Tales from the Battlefields

In this episode we travel to the Somme battlefield of 1916 and 1918, and beyond, following in the footsteps of 5 soldiers. I tell their stories during a battlefield tour with their families. We learn how two of them were captured during the German Spring Offensive. One survived and one didn’t return home. We discover how a Northumberland Fusilier was killed and his grave lost. But did we find his final resting place? And the Ambulance Driver whose job it was to transport casualties to the medical units. But why did he end up on a charge? We also visit the Loos battlefield to discover a soldier killed on the first day of the battle. We also have another “battlefield coincidence.

In this episode we wander around some the small and isolated cemeteries of the Arras battlefield. We discover a tank crew with touching headstones. What is their story? And the story of the 8th Baron of Lucas, who was an amputee but still became a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. We discover the amazing coincidence when we opened the visitor’s book in Wancourt British Cemetery. And the driver who was killed by a “booby trap” following the German withdrawal from the Somme. We also look at what these men achieved in their lives and consider what they could have achieved had they survived the Great War.

In this episode we travel to St Pol and discover a memorial to the Unknown Warrior and the tragic story of 3 soldiers buried together who were “Shot at Dawn”. What is their story? We then walk the September 1916 Somme battlefield from Bazentin to Martinpuich and discover the “iron harvest” along the way and find out why so many Germans surrendered. Within a cemetery on the battlefield, we find 3 Newfoundland soldiers who were killed at Beaumont Hamel on 1st July 1916. But why are they buried so far away from where they fell?

In this episode we broadcast live from the village of Ovillers, in the heart of the 1916 Somme battlefield. We discover a quiet field known as “Mash Valley”, and discover the horror and terror that men of the 8th and 12th Divisions saw here in the first few days of July 1916. We hear the words of the men who were there, and discover the stories of some of the men who are buried in Ovillers Military Cemetery. We also discover the story of a French soldier, killed in Ovillers in December 1914. We also learn the story of a Lt Colonel who took his own life after wishing he had died with his men, and visit the grave of Captain John Lauder, son of the famous entertainer Harry Lauder.

In this episode we continue the story of Alfred Adams. Through his own words and others from both sides of the wire, we discover what happened on 21st March 1918. This was the first day of the German Spring Offensive. Alfred was wounded and captured on this day, and we find out what it was like to be surrounded by the enemy, forced to throw down your weapons and surrender, without knowing what will happen next. We follow Alfred’s journey from the battlefield, to a POW camp, to his final resting place in Cologne.