Voices Of The First World War

Reaching 1917, Dan Snow explores the events of the year through the recollections of those who were there. As the fighting became more and more desperate, in the air, on the Western Front - even below ground in extensive mining operations - the morale of those being sent into battle was at times becoming dangerously low. In archive interviews survivors of the war recall their role in the attack on Messines Ridge in June 1917, which began with the devastating use of more than 20 huge mines, and the horrific destruction wreaked, both on the Germans and the landscape.

Dan Snow presents the story of WWI through the voices of those who were there.

The return of the major series tracking the development of the First World War through the archives of the Imperial War Museums and the BBC.Reaching 1917, Dan Snow explores the events of the year through the recollections of those who were there. As the fighting became more and more desperate, in the air, on the Western Front - even below ground in extensive mining operations - the morale of those being sent into battle was at times becoming dangerously low.Morale was never worse in the Royal Flying Corps than in spring 1917, which became known as 'Bloody April'. Germany had the upper hand at this point in the war, with superior tactics, training, and technology. With outclassed aircraft, the RFC suffered disastrous losses throughout the month, and beyond. Cecil Lewis and Norman Macmillan eloquently describe the intensity of the dogfights of spring 1917, and others recall the leading flying ace at the time, Captain Albert Ball, who was lost in early May.In the first five programmes of this year's series, Dan

Dan Snow tracks the development of the First World War through the recollections of those who were there.Drawing on the sound archives of the IWM and the BBC, in this omnibus edition of five programmes looking at the course of the war in 1916, interviewees recall the impact of the Battle of the Somme on Sheffield, through the recollections of a soldier who fought with the Sheffield City Battalion and two people who were schoolchildren at the time. They recall the lists of dead in the newspapers, the frequent announcements in school assemblies of older brothers who had been killed, and the sight of the many returning wounded on the streets. Gertrude Farr's husband Harry, injured at the Battle of the Somme, refused to carry on fighting. In the second programme Gertrude and her daughter reveal the effect the execution of her husband for cowardice in 1916 had on her life. In the third programme, men recall the first appearance of tanks during the war, at Flers as the Battle of the Somme carried on. Dan also looks

Men recall their 'death march' to Baghdad and northwards after surrender to the Ottoman Army at the end of the siege of Kut-Al-Amara in April 1916, when, already weakened by dysentery and starvation after five months trapped inside Kut, they had to march hundreds of miles in searing heat, without water, to Prisoner of War camps. Drawing on the sound archives of the IWM and the BBC, and on a journal written by an Indian soldier and hidden in his boots, Dan Snow explores the varying treatment of the men according to rank, race and religion, as they travelled through villages and even lived in villas that had belonged to Armenians, but were now deserted.

Dan Snow looks at what troops got up to off the battlefield, when they were out of the front line in France. British soldiers spent the majority of the war behind the lines with brief, often appalling, spells in the trenches. Football matches, construction projects, training, drinking, theatres, religious observation and sex took up more time than the fighting, and crucially kept morale up. Drawing on interviews in the sound archives of the BBC and the IWM.

The very first appearance of tanks during the war was at an attack on the German held village of Flers in September 1916. It was not as successful as hoped, but British soldiers who witnessed their approach, and those who drove them into the village (before they broke down), describe how they could see their potential in future. Drawing on interviews in the sound archives of the IWM and the BBC, and narrated by Dan Snow.

Gertrude Farr heard about her husband Harry Farr's execution for cowardice in October 1916 by letter, and was never given any more details of the circumstances surrounding his death, apart from by the vicar who had attended his shooting, who revealed that Harry had refused to be blindfolded. Gertrude and her daughter reveal the effect Harry's execution had on their lives and the stigma that was attached to such a death, while two former soldiers talk about why they think such punishments were necessary. Narrated by Dan Snow.

The return of the archive series tracking the development of the First World War through the recollections of those who were there.Sheffield and the Somme: Dan Snow looks at the impact of the Battle of the Somme on the Pals battalion raised in Sheffield, and on the city itself, through the recollections of a surviving soldier in the Sheffield City Battalion and two people who were schoolchildren at the time. They recall the lists of dead in the newspapers, the frequent announcements in school assemblies of older brothers who had been killed, and the sight of the many returning wounded on the streets.

The final programme in this instalment of Voices of the First World War focuses on the first catastrophic ten minutes of the Battle of the Somme, with men recalling the orders they were given, the reality on the ground as it became clear the German wire hadn't been cut by the British bombardment and their memory of those around them being mown down by machine gun fire as they attempted to cross No Man's Land. Dan Snow brings together first hand accounts drawn from the sound archives of the IWM and the BBC, some vivid and detailed and others clearly clouded by the trauma of their experience and the intervening years, to reveal the devastation on the battlefield, and surviving soldiers' feelings about the heavy losses suffered by the British by the end of the day on 1st July.

The last two programmes of the week cover the Battle of the Somme. On 30th June we hear about the build up to the battle exactly 100 years ago, with descriptions of the seven day bombardment of the German lines, and the men's optimism and even excitement as the noise built to a crescendo. They recall what they were doing and how they were feeling from sunrise to zero hour on 1st July, as they waited to go over the top. Drawing on the sound archives of the Imperial War Museums and the BBC, survivors of the First World War recall their experiences of the events of 1916. With Dan Snow.

By mid-1916 conscription had been introduced to replenish the forces of the British Army, which was now engaged in huge and costly battles on the Western Front. Dan Snow hears first-hand accounts from those who were called up, but refused to fight. Conscientious Objectors talk about their trials, imprisonment, the ostracism their families were exposed to, and even lasting divisions within families, as a result of their decision.

The first five programmes of Voices of the First World War 1916 explore the events of the year from the point of view of those who experienced them, from descriptions of the huge and costly battles that engulfed the British and French Armies on the Western Front to interviews given by Conscientious Objectors and their families.In this, the second programme we hear vivid recollections from those who were caught up in and narrowly survived the dramatic and fast-paced Battle of Jutland, which took place across the course of a few hours. Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of some of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, and their psychological state in the face of trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. Among the BBC'

Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of many of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, and their psychological state in the face of trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict are the interviews recorded for the 1964 TV series 'The Great War', which vividly bring to life the human experience of those fighting and living through the war. In a unique partnership between the Imperial War Museums and the BBC, the two sound archive collections are brought together for the first time in this Radio 4 series. 'Voices of the First World War', a fifty-part series which began in Autumn 2014, broadcasts many of these recordings for the

Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of many of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail as though it were yesterday the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, the experience of seeing their first casualty and hearing their first shell, their daily and nightly routines, and their psychological state in the face of so much trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. The interviews were done not for immediate use or broadcast, but because it was felt that this diminishing resource, that could never be replenished, would be of unique value in the future. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict a century ago are the interviews recorded for the 1964 TV series 'The Great War', which vividly bring to life the huma

Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of many of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail as though it were yesterday the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, the experience of seeing their first casualty and hearing their first shell, their daily and nightly routines, and their psychological state in the face of so much trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. The interviews were done not for immediate use or broadcast, but because it was felt that this diminishing resource, that could never be replenished, would be of unique value in the future. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict a century ago are the interviews recorded for the 1964 TV series 'The Great War', which vividly bring to life the huma

Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of many of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail as though it were yesterday the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, the experience of seeing their first casualty and hearing their first shell, their daily and nightly routines, and their psychological state in the face of so much trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. The interviews were done not for immediate use or broadcast, but because it was felt that this diminishing resource, that could never be replenished, would be of unique value in the future. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict a century ago are the interviews recorded for the 1964 TV series 'The Great War', which vividly bring to life the huma

Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of many of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail as though it were yesterday the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, the experience of seeing their first casualty and hearing their first shell, their daily and nightly routines, and their psychological state in the face of so much trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. The interviews were done not for immediate use or broadcast, but because it was felt that this diminishing resource, that could never be replenished, would be of unique value in the future. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict a century ago are the interviews recorded for the 1964 TV series 'The Great War', which vividly bring to life the huma

Before the last survivors of the First World War passed away, the memories of many of those who fought it were captured in sound recordings. Speakers recall in great detail as though it were yesterday the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, the experience of seeing their first casualty and hearing their first shell, their daily and nightly routines, and their psychological state in the face of so much trauma. The Imperial War Museum's holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. The interviews were done not for immediate use or broadcast, but because it was felt that this diminishing resource, that could never be replenished, would be of unique value in the future. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict a century ago are the interviews recorded for the 1964 TV series 'The Great War', which vividly bring to life the huma

Dan Snow hears soldiers experiences of the First World War as it was fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915 - from enduring the constant threat of shell and sniper fire, the intense heat and lack of drinking water, to terrible sanitation which was as life-threatening as the battles themselves, and the troops' eventual evacuation in the winter. Drawing on the vivid and moving recollections of veterans in the sound archives of the Imperial War Museums and the BBC.