Voices of the First World War

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 a...

18 Nov 201613min

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...

17 Nov 201613min

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 ap...

16 Nov 201613min

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...

15 Nov 201613min

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 o...

14 Nov 201613min

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 rea...

1 Jul 201614min

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 Ge...

30 Jun 201614min

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...

29 Jun 201614min