Tales from the Battlefields

In this episode we talk to Rebecca Clarke about her husband’s Grandfather Arnold Clarke who was on board HMS India when it was torpedoed and sunk in August 1915. Arnold was one of the survivors and was interned in a camp in neutral Norway. How did he cope with being imprisoned for 3 years? How did they keep themselves occupied? We find out. We also discuss my tribute to 2 soldiers who died on the Western Front and look at the  family pilgrimages that we carried out to their graves on Terry’s Tours last week.

In this week’s podcast we travel to Lincolnshire for a very emotional ceremony at the site of a crashed Lancaster Bomber on the 80th anniversary of this awful incident. What happened on that day and who were those victims on board the Lancaster? We discover the answers by talking to the witnesses of the accident, including my own Mum who was 6 years old. We also talk to Megan Maltby from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission about “War Graves Week” that is taking place next month.

In this episode we travel to the Somme and follow in the footsteps of a Collingwood Aussie Rules Footballer, Percy Rowe. Percy went to France alongside his best mate Doc Seddon. He left behind his new wife Louie and newborn son. When Percy died of wounds Doc promised he would look after his widow and son. He fulfilled that promise and we tell this incredible love story whilst walking the ground where Percy fought and died. We also have news from Ypres about the Menin Gate Ceremony.

In this episode we are taken on a guided walk from the Ulster Tower into the original trenches within Thiepval Woods where the 36th Ulster Division advanced from on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. We discover the stories of several soldiers who were awarded the Victoria Cross on that day and our guide Rocky explains what happened on 1st July 1916, whilst discussing some artefacts they have found in the wood, including a spoon that saved a man’s life.

In this episode we visit the Commission’s Headquarters in Arras and go on a guided tour of the Visitor Centre where we discover how the headstones are created and maintained. Lucie also talks about the work of the Commission’s craftsmen and gardeners who look after the cemeteries and create the features such as the entrance gates and boundary walls that we are familiar with. We also get an update on the new path that is being constructed around the Lochnager Crater. 

In this episode we travel to the Somme village of Courcelette that was captured in a single day by the Canadians in September 1916. We look at the stories of the soldiers from both sides of the wire and discover the horror of hand to hand fighting. We also talk to local historian Poppy Mercier who explains what it is like to live on the battlefield and how it has established a connection between her and the soldiers who fought there.

In this episode we look at the personal stories of the ANZAC forces that landed at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915. We hear from the soldiers themselves as they explain what happened on that fateful day and we examine the story of Lieutenant-Colonel Lancelot Fox Clarke who was killed leading his men into action. We also talk to historian and broadcaster Graham McKechnie who tells the story of Blair Swannell, a Northampton Saints and British Lion rugby player who also played for Australia before laying down his life, 15 minutes after landing on Anzac Cove.

In this episode we talk to historian and author Richard Van Emden about the underage “boy soldiers” who enlisted in the Great War. We discover what motivated them, how they got through the enlistment process and what happened to them when they fought on the Western Front.

As the names of the missing on the Menin Gate are currently out of sight, in this week's episode we look at some of the stories behind the canvas tarpaulin. We discuss the "teddy from the trenches" given to her father by his 10 year old daughter and the grief stricken mother who died on the anniversary of her son's demise. And the brothers who died together, on the same day.

In this episode we talk to an Australian amateur historian, Lambis Englezos, who discovered the remains of 250 Australian soldiers killed in the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916. Lambis talks passionately about how he proved that the men were buried at Pheasant Wood and how he then spent years convincing the authorities of the mass graves. He also reveals new information about the whereabouts of many more British men who fell in the same battle.