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Welcome to the first Trench Talk of Season 7!

It's a real pleasure to be joined by naval historian and writer Chris Sams as we talk about the Battle of Jutland in 1916.  The long-awaited showdown between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine turned into an unexpectedly bad day for the British.  We look at what happened that afternoon off the coast of Denmark and talk about other naval matters in this fascinating and wide-ranging conversation.

Chris' book on the German navy can be found here.

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Welcome to the first episode of 2025!

Today, we head to Belgium and walk a less-trodden route south of Plugstreet Wood towards the hamlet of Le Gheer.  From the village of Ploegsteert, we head south and east across the farmer's fields to discover the long-lost history of this part of the battlefield.  These seemingly bare fields tell the story of the rank and file of the Allied infantry who fought and died in this so-called quiet sector of the front.  There is much to be found if one knows where to look.

We meet the famous (latterly very famous) 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers commander, a certain Mr W.S Churchill, hear the sad story of an officer's death through an appalling piece of treachery, discover the unpleasant and dangerous work of "pond duty", and contemplate how McKenna's bridge got its name.

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Welcome to the final episode of 2024!

One of the great misnomers of WW1 is that soldiers spent all their time in the trenches fighting. Fighting battles took up a tiny amount of soldiers' time, so what did soldiers do when not in the line?

In this episode, we look at life behind the lines, where soldiers had the opportunity to spend their pay on treats to make soldiering more bearable.  Many soldiers indulged in the age-old vices of women and gambling; gambling was technically illegal, but thousands of francs were known to change hands through unscrupulous soldiers using loaded dice to stack odds firmly in their favour.  We look at the ubiquitous concert parties, hear about the leave lottery endured by soldiers, and discover why being a competent "anchor-man" was a financially enviable position.  We also hear the sad story of Basil Radford, "Gilbert the Filbert", one of Edwardian theatre's greatest dandies who met a terrible end on the battlefields of France.

Footsteps of the Fallen will be back in 2025!

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A famous saying asserts that an army marches on its stomach, and in this episode, we examine food and drink for men on the front line. 

The challenge of feeding an army was immense, and the war office employed science to calculate the exact calorific intake needed by a soldier to survive.

Feeding the men was one thing; feeding them something palatable was something else. We look at trench rations, from the infamous Army Biscuits to cans of "dog vomit," and see that the culinary life of a soldier in the trenches was not a happy one. Occasionally, however, comfort came in mysterious ways, as men of the Hampshire Regiment found out when the Germans shelled the canal near Cuinchy and provided an unexpected and welcome treat. 

Alcohol played an essential part in soldiers' lives from all sides, and we discover more about the daily rum ration, "Pinard", and celebratory German beer mugs.  We learn the origin of the phrase "to be on the fiddle", and hear about how excessive alcohol consumption caused huge problems for the Germans advancing in March 1918.

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In the early hours of the 30th July 1915, men of the Rifle Brigade and Kings Royal Rifle Corps were attacked near Hooge by German soldiers using a new and appalling weapon of war - liquid fire.  The subsequent counter-attack that afternoon by the British was a military disaster that could have been avoided had the protests of senior commanders in the line been listened to.

We examine what happened that day, discover the story of the man who won the first VC for the new armies, and meet the enigmatic and eloquent "Student in Arms."

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Welcome to this latest episode, in which we explore the history behind one of the world's great monuments, the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in the Belgian city of Ypres.

We hear the history of the Last Post, look at the famous lions and their connection to Australia, hear the stories of some of the dead, and contemplate what makes this an iconic place of remembrance.

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Welcome to the latest episode!

In today's episode, we look at the role played by Army Chaplains during the Great War. Responsible for the spiritual and personal welfare of soldiers, the Chaplain was a source of great comfort for men during the hell of trench warfare.

We look at the history of the Army Chaplain Department and discover the massively important role that Chaplains had in the lives of men at war and meet some of them, including the famous Woodbine Willie, "Tubby" Clayton and the Reverend Theodore Hardy, a non-combatant who ended the war with an MC, DSO and finally a VC.

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Welcome to this latest podcast, in which we travel to the southern part of the Somme battlefield, a shell-cratered morass on which the men of Canada, Australia and France died in their thousands in the final 100 days of the War.

We tour the battlefield and visit the cemeteries and memorials, which bear testament to the sacrifice of so many who fell so close to the end of four years of conflict.

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In today's podcast, we journey through Amiens and its surrounding areas, uncovering the deep connections to the Great War.

We start in the village of Naours, exploring caves that hold a remarkable record of soldiers from the conflict. Next, we delve into the history of Amiens Cathedral and discover a moving poem, "The Song of Amiens," written by a lesser-known poet of the Great War. A British Chaplain shares a story of divine intervention after "borrowing" a standard lamp from the cathedral. 

Amiens was a place of rest and indulgence for officers and soldiers, and it offered abundant good food, wine, and other human pleasures. We visit the graves of the first airmen to die in World War I and hear the tale of one of the war’s great eccentrics, RFC officer Lt. Harvey-Kelly, a man known for living life at full speed, always flying with potatoes in his pockets. We then visit the closest point the Germans reached to Amiens before exploring the site of the first tank-versus-tank battle near Villers-Bretonneux.

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In this latest episode, we answer a couple of listener questions and then tour the battlefield near St. Quentin.  We hear the story of the tragic death of two British soldiers shot for spying by the Germans, stand on the very trenches from which the offensive began, and visit some of the redoubts which stood in the way of the German onslaught. Our journey concludes with the story of Manchester Hill and the heroic efforts of Lt Col Wilfrith Elstob VC DSO MC. 

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