Resources
Websites
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third party sites.
Channel 4 links
Boy Soldiers
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/
history/a-b/boysoldiers.html
Extract from Richard van Emden's book Boy Soldiers of the First World War that looks at the large number of teenage boys who signed up to fight in spite of being under-age.
The First World War
www.channel4.com/history/
microsites/F/
firstworldwar/index.html
An exploration of some of the most controversial features of the First World War.
History in Action – The Great War
http://web.channel4.com/learning/main/
netnotes//programid1354.htm
Looks at the differing perspectives on conscription in early 1916 and the press's treatment of those opposed to it.
Pals links
Accrington Pals
www.pals.org.uk
The 11th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, raised in the early months of the war as a response to Kitchener's call for a volunteer army, went to war on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. 720 men went into the attack at Serre and 584 were killed, wounded or missing. This is their story.
Birmingham Pals
www.birminghampals.co.uk
Site dedicated to the three Birmingham Battalions that served in the First World War – also known as the 14th, 15th and 16th Royal Warwicks. It's possible to post information about your relatives here.
British Military History – Newspapers as Sources for Military History
www.bl.uk/collections/warfare1.html
In part, the Pals battalions led to a change in war reporting as noted on this British Library website.
Ordinary War on the Somme
www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/
ordinarywaronthesomme.htm
Private Fred Ball enlisted in the Liverpool Pals in January 1915; crossed to France in November that year and served in France continuously during the remainder of the War. This is his story.
The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment
www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk
London dustman Edward Foster joined the Wandsworth Battalion before going on to be one of the many Pals soldiers to make an impact with acts of bravery. Foster's heroism, at Villers-Plouich near Cambrai, France, is detailed in a citation found on this site.
General links
Battle of the Somme
http://leoklein.com/itp/somme/
Well constructed site of student Leo Robert Klein as part of his Masters degree. He has an incredible selection of photographs all listed by subject plus detailed accounts and quotes from ordinary German soldiers fighting at the Somme.
The Battle of the Somme
www.johndclare.net/wwi2.htm
Nice website put together by a teacher, with loads of useful history stuff and great links to personal accounts of the Somme battle. Has a 1916 cartoon from the Daily Mail – 'The Somme Punch' – and some good photos and maps.
The Battle of the Somme, 1916
www.ramsdale.org/somme.htm
Unclear who the author of this site is, but it offers an account of the lead up to the Battle and the Battle itself, and has some excellent photographs of the fighting.
First World War.com – Battle of the Somme, 1916
www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm
Descriptions of the battle offensives and the key military decision-makers.
Harry's – WW1
www.harrys-ww1.co.uk
Moving narrative history of Harry Williams, edited by his grandson. Harry joined the army before his 19th birthday and 50 years later wrote down his war memories, which he entitled 'trenches and trees' as he spent most of the war down in one or up in the other.
The Long Long Trail
www.1914-1918.net/links.htm
Story of the British Army in the First World War, with lots of war diaries and letters home, war statistics, a popular forum and a useful section on how to research a soldier.
Memoirs & Diaries: Destructive technology at the Somme
www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/
somme_dambitsch.htm
First-hand account of the battle by German Lieutenant Alfred Dambitsch.
Somme Battlefields by Paul Reed
www.somme-1916.com/
Website of military historian Paul Reed, which has a good deal of information on battlefields and cemeteries in Northern France, a forum and a small listing of events taking place during the anniversary period in 2006.
The Somme – Hell on Earth
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/
1998/10/98/world_war_i/203289.stm
Top First World War stories from the BBC including live streaming of war veterans returning to the Somme 67 years later.
Tom Morgan's Somme Diary
www.fylde.demon.co.uk/tomintro.htm
In 1996 Tom Morgan visited the Somme Battlefields alone and camped in the area for a week. During his time there he kept a detailed diary.
Trenches on the Web
www.worldwar1.com
Excellent site created and maintained by enthusiasts. It contains a wealth of detail on a wide range of topics relating to the war, from trenches to technology to the Home Front, and much more. There is also a facility to make contact with other interested people via email.
Voices of the Great War
www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/ch3_voices2.html
Website of American TV station PBS, which has an audio account of Mary Borden, from her memoirs of life during the Battle of the Somme. She was an American travelling in Europe at the start of the war, who stayed on to run a field hospital there in 1916.