In 1915, Harold Begbie wrote, " ... One of the most widely known events [of The Great War is] the appearance of St. George and angel-warriors fighting in defence of the British (at) Mons." After the battle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and W.B. Yeats determine the story is true, with enough evidence to satisfy Churchill. Soldiers from another time emerged from the very soil to support the British and were seen by British and Germans, alike. Among those who testified to their presence was the brother of Lady Doyle, Malcolm Leckie, in spirit, who had died from the wound he received there. The gathered testimony confirmed, even to the sceptic, Holmes, that England had the angels on her side.

World War I began disastrously for the English when the Germans routed them at Mons, Belgium, on August 23 and 24, 1914. On September 29, 1914, the Anglo-Welsh writer Arthur Machen fictionalized this encounter in a newspaper story, claiming that the English were saved by the appearance of angelic bowmen sent by St. George. But his fiction became accepted as fact. The believers--notables G. K. Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle and C. S. Lewis, along with almost forgotten figures like Harold Begbie, Phyllis Campbell and T. W. H. Crosland--wrote pamphlets, testimonies and poems, performed music and created motion pictures attesting to the existence of the guardian angels. This history of the Angels of Mons controversy for the first time collects and annotates Machen's work and the responses it inspired, most of which have not been available since their publication a century ago. Also reprinted for the first time are several of Machen's responses to the believers, including "The Angels of Mons: Absolutely My Last Word on the Subject" and "The Return of the Angels: This Time They Are at Ypres."

The First World War was a catastrophe that engulfed not just the continent, but the rest of the world as well. It cost millions of lives, and changed the course of the century. 'Lest We Forget' provides an accessible overview of that titanic struggle, which was the foundation for the modern world and modern Britain, covering both life in the trenches and also life on the Home Front. It draws out the key events and themes that occurred throughout the conflict. The book provides both narrative and argument and will appeal to military historians and also students and soldiers interested in the Great War. It is split into 28 easy to read sections, including the following: The Road to War The Race to the Sea Life in the Trenches War Literature and Poetry The Battle of the Somme The War at Sea The Home Front Women and the War War in the Air Gallipoli The War around the World The Russian Revolution Armistice Stephen Liddell is a writer and historian and when not writing runs Ye Olde England Tours. He writes regularly for various publications as well as his own website www.stephenliddell.co.uk. His other works include 'Planes, Trains and Sinking Boats', 'How to Get Rich Using Airbnb', as well as the historical fiction trilogy 'The Promise', 'The Messenger' and 'Forever and Until'.

During the First World War, a rich crop of legends sprouted from the battlefields and grew with such ferocity that many still excite controversy today. This book is the first to examine the roots of those stories and reveal the truth. Some myths remain well-known. Did an entire battalion of the Norfolk Regiment vanish without trace at Gallipoli in 1915? Did thousands of Russian troops actually pass through England with snow on their boots? In 1914, an acute spy mania gripped the British public, who imagined that the country was brimming with German spies. Xenophobia, denunciations and attacks on dachshunds were rampant. Amazingly, there was even talk of enemy aircraft dropping poisoned sweets to kill British children. Myths such as the Angel of Mons and the Comrade in White were more innocent creations. With no radio or television, rumours of disaster were rife, and the apparition of mystical guardian spirits gave hope to the civilian population at home. Other stories, such as the so-called Crucified Canadian, and the existence of a gruesome German corpse rendering factory, were more sinister. Yet in an age of new and startling technologies such as poison gas, submarine warfare and the tank, such tales appeared believable. Using a wide range of contemporary sources, James Hayward traces the story of each myth and examines the likely explanation. Supported by a selection of rare photographs and illustrations, the result is a refreshingly different perspective on the common 'mud and trenches' view of the First World War, shedding fascinating new light on many curious and unexplained wartime tales.

Ten-year-old Johnny eagerly plays at war with the army of nutcracker soldiers his toymaker father whittles for him. He demolishes imaginary foes. But in 1914 Germany looms as the real enemy of Europe, and all too soon Johnny’s father is swept up in the war to end all wars. He proudly enlists with his British countrymen to fight at the front in France. The war, though, is nothing like what any soldier or person at home expected. The letters that arrive from Johnny’s dad reveal the ugly realities of combat — and the soldiers he carves and encloses begin to bear its scars. Still, Johnny adds these soldiers to his armies of Huns, Tommies, and Frenchmen, engaging them in furious fights. But when these games seem to foretell his dad’s real battles, Johnny thinks he possesses godlike powers over his wooden men. He fears he controls his father’s fate, the lives of all the soldiers in no-man’s land, and the outcome of the war itself.

How widespread belief in fortune-telling, prophecies, spirits, magic, and protective talismans gripped the battlefields and home fronts of Europe during the First World War.