Our latest questions from listeners range from could Britain have stood back from conflict in 1914 and not been part of the Great War, how accurate was the final dugout scene in the film 1917, what duties did Royal Field Artillery Drivers have on the battlefields of WW1 and what was the story of the Canadian soldiers who rioted in Britain in 1919 while awaiting demobilisation?

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Recommended novel on 1914: Robert Harris - Precipice (Penguin 2024)

Books on The Canadian Riots:

• The story of the Kinmel Park Camp Riots in 1919 by Julian Putkowski (1989)
• Riots Death and Baseball - Robert H. Griffiths (2019)

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In a Trench Chat special we speak to the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Commemorations team - otherwise known as 'The MOD War Detectives' - who work to recover and identify the dead on the former battlefields of the Great War. Thanks to the Ministry of Defence for their help in making this possible, and special thanks to Rosie Barron, Nichola Nash and Alexia Clark who all appear in this episode. 

The images used are Crown Copyright.

Discover more about the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Commemorations team and visit their Facebook page.

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Our listeners have a few intriguing questions: Is there still live ordnance in the moat at the Ypres Ramparts? What exactly was the role of Inland Waterways Transport during the First World War? How would the French portrayal of the Last Hundred Days differ from the traditional British narrative? And finally, if you could take any piece of modern military technology back to the Great War, what would it be, and why? 

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In this episode we travel to the Arras Memorial to the Missing, where we explore the powerful story of over 35,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. In this episode, we uncover the personal histories of men from the British Army, Royal Naval Division, and Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, whose names are etched into the stone. We then walk through the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, visiting notable graves—including those of soldiers Shot at Dawn. Discover the human stories behind the statistics in this compelling look at remembrance, sacrifice, and the legacy of the First World War.

On the Old Front Line YouTube Channel: The Arras Memorial to the Missing.

Articles on Identity Discs are found here: A Guide to Identity Discs by Dave O'Mara and Military Identification: Identity Discs and the Identification of British War Dead, 1914-18 by Dr Sarah Ashbridge.

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In this episode we discuss the improvised gas masks used by British and Commonwealth soldiers in 1915, the advancement in medical treatment during the Great War, whether soldiers were told in advance about the explosion of mines on the battlefield and the use of soldiers packs in WW1.

Our episode on Gas Warfare in WW1 is available here: Gas! Gas! Gas!

JD Hutt's YouTube Channel: The History Underground.

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In this episode we start a look at some of the Forgotten Memoirs of the First World War, starting with Percy Croney's 'Soldiers Luck' published in the mid-1960s. Croney was a 1914 volunteer who served with the Essex Regiment and Scottish Rifles at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, being wounded several times and taken prisoner in March 1918. We ask what the value of memoirs like this are to our understanding of the Great War. 

Percy Croney - Soldier's Luck on Open Library

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In this episode of podcast listeners questions we ask: what Great War items would you take to a Desert Island, how was cause of death accurately reported or not by the military authorities, how did men on the front line get news of other fronts and their own, and were truces to bury the dead common on the Western Front?

Book Recommendation: Frederick Manning Her Privates We/Middle Parts of Fortune.

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In a special Trench Chat we speak to Philipp Cross who has written a superb book about his great-great grandfather's war as an officer in the German Army. Alexander Pfeifer served from the very beginning until the very end of the conflict on three fronts, and we discover how Philipp researched and wrote the book, and what it tells us about the Great War.

Buy The Book on Amazon: The Other Trench.

The Other Trench website: The Other Trench.

The Other Trench on Facebook: The Other Trench.

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In this episode we ask were there any 'Thankful Villages' in France where everyone came home, what was 'Camp Elisabeth' at Verdun as visited by Professor Richard Holmes in the 1990s, did Great War soldiers experience any spiritual or paranormal activity on the battlefields and how did the presence of British and Commonwealth soldiers impinge on life behind the lines in France.

BBC Report: France's Thankful Village With No War Memorial.

The Richard Holmes Episode mentioned in the podcast: Western Front Verdun 1916.

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In this episode we travel to the last major battlefield of the Great War on the Western Front - the Sambre Canal. Here we follow the story of the infantry and the engineers who attacked the Canal on 4th November 1918, including the 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment. We also see what remains of the battlefield today.

The interview with Josh Grover MM is on the IWM website here: Josh Grover MM interview.

Recommended Book: Decisive Victory by Derek Clayton.

Thread on the Great War Forum: Royal Sussex Regiment at Lock No 1.

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