• Soldiers

    Are you a family historian, trying to find what happened to a relative in 1914-1918?

    Or perhaps you are researching a local war memorial or the men of a particular unit?

    This is the place to start »

  • The British Army

    Are you a military historian, trying to find what happened to a unit or formation in 1914-1918?

    Or perhaps you are researching a battle or a technical aspect of the army of 1914-1918?

    This is the place to start »


Battles and battlefields

At this time of year, thoughts turn to planning spring and summer trips to the battlefields of France and Flanders.

My area-by-area battlefield and accommodation guides will help you decide where to go, what to do, the best things to see and the pitfalls to avoid. » Battlefield guides

 

 

Work in progress

The Long, Long Trail is undergoing a spring-clean. All pages are being brought into this new design and certain areas restructured. Please bear with me while this work goes on. The "Ask Away" interactive area is also temporarily disabled.

Latest from the Long, Long Trail

  • The cavalry is one of those features of the Great War that causes many people to question the sanity of those who were in command. The very existence of a mounted arm; the wastefulness of large numbers of men spending months in the rear areas wistfully awaiting the great breakthrough that would send them galloping in action; the thousands of horses and tons of forage taking up ships and manpower that may have been put to better use; all of these things raise the eyebrows. David Kenyon's book, based on a PhD study and drawing upon many primary documents, sets out to put the cavalry and its effectiveness into proper historical context. Or rather, I should say British cavalry in France and Flanders, for this is a study of the Western Front and not the campaigns elsewhere to which the cavalry appear better suited.

    Latest book review »

  • The list of discoveries of brothers who died on the same day as each other just keeps on growing. I have now, with your help, identified 279 instances and have more to add.

    My project on "Brothers Died" »

  • Tour the Somme with me and enjoy this photo gallery of the evocative battlefield of 1916

    Somme gallery »

  • The Long, Long Trail is owned, designed, built and written by Chris Baker. He is a freelance military historian, former Chairman of the Western Front Association and founder of the Great War Forum

    Meet the author »