The Long, Long Trail

Thanks for visiting The Long, Long Trail. It is my labour of love. This is me, Chris Baker.

My Great War interest was sparked by family stories of a grandfather I never knew, and brought even closer to the fore by my wife's stories of two great-uncles and two grandfathers who also served. Two of these men lie in France. At school in the 60s and 70s, I was taught virtually nothing about the Great War, and I became determined to learn after a visit to Ypres when in my twenties. I found that the sources of information are scarce or expensive. I want to help others avoid the painful processes of "finding out" that I went through. And it keeps me off the streets.

I am married and have two teenage children. I live in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, England. I've just exited from a 25 year career as engineer and management consultant to concentrate on my WW1 research business, fourteeneighteen.

As far as historical things are concerned, I was Chairman of the Western Front Association for two years and a member of the WFA Executive Committee for six; I was also a founder member of the WFA's Heart of England Branch.

I am a member of the University of Birmingham Centre for First World War Studies and of the Douglas Haig Fellowship. In December 2007, I proudly graduated with a MA (with Distinction) in British First World War Studies from the University of Birmingham. My dissertation was on the Supreme War Council 1917-1918.

What's it all about? Why build this site?

Why am I interested and why have I built this site? Simple. Because I believe that the men and women of the British Army of 1914-1918 carried out mighty deeds in situations that men should never be called upon to experience. They deserve our continued attention.

My primary objective for the site was to build a comprehensive order of battle: that is, the structure of the army, and the units that this vast organisation comprised. The secondary objectives were to allow the visitor to gain some understanding of the actions that the army fought, why they happened, and under which conditions. I decided that there would be nothing on this site that was not factually accurate, and derived from original sources. Gradually I have been distracted by adding soldier's stories, book reviews, and much more. The site is aimed more at the uninformed than the expert, but contains much more detailed information than most other websites.

This is a never-ending task for a part-timer, so please forgive the constantly appearing work in progress notices, and the gaps. The order of battle, information about units and their compositions, etc are well progressed but incomplete in areas of artillery, engineers and transport. The information about the battles in which the army saw action is building, but my it's a lot of work. Most of 1914 and 1915 is completed now.

I am afraid that those vital parts of the British Army of the Great War - the Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, Newfoundlanders, West Indians and others - of the Dominions and protectorates currently have little coverage on this site. This is deliberate, but I hope not disrespectful. The first three have already, quite rightly, got very considerable coverage on the internet, often Government backed and funded. They are not difficult to find. My priority remains to build the picture of the British part of the Army, which has much less adequate coverage.

There are plenty of "remembrance" websites out there, focused on the the loss. There are quite a few that perpetuate myths, and some with inaccuracies. I set this one out to be different. I believe we must express our respect and admiration through trying to understand the factual truth of what happened as far as we possibly can. In my opinion, the transformation of the British Army from a small, professional organisation that was used primarily for policing the Empire to an immense and effective citizen army in less than 4 years was nothing short of incredible. Over years of studying what happened, I have changed my opinions: like many others, I came into the subject with scant knowledge but believing that lions had been led by donkeys. I now know that is not true. There was amateurism, bungling and improvisation certainly; that is always true of British enterprise. There is little doubt in my mind that many of the losses and many of the trials through which the ordinary soldier had to go were unnecessary. But there was also at all levels devotion to duty, nation, chum and unit that - coupled with extraordinary innovation - overcame all of that.

I originally called this site simply "The British Army in the Great War", but eventually decided to use a phrase well-known to many of the soldiers of 1914-1918. Written in 1915 by Stoddard King, the chorus to the popular song "There's a long, long trail awinding" goes like this:

There's a long, long trail a-winding
Into the land of my dreams,
Where the nightingales are singing
And a white moon beams:
There's a long, long night of waiting
Until my dreams all come true;
Till the day when I'll be going down
That long, long trail with you.

This humorous postcard was typical of the times. Unfortunately this rag-bag bunch of rotund (or alternatively diminutive) and incapable Germans did not accurately describe the well-drilled, well trained and fearsomely equipped enemy that the British Army struggled to overcome. With thanks to Stuart Brown for the donation of his card. By the way, the third caption begins a new song ... "Take me back to dear old Blighty"...

Can I help you?

I am very happy to try to answer your enquiries, although in most cases the community on the discussion forum will help out much better than I can on my own. I am always happy to help advise tour groups, authors, media and others. Please note however that I do have a day-job, a family and only 24 hours in a day. It is possible that on occasions I may not be able to reply for several days. Any information that you would like to see included on the site? Do you have any photos, diaries, documents etc that you think would help build up the factual information? I would love to see them. Email Chris Baker

If you would like to make a donation to the costs of running this website, please do.