Claim OwnershipTales from the Battlefields
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Podcast telling the unheard stories of men who served on the Western Front during World War 1. Listen to the stories of soldiers told by Terry Whenham, battlefield guide and researcher. I have been researching these stories for over 20 years and can now share incredible experiences of ordinary men and women. Who were these soldiers? How did they die? What is their legacy? How do we remember them?
149 Episodes
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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 years before returning home and resuming his business career. And we look at the claim that the battalion “threw their rifles away and bolted”. And much more too including the tragic story of twin brothers who died on that day.
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 Climpson, a Salvation Army volunteer who, along with her husband, served on the Western Front in World War 1 and was killed during the 1940 retreat to Dunkirk.
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 in a night action. How did he overcome his fear and anxiety? What did he say to a frightened young boy soldier? And how did he describe the death of several comrades in close quarter fighting?
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 how did he avoid being executed? We also discover how a British Airman was so traumatised he tried to shoot his sweetheart, and never recovered from his heartbreak.
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 got themselves into trouble. And we discover the tragic stories of 2 soldiers who succumb to illness before they even leave the UK.
In this episode we go back to 1932 and discover the story of the people involved in the design and construction of the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission anywhere in the world. We discover what inspired the architect Edwin Lutyens after a battlefield visit in 1917. We also look at the stories of several soldiers commemorated on the memorial, including a dying Sherwood Forester who wrote a heartbreaking letter to his Mum, and the story of a Hampshire Officer who could not pluck up the courage to propose to his girlfriend, until it was too late.
In this episode we begin telling the story of one of “Kitchener’s Army” New Army battalions – 6th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. During this series we will follow the story of this Battalion, from recruitment and training in 1914, to the Somme in the summer and winter of 1916/17, to Arras, the horrors of Ypres and the German Spring Offensive of 1918. And we will continue their journey on the 100 Day Offensive. In this first episode, we discover who these volunteers were, and visit the barracks where they enlisted and paraded. Their story is told using the soldiers’ own words.
Daddy Dear – I did not see you but Mummy taught me to love you.” In this episode we travel to one of the largest military cemeteries to discover the stories of the men, and one woman, who are buried there. We look at a battlefield pilgrimage from 1923, and discover the story of a Mother who arranged for her own ashes to be buried with her son. We also experience the sounds of nature, as we listen to the birdsong and observe the wildlife living in this “Silent City”
In this episode we travel to the Somme and discover how a group of historians from Cheshire have restored 2 forgotten memorials at Bazentin. What is their story? We also discover a new memorial to 16 Submariners who drowned off the coast of Norfolk in 1941. And we pay tribute to a member of the Royal Marines band who died recently.
In this episode we visit the Anglican church in Ypres that was built when Ypres was redeveloped in the 1920’s. Why did Ypres need a British church? Who were the worshippers? Why did they build a British school next door? And what happened in 1940 when the Germans occupied Ypres? How did the British people escape and what happened to the church? We go on a tour of the church and look at some of the hundreds of memorials displayed on the walls, and we have a chat with the Chaplain, Reverand Richard Clement.
In this week’s episode we travel to the small village of Le Paradis in Northern France to discover the awful story of a group of BEF soldiers who were murdered by the SS during the retreat to Dunkirk in May 1940. We listen to the words of the only 2 survivors and find out how another man escaped the shootings by going through a different door as the SS waited for them to surrender. We are joined by Peter McDonough, a relative of one of those who died that day at the hands of the Nazis. How did he feel when he visited the location of the massacre with me?
In this episode we once again travel to the Somme battlefield and discover the story of the 8th Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on the first day of the battle. We discover their story in their own words, rather than the history books. We find out what it was like to be stranded in No Man’s Land for several days, whilst being sniped at by German marksmen. And how a Mother, whose son had been killed, received his Military Medal from the King when he visited their home town of Hull in 1917.
In this episode we talk to historian and battlefield guide Beth Moore about her local battalion on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Why were they ordered to carry out a diversionary attack? What did they experience on that awful day? What happened to them in No Man’s Land? And Beth’s passionately defends their Commanding Officer who was blamed for the disaster that occurred.
In this episode we travel to the town of Bethune in Northern France to discover the stories of the men that died in a Casualty Clearing Station and are now at rest here. We find the final resting place of an NCO who was murdered by 2 of his men, who were executed for their crime and then buried a few hundred yards away from their victim. And who was the Indian soldier buried in Bethune who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in 1914. We also find out why a medic’s original grave marker remains in place today, rather than a Portland headstone. And much more too.
In this episode we travel from the Yorkshire Moors to the Somme battlefield at Serre to discover the story of the Leeds Pals. Who were these men? Why is their training ground now a special place for them? We look at the extraordinary bravery of their young Officers and Other Ranks on the first day of this infamous battle, and read a letter written by the sister of a 16 year old Boy Soldier, begging him to return home. In amongst the Officers who fell that die, we tell the story of 2 successful sportsmen. And we discover what happened when the Pals returned to Serre in 1935.
In this episode we travel to a small village near the French/Belgium border to discover some forgotten stories. We discover the tragic stories of 2 Australians buried here and how a Northampton man foretold his own death, leaving his 2 young daughters orphaned. And discover the incredible action of a Yorkshireman who was awarded the Victoria Cross for saving the lives of many comrades here. We also find a memorial to Military Chaplain David Railton, as it was in Erquinghem that he had the idea of the “Unknown Warrior.
In this episode we discover the stories of the Commonwealth soldiers buried in Dochy Farm Cemetery on the Ypres battlefield. Who were they? What was their story? And how was one Officer identified decades after he was buried in the cemetery? Who was the footballer buried there who scored the winning goal in the FA Cup Final? And we discover how I felt when I walked Hill 60 at dusk. And we listen to the voices of a male voice Choir singing beneath the names of the missing at the Thiepval Memorial on the Somme.
In this episode we look at the concept of distance and time in relation to the fallen of the Great War. And how the act of remembrance affects our emotions today. To do this we look at the fortunes of Ilston Stevenson’s parents after he disappeared whilst on patrol and was never seen again. We discover what it was like for a German soldier to be subjected to terrible artillery bombardment and how it killed a young man from Stuttgart. And we listen to the testimony of a Prisoner of War who returned home with both feet amputated and later died. And how did the parents of an fallen Australian soldier continue to remember their son who is on the Menin Gate, a long way from home in both “time and distance”? And we discover the ruins of a long forgotten Chateau on the Somme that was a German medical facility.
In this episode we travel to the Western Front following in the footsteps of 3 “ordinary” soldiers. We discover how a Welshman carried out a brave action that saw him awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and how another 2 men were killed in action, one in the mud of Passchendaele and the other during the last few days of the war. And we also follow the story of the parents of a young soldier who visited his grave in 1919 and how they secured his original wooden grave marker 5 years later. What did it mean to them? We reveal the emotional feelings and experiences of these people from the past.
In this episode we tour the Passchendaele battlefield with local guide Leen Van Meerbeek. We discover how the tanks floundered in the mud and slime. Leen explains the incredible action of Clement Robertson who was awarded the Victoria Cross and the story of the successful “Cockcroft” action. We also visit Pond Farm and discover a replica tank and also the graves of several “tankies” and tell their stories of bravery and sacrifice. And we listen to a tank poem written by the famous author A A Milne.
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