Tales from the Battlefields

In this episode we look back at the events of November 1918 and examine what happened during that momentous week in history. Why did the fighting continue up to 11am on 11th? Who were the final casualties and how did they die? How did the soldiers feel about the end of the fighting? Why was it not the end of the war? How did the Germans react? We hear from the men and women themselves as they help tell the story.

Who is the woman standing quietly in a muddy field near Langemarck? Who is she thinking about? Why is she here? In this podcast, we tell the story of the awful conditions during the Battle of Passchendaele, through the eyes of a soldier who died in the mud. We also tell the story of an Australian soldier who also died nearby, and of a bracelet that we reunited with its owner at his grave in Arras.

107 years ago the Battle of Loos was being fought in the flat, featureless, bleak, mining area of Northern France. In this episode, we look at the battle, not through the history books, but instead through the eyes of the men who were there.

In this special edition of the podcast, we may tribute to the HM Queen Elizabeth by looking at the role of the Royal Family in the Great War and also of the Queen herself during the 2nd World War when she joined the ATS. We talk about the Queen Mother's brother who fell at Loos, the Christmas box that Princess Mary sent to the troops in 1914 and look into the diaries of the King and Queen during the war years 

To mark the 106th anniversary of the first use of tanks, we talk to historian and guide Pete Smith, who lives in Flers, and discuss what happened on 15th September 1916. Pete tells the incredible story of the Earl of Faversham, Lt Col Charles Duncombe, who bravely led his men into action and gave his life on that fateful day.

In this episode we talk to Rick Smith from the Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association to discover how they have preserved the crater and we also look at what happened at Beaumont Hamel in July and November 1916. How did they tunnel beneath the German lines? What went wrong? Why did they blow the mine 10 minutes before Zero Hour? We discuss these issues and much more.

In this episode we travel to the Ypres battlefields to a place called Pond Farm, a German Headquarters in 1917  and a location where Canadian General Arthur Currie was located during the gas attack in 1915. 
We talk to Stijn Butaye, who lives on the farm and has established his own private museum and built a replica British WW1 tank.  Stijn talks to us about his museum and explains what it was like to be at Pond Farm during the Great War.
We also talk to Michael and Susan Wyatt from Melbourne, Australia, as we follow in the footsteps of their relatives who died at Ypres."

In this special episode Military Historian Paul Reed takes us on a trip on the Western Front battlefields that saw fighting in both conflicts. What happened to the Great War CWGC cemeteries when the Nazis arrived? What happened to WW1 veterans when they returned to fight again in 1940? Where did Hitler serve in WW1? We discuss these subjects and much more too.

During the Great War millions of letters were sent to and from soldiers on the front line and went a long way to keeping up the morale on both sides of the Channel. In this episode, we look at some of the emotional and heartbreaking letters that were sent between loved ones, including many "final letters home". These letters go someway to explaining how soldiers felt on the eve of the major battles in the war. 

This week's podcast takes us to a rural farm in deepest Northamptonshire where we investigate the incredible story of over 30,000 enemy POW's who were here during World War 1. Who were they? How did they live? How did they get electricity years before the villagers? How many of them died and why? We talk to the farmer and the author of a book about the camp to discover the answers to these questions.