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?
163 Episodes
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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 Victoria Cross recipient, and how the airmen relaxed when out of the air. We then look into his eventful post war life, and how he helped create the BBC. And much more too.
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 he talks about going “over the top” at Passchendaele in 1917 and how he was seriously wounded a few weeks later. And we learn how Harry planted some acorns at his nursing home, to remember the Germans who sacrificed their lives in the war.
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 encounters with death. We discover how he established the 6th Airborne Division and why he was decorated for his bravery in both conflicts. We hear a recording of him guiding a battlefield tour to Normandy and learn how he slept on the glider during the crossing to the battlefield on D Day.
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 rebuilt again. And we then move the clock forward to discover what the veterans discovered when they returned to Albert after the war, and how war came again to Albert in 1940. We also discover the strange story of the ghostly wagon and horses, still travelling up the Bapaume road years after it was destroyed by a shell.
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 Norwich Cathedral and reflect on your extraordinary life.
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 shellfire in built up areas, on civilians and soldiers, compared to being in the shelter of the trenches and we also discover a young pilot from Australia who is buried in Norfolk. Who was he?
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 Passchendaele battlefield and onto the 1918 German Spring Offensive, where a “Blighty” wound ended his war. But what was the tragedy that Fred and his wife suffered during the 2nd World War?
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 and discover how a German spy allegedly tried to disrupt the BEF during the German counter offensive. We also discover a young German soldier whose body was found 90 years after his death.
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 “Big Push” as they move to a new sector of the battlefield at Carnoy.
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 of a blinded soldier who was at the ceremony in November 1920. What did it mean to him?
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 traumatised. We listen to the voices of men who had seen others suffer from this condition, and from some of the soldiers directly affected. And we discover the story of a shell shocked Canadian soldier who murdered a girl in Liverpool.
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 Ravebeek in terrible conditions during the Battle of Passchendaele. We end with an emotional interview with Alix Hale, who father Mark was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2009.
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 a soldier who divorced his wife who was having an affair with another soldier and find evidence of the close bond that developed between the comrades in the trenches. We end the episode at Christmas 1915. Did another truce take place.
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 was 98 years old? How did it affect him? We also listen to the words of Gertrude Harris, who managed to get a pardon for her father who had been Shot at Dawn in 1916. And we discover the tragic story of father and son, mortally wounded just 5 miles apart from each other, 23 years apart and are buried in the same cemetery.
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.
1In 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.
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