Footsteps of the fallen

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we walk the battlefield of Gommecourt, the scene of a diversionary attack on the first day of the Somme battle which saw almost 6000 men become casualties. Untried and untested the men of the 46th and 56th Divisions found themselves attacking one of the most heavily defended strongpoints on the entire Western Front, a mass of machine guns, barbed wire, and dugouts...

Send us Fan Mail Just to the south of Messines, lies a patch of woodland that packs in more military history in a small space than perhaps any other location on the Western Front.   Ploegsteert Wood (or Plugstreet as it was known to the British) saw action in every year of the War. It saw the creation of the most iconic cartoon characters to come out of the War and the death of one of the greatest...

Send us Fan Mail Our next episode takes in one of the most iconic and poignant spots anywhere on the Western Front,  Devonshire Cemetery on the Somme.  Containing 161 men of the 8th and 9th Devons who died on the opening day of the Somme, the cemetery contains the graves of two men who foresaw their own deaths - Captain Duncan Martin and Lieutenant Noel Hodgson. The story of Captain Martin's...

Send us Fan Mail In this podcast episode, I have the absolute privilege of talking to England rugby player, 2003 Rugby World Cup winner, and Great War fanatic Lewis Moody MBE. Lewis's interest in the Great War came from being given his Great Grandfather's 1914 Star as a youngster, a medal that travelled the world with him throughout his rugby career and became an integral part of his pre...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we head back to Belgium and walk the battlefield from Hellfire Corner up to the summit of Mount Sorrel on Hill 62. We look at Hellfire Corner "the most dangerous place on earth" and hear how a light-fingered Scot made off with what was considered to be the finest war souvenir ever seen.  We visit Birr Cross Roads, and hear the story of Harold Ackroyd VC...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we look at the sportsmen who laid down their lives for their countries during the Great War. Prompted by such eminent voices as Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, men from all sports rushed to enlist, with the campaign being so successful one battalion, the 17th Middlesex was known as the Footballers Battalion.  We start with how cycling was used to restore public morale once...

Send us Fan Mail Our second visit to the battlefield looks at the events of the 25/26 September 1915, where 75,000 men of the BEF advanced behind a curtain of poison gas in an attempt to break the German line once and for all. In the town of Loos itself, men of the Scottish division made incredible progress and found themselves on the top of Hill 70 overlooking the open plains towards Lens.  Sadly...

Send us Fan Mail In September 1915, the British launched their largest offensive of the war to date and their fourth offensive against the Germans in Artois. The location was the grim mining town of Loos, a pancake-flat barren landscape of fortified villages, mine workings, chimneys, and slag heaps.  To make up for a critical lack of artillery shells, the British would use poison gas for the first...

Send us Fan Mail It became very apparent that the war wouldn't be over by Christmas 1914 as many had hoped for, and in this special episode, we look at how soldiers in the front celebrated Christmas, and how many charitable organizations ensured that home comforts were supplied to the men at war.  From container ships of Christmas puddings to brass tins of spices, we examine what Christmas wa...

Send us Fan Mail On the edge of a small field near Fromelles, in northern France stands one of the most poignant and emblematic monuments anywhere on the Western Front.  Called "Cobbers" the statue depicts an Australian soldier carrying a wounded comrade on his back, and stands on the top of what was a German blockhouse. How did this memorial come about, and why does the village of Frome...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, our journey through the footsteps of the fallen examines the remarkable vision and perseverance of a 45-year-old Red Cross Ambulance driver by the name of Fabien Ware, whose dismay at the state of war graves, led him to become the founding father of what is now known as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  We examine the creation of the organization, the chall...

Send us Fan Mail Our 10th episode takes us back to Northern France, where we visit the battlefield of the British offensive against the Aubers Ridge.  What was supposed to be a gentle stroll across the Artois countryside, turned into an offensive that was abandoned after only 15 hours.  By the time night fell, over 11,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing, and the German lines remained staunchl...

Send us Fan Mail This special episode to coincide with Remembrance Day takes us to Mons in Belgium, where the first actions of the Great War between the British and Germans took place.  We visit the first and last shot memorials, and the grave of the first VC winner of the Great War.  We hear about the first and last British soldiers to die, and the death of the last Commonwealth soldier to die, s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we walk the battlefield of Delville Wood, the scene of the first engagement of the South African Infantry on the Western Front.  In a period of six days, they suffered almost 100% casualties and were subjected to German artillery bombardments of a ferocity unprecedented even by Great War standards.  We hear of the heroic struggle to hold the wood and the story of...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we walk the battlefield of the first German gas attack in April 1915.  We begin by surveying the battlefield from a German observation post at the Totemuhle or "Death Mill" and then visiting Vancouver Corner, the site of the magnificent Brooding Soldier Memorial.  We hear the story of two women caught up in the gas attack and how a gardening chemist disc...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we look at the lives of two soldiers from New Zealand, whose exceptional acts of bravery on the Somme saw them awarded the Victoria Cross.  The exploits of one of these men, Dick Travis, in No Mans Land made him a legend amongst the officers and men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and earned him the sobriquet "The King of No Mans Land".

Send us Fan Mail In our 5th episode, we have come back to Belgium and walk through Essex Farm cemetery near Ypres.  It's a cemetery full of stories, including the division that withstood the first use of a terrifying new weapon of war; a Black Country man who joined the Army to escape poverty and single-handedly saved the lives of his entire company, winning a VC in the process.  We hear abou...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we take our first trip to the Gallipoli peninsula where we hear about an unlikely hero whose exploits have entered into Australian folklore.  The immigrant son of a Tyneside seaman, John Simpson Kirkpatrick was an immensely popular figure amongst the Australian troops, and his courage and bravery under fire became the stuff of legend.  In just 24 days, the man wit...

Send us Fan Mail For a period of two months between July and September 1916, the British and Germans fought bitterly for control of High Wood, which dominated the Bazentin ridge on the Somme.  Described as being 75 acres of hell by an officer who served there, the wood claimed thousands of lives, and the career of one Corps Commander sacked for wanton waste of life. 

Send us Fan Mail In this second episode, we head into France and look at the first British offensive of the Great War, the battle of Neuve Chapelle.  A story of initial success, tempered by a lack of artillery ammunition and poor communications, the three-day offensive cost 12,000 lives for little material gain. 

Send us Fan Mail In this first episode, we visit Oxford Road cemetery near Ypres and hear about Clement Robinson, the first man from the tank corps to be awarded the VC and a man whose passing was described as being the greatest loss to English cricket since the death of WG Grace.