It is estimated that around half of the men killed in action serving with British and Commonwealth forces during the First World War remain unidentified. This vast army of unknowns was one of the key motivating factors behind the creation of the Unknown Warrior. In part one of a special two part podcast, historian and author John Broom explores the factors that led to such a vast number of unidentifiable casualties, and the extraordinary efforts that officials, organisations, and ordinary family members went to in order to discover what happened to their loved ones. We also uncover the darker side of this work, and how charlatans and chancers prayed on those desperate for news.

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