Verdun

Voices of the First World War

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 first time, and will run in short seasons throughout the commemorative period, tracking the course of the war.

The first five programmes of this year's series of Voices of the First World War explore the events of 1916 from the point of view of those who experienced them, from descriptions of the huge and costly battles that engulfed all Armies on the Western Front to the fall-out of the introduction of conscription in Britain, with Conscientious Objectors revealing the consequences of their decision not to fight.

Dan Snow begins the week hearing the experiences of French soldiers who fought at the Battle of Verdun. In interviews recorded in 1964 for the BBC Great War series, they recall the hellish conditions for those who took part in the drawn-out battle.

In 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 and determined the outcome of the war at sea.

The third programme features first-hand accounts from those who were called up to replenish the British Army but refused to fight - Conscientious Objectors, who talk about their imprisonment, and also the ostracism their families were exposed to as a result of their decision.

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 remember 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. The final programme focuses on the first catastrophic ten minutes of the Battle of the Somme, with glimpses of the devastation on the battlefield, and the surviving soldiers' feelings about the heavy losses by the end of the day on 1st July.