Send us a text In our latest episode, it's a real pleasure to be rejoined by Rory Forsyth, CEO of the Western Front Way project. Rory last came on the podcast in April 2021, and in this latest episode, he provides an overview of the work that's been completed on the epic path of peace since then. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about the spirit of international cooperation that's been such a vital part of the work completed, the challenges of fundraising, the development of the new WF...
Jul 24, 2022•53 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Send us a text Our latest episode takes us to one of the forgotten battlefields of the Great War - Festubert. Over ten days in May 1915 the British suffered 16,000 casualties for no material gain. Why did this battle happen? We begin by looking at the "entente discordiale" between the British and the French, with relations between Sir John French and General Joffre at an all-time low. The battle, was designed to stop the Germans from sending resources south to combat the French offensive at Vimy...
Jul 17, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Send us a text On the 23rd of September 1914, the BEF went into action, fighting the Germans around the Belgian city of Mons. The small but highly trained BEF was outnumbered three to one by the Germans and found themselves isolated by a natural salient formed in the Mons Canal at the village of Nimy. It was here that the first two VCs of the war were won, whereas just upstream, two further VCs were won in the Allies' desperate attempts to hold the bridges and prevent the Germans from crossing. ...
Jul 10, 2022•57 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Send us a text In our latest episode, we visit one of the most iconic battlefields anywhere on the Western Front, the Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel. The park was the site of the tragedy of the first day of the Somme for the Newfoundland Regiment - we look at who these men were, their contribution to the wider war effort, and what happened on that fateful day in July 1916. We then look at the work of Geoffrey Malins, the official cinematographer whose footage taken from the sunken ...
Jul 03, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Send us a text To the northeast of Ypres stands a dark and forbidding woodland, formerly an equestrian centre and rifle range that became a ferocious battlefield in the September of 1917. Known as Polygon Wood, the shell-ravaged landscape was captured in bitter fighting by men of the 5th Australian Division. In this podcast, we look at the events of the 26/27th of September and hear the personal stories of some of the men who died in capturing this vital woodland. We hear about two VC winners wh...
Jun 19, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Send us a text In our latest episode, we visit one of the forgotten battlefields of WW1, the small village of Cuinchy. Location of the infamous brick stacks, the village appears in many personal memoirs, and while there were no major offensives per se, it was a mincing machine for British troops for the duration of the war. We hear about the scandalous court case intrigue of a Coldstream Guards officer, a highly talented painter who lost his life, the winner of the first DSO of the Great War, an...
Jun 12, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Send us a text Our journey today takes us to the small Somme village of Guedecourt. Throughout September 1916 the village was the scene of violent fighting as the Allies sought to gain control of the village and the high ground beyond. In their way stood a formidable German defensive line, the Gird system of trenches which had to be taken trench by trench. The battalions involved, especially those from the east of England paid a heavy price. Drawing on personal narratives, we look at the fightin...
Jun 05, 2022•53 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Send us a text In our latest podcast, we visit the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery in Arras to discover the personal stories of some of the men who lie buried within. The cemetery has a real connection with Birmingham and the men of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. We hear the story of two sets of brothers from Birmingham who died in very different circumstances, the first man to join the Birmingham Pals, a tragic accident that led to the deaths of three Scottish soldiers and visit the unique headsto...
May 29, 2022•59 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Send us a text This latest episode looks at alcohol and its influence at home and the front. Our journey begins in a London pub containing a remarkable piece of WW1 memorabilia, where time has remained still since 1915. We examine the alcohol restrictions imposed on the home front to preserve industrial production, especially amongst munitions workers, and hear about the so-called "Carlisle Experiment," which changed the way pubs were run for over sixty years. We then head to the front line and ...
May 22, 2022•59 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Send us a text In this first Trench Talk of Season 4, it's a real pleasure to be joined by Helen Roberts. Helen is an avid history fanatic who was fascinated by the large chalk map of Australia carved into the side of a hill near her home in Wiltshire. Her research into the map led her on a fascinating journey of discovery into the lives of many Australian soldiers who were based at the nearby Hurdcott Camp during WW1; these men created the first map in 1917. Determined not to let such a wonderf...
May 15, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Send us a text To the southeast of Ypres, in what was once a lover's lane, stands a small artificial hill created from the digging of the Ypres-Comines railway. Standing just 60ft above sea level, Hill 60 was strategically a vital spot, giving unbroken views towards Ypres. For a period of four days in April 1915, this small hilltop became one of the most dangerous places on earth, with four battalions of infantry battling the German defenders with bombs, bayonets, and picks and shovels. The figh...
May 08, 2022•59 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Send us a text Welcome back to Season 4 of the podcast! In this episode, we're on the little-visited battlefields around Fampoux, east of the city of Arras. These few acres of farmland became a slaughterhouse for the British infantry in April 1917. The village of Fampoux and the fearsome Hyderabad Redoubt was captured with relative ease, but as they attacked and pushed east towards Roeux and its heavily fortified chemical works, German machine guns took a heavy toll on the exhausted British divi...
May 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Send us a text In our final episode of Season 3, we travel to the village of Contalmaison on the Somme battlefields and begin by visiting the magnificent Contalmaison Cairn, the memorial to the 16th Royal Scots. Known as McCrae's Boys, the regiment was a Pals Battalion, with many members of the Heart of Midlothian football team making up its first members. They paid a heavy price on the opening day of the Somme for their desire to do their bit. We hear about the fighting for the village, how the...
Apr 10, 2022•57 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Send us a text "If the British public knew what was really happening, the war would be over tomorrow" stated David Lloyd George to the editor of the Manchester Evening News in 1917. In this episode, we look at the press, their involvement in the front line, and how the War was reported back at home. How accurate a picture did the British public get of the reality of War? How could reporters produce a balanced copy when hamstrung by censorship of every word they wrote? Unwanted, censored, and fol...
Apr 03, 2022•59 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Send us a text In this latest of our series of Trench Talk, it's a pleasure to be joined by author and historian Simon Batten. Simon is the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning book "Futile Exercise?" which examined the British Army's preparation for WW1 in the form of the massive all arms exercises that took place in the run-up to WW1. The scale of these maneuvers was incredible, and some of the Generals who went on to become well-known during the Great War cut their teeth in th...
Mar 27, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Send us a text On the 25th September 1915, the Battle of Loos began in Artois, in what was the largest British offensive of the war to date. While the majority of the fighting took place around the mine workings and slag heaps around Loos and Hulluch, some fourteen miles to the north, a diversionary attack took place at Mauquissart in an attempt to try and prevent German reserves being sent south to reinforce the German lines. Their objective was to capture German lines between Pietre and Mauqui...
Mar 20, 2022•55 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Send us a text In this latest episode, we return to Belgium and look at the opening actions of the attempts by the Allies to capture a small Flanders farming village, whose name has become synonymous with the futility of the Great War - Passchendaele. The capture of Passchendaele was the story of the Empire, men from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand who travelled from the other sides of the world to lay down their lives for the mother country. In this episode, we look at the fighting at Graven...
Mar 13, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Send us a text In our latest podcast, we head to one of the Great War's forgotten fronts - Mesopotamia, or modern-day Iraq. A campaign that was almost medieval in its approach to fighting, the critical waterway, the Shatt al Arab became the focus of fighting in a landscape devoid of any proper infrastructure. In this episode we look at some of the key events, culminating in an analysis of the siege of Kut, a 147-day campaign that cost the lives of 30,000 Allied soldiers, and sent 13,000 men on a...
Mar 06, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Send us a text On the 9th April 1915, Private Isaac Reid of the 2nd Scots Guards was shot dead by a firing party of men from his own regiment. Charged with desertion at Neuve Chappelle, according to the writer Stephen Graham, Reid's fate was sealed by the malevolent actions of his CSM James Lawton. As a result of Reid's execution, the men of the Scots Guards vowed to restore their honour by fighting to the last bullet during their next engagement. During the fighting at Festubert in May 1915, ei...
Feb 27, 2022•58 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Send us a text Along with Khe Sahn and Iwo Jima, the fighting at Belleau Wood is part of the US Marine Corps legend. In 26 days in June 1918, the US Marine Corps fought its first major engagement of WW1, when it was tasked with taking the heavily defended Belleau Wood. Despite being massacred by German machine guns, the Marines fought with tenacity and bravery, in a gladiatorial arena of violence that was described by one veteran as the most brutal hand-to-hand fighting witnessed in four years o...
Feb 20, 2022•57 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Send us a text In this latest episode of Trench Talk it's a pleasure to be joined by Mike Cunha. Mike is a military historian, researcher, podcaster, and high school teacher from Boston in the United States. His podcast "Battles of the First World War" is hugely successful and examines battles in almost microscopic detail. We talk about how a heavy metal track inspired Mike's interest in the Great War and in this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about Mike's podcast, and his desire to bring WW...
Feb 13, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Send us a text In our latest episode, we look at the life and work of one of the Great War's most colourful characters, Major John Norton-Griffiths. Conservative MP, philanthropist, jingoistic, and imperialistic to his core, Griffiths took the skills he had learned as a mining engineer, to reap a trail of destruction against the Germans through his campaign of mining across both the Western and Eastern Fronts. Opinionated, passionate, and by all accounts extremely difficult to work for, Griffith...
Feb 06, 2022•53 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Send us a text As the land of the Great War has been reclaimed for housing, industry, and agriculture in the hundred or so years since the War ended, there's very little of the battlefields left for us to see. One exception to this, however, is in the area around the small village of Messines, to the south of Ypres. The fields are dotted with peaceful fishing lakes, which belie the ferocity in which they came into creation. The Messines offensive in 1917 was arguably the most significant British...
Jan 30, 2022•57 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Send us a text Our podcast today takes us back to the fields around Hooge near Ypres where once stood Zouave Wood. On the 30th July 1915, the Germans attacked men of the 8th Rifle Brigade and 7th Kings Royal Rifle Corps with a terrifying new weapon of war - the flammenwerfen - or flame thrower. What followed was one of the disasters of military planning where senior command's refusal to listen to men on the ground caused the deaths of hundreds of soldiers in an attack that was fatally flawed fro...
Jan 23, 2022•51 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Send us a text In today's episode, we visit Point du Jour Cemetery near Athies, just outside Arras to walk through the cemetery and hear the stories of some of the men who lie buried within. We begin with an overview of the Battle of Arras, before visiting the magnificent stone cairn to the memory of the 9th Scottish Division, known informally as The Jocks and Boks division. We hear the story of a New Zealand soldier who died during a disastrous trench raid with the men of the Cheshire Regiment,...
Jan 16, 2022•58 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Send us a text In our first episode of 2022, we pay a visit to one of the lesser-known killing fields of WW1. Covering just a few acres of arable land between Cambrai and St Quentin, the strong points of Gillemont Farm, The Knoll, and Quennett Copse, were the scene of some of the most brutal hand-to-hand fighting between the British and Germans anywhere on the Western Front. One veteran described the aftermath of a British attack on the farmyard, as looking like an abattoir, with the blood of th...
Jan 02, 2022•50 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Send us a text In this episode, we look at Christmas in wartime, both on the home front and in the front line. We talk about a lucky purchase from a small Northamptonshire auction house that provided insight not only into the political history of South Africa, but also an affectionate Christmas gift sent to a soldier in 1916 who was to lose his life just sixteen days later, in tragic circumstances. Fifty-six men with the surname Christmas lost their lives in World War One, and we look at two of ...
Dec 26, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Send us a text The Royal Naval Division, made from men whose presence wasn't needed onboard ships, fought with distinction during WW1, from the defence of Antwerp in 1914, through Gallipoli, and onto the Somme in 1916. It was during the fighting for the village of Beaucourt that the men of the Hawke Battalion paid a heavy price, with only 20 men surviving from the 400+ who went into battle. In this episode, we look at the Royal Naval Division, its history, and the actions of the 13/14th November...
Dec 19, 2021•52 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Send us a text The Army Postal Service (APS) was a remarkable organisation that handled over 2 billion letters and 12 million parcels throughout the Great War. A letter posted in London would normally arrive in France with a soldier in less than 48 hours. The postal service played a vital role in many areas including the emancipation of women, espionage and played a vital role in the morale of the troops. Letters and parcels brought welcome news and much-needed supplies. Many soldiers, however, ...
Dec 12, 2021•46 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Send us a text In our latest episode of "Trench Talk" it's a real pleasure to sit down and chat with Dr Irfan Malik. Dr. Malik grew up with stories of the men from his home village of Dulmial who went off to fight for the British in WW1 in greater numbers than from any other Indian village. In this wide-ranging chat, we hear about how a chance conversation with one of his patients led Dr. Malik on a research journey that has given him unparalleled knowledge of the contribution made by Muslim sol...
Dec 05, 2021•53 min•Season 3Ep. 8
