A letter from Joe’s great-grandfather, leads him to the east of Turkey and the story of a massacre, kept silent for many yearsWritten and presented by Joe Dunthorne
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
Music by Jeremy Warmsley
Mixing engineer, Mike Woolley
With thanks to Jaclynn Ashly and David McDowall 
Story consultant, Sarah Geis
Executive producer, Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

A letter from Joe’s great-grandfather, leads him to the east of Turkey and the story of a massacre, kept silent for many years Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne Produced by Eleanor McDowall Music by Jeremy Warmsley Mixing engineer, Mike Woolley With thanks to Jaclynn Ashly and David McDowall Story consultant, Sarah Geis Executive producer, Alan Hall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Half-Life: 5. The Road Through the Mountains

In early December 1941, on the outskirts of London, a 14 year old boy is listening to the radio and is surprised as he hears about Japan’s attacks on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor. But what happened hours afterwards is of great concern - Japan’s invasion and air strikes against key British colonies in South East Asia. In his living room in England, next to his map of Europe, the schoolboy puts up a second map of Asia and the Pacific. Over the next three and a half years he charts - on these two maps - the defeats and later victories against Japan, as well as the Nazis. Aged 98 - he speaks of how the faraway war on the Asian Front would end up involving members of his own family. From the creator and host of the multi award-winning Three Million and Partition Voices - the new series - The Second Map - tells the story of Britain’s war against Japan IN ww2. Marking the 80th anniversary of VJ Day we hear of how defeat turned to victory, epic battles in jungles, to one that played out on a tennis court and saved the British Empire. We may know about Pearl Harbour and how the war against Japan ended with the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But in popular memory what happened in between, and why Britain was fighting Japan on the Asian front, is less well-known. Even at the time the largest army of almost a million men, was known as the “forgotten army.” Yet it was a war that many thousands of Britons fought in, as well as hundreds of thousands of British colonial subjects.We hear remarkable testimonies from British, Indian and Japanese soldiers who were there, as well as former prisoners of war and civilian internees. And we speak to descendants across Britain who are uncovering a family member’s story of heroism, imprisonment, and survival.Creator, Writer and Presenter: Kavita Puri 
Series Producer: Ellie House
Script Editor: Ant Adeane
Sound Designer: James Beard
Series Editor: Matt Willis
Production Coordinators: Sabine Scherek, Maria Ogundele
 
Original music: Felix Taylor
Archive Curator: Tariq Hussain
Voice actors: Dai Tabuchi, Bhasker Patel 
Translators: Hannah Kilcoyne, Sumire Hori 
 
With thanks to Dr Diya Gupta, Dr Vikki Hawkins, Dr Peter Johnston, Professor Rana Mitter and Tejpal Singh Ralmill.

History

In early December 1941, on the outskirts of London, a 14 year old boy is listening to the radio and is surprised as he hears about Japan’s attacks on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor. But what happened hours afterwards is of great concern - Japan’s invasion and air strikes against key British colonies in South East Asia. In his living room in England, next to his map of Europe, the schoolboy puts up a second map of Asia and the Pacific. Over the next three and a half years he charts - on these two maps - the defeats and later victories against Japan, as well as the Nazis. Aged 98 - he speaks of how the faraway war on the Asian Front would end up involving members of his own family. From the creator and host of the multi award-winning Three Million and Partition Voices - the new series - The Second Map - tells the story of Britain’s war against Japan IN ww2. Marking the 80th anniversary of VJ Day we hear of how defeat turned to victory, epic battles in jungles, to one that played out on a tennis court and saved the British Empire. We may know about Pearl Harbour and how the war against Japan ended with the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But in popular memory what happened in between, and why Britain was fighting Japan on the Asian front, is less well-known. Even at the time the largest army of almost a million men, was known as the “forgotten army.” Yet it was a war that many thousands of Britons fought in, as well as hundreds of thousands of British colonial subjects. We hear remarkable testimonies from British, Indian and Japanese soldiers who were there, as well as former prisoners of war and civilian internees. And we speak to descendants across Britain who are uncovering a family member’s story of heroism, imprisonment, and survival. Creator, Writer and Presenter: Kavita Puri Series Producer: Ellie House Script Editor: Ant Adeane Sound Designer: James Beard Series Editor: Matt Willis Production Coordinators: Sabine Scherek, Maria Ogundele Original music: Felix Taylor Archive Curator: Tariq Hussain Voice actors: Dai Tabuchi, Bhasker Patel Translators: Hannah Kilcoyne, Sumire Hori With thanks to Dr Diya Gupta, Dr Vikki Hawkins, Dr Peter Johnston, Professor Rana Mitter and Tejpal Singh Ralmill.

Share Half-Life: 5. The Road Through the Mountains

Sign up to save your podcasts

Half-Life: 5. The Road Through the Mountains

Half-Life: 5. The Road Through the Mountains

More shows like The History Podcast

In Our Time

From Our Own Correspondent

File on 4 Investigates

Global News Podcast

Business Daily

More or Less: Behind the Stats

World Business Report

Newshour

The Life Scientific

Dan Snow's History Hit

Newscast

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

You're Dead to Me

The Slow Newscast

The Story

British Scandal

Sport's Strangest Crimes

Uncanny

The Coming Storm

Dua Lipa: At Your Service

The Rest Is Politics

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

The News Agents

Believe in Magic

History's Heroes

World of Secrets

Legacy

The Global Story

The Spy Who

Miss Me?

Intrigue

Havana Helmet Club