Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.

My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.

It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs,

moments and movements, stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.

And the BBC's position, at the heart of British music

means we can tell those stories like no one else.

We were, are and always will be right there at the centre of the narrative.

So whether you want an insightful take on music right now

or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and infamous moments in music,

check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

You're about to listen to a brand new series of History's Heroes. New episodes will be released weekly

wherever you get your podcasts. But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes

a week early, first on BBC Sounds. In January 1915, a young surgeon called Harold Gillies was sent

to the Western Front in France. Gilles volunteered to serve with the Red Cross as soon as the First World War began.

The conflict was already taking a devastating toll on the soldiers who fought it.

From the first moment that the machine gun rings out over the Western Front,

one thing is abundantly clear.

Mankind's military technology wildly surpasses its medical capabilities.

In the early 20th century, warfare had become increasingly mechanized with more advanced artillery than ever before.

There were so many advances, in fact, that a company of just 300 men in 1914 could deploy equivalent firepower as a 60,000

strong army during the Napoleonic Wars.

...