The Telegraph has announced that BBC 2 will air this Friday (March 14) previously unseen interviews with WWI veterans that were conducted back in the 1960s. Former soldiers from several countries including Britain, Germany, and Austria described their experiences and the conditions of trench warfare. The interviews are rare because WWI veterans usually did not talk about what they saw or did. According to the article:

The show also includes interview with German and Austrian soldiers, including Stefan Westmann, a German who served in the 29th Infantry Division, who recalled bayonetting a French corporal to death. “I was quicker than he was. I thrust his rifle away and I ran my bayonet through his chest,” he said.

“I nearly vomited. My knees were shaking and I was quite frankly ashamed of myself.

He went on: “How I would have liked him to have raised his hand. I would have shaken his hand and we would have been the best of friends.”

He added: “What was it that we soldiers stabbed each other, strangled each other, went for each other like mad dogs? What was it that we who had nothing against them personally fought with them to the very end in death. We were civilised people after all.”

Westmann gives a thorough account of his movements and experiences here.

The BBC will also be airing the original series for which the interviews were conducted.