Tales from the Battlefields

In this episode we travel to the 1917 Arras battlefield following in the footsteps of Sgt Fred Height, 9th Royal Fusiliers. Fred was killed on the first day of the battle and has no known grave. We follow his journey from his home in Northamptonshire to France, and walk the battlefield where his battalion advanced. We discover a possible grave for Fred in a nearby cemetery. We also talk to 15 year old Harry, who reads a poem he wrote after visiting the mine craters on the Somme battlefield.

In this episode we travel to Vimy Ridge and discover how the Canadian Divisions came together to storm the German defences on Easter Monday 1917. We talk to Canadian historian Samantha McCrae and she explains how a Canadian soldier was awarded the Victoria Cross for his brave actions, but was killed in the process. And how a medic gave his life treating the wounded. We also discover how the Canadians planned and executed the attack and why tunnels, a model of the battlefield, heavy artillery and even the weather played a part in their incredible success. What does this battle mean to Canadians today? We find out.

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?