Living History with Mat McLachlan

At a quarter past four in the morning on the 13th of June 1944, the world's first cruise missile fell out of the sky onto a railway bridge in the East End of London. It killed six people. One of them was 19-year-old Ellen Woodcraft. Another was her eight-month-old son. Their husband and father was a soldier in Normandy. He would not learn of their deaths for days. In this episode, Mat McLachlan te...

Every Anzac Day we tell the story of the men in the boats. This year, we're telling the story of the men on the cliffs above them. On April 25th, 1915, Deputy Officer Muharrem stood in a shallow trench above a small cove on the Gallipoli coast and watched 4000 Australian soldiers rowing toward him through the darkness. He had 160 men to stop them. No reinforcements. No artillery. No orders. Behind...

Eighty-five years ago, 14,000 Australian soldiers were surrounded in a dusty Libyan port by Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. They were outnumbered, outgunned and cut off from the world. Nazi propaganda called them rats caught in a trap. They took the name and made it their own. In this episode, Mat McLachlan tells the story of the Siege of Tobruk — 242 days that proved the German blitzkrieg could be s...

In the spring of 1918, Germany launched its greatest offensive of the war. The British Fifth Army collapsed under the weight of it. And somewhere in the chaos of that retreat, on a railway embankment west of a small French village called Dernancourt, four thousand Australians were told to hold the line against twenty-five thousand Germans. In this episode, Mat McLachlan tells the story of the Batt...

In 1945, a young American psychiatrist named Douglas M. Kelley was given an extraordinary assignment: evaluate the 22 most senior Nazis awaiting trial at Nuremberg and determine whether they were mentally fit to face justice. Among his patients was Hermann Göring, Hitler's second-in-command, who was charismatic, manipulative and utterly unrepentant. What Kelley discovered shook him to his core. Us...

In March 1885, thirty years before Gallipoli, 770 men from New South Wales sailed for the deserts of Sudan — the first Australian soldiers ever sent to fight in a foreign war. In this episode, Mat McLachlan tells the forgotten story of Australia's Sudan Contingent — the part-time soldiers, weekend volunteers and colonial clerks who marched through Sydney in scarlet jackets to a crowd of 200,000, t...

In February 1951, while Australia slept, soldiers from 3RAR were crawling through knee-deep snow on frozen Korean ridgelines — fighting a war their own country barely noticed and has largely forgotten since. In this episode, Mat McLachlan tells the story of Operation Killer — the brutal UN counter-offensive that turned the tide of the Korean War. Through the voices of the men who were there, we fo...

In February 1942, when the Japanese Imperial Army launched its assault on Singapore, 880 Australians would die in just four days—not in the surrender that followed, but in the desperate battle to defend the island. In this episode, Mat McLachlan reveals the forgotten story of the invasion of Singapore—four days in February 1942 that have been overshadowed by the surrender and the horrors of captiv...

In November 1916, when the great Somme offensive ground to its bloody halt, over 20,000 Australians would become casualties not from enemy fire, but from the winter itself. In this powerful episode, Mat McLachlan reveals the forgotten story of the Somme winter of 1916-17—an ordeal that historian Bill Gammage called "the worst experience the AIF ever endured." Through authentic accounts and persona...

On October 12th, 1917, Captain Clarence Jeffries led one hundred Australian troops toward a German machine gun position on the Passchendaele road. He'd already captured one pillbox that morning—exactly the kind of action that had worked brilliantly in September. But the ground had turned to liquid mud. The barrage was invisible. Everything was different. Jeffries was killed instantly, posthumously...

On October 4th, 1917 a thousand British guns opened fire on German positions along Broodseinde Ridge. What followed was described by Crown Prince Rupprecht as "the black day of the war." For the first time, German high command began to consider the unthinkable: that they might actually lose. The Battle of Broodseinde was the third and final success in General Plumer's carefully planned offensive....

On September 26th, 1917, at Polygon Wood, three cousins from the same Australian pioneering family waited in the pre-dawn darkness. Raymond Single would soon be shot by a sniper who saw his luminous watch glow. Within hours, Hubert Thompson and Wilfred Single would also be dead. At 5:50 AM, a thousand guns opened simultaneously in what Frank Hurley called "a blinding sheet of flame." The Battle of...

On September 20th, 1917, at the Battle of Menin Road, Private Roy Inwood lay in the mud east of Ypres. His brother had died at Pozières the year before. In three hours, Roy would earn the Victoria Cross. The day after, he'd be dead. Nearby, three brothers from Petersham waited with their unit. By nightfall, their mother would have lost all three sons. After weeks of catastrophic failures under Gen...

When Field Marshal Douglas Haig launched his great Flanders offensive in July 1917, he believed he was unleashing the battle that would end the war. Instead, he condemned three-quarters of a million men to fight and die in what would become synonymous with the horror of the Western Front. In this opening episode, Mat McLachlan reveals how the stage was set for Third Ypres through a deadly converge...

When 35,000 Allied paratroopers dropped into Holland in September 1944, four Australians from opposite corners of the continent found themselves at the heart of one of World War Two's most catastrophic operations. In this remarkable episode, Mat McLachlan reveals the forgotten Australian stories of Operation Market Garden. Through authentic accounts and personal testimonies, we follow Keith Prowd...

While the world watched Iwo Jima and Okinawa, over 70,000 Australian soldiers were fighting and dying in what many would later call the 'unnecessary wars' - the final campaigns in Bougainville, New Guinea and Borneo. In this powerful episode, Mat McLachlan tells the forgotten story of Australia's last battles of World War Two. From November 1944 to August 1945, Australian forces fought through som...

Was dropping the atomic bomb necessary? For nearly 80 years, historians have debated President Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan. But secret intelligence intercepts - classified for decades after the war - reveal what Japanese leaders were actually planning in the summer of 1945. Using newly available evidence from the "Magic" intercepts, Mat McLachlan examines the brutal alte...

Step into the hallowed halls of London's Guards Museum with Mat McLachlan as he uncovers extraordinary artifacts from one of history's most pivotal battles. In this captivating episode, Mat takes you behind the scenes to examine authentic Waterloo relics that have survived over two centuries - from battle-worn uniforms and weapons to personal effects that once belonged to the soldiers who fought o...

In October 1942, as Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps prepared for one final push towards Cairo, Australia's 9th Division and New Zealand's 2nd Division stood ready at El Alamein for what would become the decisive battle of the North African campaign. Author Tom Gilling joins Mat McLachlan to explore how Montgomery's meticulously planned offensive depended on the tenacity of these Anzac forces t...

On July 1st, 1916, 800 young Newfoundlanders climbed out of a trench and walked into history at Beaumont-Hamel. In twenty minutes, an entire generation was lost. This is their story - from fishermen's sons volunteering in St. John's to seasoned soldiers facing the German lines on the Somme. Through the actual words of Lieutenant Owen Steele, Private Frank Lind, and others who were there, Mat McLac...

Billy Sing was a living contradiction - an Australian of Chinese and English descent, who went on to become Australia's deadliest sniper of all time. In this episode Mat explores Billy's life, his deadly work at Gallipoli and his sad decline once the war was over. Presenter: Mat McLachlan Producer: Jess Stebnicki Join one of our battlefield tours and walk in the footsteps of the Anzacs! Visit http...

This week marks the 210th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, the epic battle that resulted in the defeat of Napoleon and the rewriting of European history. But recent research has revealed that one man who fought at the battle had a fascinating connection with Australia. Lieutenant Andrew White of the Royal Engineers had been born in the fledgling colony of NSW, the son of a convict. His journ...

It's been 60 years since the first Australian combat troops were deployed to Vietnam. In this episode Mat discusses the political situation that led to their deployment, their early actions and the lessons learned that helped shape our commitment to the war. Presenter: Mat McLachlan Producer: Jess Stebnicki Join one of our battlefield tours and walk in the footsteps of the Anzacs! Visit https://ba...

This week marks the anniversary of the Battle of Messines, in June 1917. At the time, it was considered the greatest Allied victory of the war, and Australian and New Zealand troops played a vital role. In this episode Mat breaks down the battle, what innovative tactics helped to win it, and the huge Anzac sacrifice required to bring victory. Presenter: Mat McLachlan Producer: Jess Stebnicki Join...

May 8 marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the day the Germans surrendered in the Second World War. Mat is joined by historian Lachlan Grant from the Australian War Memorial to discuss what this important day meant for Australians, both at home and overseas. Presenter: Mat McLachlan Guest: Lachlan Grant Producer: Jess Stebnicki Join one of our battlefield tours and walk in the foot...