Stories of the Great War

Jutland at 110: The Steel Coffin and the Silent Sea

In this episode, Chris Mowery delves into the tactical chaos and profound strategic impact of the largest naval gun battle in history: the Battle of Jutland. We explore the harrowing events of May 31, 1916, when Britain's Grand Fleet and Germany's High Seas Fleet collided in the cold North Sea, resulting in devastating losses, vaporized battlecruisers, and legendary acts of sacrifice by men like Major Harvey and Jack Cornwell. Guiding listeners through the complex maneuvers of Admirals Jellicoe, Beatty, and Scheer, the narrative reveals the great irony of the battle: while Germany claimed a tactical triumph by sinking more ships, the survival of the British fleet maintained a suffocating blockade that ultimately forced Germany into the unrestricted submarine warfare that would seal its eventual doom.

Thirty Minutes that Killed a Generation: The Royal Newfoundland Regiment

Join host Chris Mowery as he explores the tragic and defining morning of July 1, 1916. In this episode, we follow the heartbreaking story of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, a group of young volunteers from what was then an autonomous British dominion. Sent across the Atlantic to fight in the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, the regiment lost the better part of a generation in just thirty minutes. The Blue Puttees: Discover how a small, fishing-based island raised a volunteer regiment in barely a month, outfitting them in distinctive blue leg-wrappings due to a local khaki shortage. The Flawed Assault: Learn about the strategic miscalculations at Beaumont-Hamel, including a catastrophic compromise to detonate a massive underground mine ten minutes early, alerting the German frontline. The 30-Minute Devastation: Hear a detailed account of the morning the regiment advanced alone across no-man's land into converging machine-gun fire, suffering a casualty rate of over ninety percent. Out of roughly 800 men, only 68 answered the roll call the next day. The Aftermath & Legacy: We examine how the decimated unit rebuilt to fight again and earn the rare "Royal" prefix from King George V. Finally, we explore the lasting national wound: how the staggering financial and human cost of the Great War eventually led Newfoundland to surrender its self-government and join the Canadian Confederation.

Forged in Ohio, Tested in Hell: The 37th (Buckeye Division) in the Great War

In 1917, America didn’t have a massive standing army ready for France—so Ohio sent its communities. Steelworkers, farmers, clerks, and teachers mobilized together as the 37th Division, a National Guard force that would become known as the “Buckeye Division.” In this deep-dive episode, we follow their transformation from state armories to federal soldiers, shaped by the AEF’s massive “square division” doctrine, hardened in training, and carried across a U-boat-haunted Atlantic. Their first months in the trenches serve as a brutal apprenticeship—then comes the test: the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. We trace the chaos of the Montfaucon woods, the controversy that followed the stalled fight for the heights, and the grinding battle around Ivoiry—where Lieutenant Albert E. Baesel’s self-sacrifice earns a Medal of Honor. Finally, the Buckeyes are rushed north to fight under Belgium’s King Albert I, pushing through flooded Flanders to the freezing, bullet-swept Scheldt River—where volunteers swim into the darkness to help crack a fortified line and force a crossing. This is the story of a citizen-soldier division—born in Ohio, forged in mud, and remembered in the words that became their legacy: We’ll do it.

The House of Guinness in the Great War

In the summer of 1914, a job at the St. James's Gate Brewery was more than just employment; it was a "golden ticket" in a city grappling with poverty and disease. Known for its "womb to tomb" care, the Guinness Brewery provided a level of corporate paternalism unheard of at the time, fostering an intense loyalty among its workforce. But when the call to arms rang out across the British Empire, that loyalty was tested in ways no one could have imagined. In this episode, we explore the untold story of the 800 Guinness employees who traded their brewery aprons for khaki uniforms. We examine the unprecedented "Guinness Pledge," a promise of financial security and job retention that removed the fear of destitution for enlisting men. From the slaughter at Gallipoli—where the "Dubs" faced a massacre at V Beach—to the muddy trenches of the Somme, we follow the journey of these men from the vats of Dublin to the front lines of the Great War.

The Invisible Wound: Shell Shock and the Great War

During the Great War, a new kind of injury emerged from the trenches—one that left no visible mark but shattered the minds of soldiers. It was called "shell shock." This podcast explores the story of this invisible wound, from its first appearance as a baffling medical mystery to its dismissal by military command as mere cowardice.   Journey back to the front lines to understand the initial theories that blamed the physical blast of shells, and then to the hospitals where the true psychological horror of industrial warfare became undeniable. The episode delves into the stark class divide in treatment: while enlisted men faced brutal disciplinary measures and torturous "cures," officers were sent to pioneering institutions like Craiglockhart Hospital. It was there that doctors like W.H.R. Rivers developed the revolutionary "talking cure," and where two of the world's greatest war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, forged a friendship that would change literature forever. Through their stories and the tragic case of soldiers like Private Harry Farr, who was executed for cowardice while suffering from severe trauma, this podcast traces the painful evolution of our understanding of combat trauma. It's a story of medical discovery, military crisis, and artistic expression that laid the foundation for the modern diagnosis of PTSD, revealing the enduring echoes of a war that never truly ended for millions