News: Aston Villa's role in First World War revealed
By Laura Brett - Club Archivist Villa have always had a close relationship with the magnificent military - but we didn't realise until the past few weeks that the club's name played a part in the First World War. As we look ahead to our 'Armed Forces Day' this weekend for the Norwich game, we delved in the club's archives to find out about our long-term links. There must have been a Villa fan involved in the drawing up of the trench map for the Battle of Bazentin Ridge. As you can see above, there are two parallel trenches called 'Aston Trench' and 'Villa Trench.' The Battle of Bazentin Ridge took place July 14-17 in 1916 and marked the second phase of the Battle of the Somme. While it resulted in a tactical victory for the British, the cost was extremely high with 9,000 dead, wounded or missing. The outbreak of the First World War came just before the 1914-15 season was due to start. The FA, along with the clubs in the Football League,