Twenty Years After

In the 1930s, a series of magazines were published that were relatively recent reflections of the Great War by those who served in it and with their own photos and biographical accounts. Although only intended to be two volumes, they eventually spanned three.

In 2021, Rich Fisher spotted an offer for a full set for free to anyone who collected from the owner, Martyn Hordern. Rich and Martyn agreed to have them posted at cost to the VMGCRA so we could scan and share them as they are believed to be out of copyright. They had already been reprinted and sold as bound editions but these were the original weekly parts.

Each part is scanned on a week-by-week basis and shared using the VMGCRA Patreon portal. Although Patreon is a subscriber service, they are shared freely and no subscription is required. As part of the process, the parts are being indexed and the details, including a link to each, are below.

Volume I

Part 1

6 November

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-1-54737856

  • The Birth of An Idea
  • Memories I – A Gunner Looks Back
  • How the War Began
  • The Menin Road (Then and Now)
  • The Men of 1914

Part 2

13 November

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-2-54739123

  • The Contemptibles at Mons
  • Ypres (Then and Now)
  • Le Cateau to The Aisne

Part 3

20 November

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-3-55213456

  • Le Cateau to the Aisne (cont)
  • From Passchendaele to Westhoek Ridge (Then and Now)
  • The First Battle of Ypres
  • Memories of the First Winter, 1914-15

Part 4

27 November

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-4-55575461

  • Memories II – Bruce Bairnsfather Looks Back
  • Advance Guard of the Citizen Army in France
  • South of Ypres (Then and Now)

Part 5

4 December

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-5-55836364

  • With the King’s Ships in 1914
  • Around Armentieres (Then and Now)

Part 6

11 December

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-6-55837155

  • Memories III. – Ian Hay and Kitchener’s Army (Major Ian Hay Beith)
  • The Adventure in Mesopotamia
  • From Bapaume to Guillemont (Then and Now)
  • Behind the Lines: First and Second Armies (R H Mottram)

Part 7

18 December

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-7-56432741

  • An Empire in Arms
  • North of Albert (Then and Now)
  • What of the Dardenelles?
  • The Navy in 1915

Part 8

23 December

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-8-56681228

  • The Navy in 1915 (continued)
  • Neuve Chapelle
  • East of Arras (Then and Now)
  • Memories IV – A Sub-Lieutenant, R.N., looks back
  • The Ypres Salient To-Day.

Part 9

1 January

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-9-56682367

  • The Epic of the Gallipoli Landings
  • From Brie to Bellenglise (Then and Now)
  • “Second Wipers”

Part 10

8 January

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-10-56683301

  • “Second Wipers” (continued)
  • Memories V. – An Aussie Looks Back
  • Lens (Then and Now)
  • Mesopotamia: Shaiba to Azizya

Part 11

15 January

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-11-57636931

  • Mesopotamia: Shaiba to Azizya (continued)
  • The Navy’s Stranglehold
  • From Boesinghe to Poelcappelle (Then and Now)
  • The Western Front: Summer of 1915

Part 12

22 January

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-12-57942861

  • The Western Front (Summer of 1915) (cont.)
  • Sorrowful Weeks Before Achi Baba
  • Around Bapaume (Then and Now)
  • Songs of the Great War

Part 13

29 January

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-13-58170473

  • Songs of the Great War (continued)
  • Behind the Lines: Third, Fourth and Fifth Armies.
  • Around Messines (Then and Now)
  • The Battle of Suvla Bay

Part 14

5 February

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-14-58493974

  • The Battle of Suvla Bay (continued)
  • Gallipoli To-Day
  • Memories VI. – A Tommy Looks Back
  • Loos: The Unwanted Battle

Part 15

12 February

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-15-58768692

  • Loos: The Unwanted Battle (continued)
  • From Courcellette to Warlencourt (Then and Now)
  • The Loos Battlefield Revisited
  • First Winter of the New Armies

Part 16

19 February

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-16-58772361

  • First Winter of the Great War (cont)
  • Beyond the Ancre (Then and Now)
  • Memories VII – An Adjutant Looks Back
  • Salonica 1915

Part 17

26 February

https://www.patreon.com/posts/59274332?utm_campaign

  • Salonica, 1915 (continued), including some #VickersMG photos
  • Last months at Gallipoli
  • Around Thiepval (Then and Now)
  • Egypt during 1916

Part 18

5 March

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-18-59726319

  • Egypt during 1918 (continued)
  • Memories VIII – The Divisional Ammunition Column
  • Scotland’s Noble Shrine
  • Mesopotamia: Battle of Ctesiphon to Fall of Kut

Part 19

12 March

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-19-59946979

  • Mesopotamia: Battle of Ctesiphon to Fall of Kut (cont.)
  • The Spring of 1916
  • East of Albert (Then and Now)
  • Sir Douglas Haig assumes command

Part 20

19 March

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-20-59948814

  • Sir Douglas Haig assumes command (cont.)
  • The Battle of Jutland
  • Around Guillemont (Then and Now)

Volume II

Part 21

26 March

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-21-60433165

  • The Poetry of the Great War
  • The Somme and the New Armies
  • The Somme: The Battle
  • West of Peronne (Then and Now)

Part 22

2 April

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-22-60763958

  • The Somme: The Battle (cont.)
  • How they lived and died on the Somme.
  • Memories IX: At Jutland with the Battle-Cruisers.
  • The Salonica Front, 1916.

Part 23

9 April

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-23-60987032

  • The Salonica Front, 1916 (cont.)
  • The Somme Battlefields Revisited
  • South of Albert (1) (Then and Now)
  • Towards the Holy Land

Part 24

16 April

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-24-60990867

  • Towards the Holy Land (cont.)
  • A Tank Corps Officer Looks Back
  • Arras (Then and Now)
  • The Capture of Vimy Ridge

Part 25

23 April

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-25-61321271

  • The Capture of Vimy Ridge (cont.)
  • Arras and Vimy Revisited
  • South of Albert (2) (Then and Now)
  • The Battle of Kut-al-Amara and The Pursuit to Aziziya

Part 26

30 April

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-26-61321845

  • The Battle of Kut-al-Amara and The Pursuit to Aziziya (cont.)
  • Memories XI – Some Old Soldiers Look Back
  • The Mines of Messines

Part 27

7 May

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-27-62245369

  • The Mines of Messines (cont.)
  • 1917 in Salonica
  • From Croisilles to Vaulx (Then and Now)
  • Memories XII – “Picks and Shovels will be drawn”

Part 28

14 May

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-28-62555026

  • “Picks and Shovels Will Be Drawn” (cont)
  • The Submarine Menace, 1917
  • Beyond Peronne (Then and Now)
  • With Maude to Baghdad and Beyond

Part 29

21 May

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-29-62556445

  • With Maude to Baghdad and Beyond (cont.)
  • Art in the Great War
  • From Gentelles to Beaucourt (Then and Now)
  • Flying – Twenty Years Ago

Part 30

28 May

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-30-62565767

  • Flying – Twenty Years Ago (cont)
  • The First and Second Battles of Gaza
  • Around Frechencourt (Then and Now)
  • The Prologue to Passchendaele

Part 31

4 June

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-31-63502114

  • The Hammering-Match of “Third Ypres”
  • “Third Ypres”: The Fortnight of Success
  • Amiens (Then and Now)
  • “Third Ypres”: The Weeks of Horror

Part 32

11 June

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-32-63907707

  • “Third Ypres”: The Weeks of Horror (cont)
  • The Minor Miseries of the War
  • The Fall of the Holy City
  • Cambrai (Then and Now)
  • Triumph of the Tanks at Cambrai

Part 33

18 June

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-33-63908345

  • Triumph of the Tanks at Cambrai (cont)
  • From Hargicourt to Bellicourt (Then and Now)
  • A Machine-Gunner Looks Back
  • The Hindenburg Line Revisited

Part 34

25 June

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-34-64432744

  • The Hindenburg Line Revisited (cont)
  • France in Early 1918 (inc #VickersMG photo)
  • North of Guillemont (Then and Now)
  • The Silent Nullahs of Gallipoli

Part 35

2 July

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-35-64746840

  • The Silent Nullahs of Gallipoli (cont)
  • The Second Battle of the Somme (#VickersMG photo)
  • West of Lens (Then and Now)

Part 36

9 July

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-36-65046955

  • The Second Battle of the Somme (cont)
  • Bullets and Billets
  • From Blairville to Mercatel (Then and Now)
  • 1918 in Salonica

Part 37

16 July

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-37-65048669

  • 1918 in Salonica (cont)
  • The Battle of the Lys
  • Villers-Bretonneux (Then and Now)
  • Italian Interlude

Part 38

23 July

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-38-65049403

  • Italian Interlude (cont)
  • Army, Corps, and Divisional “Signs”
  • From Souchez to Ecurie (Then and Now)
  • St. George and the Dragon, April, 1918

Part 39

30 July

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-39-65892584

  • St. George and the Dragon, April, 1918
  • The Marne and Picardy
  • East of Vimy (Then and Now)
  • Mesopotamia: The Last Phase

Part 40

6 August

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-40-65892747

  • Mesopotamia: The Last Phase
  • Talbot House – Then and Now
  • Around Roisel (Then and Now)
  • The Advance to Victory

Part 41

13 August

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-41-66534728

  • The Advance to Victory (cont)
  • Avalanche in Palestine
  • The Imperial War Museum
  • The Landslide in the West

Part 42

20 August

https://www.patreon.com/posts/66535336

  • The Landslide in the West (cont)
  • Errata
  • Maps

Supplementary Volume, Part 1

26 August.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/67125212

  • Books and Plays of the Great War
  • The Campaign in East Africa
  • From Soyecourt to Barleux (Then and Now)

Supplementary Volume, Part 2

3 September

https://www.patreon.com/posts/67125846

  • The Campaign in East Africa (cont)
  • Slang of the British Soldier in 1914-1918
  • Around Ablaincourt (Then and Now)
  • The Sappers in the Forward Areas

Supplementary Volume, Part 3

https://www.patreon.com/posts/67854041

10 September

  • The Sappers in the Forward Areas (cont)
  • Memories I. – “Monsieur le Clams” Looks Back
  • From Ransart to Moyenneville (Then and Now)
  • With the R.A.M.C. in the Forward Areas
  • How the Big Guns Work

Supplementary Volume, Part 4

https://www.patreon.com/posts/67854648

17 September

  • How the Big Guns Work
  • St Quentin (Then and Now)
  • The Victoria Cross in the Great War
  • The Conquest of “German South-West”

Supplementary Volume, Part 5

https://www.patreon.com/posts/67854923

24 September.

  • The Conquest of “German South-West”
  • Around Elverdinghe (Then and Now)
  • Memories of Gaspers, Generals and Gas
  • Zeppelin Raids over Britain

Supplementary Volume, Part 6

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-6-68466548

1 October.

  • Zeppelin Raids Over Britain (cont)
  • North of Bapaume (Then and Now)
  • Memories II – Some Old Soldiers Look Back

Supplementary Volume, Part 7

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-7-68467167

8 October.

  • Some Old Soldiers Look Back (cont)
  • More About The Guns
  • Memories III. – The Minor Pleasures of War
  • West of Bapaume (Then and Now)
  • With the R.A.M.C. Behind the Lines

Supplementary Volume, Part 8

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-8-68467556

15 October.

  • With the R.A.M.C. behind the lines (cont)
  • How the Tanks came into being
  • From Dompierre to Flaucourt (Then and Now)
  • The Gothas Over Britain

Supplementary Volume, Part 9

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-9-68467910

22 October.

  • The Gothas over Britain (cont)
  • Memories IV. – A Welshman returns to the Lys
  • North of Poperinghe (Then and Now)
  • The Cameroons, 1914-16

Supplementary Volume, Part 10

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-10-68685529

28 October.

  • The Cameroons, 1914-16 (cont)
  • Behind the Lines with the Sappers
  • On pilgrimage to the Near East
  • Around Herbecourt (Then and Now)
  • With the munition workers

Supplementary Volume, Part 11

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-11-68685704

2 November.

  • With the munition workers (cont)
  • Memories V. – Concerning Officers and N.C.Os.
  • Environs of Peronne (Then and Now)
  • The campaign in North Russia

Supplementary Volume, Part 12

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-12-68685890

12 November.

  • The campaign in North Russia (cont)
  • From Domart to Sourdon (Then and Now)
  • The Y.M.C.A. and the Church Army
  • With the guns again

Supplementary Volume, Part 13

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-13-68686039

26 November.

  • With the guns again (cont)
  • Memories VI. – Mystery ships
  • The country of the Somme (Then and Now)
  • The Royal Army Service Corps

Supplementary Volume, Part 14

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-14-68686204

26 November.

  • The Royal Army Service Corps (cont)
  • Memories VII. – A gunner revisits the Somme
  • With the R.F.C. in the Great War
  • Beyond Bapaume (Then and Now)
  • Around Armentieres and the Ypres Salient

Supplementary Volume, Part 15

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-15-68686693

3 December.

  • Around Armentieres and the Ypres Salient (cont)
  • Intelligence and Spies
  • From Herleville to Fay (Then and Now)

Supplementary Volume, Part 16

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-16-68687113

10 December.

  • Intelligence and spies (cont)
  • Memories VIII. – The Bull Ring at Etaples
  • Around Corbie (Then and Now)
  • In Serbia and South Russia

Supplementary Volume, Part 17

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-17-68694269

17 December.

  • In Siberia and South Russia (cont)
  • Humour of the War
  • South Peronne (Then and Now)
  • With the R.F.C. again
  • The R.A.S.C. in the minor theatres

Supplementary Volume, Part 18

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-18-68702476

23 December.

  • The R.A.S.C. in the minor theatres (cont)
  • From Beaufort to Arvillers (Then and Now)
  • Memories IX. – The Lighter Side of Kriegsgefangenschaft
  • Surrender of the German Fleet

Supplementary Volume, Part 19

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-19-68903797

31 December.

  • Surrender of the German Fleet (cont)
  • Memories X. – Rambling Reminiscences
  • Around Chaulnes (Then and Now)
  • Review of an Empire in Arms
  • Russia: The Baltic Provinces

Supplementary Volume, Part 20

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-20-68904469

7 January.

  • Russia: The Baltic Provinces (cont)
  • Around Laventie (Then and Now)
  • Memories XI. – The Somme reincarnated
  • The occupation of the Rhineland

Supplementary Volume, Part 21

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-21-69329547

14 January.

  • The Occupation of the Rhineland (cont)
  • The Field of Remembrance
  • The part of the Padres
  • “We Will Remember Them”

Supplementary Volume, Part 22

https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-years-22-69329679

21 January.

  • “We Will Remember Them” (cont)
  • Labour on the Western Front
  • The Women’s Services
  • The Old War House
  • Errata

Three volumes and a total of 64 parts covering all aspects of the Great War.

We’re currently developing our next series to share.

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