The last survivor of the First World War kept the horrors his witnessed secret until days before his death, his biographer has revealed.
For almost 90 years, Harry Patch grieved in private after being traumatised from fighting in the Battle of Passcehendaele in the struggle against the Germans for territory.
But before he passed away at aged 111 and as Britain’s oldest man, he finally opened up to military author Richard van Emden after the writer won his trust.
The veteran reluctantly told how he had to carry the headless bodies of his friends to clear the trenches in between the relentless fighting.
The last survivor of the First World War kept the horrors his witnessed secret until days before his death, his biographer has revealed
At aged 19, he was called up to serve in the in the 7th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and was conscripted to Belgium.
He went over the top on August 16, 1917 in the Battle of Langemarck – the second Allied general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres, during the First World War.
It lasted two days and was Harry’s first experience of fighting at the front.
The conflict resulted in 15,000 casualties but the village, where a memorial to Harry now lies, was successfully taken.
Returning to the spot ten years ago, Harry described having to walk through shellfire, mud, blood and the bodies of his fallen comrades towards the German line.
At aged 19, he was called up to serve in the in the 7th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and was conscripted to Belgium
He said at the time: ‘It was hellish. Just one long nightmare from the thunder of the guns as the battle began to the sound of the wounded crying out.
‘You could do nothing to help them. You just had to go forward through all that mud and blood. It was absolutely sickening.’
But Harry told Mr van Emden he knew what to expect before he was sent to Belgium after a grave warning from his brother.
William Patch, who was wounded a year before Harry was enlisted, told him: ‘Don’t go until you are called up. You are in for absolute hell. It’s as bad as it gets.’
Harry became one of the half a million casualties of Passchendaele but survived a blast that killed three of his best friends.
On his last trip back to the fields of Flanders, he said: ‘This was all mud, mud and more mud, mixed together with blood. We fought for a few yards of this soil – and that cost the lives of most of my comrades. There was no excuse for such slaughter for so little gain.’
The conflict resulted in 15,000 casualties but the village, where a memorial to Harry now lies, was successfully taken
Mr van Emden said Harry was left so traumatised he still had nightmares and was chose not to speak in great detail about what he had seen.
But in one of their last conversations Mr Emden said he finally opened up.
Speaking to the Mirror, the writer said: ‘Harry was so affected by what he witnessed that he did not speak of his wartime experiences for most of his life.
‘The memories were just too vivid. Only in his final days did he tell me of the cause of his worst nightmares – clearing the headless corpses in the trenches.’
‘He became utterly morose and unexpectedly asked me, “Have you ever had to handle a man who didn’t have a head?”.
More than 1,000 people from around the world including military dignitaries attended his funeral
Harry explained in the aftermath of the military action at Langemarck, near Ypres, 100 years ago, he was tasked with clearing the trenches he and his comrades had captured. They were full of mangled bodies.
The author said: ‘Telling me that for the first time, he had become so morose and had gone into such a dark place, that I did not press him further.
The best-selling author of The Last Fighting Tommy and newly-published The Road to Passchendaele has revealed the last poignant conversations he had with Harry.
He said: ‘What he told me, too late for me to record in his biography, showed him to me as even more of a hero, albeit a modest and reluctant one.
‘For, unlike most of the enthusiastic young men who fought in World War One, Harry went to fight knowing clearly what lay ahead on the killing grounds of the Western Front.’
The writer said Harry would often question the ‘war to end all wars’ and said before his death: ‘It wasn’t worth it. No war is worth it. No war is worth the loss of a couple of lives let alone thousands.’
After being flown back to the UK injured, he became a plumber and settled in his home county of Somerset. He was widowed twice and outlived his two sons.
He eventually became the last British survivor of the First World War trenches and came to represent a generation of men who fought in the conflict.
Harry became well-known and loved by celebrities, royalty and politicians but died alone at a care home in Wells, Somerset in 2009.
More than 1,000 people from around the world including military dignitaries attended his funeral.
Speaking at the time, the then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his death marked the passing of the ‘noblest of all the generations’.