Tales from the Battlefields

In this episode we broadcast live from the village of Ovillers, in the heart of the 1916 Somme battlefield. We discover a quiet field known as “Mash Valley”, and discover the horror and terror that men of the 8th and 12th Divisions saw here in the first few days of July 1916. We hear the words of the men who were there, and discover the stories of some of the men who are buried in Ovillers Militar...

In this episode we continue the story of Alfred Adams. Through his own words and others from both sides of the wire, we discover what happened on 21st March 1918. This was the first day of the German Spring Offensive. Alfred was wounded and captured on this day, and we find out what it was like to be surrounded by the enemy, forced to throw down your weapons and surrender, without knowing what wil...

In this episode we follow the journey of Conscientious Objector Alfred Adams, who didn’t want to fight but became a Stretcher Bearer. We discover his story through a narrative and a series of emotional letters that he sent to his wife Alice, at home in England. How did his strong religious belief help him deal with the awful conditions at Passchendaele? We find out how he used the letters to reass...

In this episode we explore the story of the 3rd Battalion of the Monmouthshire Regiment during 7 days on the Ypres battlefield in May 1915. We discover what Ypres looked like before it was destroyed by shellfire. We learn of the tragic story of the father and son who died on the same day. And how almost the entire battalion was wiped out, mainly because of a terrific artillery bombardment on their...

In this episode we visit the Somme battlefield and discuss what happened at Mouquet Farm in August and September 1916. But not through the history books. We drill down to the awful personal experiences of the soldiers who were there. An Australian explains how he was buried by a shell burst for an hour before being saved. How did that feel? And how the soldiers fought amongst the unburied bodies,...

In this episode we travel to the village of Zandvoorde and discover what happened to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on a single day during the 1st Battle of Ypres. Their story is made very personal as we find out how Nick Dooner, son of one of the Officers who died that day, found the grave of his ancestor in a cemetery at Hooge. Lt Alfred Dooner’s Commanding Officer, Lt Col Henry...

In this episode we discover the incredible story of Cecil Lewis, who lived a charmed and eventful life. We learn, through his own words, what it was like to take part in a dogfight with the Red Baron above the battlefields, and he describes how the Lochnagar and Y Sap mines were blown on the Somme battlefield, from his vantage point in the sky. He talks about the loss of good friends, including a...

In this episode we talk to the best selling author, historian and broadcaster, Richard Van Emden about his friend Harry Patch, the Somerset man who was the last soldier to die (aged 111)  who could recall the fighting in the Great War. We learn what a character Harry was, and how Richard persuaded him, at the age of 100, to discuss his wartime memories and feelings. We hear from Harry himself as h...

In this episode we look at the incredible story of a man who, after being given a white feather, served in the trenches during the Great War and masterminded the British Airborne operation on D Day during World War 2. A popular commander, known as a “soldier’s soldier”, we learn how he gave up his career in the City of London to become a junior Officer on the Western Front and had several close en...

In this episode we travel to the small town on Albert that became so familiar to the Allied soldiers of the Great War. A location just behind the 1916 Somme battlefields, we find out why it was so important to them and what happened there. We hear from a soldier who saw his first dead body on the way up to the line from Albert, and how the famous Basilica was destroyed by shell fire, and then rebu...

In this episode we travel to Norfolk and follow the incredibly brave story of Edith Cavell, the Christian nurse who helped 200 Allied soldiers escape back home. We explore her home village of Swardeston and learn about how an American diplomat tried to save her life. We then go to Norwich and discover how she is remembered and we pay our respects at her final resting place in the grounds of Norwic...

In this episode we try to gain a deeper understanding of what it was like to live, fight and die on the Western Front. Through the eyes of the soldiers who were there, we venture into an abandoned German dugout on the Somme and discover how a British soldier comforted a wounded German in his final moments. This story demonstrates the compassion and spirit between enemies. We compare the impact of...

In this episode we travel to the Somme, Ypres and a forgotten battlefield to follow in the footsteps of a British soldier who enlisted under the “Derby Scheme” in December 1915. We discover how he arrived on the Somme battlefield during the final stages of this iconic battle, and was then awarded the Military Medal following an unknown attack in March 1917. We then follow his journey to the Passch...

In this episode we travel to Cambrai and tell the story of this tank attack through the eyes of the soldiers who were there, rather than the history books. We talk to historian Neal Russell about 2 soldiers he discovered in a military cemetery and discover a connection with the son of the British Prime Minister, Raymond Asquith. We follow the stories of 2 British soldiers who died in the battle an...

In this episode we continue the story of the 6th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. We find them in flooded trenches at Fricourt during Christmas 1915, and discover what happened when the Germans carried out a raid on their positions and captured 20 of them. Who were these captured men? What happened to them and why were their trenches undefended? We also follow their preparations for the...

In this episode we talk to RAF veteran and writer John Nichol about his book “The Unknown Warrior”. After the hardback version of the book sold so well it has now been published in paperback. We discuss how remembrance has changed over the last 105 years and I read sections of his book following the final journey of the warrior from the battlefield to Westminster Abbey. We also listen to the words...

In this episode we look at the struggles of the soldiers who suffered from shell shock.  Probably over 250,000 men suffered from ‘shell shock’ as result of the First World War. At the time it was believed to result from a physical injury to the nervous system during a heavy bombardment or shell attack, later it became evident that men who had not been exposed directly to such fire were just as tra...

In this special episode we join The Army Benevolent Fund’s “Frontline Walk” from the Somme to Ypres, via Vimy Ridge. As we follow the fundraisers’ we visit a vast German Cemetery near Arras and hear from a walker whose relative is buried along the route. In Polygon Wood, we find an Australian grave with an emotional family inscription, and follow the route of the Canadians as they cross the Ravebe...

In this episode we continue the story of 6th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment as they spend their first few months on the “quiet sector” of the Somme in 1915. We discover who their first casualty was and how the soldiers suffered with the mud and rats of the trenches. And they encounter mine warfare for the first time and the horrors and fear that it created. We also discuss the story of...

In this episode we look at the very powerful and emotive stories of the children of the men that went off to World War 1 and never returned. How did they cope as young children? What happened to them in their adult lives? We hear from Ellen Elston whose Mother turned the portrait of her Father around because it upset her so much. And who was the WW2 airman who visited his father’s grave when he wa...

In this episode we commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Loos by talking to author Nigel Atter about the 8th Lincoln’s experience on the second day of the battle. We discuss how the Germans attacked them before they could go into action and how all of their Officers became casualties. We find out how one Officer was shot in the head, taken prisoner and held in captivity for over 3 yea...

In this episode we continue the story of Charles Carrington and his memoirs from the Great War. We hear his description of the Somme battlefield in the bitterly cold winter of 1916/17 and the German retreat from the battlefield in the Spring of 1917. We discover what it was like to route march 15 miles in a day and listen to the songs they sang along the way. We visit the grave of Mary Jane Climps...

In this episode we feature one of the Great War’s war most graphic books. We travel with Charles Carrington as he discovers the broken bodies of enemy dead on the Somme “bursting out of their clothes”. We hear his voice as he describes the first day of the Somme and learn how he felt under an artillery barrage. He describes the Y Sap crater at La Boisselle before being ordered to attack Ovillers i...

In this episode we look at the tragic stories of veterans and their families whose love and relationships were torn apart by the soldiers’ experiences in the Great War. We discover the story of the French girl who took her own life after being jilted by a young British Officer. And, back home in Blighty, why did RAMC man Frank Copperwaite murder his wife and then attempt to take his own life? And...

In this episode we pick up the story of the 6th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment as they leave home and head to the South Coast of England to begin their basic training. Back home in Northampton, we describe what happened when a train load of Belgian refugees arrived. We also meet the Battalion’s first CO, George Ripley, and discover how the men occupied themselves when “at rest”, but go...