November 05, 2014

The Trenches 1914

14 minutes

There are now no living veterans of WW1, but it is still possible to go back to the First World War through the memories of those who actually took part. In a unique partnership between the Imperial War Museums and the BBC, two sound archive collections featuring survivors of the war are brought together for the first time. The Imperial War Museums' holdings include a major oral history resource of remarkable recordings made in the 1980s and early 1990s with the remaining survivors of the conflict. The interviews were done not for immediate use or broadcast, but because it was felt that this diminishing resource that could never be replenished, would be of unique value in the future. Speakers recall in great detail as though it were yesterday the conditions of the trenches, the brutality of the battlefield, the experience of seeing their first casualty and hearing their first shell, their daily and nightly routines as soldiers, pilots or navy members of all ranks, and their psychological state in the face of so much trauma. This series will broadcast many of these recordings for the first time. Among the BBC's extensive collection of archive featuring first hand recollections of the conflict a century ago, 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.

Dan Snow narrates this new oral history, which will be broadcast in short seasons throughout the commemorative period.

Programme 8 - The Trenches 1914

Dan examines the experiences of men in the trenches during the first few months of the war, when the trenches weren't as elaborate as in later years. In archive drawn from the oral history collection of the Imperial War Museums and the BBC, speakers describe the dangers of looking out over the top, the problems of lice, and bring home the reality of living in clay below the water table for days at a time.

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