Battles of the First World War Podcast

30/09/2026

“The wounded and dying were groaning and calling for help. ‘I’m hit, for God’s sake, help me,’ was the cry.”

“It was almost unbearable. Some were shell-shocked and were screaming maniacs. From the way they were screaming you would think they were shot to pieces.”

- PVT Rush Young, 318th Infantry, 80th Division, Meuse-Argonne, September, 1918

#1918

30/09/2026

“Powder River, Let ‘Er Buck!”

- War Cry of the 91st “Wild West” Division, Meuse-Argonne, September, 1918

Photo: https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-the-91st-wild-west-division-in-world-war-i-20181030-htmlstory.html

30/09/2026

New episode is out, Folks!

New Ypres League member Kirsten Note joins the podcast to discuss her work as a battlefield archaeologist, where she has assisted the Commonwealth Graves Commission (CWGC) in recovering the remains of fallen soldiers of the Great War.

Podcast Episode · Battles of the First World War Podcast · September 29 · 41m

29/09/2026

“Perhaps the charge of the Light Brigade was more spectacular, more melodramatic and picturesque, but not more gallant. It is one thing to ride knee to knee in the wild delirium of a cavalry charge under the eyes of armies; it is something else to plod doggedly on, so widely scattered as to seem alone over a barren hillside against an unseen enemy’s invisible death singing its weird croon as it lurked in the air and stinging swiftly on every side. Man after man fell, but the others continued on through a ‘hell’ of shrapnel and machine-gun fire as would be impossible to exceed.”

- LT Farley Granger, 362nd Infantry Regiment, 91st “Wild West” Division, Gesnes, Meuse-Argonne, September 29, 1918

29/09/2026

“The outfit looked terrible and I knew just how they felt, exhausted, sleepy, hungry, worn down, and sick. Worse, they didn’t feel lucky any more. They’d lost the soldier’s bullet-proof ego, that feeling that ‘others may get hit, but I never.’ I knew how they felt because I felt the same way. I knew that the next time I stuck my head out in the open I’d catch a bullet in the teeth. Not even the clowns were wisecracking any more.”

- SGT William Triplet, 140th Infantry Regt, 35th Division, AEF, Exermont, Meuse-Argonne, September 29th, 1918

29/09/2026

“It has been worse than hell. It has been a fight for existence all the way, but we are getting out of the woods now, and things will go better.”

- COL George Rickards, Commander, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division, Argonne Forest, September 29, 1918

29/09/2026

“We cannot fight against the whole world.”

- General der Infanterie und Ersten Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, September 29, 1918

28/09/2026

“For those who do not know what a field strewn with dead resembles, here it is, what had been men now looked like lots of discarded clothes scattered about, most of us had overcoats and these were all then in view, they did not seem to have men inside them. Packs, gas masks, and all sorts of equipment was all around.”

“Then too, the dead looked so small, they seem to shrink up...The shelling was intense and they started using high explosive and gas. The gas and fumes and croton oil made me deathly sick and I vomited and was scared almost to death, this matter of being brave is a lot of talk, and I am sure there were very few heroes that morning.”

- Master Engineer Leroy Haile, 304th Engineers, 79th Division, Meuse-Argonne, September 28, 1918

28/09/2026

“...It is again impressed upon every officer and man of this command that ground once captured must under no circumstances be given up in the absence of direct, positive and formal orders to do so emanating from these headquarters. Troops occupying ground must be supported against counter attack and all gains held...WE ARE NOT GOING BACK BUT FORWARD.”

- By order of MG Robert Alexander, Commander, 77th Division, American Expeditionary Force, September 28, 1918

27/09/2026

“I never heard such a terrific roar of machine gun fire. It was awful and sounded like the cataract at Niagara Falls. To think of human bodies facing such blasts and such sheets of flying lead. It is a wonder that any of these men lived to enter that town. Had it not been for the mist, most of them must have been knocked down.”

- MAJ Harry Parkin, 316th Infantry Regiment, 79th “Lorraine Cross” Division, Montfaucon, Meuse-Argonne, September 27, 1918