Tales from the Battlefields

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 lik...

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 battle...

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 questio...

In this weeks' podcast we travel once again to the battlefields of the Western Front in the footsteps of 5 men who fought there. We follow in their footsteps as I take 3 family members on an emotional tour to find out what happened to these men.

This week's podcast features the ABF The Soldiers' Charity "Frontline Walk" and we talk to the charity about this incredible event that, for the last 8 years, has raised over £1.4 million for our soldiers, veterans and their families. The walk covers 100k in just 3 days from Lochnager Crater on the Somme to the Menin Gate in Ypres, via Vimy Ridge. Along the way we discover the stories of these inf...

In this week's episode we travel to Poperinge to talk to the the manager of Talbot House, a beautiful Belgian house that offered sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers during the Great War. Simon tells the story of the house and "Tubby" Clayton, the incredible inspiration behind the house.

In this week's podcast we take the microphone to the 1915 Loos battlefield and, along with his Grandson, walk in the footsteps of a soldier who was badly wounded there. What happened to him and how did his descendant feel as he walked the ground? We also visit Lochnager Crater on the Somme and talk to the working group, including the owner Richard Dunning, who spent the weekend restoring the Crate...

Mollie Dunkley's is 94 and her father Charlie, who served in the Great War, was wounded 3 times and survived his troop ship being sunk. In this week's episode, we talk to Mollie about her memories of her father and how he coped with the affects of his Great War experience. Mollie also talked about life in a small Northamptonshire village during the 2nd World War. This episode is a social history r...

This week's podcast is from the Somme. It includes an interview with the custodians of the Ulster Memorial Tower and we tell the story of the 36th Ulster Division on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

In this week's episode, we look at the work of the CWGC's team of gardeners throughout the world. We examine the stories of the some of the gardeners who remained on the Western Front after the Armistice, and include an interview with one of the current gardeners, Diego Blondel.

 In this week's podcast we look at the work of Julie and David Thomson who moved to the Somme battlefield in 2012 and opened a Bed & Breakfast on the old German front line in La Boisselle.  They explain why they moved to the Somme, what it is like to live and work there, the stories of 3 soldiers who were awarded the Victoria Cross for their efforts in the village. Julie explains her own famil...

In this week's podcast we mark the 105th anniversary of the Battle of Arras by looking at the story of the battle through the eyes of the soldiers who were there. We look at 2 men who died on 2 key days during the battle - 9th and 23rd April, and look at what happened using eye witness accounts of the veterans.

In this episode we look at how a 45 year old man, Fabian Ware, set up the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and we discuss the stories of the youngest and oldest soldiers who are commemorated by the Commission. The podcast also includes an interview with Megan Kelleher, Public Engagement Co-ordinator for the Commission. 

In this week's episode, I chat to Richard Dunning MBE, the owner of the Lochnager Crater on the 1916 Somme battlefield. Richard bought the Crater in 1978,and in this hour long special he explains why he bought the Crater, and also the stories of the veterans that he met and accompanied to the Somme over the many years.

In this week's podcast we tell the stories of 2 young soldiers who fell in the German Spring Offensive in March 1918, and how I guided the family of one of them on an emotional pilgrimage exactly 100 years later. The podcast also reports on my trip to Ypres and the Somme this week 

107 years ago this week the Battle of Neuve Chapelle took place. In this episode, we look at the battle through the eyes of the men who were there, using unpublished accounts.

In this week's episode, we look at the incredible stories of several brothers who served during the Great War. What happened to them? Did they come home? How did their parents cope? And how did one of them get killed fighting in a battle that took place 18 months after the Armistice?

In this first episode of the podcast, we look at how I became a battlefield guide and the incredible stories of my Grandfather and Great Uncle, who provided the inspiration for my interest in the Great War.