Voices of the Armistice

Extracts from WO 339/9734, the service record of John Mills, Quartermaster, who died of pneumonia in England while preparing for the mobilisation of troops. Listen to witness reports and correspondence granting his widow an increased pension after an investigation decides that John Mills’ death was a result of the war.

If you want to start your own research using service records, our research signpost or Tracing World War One Ancestors podcast may help.

Also available in our online bookshop is First World War Army Service Records – an invaluable guide for family historians.

All units that served during the First World War were obliged to keep a record whilst on active service overseas. These unit war diaries, as they are known, contain daily reports on operations, maps and tallies of those injured and killed during battle.

The 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment’s diary is rare in that it also contains extracts from diaries kept by individuals. You can listen to extracts from these diaries – written by a private and a lieutenant colonel - and then follow the unit from 1915 until they finally set off for home in 1919. All extracts are from WO 95/1495.

Many war diaries have been digitised and are available from DocumentsOnline.

These extracts have all been taken from the magnificent collection of letters and photographs found within RAIL 253/516. These records were kept by the Great Western Railway Company and inherited by the British Transport Commission after the nationalisation of railways in 1947.

Members of the Audit Office, Paddington wrote back to their colleagues in London and provided updates for a monthly newsletter. Hear the good news when ‘our old sport Billy’ is promoted to Sergeant, tales about the marching and rations and the touching commendations sent to the relatives of one man killed in action.

To find out more about the battles and conditions faced by soldiers visit our First World War exhibition

It was during the First World War that poison gas was first used and developed as a weapon in an attempt to break the stalemate of trench warfare. Extracts from WO 32/5169 reveal details of an early gas attack in May 1915 at Ypres, as well as the first-hand account of the medical officer, championing the benefits of wearing gas masks.

To discover how government made war-time decisions on issues like weaponry visit our Cabinet Papers pages.

This podcast contains extracts from the translation of a German soldier’s war diary between August and September 1916. Found in CAB 45/166 it is one of many personal accounts, war diaries, letters and maps from the First World War that were compiled by the Cabinet Office’s Historical Section in order to publish the Official War Histories.

Browse for books published by The National Archives on the First World War in the military history section of our online bookshop.

Extracts from the diary of Field Marshal Douglas Haig reveal insights into the diplomatic proceedings during the final weeks of the war, leading up to 11 November. The four extracts, dated 11 October, 19 October, 29 October and 11 November, also offer personal observations by Haig, the Commander in Chief of the British armies in France and Flanders, on the state of the German army and what he believed should be the terms of the Armistice.

The National Archives holds a copy of Sir Douglas Haig’s war diary (catalogue reference WO 256/37) and these four podcasts have been produced with the kind permission of The National Library of Scotland and the current Earl Haig.

An account, found within Admiralty files ADM 1/8546, of the negotiations of the Armistice between French, German and British delegates which took place between 8 and 11 November 1918. From the bottle of port and biscuits produced upon the signing of the Armistice agreement, to the shouts of 'La Victoire! La Victoire!' on the streets of Paris, this first-hand account gives a detailed look behind the scenes of one of the most important meetings in history.

Commander Bagot, author of the report, was a qualified German interpreter who accompanied the British negotiating team to France in November 1918. While he may not have been a key player at the talks, his first-hand account of events puts the listener right in the middle of the action.

All units that served during the First World War were obliged to keep a record while on active service overseas. These unit war diaries, as they are known, contain daily reports on operations, maps and tallies of those injured and killed during battle.

In this war diary, WO 95/2926, at the end of the entry for June 1916, a short note acknowledges the bravery of a stretcher bearer. Despite enemy rifle fire in broad daylight, Rifleman Proctor crawled from the relative safety of the trenches to tend to two comrades lying wounded in no man’s land. In August 1916 he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallant conduct.

You can search over five million medal index cards online by name, rank and regiment number.

The War Office kept a service record on every individual soldier, recording their army career from enlistment to demobilisation. Usually these files contain information on rank, regiment, medical reports and pension details. Unusually, the service record of William Crawford also contains a selection of love letters, kept by the War Office after Crawford’s death when a next of kin could not be found.

The extracts in these podcasts, taken from WO 400/289, bring news of home, well wishes for ‘dear Will’ from acquaintances and the heartbreak felt by Hetty, not knowing when or if Crawford would return safely to England.

You can search the service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks that have been digitised with our partner ancestry.co.uk (surnames A-N only from WO 363)

This podcast gives details of an account by Able Seaman C Jones about conditions as a prisoner of war (PoW). Jones was a PoW for the whole of the war after being captured at Antwerp in 1914. He was held in prisoner of war camps, hospitalised for two months after his big toe was amputated due to frostbite, dug communications trenches on the Russian Front and worked in coal mines until he was repatriated in 1918.

3,000 reports and interviews are now searchable online and provide the main source of information on PoWs.

Proceedings and evidence from the case of a private shot for desertion in October 1918. This soldier was one of 306 pardoned under Section 359 of the Armed Forces Act 2006. The extracts include witness statements from the Military Police Corporal who found him, his sergeant and his own statement of defence. Also included is the official pardon from Des Browne, Secretary of State for Defence.

The extracts in this podcast, taken from the file CO 873/547, are from the Wei-Hai-Wei Commissioner in China. They are messages, mainly sent by the King, announcing the signing of the Armistice and informing the Commissioner of subsequent commemoration in 1919 – the first two-minute silence.

The most poignant is from the Secretary of State for Colonies that announces the plans for the commemoration of the war dead in 1920. This involved the unveiling of the Cenotaph and the burial of a British soldier, whose body was taken from France and buried in Westminster Abbey in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The silence at 11.00, followed by the Last Post and a funeral procession from the Cenotaph to the Abbey, is reminiscent of Remembrance Sunday parades to this day.

The National Archives holds a certified copy of the Treaty of Versailles (catalogue reference FO 93/36/76) received from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Treaty, signed on 19 June 1919, officially ended the war between Germany and the Allied powers.

The terms of the treaty forced reparations, disarmament and a loss of territory on Germany. This podcast highlights some of the main clauses of the Treaty, including the infamous Article 231 – the war guilt clause, which made Germany accept sole responsibility for the war. The clause which is often cited as a cause of the Second World War.