, are described as trudging forward and falling under machine-gun fire.
X
British troops, including county regiments like the Sussex, Essex, Bedfords, and Middlesex, are described fighting ferociously in the ruins of Ovillers and other positions.
XI
British troops react with laughter and cheering at the sight of the tanks, and later feel disillusioned when tanks fail to deliver.
XIV
The British troops are depicted in the mass as brave, cheerful, and optimistic, yet individually they harbor hatred for their job and a sense of doom.
XVI
The Bantams were volunteers from industrial England, rejected by ordinary recruiters for their short stature.
XVIII
Included Sussex, West Kents, Surrey, Warwick, and other regiments; took heavy losses alongside Australians.
XIX
The British troops are noted for their ferocious fighting, breaking German defenses, and maintaining humor and faith in victory.
XXI
The British are referenced as the attacking force whose artillery and infantry cause heavy German losses and psychological strain.
The Breaking Point on the Somme
British forces launch successful attacks, capture key positions, and deploy tanks for the first time, causing panic among German troops.
XXIII
British troops continue their offensive, capturing Beaumont Hamel and taking over six thousand prisoners despite terrible weather and losses.
Part VII: The Fields of Armageddon
British soldiers are depicted as silent, shivering, and stricken, trudging for hours from the front lines to casualty clearing stations.
I
The British forces and High Command are criticized for their straightforward, costly frontal assault tactics.
IV
British army did not press its advantage after Messines, according to Ludendorff.
The German Offensive of 1918
The British army retreats under overwhelming German numbers, fighting stubborn rearguard actions.
IX
Described as having reached the limit of valor but still breaking German armies with hammer-strokes.
After the Armistice: Occupation and Reflection
British soldiers fraternize with Germans, share food with children, and struggle with orders against fraternization.
Part VIII: For What Men Died
The British soldier's experience on leave and the public's misunderstanding of trench life are described.
I
Described as having a different war psychology due to their island position, and as being stirred by old watchwords and propaganda.
II
Implicitly included among the Allies who rejected peace offers and sought vengeance.
What of England?
Praised for their stoic virtue, courage, and sacrifice; includes Londoners, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Australians, and Canadians.
VI
British lines were broken by the German offensive, and reserves were sent across the Channel.
IX
The British nation is described as sick, tired, and burdened by debt and expanded empire, with the working class demanding higher wages and less output.
