The Victoria Cross is established on Feb.5, 1856

The Victoria Cross is established

Story by Sharon Adams

In the mid-1800s, the highest British military honours were almost exclusively awarded to senior officers under the observant eye of generals. But generals rarely make it to the front lines, where the heroism of brave junior officers and enlisted men mostly went unrecognized except among themselves.

The Crimean War changed that. For the first time, a war was covered by journalists. William Howard Russell of The Times reported on the bravery and plight of ordinary soldiers. A new award, open to all ranks, was proposed—the Victoria Cross, instituted on Feb. 5, 1856.

A new era of war films triumphs

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Like westerns, the popularity of war films comes and goes with the shifting times. Front Lines Weekly looks at some of the best war films of the past six decades and what is coming in the wake of the success of the innovative First World War film 1917. A series of landmark anniversaries, along with the dwindling numbers of Second World War veterans, may be behind a spate of recent and coming war films that take advantage of advanced and more judiciously applied computer-generated imagery, as well as more thoughtful sets and storylines.