Our series of 'I Was There!' videos on the WFA's YouTube channel continue to receive 'rave reviews'. The current chapter covers the period between 14 October and 11 November 1914. Most of the narrations in this period deal with the First Battle of Ypres, but the latest episode deals with the little-known Battle of Coronel.
This took place off the coast of Chile on 1 November 1914
The summary (from the original magazine) states this "...was a sad blow to the hopes of the British Navy. Admiral Cradock's encounter with the German Admiral von Spee's squadron off Coronel led to the loss of the flagship, Good Hope, and the cruiser Monmouth, the British admiral going down with his ship. H.M.S. Glasgow was in the thick of the fight but managed to escape. Thrilling incidents of the defeat, later to be avenged at the battle of the Falkland Islands, are here narrated by a sick berth steward, J. D. Stephenson, who was aboard H.M.S. Glasgow.
To watch the 16-minute video click here > I Saw the Tragedy of Coronel, by J D Stephenson, 1 November 1914
These videos are being grouped (following the format in the original magazine) into 'Chapters' (on YouTube these are 'playlists') and can be seen here:
The War Clouds Break: July 29 - Aug 9 1914 Chapter/Playlist 1
1: Asquith Speaks the Words of Fate, by Countess Margot Asquith
2: When the Foreign Office Blundered, by Hon Harold Nicolson
3: The Clock Ticks at the Admiralty, by Rt Hon Winston Churchill
4: At the Eleventh Hour, by Michael Macdonagh
5: Thunder over Paris, by Sir Philip Gibbs
6: Berlin a-Tiptoe for War, by H W Nevinson
7: My First Days at War, by Sir Roger Keyes
8: Birth of a World Song, by George C Curnock
Mons: The Going Up to Battle: August 9 - August 23, 1914 Chapter/Playlist 2
9: My Road to Adventure, by Captain Arnold Gyde
10: Our Troops Reach Mons, by Georges Licope
11: I fired the First Shot! by Sergeant Thomas
12: How I Lived through the 1st Hours at Mons, by Maj Corbett Smith
13: I Walked with Fear, by Lt-Col Osburn
14: Long Lines of Death, by Corporal John F Lucy
Mons: The Fighting Retreat: August 24 - September 6, 1914 Chapter/Playlist 3
15: Terror and Tribulation of those Fateful Days, by Capt A Gyde
16: How We Saved Haig's Corps at Landrecies, by Capt R Wolrige Gordon
17: Affair of Mattresses in Landrecies, by Brig-Gen John Charteris
18: Horses Honoured in their Country's Service
19: The Unseen Killers at Le Cateau, by Pte R G Hill
20: Stragglers of '14 - Lost for a Week! by Pte Frank Richards
21: The True Story of "The Angels of Mons", by Arthur Machen
22: Laughing Dawn of Despair, by Frederic Coleman
23: Epic Story of St Quentin: Tom Bridges Saved Two Regiments, by Lt-Col Osburn
24: Toy Drum and Tin Whistle, by Lt-Gen Sir Tom Bridges
25: Sleep-Walkers of the Great Retreat, by Cpl B J Denore
26: They Were Going to Shoot Me!, by Paul Maze
27: The Ending Days: Red Reaping and Red Tape, by Capt E J Needham
28: Heligoland: A Stoker's Saga, by 'Clinker Knocker'
29: The Immortal Story of 'L' Battery, an Epic of the Retreat, by Gunner Darbyshire
The Marne and the Aisne: September 5 - September 22, 1914 Chapter/Playlist 4
30: 'Locusts of Steel', from the Diary of a Casualty, by the Hon Aubrey Herbert
31: The Day We Forced the Passage of the Marne, by A A Martin
32: Aerial Adventure on Aisne and Marne, by Lt Col L A Strange, DSO, MC, DFC
33: Death Called My Comrades - Holocaust in a Wood on the Aisne by Cpl J F Lucy
34: Devil's Orchestra - Personally Conducted on the Aisne, by Dr A A Martin
35: German White Flag Treachery - I Shall Never Forget It! by Capt E J Needham
36: I Saw Rheims Catherdral Burn, by G Ward Price
37: 'Suicide Squadron' - One U-Boat sinks Three Cruisers, by Cmdr Austin Tyrer
The Antwerp Adventure, September 25 - October 13, 1914 Chapter/Playlist 5
38: We Brought Succour to Belgium, by May Sinclair
39: Doom over Antwerp - I Witness a Nation's Exodus, by J M N Jeffries
40: Antwerp Adventure - Shells and Burning Oil, by Rev. Canon H. Clapham Foster
The First Battle of Ypres October 14 - November 11, 1914 Chapter/Playlist 6
41: Lightning Glimpses in the Breaking Storm by Capt C A L Brownlow, DSO
42: Diary of 5 Dreadful Days when we lost Zonnebeke, by Lt Col RGA Hamilton
43: Cabaret of Death! Shelled by Friend and Foe, by Capt E J Needham
44: The War was Nearly Lost - I Helped to Smash the Prussians, by Pte HJ Polley
45: French's 'Worst Half-Hour', by Captain H FitzM Stacke MC
46: I Saw the Tragedy of Coronel, by J D Stephenson
47: Blood Bath of London Scots, by Pte Herbert de Hamel
48: New Light on the Emden: Story of a Famous Sea Fight, by Lewis R Freeman
Obviously as more of these are recorded and published, these chapters will increase in number.
PDF copies of the original I Was There! documents are available exclusively to members of The Western Front Association to download via the Members’ Portal.