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Send us a textJoin us this month as we chat with Preb Jane Davies, a Fownhope-born retired vicar who has unearthed the First World War stories of two great-uncles. Harry and Leonard Whittaker were sons of a Woolhope gamekeeper. Leonard emigrated to Australia just before the war and Harry joined the Herefordshire Regiment in September 1914. Both served overseas, Harry tragically dying of wounds at Gallipoli aged only 19.Jane, Andy and Paul reflect on the conditions at Gallipoli, the impacts of losses on Herefordshire families and social relationships in village life. Leonard's Australian service papers are examined and a picture is built of his service - including winning a gallantry medal at the Battle of Messines Ridge in June 1917.Jane shares stories of her upbringing in nearby Fownhope, a farmer's daughter - including the Heart of Oak Society of Fownhope and this friendly society's impact all aspects of the village.Support the showIf you like what you hear, don't forget to like and subscribe to help us reach a wider audience. Visit our website - Herefordshire Light Infantry Museum; follow us on Facebook Herefordshire Regimental Museum | Facebook or visit our Youtube channel Herefordshire Regimental Museum - YouTube.Support the Museum? Become a Patreon supporter or a Become a FriendTheme Tune - The Lincolnshire Poacher, performed by the outstanding Haverhill Silver Band. This podcast generously supported by the Army Museums Ogilby Trust.
The first stage of Haig's long awaited Flanders Offensive began on June 7th, 1917.
In this episode we walk from the village of Wytschaete ('Whitesheet' to the soldiers), along part of the Messines Ridge, scene of fighting in 1917, and visit three small battlefield cemeteries, reflecting on how we connect with these comrade's burial grounds of the Great War. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/oldfrontline)
In this episode, I talk about planning for an amphibious attack on the Flanders coast, called Operation Hush. Then I look at the planning for the attack on Messines ridge, south of Ypres. we see a large number of mines shattered the Germans before the advance began on 7 June 1917. The narrative covers the capture of the ridge and the fighting which followed over the week that followed.
In this episode, I look at the fighting which took place around Messines Ridge, Ploegsteert Wood, Aubers Ridge and the La Bassée Canal in October and November 1914. Although the main German attacks were aimed at Ypres, any breakthrough in these areas would have resulted in the evacuation of the Salient.
On the slopes of the Messines Ridge, Croonaert Wood (or Bayernwald as the Germans called it) was one of the places connected to Adolf Hitler's story in the Great War. We uncover his connection to the fighting here in 1914, look at the role of the French Army in this sector and uncover the history of the WW1 Trench Museum that was once here in the 1970s and 80s and the reconstructed trenches that still remain within the wood today.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/oldfrontline)
In this episode we start in the village of Wulverghem and walk via Ration Farm, and some battlefield cemeteries, up onto the Messines Ridge. This weeks WW1 object is a collection of 'Fragments From France' magazines and we discuss the work of cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather, famous for the 'Old Bill' cartoons.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/oldfrontline)
The Principles of War - Lessons from Military History on Strategy, Tactics and Leadership.
This presentation, part of the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company's Firepower: Lessons from the Great War Seminar Series. This Plenary Session is conducted by MAJ GEN Michael Crane, DSC and Bar, AM. Check out the show notes for the podcast for all of the information that we cover in this episode as well as the images and other details that didn't make it into the podcast. Join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.
In the first five programmes looking at 1917, Dan Snow explores the events of the year through the recollections of those who were there. As the fighting became more and more desperate, in the air, on the Western Front - even below ground in extensive mining operations - the morale of those being sent into battle was at times becoming dangerously low. Morale was never worse in the Royal Flying Corps than in spring 1917, which became known as 'Bloody April'. Germany had the upper hand at this point of the war in the air, with superior tactics, training, and technology. Crisis enveloped the French Army from May onwards, as mutiny took hold among their long-suffering troops. Dan also looks at the extraordinary feats of military engineering - and deadly human cost - involved in exploding 20 huge mines at the Messines Ridge. Soldiers and officers speak about the issue of rank and class in the British Army of 1917, by which time many of the ex-public school officers had been wiped out. And there are conflicting versions of events when it comes to the British mutiny at Etaples in September, but Officer Jim Davies, at the centre of the action on the bridge between the army camp and the town, tells his story. Voices of the First World War is made in partnership between the BBC and the Imperial War Museums.
Reaching 1917, Dan Snow explores the events of the year through the recollections of those who were there. As the fighting became more and more desperate, in the air, on the Western Front - even below ground in extensive mining operations - the morale of those being sent into battle was at times becoming dangerously low. In archive interviews survivors of the war recall their role in the attack on Messines Ridge in June 1917, which began with the devastating use of more than 20 huge mines, and the horrific destruction wreaked, both on the Germans and the landscape.
The return of the major series tracking the development of the First World War through the archives of the Imperial War Museums and the BBC. Reaching 1917, Dan Snow explores the events of the year through the recollections of those who were there. As the fighting became more and more desperate, in the air, on the Western Front - even below ground in extensive mining operations - the morale of those being sent into battle was at times becoming dangerously low. Morale was never worse in the Royal Flying Corps than in spring 1917, which became known as 'Bloody April'. Germany had the upper hand at this point in the war, with superior tactics, training, and technology. With outclassed aircraft, the RFC suffered disastrous losses throughout the month, and beyond. Cecil Lewis and Norman Macmillan eloquently describe the intensity of the dogfights of spring 1917, and others recall the leading flying ace at the time, Captain Albert Ball, who was lost in early May. In the first five programmes of this year's series, Dan will be also looking at the French mutinies of May 1917 onwards, and the extraordinary feats of military engineering - and deadly cost to German soldiers - involved in exploding 20 huge mines at the Messines Ridge. Soldiers and officers speak about the issue of rank and class in the British Army of 1917, by which time many of the ex-public school officers had been wiped out. There are conflicting versions of events when it comes to the British mutiny at Etaples in September, but Officer Jim Davies, at the centre of the action on the bridge between the army camp and the town, tells his story. Voices of the First World War is made in partnership between the BBC and the Imperial War Museums.
Messines 100 years on, singer Janet Dowd's inspiration, and Gelvin remembers its past.
The final omnibus of Season 10, Our Daily Bread, set in Folkestone, in the week, in 1917, when biggest man-made explosion in history removed Messines Ridge. Cast Eric Morton ..... Paul Rainbow Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford Florrie Wilson ..... Claire Rushbrook Ralph Winwood ..... Nick Murchie Mrs Grimes ..... Amelda Brown Anna White ..... Amelia Lowdell Kitty Wilson ..... Ami Metcalf Maisie Harris ..... Cassie Layton Alice Macknade ..... Claire Louise Cordwell Hilary Pearce ..... Craige Els Adeline Lumley ..... Helen Schlesinger Albert Wilson ..... Jamie Foreman Sylvia Graham ..... Joanna David Reporter ..... John Bowler Walter Hamilton ..... Joseph Kloska Juliet Cavendish ..... Lizzie Bourne Esme Macknade ..... Katie Angelou Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw Oscar Hendrickx ..... Pierre Elliot Joan Edkins ..... Rachel Davis Dorothea Winwood ..... Rachel Shelley Alfred Norris ..... Richard Curnow Eleanor Tanney ..... Sarah Ridgeway Norman Harris ..... Sean Baker Wampach ..... Simon Treves Jane Underdown ..... Susan Porrett Alec Poole ..... Tom Stuart Peter Lumley ..... Bea White Written by Katie Hims Directed by Ciaran Bermingham & Jessica Dromgoole Story-led by Sarah Daniels Sound: Martha Littlehailes Composer: Matthew Strachan Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews NOTES: The next season (Season 11) focuses on Madness and Trauma, and is set in Folkestone from 31 July to 22 September 1917.
On this day in 1917, in the early hours of the morning, people as far away as Dublin were woken by the detonation of Messines Ridge, the biggest man-made explosion in history. In Folkestone, it's deafening. Singers ..... Nancy Cole, Ksynia Loeffler, Stephen Jeffes, Tom Raskin, Charles Gibbs Organ - David Smith Written by Katie Hims Singers conducted by Sam Evans Sound: Martha Littlehailes Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
Jules Hudson goes to Cannock Chase in Staffordshire to find out about its military past. A major training camp during the First World War, he visits a mock-up of part of the Western Front that was built in order to familiarise troops with the concept of trench warfare, before they were sent to France and Flanders. Now covered in scrub, county archaeologists will begin clearing the site, a model of Messines Ridge, this summer. This is in preparation for the centenary commemorations next year that mark the beginning of the First World War. Cannock Chase as a whole can be seen as a landscape of commemoration. Besides the mock-up of the Trenches, the area is home to cemeteries for Commonwealth and German soldiers who died in the UK during both world wars, including the crews of the Zeppelins shot down over Britain during the First World War. Jules also visits a memorial to the Katyn Massacre on the Chase, which commemorates the 22,000 Polish soldiers who were shot by the Soviets on Stalin's orders in 1940. Producer: Mark Smalley.