In this episode, we have an introduction to the battlefields east of Reims in the vast open fields of the Champagne. We discover a surprisingly diverse battlefield where men of many nations fought during the Great War and hear the story of a disgraced English Colonel who found retribution here in 1915. 

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Back in the city of Ypres in Flanders, in this episode we follow the walls, the old Ramparts, seeing British bunkers, visit the Ramparts Cemetery, discover more about military historian Rose Coombs, and end at the Menin Gate. Each night at 8pm the Last Post is sounded under this Memorial to the Missing, but who does it commemorate and what does it mean to us today? 

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Was this the 'greatest game'? On 25th September 1915, men of the London Irish Football Club kicked a ball into battle signalling the start of the Battle of Loos. We follow their story and the other London lads who fought that day in the slag heaps near Loos and Lens.

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In this latest Trench Chat we are joined by military historian Dr Tim Godden to discuss his research on the Junior Architects of the Imperial War Museum, and the design and meaning of the 'Silent Cities', the British cemeteries of the Great War. We also discuss Tim's work as an artist, and how that connects to his wider interest in the conflict. 

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In this 50th Episode of the podcast, we return to home ground - the village of Courcelette on the Somme. We walk the Canadian attack route in the attack on the village, visit Courcelette British Cemetery and then look at the final stage of the battle around Regina Trench and Desire Trench. 

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Along the old Roman Road between Ypres and Menin was a road junction that became the main route to the front line: this was Hell Fire Corner, the most infamous spot on the Western Front. In this episode, we walk from the centre of Ypres to the Lille Gate and along the old railway line to Hell Fire Corner. 

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We return to Picardy, for a walk across the 'Forgotten Somme': those places less visited on these battlefields of 1916, and see the villages of Ginchy and LesBoeufs, look at the story of the 'Tally Ho VC', of author Charles Dickens' grandson killed near Ginchy, and discuss conditions in the dreadful Somme mud of the autumn and winter of 1916.

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In this episode, we travel to Vimy Ridge in Northern France, taken by Canadian soldiers in April 1917. We walk from a series of preserved trenches and mine craters to the crest of the Ridge and look at the impressive Vimy Memorial unveiled in 1936. Has a memorial come to symbolise Canada's connection to the Great War? 

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In this episode, we are joined by Military Historian Amy Harrison to discuss her work as a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Intern, and her research into Battlefield Tourism and Landscape for the Ph.D. she is researching at the University of Kent.

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In this episode we take a detailed look at the film 1917, examining how it represents this period of the First World War, how it depicts the landscape of the Western Front, and how it links us to the battlefields of the Hindenburg Line around Arras today. 

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