In this episode, Nick Higham explores Britain’s extraordinary and often overlooked campaign in the Caucasus during the closing stages of the First World War. Drawing on his book Mavericks, he discusses the diverse group of soldiers, diplomats and intelligence officers sent to Baku to prevent Ottoman and Bolshevik control of critical oil resources. The interview highlights the strategic importance of oil, the chaotic political environment and the personalities involved in the mission. Nick also examines why this episode has been largely forgotten and what it reveals about the wider geopolitical stakes at the end of the war.

In this episode of the Western Front Association’s Mentioned in Dispatches, David Griffiths discusses his new book The Guards 1915–17: An Elite Division at War. The book is the first major history of the Guards Division in nearly a century, drawing on war diaries and memoirs to follow the unit through Loos, Flers-Courcelette, Morval and Pilckem Ridge. Griffiths also examines the culture, reputation and experiences of an elite force under the pressure of modern war. Published by Helion & Co.

In this episode of the Western Front Association’s Mentioned in Dispatches, Kelsey Moriarty examines the bureaucratic and cultural processes that reshaped grief during and after the First World War. Her thesis Kafka in the Trenches: Death, Bureaucracy, and the Written Record in Britain 1914–1920 explores how official letters, forms and memorials affected the experience of mourning. From government notices of death to the rise of street shrines, her research highlights how state systems collided with private grief and altered the citizen–state relationship.

In this episode of the Western Front Association’s Mentioned in Dispatches, historian Dr Todd Gray discusses his award-winning book Lest Devon Forgets. The book explores the creation, meaning and controversies surrounding the county’s Great War memorials, shedding light on how communities in the wake of the conflict grappled with loss, identity and memory. Published by Stevens Books.

In this episode of the Western Front Association’s Mentioned in Dispatches, researcher Gary Guess shares his work on the 12th (Service) Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, known as the Teesside Pioneers. Recruited largely from Middlesbrough and surrounding towns, the battalion served with distinction in France, combining infantry courage with engineering labour under fire. Guess, who has spent six years uncovering their history and has a personal family connection, reveals the story of this remarkable unit.

In this episode of the Western Front Association’s Mentioned in Dispatches, Dr Richard Batten, Honorary Research Fellow in History at the University of Exeter, discusses his new book For King and Country: The Role of Patriotism in Mobilisation in the First World War, published by Pen & Sword in 2025. Focusing on Devon but addressing wider national and European themes, the book explores how local elites encouraged men to enlist, enforced wartime discipline and sought to define patriotism, while also showing how ordinary people – especially women and working-class communities – responded to or challenged these ideals.