'The War Illustrated'
'a Pictorial Record of the Conflict of the Nations'

a Magazine for Great Britain and the Empire

see a collection of covers of 'The War Illustrated'

'The War Illustrated' was one of the most succesful British war magazines published during the 1914-1918 conflict. Edited by J. A. Hammerton (see photo below), it was a newly created title upon outbreak of war. 'The War Illustrated' was more of a popular working class magazine, containing many hand-drawn illustrations of the more adventurous and heroic type. Not quite a 'war-tabloid', the reporting was in the early years of the war less factual than it was sensational and above all fiercly patriotic. Nor did 'the War Illustrated' hesitate to print accounts and illustrations of German atrocities, some true, but for the most part invented. After 1916, reporting took on a more serious appearance, with more importance being placed on veracity and facts.

The magazine was profusely illustrated and did not belie its name in this respect. In fact from an illustrative point of view, 'the War Illustrated' was an excellent publication, being full of entire pages with six or more photos per page, each usually on a single theme or subject. Many of the photographs were originals, not the usual run-of-the-mill newsagency material. The hand drawn illustrations were very striking and eye-catching, though not always meant to be taken at face value. Many covers and illustrations were done by Stanley Wood in his incomparable dramatic style. Most bound editions of the weekly editions did not contain the outer coverpages, these being removed prior to binding.

But aside from the photographic and illustrative contents, the magazine also published quite interesting journalistic accounts of events and battles along with opinion pieces and summeries of war chronologies. From 1916 onwards, famous (and less-famous) war-correspondents wrote short but surprisingly amusing and readable accounts of their most interesting or harrowing experiences in the war. These make for interesting reading, as do the accounts written by the rank and file of their own battle experiences. Veteran reporter Hamilton Fyfe was a particulary interesting and prolific writer of such pieces. His war-time wanderings took him all over northern France in 1914, into Russia and Rumania in 1915 and 1916 and then back to the Western front afterwards.

'The War Illustrated' was published till 1919. The paper quality was generally on the poor side as was printing. Smaller deluxe editions of the bound volume collections were also printed on better and thicker quality paper. This magazine is one of the Great War magazines which has aged well through the years, the general contents containing much of interest to modern readers.

During the Second World War another series of magazines with this title was published. During the inter-war years, editor J. A. Hammerton also produced two Great War magazine series called 'I Was There' and 'The Great War'. The first was a very fine collection of some 50 issues, all containing wartime accounts of special occurences and memoirs by officers and other ranks. 'The Great War' was a general history publication.

 

left and center :Advertisements for bindings
right : the editor J.A. Hammerton (left) on a visit to the Western Front
 

a collection of texts taken from 'The War Ilustrated'

by Hamilton Fyfe - (see Hamilton Fyfe)
 
Wanderings of a British Reporter in France in August and September 1914
An Adventurous Journey to Russia - by Hamilton Fyfe
The Fall of Bukarest as Seen by a British Journalist
Destroying the Oil-Wells in Rumania
Memories of Rumania
Blowing up the Bridges
America Goes to War
The Battlefield at Cambrai
British Advance at Saint Quentin
A Reporter's Four War Christmasses
The Flanders Battlefields
A Portrait of General Allenby
At Army Headquarters
A Portrait of General Alexeiff
A British View of General Ludendorff
A British View of the Hindenburg Line
The Growth of the American Army
Australians in Combat
Highlanders
Canadian Machine-Gunners in Action
The Russian Soldier
British Machine Guns
France on the Rhine
Russia After the Revolution
If Germany Had Won the War
War Reputations
A British Reporter on Versailles
A Serbian Supper-Party
 
by Basil Clarke
German Prisoners Behind the Front-Lines
A British Reporter Runs the Gauntet
Winter Quarters on the Somme
The Road to Calais
A Reporter's Three War Christmasses
British Reporter Spotted by a German Gunner
King Albert's Men
The Rumanian Soldier
Demobilizing the British Army
A Reporter's German Helmet
 
by John Hammerton - Editor
 
Notre-Dame de Lorette
The Tunnels of Arras
Salvaging War Material
Carrying on at the Old Hotel
A Tank and Two Crosses
British Howitzers
Sacred Ruin and Hill Sinister
Devastation and Some Emotions
 

by Lovat Fraser

Who Fired the First Shot ?
A Possible Front in 1919
Czechoslovak Legionnaires
The Truth About Tannenberg - a British View
Bulgaria Surrenders
Shall We Hang the Kaiser?
The Truth About Jutland
The Epic Battles for the Hills
What Has Hindenburg Done?
 
by Edward Wright
 
The Turks Attack the Suez Canal
The March to the Rhine
The Russian Drive into Galicia under Brussiloff
the Career of General von Falkenhayn
The First Day of the Somme
 
by Max Pemberton
 
France Triumphant at Verdun
Cruising in a Tank
In the Darkest Hours
A Scene from the German Retreat
 
by 'The Rank and File' - a Series
 
Going on a Night Raid / Midnight Trench Raids / Going on a Daylight Raid
Highlanders in Mesopotamia
A True Story of the Tanks
 
by Gomez Carillo - Spanish Journalist
 
A Spanish Impression of the British Front
A Spanish Journalist on French and British Brotherhood
 
 
by H. G. Wells
Will The War Change England?
 
by other authors
 
Winston Churchill's View on Verdun
Discussing the Use of Poison Gas
Winter in the West 1915
What I Learned on the Western Front
Back to Mons in 1918
A British Reporter in Holland
Unauthorized Visit to the Front
The Soldier in Battle
Fighting for the Labyrinth - la Bassée and Carency
Amiens and the Devastated Regions of France
The Great Battle of Arras in 1917
Flamethrowers in Action on Poziere Ridge
The French Defence in Champagne
The Victory at Messines Ridge
A British Reporter Sneaks into Rheims
Christmas 1915
Memoires of a British Hospital-Orderly
A British Reporter with the Caucasian Cavalry
British Armored Cars in the Caucasus
Wounded on Chocolate Hill
Watering the Regiment in Mesopotamia
River Warfare in Mesopotamia
Battle in the Snow
Spotting in an Observation Balloon
Triumph of the Aeropane in Warfare
An Airman's Adventures - by 'Nighthawk'
My Adventures in a Tank
Triumph of the Tanks at Cambrai
On Fortifications
Colored Workers with the Allied Armies
The Dispatch Rider
British Prisoners in German Camps
Madame Joffre - the Generalissimo's Wife
Talking with American Combat Troops in France
The American Army in France
Australia Seeing it Through
Chinese Labor Batallions on the British Front
The Italian Soldier
Belgium Set Free
The New Brave Belgian Army
The Work of the Pioneers
What I Learned on the Western Front
Footprints of the Hun
The Humor of T. Atkins
The British Attack at Neuve Chapelle 1915
How the ';Big Push' is Prepared
Hun Spies in France
The Death and Resurrection of the Foreign Legion
A Night Affair on the Western Front
Moving a Battery by Night
Civilians Fleeing the Enemy
Glimpses of the Soul of France
The Three Days Battle of Mons - the Retreat from Mons
The Incomparable Defence of Ypres
The Extraordinary Battle for Hill 60
Our New Ally Rumania
What If There Had Been a Channel Tunnel ?
Glimpses of V.A.D. Work
The Assembly Trench
What I Learned on the Western Front - 1917
Grand Duke Nicholas
The Irresistible March of the Great German Phalanx
The Memorable Capture of Loos
General Sir Douglas Haig
General Sir Ian Hamilton, G.C.B
The First Historic Battle of the Rivers - Marne and Ourq
How the Little British Army Crossed the Aisne
Russia's Hammer Stroke at Erzerum
The Fall of Warsaw
The Triumph of Young France at Carency
Major-General Townshend
The Memorable Desert Battle for Egypt
Constantinople
General Count Luigi Cadorna
General de Castelnau
General Maurice Sarrail
Victory at Lemberg
The Great Russian Raid into East Prussia
The First Historic Battle of the Polish Rivers
The Tremendous Battles of the Vistula
Prasnysch and the Battles of the Masurian Lakes
The Siege of Przemysl
The Terrible Battle of Nieuport
The Great Landing Battles of the Dardanelles
The Destruction of the Lusitania
The Coldstream Guards
How the French Broke the Germans in Champagne
How Botha Saved the Union in South Africa
General Botha's Victorious Campaign
Britain's Conquest of the German Cameroon
How the Horse was Cared for at the Front
The "75" - Marvel of Modern Quick-Firers
The Insatiable Hunger of the Guns
The Manless Homes of England
The Tragic Glory of Serbia's Last Stand
The Resurrection of the Immortal Serb
The Gloom and Glory of the Sari Bair Battles
The Difficulties of the Dardanelles Campaign
The Miraculous Withdrawal from Gallipoli
The Solace of Literature in the Trenches
With the Royal Fuseliers at Pozieres
 

a collection of full pages taken from 'The War Ilustrated'

 

Back to British Magazines