Podcasts about Royal Engineers

Afghanistan, January 2007.It's a piece of military daring that went down in history: Three Royal Marines and a Royal Engineer hold on to the side of Apache attack helicopters, heading into battle to recover a fallen comrade.Those involved in a gripping, almost unbelievable day, tell their story, many speaking for the first time.It begins with British forces, tasked with bringing security to Helmand Province in the South of Afghanistan.But Lieutenant Colonel Rob Magowan commanding the IX Battlegroup has a problem.Jugroom Fort.The Taliban command and control centre is a crucial route for enemy fighters making their way in from Pakistan. They train there. They rearm there. Jugroom Fort is the launchpad for attacks on British troops.But a bold plan to occupy the ancient stronghold with the battle-hardened Royal Marines of Zulu Company is about to meet intense resistance.And amid a gruelling firefight, a man is left behind.The Fort is told solely by current and former members of the Armed Forces.To listen to more episodes, search "The History Podcast" on BBC Sounds.Produced by Kev Core

In 2014, Josh enlisted in the British Army as a Royal Engineer, serving for a period of six years and attaining the rank of Sapper (Spr).In this episode, Josh discusses his journey of growing up and his aspiration to join the Royal Engineers. He also shares his experiences with basic training, phase 2 training to become a combat engineer, and his trade training as a driver at Defence School of Transport (DST) Leconfield. His first unit was 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment, within 9 Parachute Squadron, with the ambition to get his ‘wings'. During his time at this regiment, he was active with the rugby team.Josh also shares his experiences at 26 Engineer Regiment, prior to an injury to his hips that required surgery and ultimately led to his medical discharge, concluding his military career. He discusses his journey of maintaining activities as a rugby pitch side medic, and the impact all of this had on his mental well-being. Finally, he addresses his transition back to civilian life, highlighting the challenges and difficulties he encountered upon his departure from the military.Southampton Veterans' Trust: http://southampton-veterans.co.ukWatch Episode on YouTubePart 1: youtu.be/jRrpgbbaqEYPart 2: youtu.be/rQlAeBQvgggTikTok:tiktok.com/@militaryveteranspodcastInstagram:instagram.com/militaryveteranspodcastLinkedIn:linkedin.com/company/military-veterans-podcastMerchandise:milvetpodcast.com/merchSend us a textMessage at the end of the recording is from your host Gav, giving you information on how you can support the show through Patreon.Supporting monthly would help the show record future episodes and help with the upkeep of previous recordings. £5 a month will give you access to bonus recordings, where Gav and the guest chat about things that don't make it into the main recording. Thank you.Support the show

Afghanistan, January 2007. It's a piece of military daring that went down in history: Three Royal Marines and a Royal Engineer hold on to the side of Apache attack helicopters, heading into battle to recover a fallen comrade.Those involved in a gripping, almost unbelievable day, tell their story, many speaking for the first time.It begins with British forces, tasked with bringing security to Helmand Province in the South of Afghanistan. But Lieutenant Colonel Rob Magowan commanding the IX Battlegroup has a problem. Jugroom Fort. The Taliban command and control centre is a crucial route for enemy fighters making their way in from Pakistan. They train there. They rearm there. Jugroom Fort is the launchpad for attacks on British troops. But a bold plan to occupy the ancient stronghold with the battle-hardened Royal Marines of Zulu Company is about to meet intense resistance. And amid a gruelling firefight, a man is left behind. The Fort is told solely by current and former members of the Armed Forces. Produced by Kev Core

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 journey from colonial child to gentleman officer serving on the staff of the Duke of Wellington is one of the most remarkable tales of early Australia. Join Mat as he tells the story of Andrew White, Australia's first returned serviceman and only Waterloo veteran.Presenter: Mat McLachlanProducer: Jess StebnickiJoin one of our battlefield tours and walk in the footsteps of the Anzacs! Visit https://battlefields.com.au/ for more information.Find out everything Mat is doing with books, tours and media at https://linktr.ee/matmclachlanFor more great history content, visit www.LivingHistoryTV.com, or subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/LivingHistoryTV Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caroline Livesey is an adventurer, extreme triathlete, ultracyclist, elite gravel cyclist and triathlon and life coach.  Caroline started her journey into triathlon while serving with the Royal Engineers in the British Army. After 10 years service she left as a Major in 2013 and pursued a career as a professional triathlete (while working full time as a geotechnical design consultant), originally in Ironman events.  In 2019 circumstances conspired to throw her into her first extreme triathlon, Canadaman XTRI. Winning this event was the catalyst for her to work on her mindset and physical adaptations to take on the gruelling climate conditions which are typical for the Extreme Triathlons such as Norseman and Celtman. She has since won numerous extreme events, and has just returned from winning Patagonman in Chile for the second time.  Caroline is also an elite gravel cyclist, competing for Team GB at the last two World Championships (where she thinks she was the oldest on the start line by some 20 years). She loves single day UCI gravel races but also ultra distance, and has competed at Badlands (3rd), finished Transcordilleras (Colombia), and completed coast-to-coast across Costa Rica in less than two days. She completed the 1000km Transcordilleras, an 8-day stage race, in February this year. Caroline's husband Mark is a documentary / film maker and they make films about their adventures (YouTube, Amazon Prime - The Brick Session). Their purpose is to provide information and inspiration to others so that they might break down their own false beliefs to take on their own challenges.  Caroline and Mark have founded Peak Education Nepal - a charity bringing education to the children of poor families in Nepal who cannot afford to go to school. They became involved in this while in Nepal for an event in 2022, and plan to go back this year to develop the charity and do another mountain trail running adventure.   New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast drop every Tuesday at 7 AM (UK time)! Make sure to subscribe so you never miss the inspiring journeys and incredible stories of tough women pushing boundaries.  Do you want to support the Tough Girl Mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media in the world of adventure and physical challenges? Support via Patreon! Join me in making a difference by signing up here: www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.  Your support makes a difference.  Thank you x Show notes Who is Caroline  Scottish but now currently living in Majorca  Having a background in endurance sports Professional Ironman athlete and now doing extreme triathlons  Gravel cycling and endurance cycling  Growing up in a sporty family and spending time outside  Starting triathlon in her late 20s Being a fit person overall  Climbing (indoor and outdoor) Doing crazy things outdoors  Going to Sandhurst and doing her army training  Getting into triathlons  Meeting her husband while in the army The changes in professional triathletes Doing her first pro year in 2015 How the industry has change in the past 10 years  Having a full time job and fitting in the training  Not being able to make a living from it in Canadaman /woman  Norseman  Patagonman  2017 - having her breakthrough race in Texas  Getting attacked while on her bike  Breaking her pelvis and dealing with multiple stress fractures Not being able to get back to the same level of performance  Having her professional career cut short Having an opportunity to try other things  Having a bad experience with the cold during a race  Back to fitness in 2015 and looking at doing Ironman Ireland  Deciding to go to Canada and do a warmer race in July Winning Canadaman Race and automatically qualifying for Norseman Cold weather and cold experiences  Just because you are cold adapted doesn't mean you don't feel the cold Learning different ways to manage the cold There has to be a way for me to physically adapt to the cold and getting onboard mentally Starting to have cold showers  Learning to breathe out as the cold hits you Thinking about physically relaxing  Learning that it's ok to be cold  Feeling invigorating after cold water swimming  Experiencing Norseman (2022) and what it was like Film - Norseman - A day of extremes - available on Youtube  The logistical challenges of the Norseman Race Britta Sorensen (PHD) - research on pain and suffering in female endurance athletes.   Race strategy and being self coached  Being coached by her husband at the very start Not being very coachable  Listening to her body and making decisions based on how she feels  Taking it to the next level during a race and needing to push harder Racing against herself  Extreme triathlon - being out front on the swim and the bike Winning Canadaman by 12 seconds Lyne Bessette  Getting to the finish line and knowing she gave it everything she had The mental side of racing and why you need to practice it The benefits of experience and being able to draw knowledge from it How you can watch the films / Documentaries  Doing what she loves  How to connect with Caroline on social media Visiting Nepal in 2022 to do a race (but not being able to race) Cost of education in Nepal - USD $350 to educate a child for a year (fees, uniform, books) Creating a charity - Peak Education Nepal  How the listeners can support the charity and donate  Final words of advice for other women who want to take it to the next level  Setting your mind to the challenge. What would be the process of getting there if you were going to do it.  Build your self-belief and push yourself forward   Social Media Instagram @caroline.livesey  Facebook @carolineliveseytriathlete  Youtube @thebricksession  Nepal fundraiser - Fundraiser by Mark Livesey : Help fund education for two children in Nepal   Peak Education Nepal  OSCR registered charity SC054049 Funding education in poor communities in Nepal. Education changes lives.   Charity - https://peakeducationnepal.com/ Instagram - @peakeducationnepal   

Tom shares his time that he served in the military when he joined at the age of 17, when he signed up with the Royal Engineers.Whilst in the Royal Engineers he learned how to build bridges, and he speaks about his time in Ethiopia building a bridge to bring over supplies to the locals. Although it was not in wartime, peacetime for the Royal Engineers is still an important time to construct infrastructure.

What invisible forces keep us living lives that are too small for our potential? In this compelling episode of Life in Transition, "Recognizing Your Worth When Others Don't: Leroy Roberts' Life in Transition," Leroy shares his remarkable journey from a poor Jamaican village to international impact. "There is a spirit of containment that keeps a lot of people trapped," he explains, recounting how at just 13 years old, he made the decision to pursue education despite ridicule and resistance. How do we break free from limiting beliefs passed down through generations? What happens when we carefully choose who influences us? Through stories of determination, setback, and reinvention, Leroy offers profound insights about recognizing our inherent worth. "Wherever you are now, you were led there by your consent," he challenges listeners. "Who are you allowing to lead you, and why?" This episode will inspire anyone facing transition to take ownership of their circumstances and embrace their true value.Leroy Roberts grew up in a small village called Grey Ground in rural Jamaica, where he became the first person in his family to attend high school—a decision that required immense courage and defiance of cultural expectations. His journey took him from law enforcement in Jamaica to military service with the British Army's Royal Engineers, where he traveled the world before a work-related injury ended his military career. Now based in the UK, Leroy helps others break free from what he calls "the spirit of containment" to recognize their inherent worth and lead more purposeful lives. About The Show: The Life in Transition, hosted by Art Blanchford focuses on making the most of the changes we're given every week. Art has been through hundreds of transitions in his life. Many have been difficult, but all have led to a depth and richness he could never have imagined. On the podcast Art explores how to create more love and joy in life, no matter what transitions we go through. Art is married to his lifelong partner, a proud father of three and a long-time adventurer and global business executive. He is the founder and leader of the Midlife Transition Mastery Community. Learn more about the MLTM Community here: www.lifeintransition.online.In This Episode: (00:00) The Spirit of Containment and Self-Worth(01:17) Most Meaningful Life Transitions(04:45) Breaking Free at Age 13(07:37) Facing Ridicule and Finding Inner Strength(10:57) Moving Beyond Negative Motivation(16:41) Midlife Transition Mastery Ad(20:18) From High School to University(28:59) Taking Bold Risks for Education(35:07) Finding Purpose After Military Injury(37:16) Summit and Pinnacle Coaching Ad(41:08) Discovering Self-Worth Through Community(52:13) Who's Leading You and WhyLike, subscribe, and send us your comments and feedback.Resources:Leroy Roberts LinkedInLeroy Roberts LinktreeEmail Art BlanchfordLife in Transition WebsiteLife in Transition on IGLife in Transition on FBJoin Our Community: https://www.lifeintransition.online/My new book PURPOSEFUL LIVING is out now. Order it now: https://www.amazon.com/PURPOSEFUL-LIVING-Wisdom-Coming-Complex/dp/1963913922Explore our website https://lifeintransitionpodcast.com/ for more in-depth information and resources, and to download the 8-step guide to mastering mid-life transitions.The views and opinions expressed on the Life In Transition podcast are solely those of the author and guests and should not be attributed to any other individual or entity. This podcast is an independent production of Life In Transition Podcast, and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2025.

A quick update to let folks know that in honour of the 80th anniversary of VE Day I've made my grandfather's war memoir available in PDF for those so interested. A sergeant in the Royal Engineers, he saw action throughout North Africa and Italy.Just click on the link below and you can get it from the website. Download Albert's War here

Send us a textThe weather played its part in the Great War, perhaps in more ways than first imagined.  The Great War lasted over 1500 days, and over 600 saw rain on the Western Front.  The winter of 1914 saw torrential rain and temperatures drop to -10 in France, and the autumn of 1917 in Flanders saw four months' worth of rainfall in just 33 days. London's Met Office offered to help at the outbreak of war, but a terse telegram from GHQ rebuffed this offer.  However, the increased use of aircraft and poison gas quickly made senior command understand the importance of meteorology, and the Meteorological Service of the Royal Engineers soon started providing masses of valuable data.Who were these men, and what did they do? In this episode, we look at the work of "Meteor" HQ and their vital role as the war progressed. Support the podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsbloghttps://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen

When Linda Peek's mother Margaret died, Linda collected the scraps of handwritten notes strewn around the home and put together Margaret's remarkable tale of survival on Malta during WWIIWhen Linda was growing up, Margaret, would tell her these remarkable stories from her wartime childhood -- stories of survival, friendship and tragedy.Margaret had spent her most formative years on the island of Malta during World War Two.The Mediterranean island was not only an idyllic paradise, it was also a British stronghold in a highly strategic position, and Adolf Hitler wanted it.And so the Axis powers laid siege to Malta for more than two years, dropping thousands of bombs and trying to starve the island into submission.Somehow, Malta survived, and so did Linda's mother.This episode of Conversations explores Italy, Sicily, island life, modern history, the second world war, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Royal Engineers, air raids, personal history, family history, family dynamics, life story, ancestry, travel.

Send us a textI'd like to dedicate today's episode of Bedside Reading to Corporal Hugh Cunningham of the Royal Engineers.  Hugh died in 2009 as a result of PTSD. And as I read Matthew Green's Aftershock: the Untold Story of Surviving Peace, I thought a lot about him and his family, as well as more widely about other military veterans affected by PTSD. I've really enjoyed my conversation with Manchester Portfolio GP Zalan Alam  today. It is such an important book. I'm not going to lie and say I really enjoyed it. I didn't. I found it an incredibly difficult read. But it is a very, very important book about a subject which we really are not talking enough about.And I really do think this is a book that everybody and anybody who's working anywhere in the health service should be picking upAftershock is a book about PTSD, it's a book about military veterans, about what we are doing and sadly not doing to support them. I recognise that a lot has happened in the 10 years since the book was published so perhaps things are better than they were then. I'm not sure and I don't think we can be complacent and I don't think we can think enough about this incredibly vulnerable group of patients.It's a deservedly emotional and tough read, but we do really need to be thinking about this a lot more and we really need to be doing better.If you want your practice to become a RCGP Veteran Friendly Practice find out more here https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/view.php?id=803It may help to signpost patients to Veteran's Gateway https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/find-support-for-veterans-and-their-familiesZalan also recommends http://www.overcoming.co.uk

Episode 205 of the series covers the A Russian Struggle Thread, Two Disabled Men in the Free State and a Surge in Surveyors. Sprinkled with tales of Hoffman. That would be Johannes Hoffman commonly known as Sias Hoffman, the first president of the Orange Free State who signed the Bloemfontein Convention with the British in February 1854. Regarded as a shrewd and able merchant, he had been disabled in an accident, but that didn't stop Hoffmann from wielding political power. He was also a fundamentalist voortrekker, hard core. Hoffman was one of the representatives of the Smithfield District in the Orange River Sovereignty during the negotiations between Boers and British. Both Hoffman and his State Secretary Jacobus Groenendal were disabled and their government to quickly gained the nickname 'the crippled government' which is not only wicked, but wouldn't fly in today's equitable lexicon. Groenendaal had been born in Holland then travelled to South Africa as a teacher in 1849. Hoffman was a friend of Moshoeshoe of the Basotho, conciliatory towards the Griqua who lived in the transOrangia, and pretty distrustful of Pretorius' more militant Boers. His friendships with the black and coloured people living around the Free State caused deep mistrust amongst his fellow Boers. Hoffman's term in office was also short-lived, just under one year, thus the crippled government epithet. As a gesture of good faith, Hoffman had given a present of a keg of gunpowder to king Moshoeshoe. His fellow burghers found this an unwise move, over-friendly and potentially dangerous for the survival of the new state. Relations between the Boers and the Basotho were less than cordial with the border dispute unresolved. What sealed Hoffman's fate, however, was not the gift itself so much as the fact that he tried to hide his actions from the Volksraad and the Orange Free State parliament. Living in the Caledon Valley and Orange River confluence areas were the Thlaping - a combination of Tswana peoples who had gathered in the area during the Difaqane, loosely led by Adam Kok but ostensibly under their chief Lephoi. French missionary Jean Pierre Pellissier set up his station at a place called Bethulie and by 1854 more than 3 000 Tswana, Thlaping and others lived there. They were a pretty mixed community, escaped Rolong, Sotho, Tswana and a number of Bastaards as they were known, Khoi and freed slaves — and many of these with special skills. Ironically, many of the former slaves were literate, which made them influential members of the community. Inside this sprawling Free State land of 80 000 square kilometres lived 10 000 Boers and English along with about 30 000 Griquas, Rolong and Thlaping. While Hoffman focused on local diplomacy, Treasurer Jacob Groenendaal and a 26 year-old Irish land surveyor called Joseph Orpen wrote the Free States' first constitution. And this was far more sophisticated than the Transvaal Constitution which was based on the Trekker 33 point manifesto and the Old Testament. In the Cape, the growing density of farm settlement had led to the post of Surveyor General way back in 1826. This officer would oversee surveys within the colony, promote a trigonometrical survey and then produce a map of the Cape and if possible, beyond. Charles Cornwallis Michel who was an energetic colonel of the Royal Engineers set about his task. He also had a perchant for sketch and watercolour. Unfortunately for everyone, except for greedy speculators, he could not complete his task effectively. An enormous backlog of farm and town plot diagrams awaited approval and by mid-1830s, the task was deemed impossible for Michel and his two assistants.

Episode 205 of the series covers the A Russian Struggle Thread, Two Disabled Men in the Free State and a Surge in Surveyors. Sprinkled with tales of Hoffman. That would be Johannes Hoffman commonly known as Sias Hoffman, the first president of the Orange Free State who signed the Bloemfontein Convention with the British in February 1854. Regarded as a shrewd and able merchant, he had been disabled in an accident, but that didn't stop Hoffmann from wielding political power. He was also a fundamentalist voortrekker, hard core. Hoffman was one of the representatives of the Smithfield District in the Orange River Sovereignty during the negotiations between Boers and British. Both Hoffman and his State Secretary Jacobus Groenendal were disabled and their government to quickly gained the nickname 'the crippled government' which is not only wicked, but wouldn't fly in today's equitable lexicon. Groenendaal had been born in Holland then travelled to South Africa as a teacher in 1849. Hoffman was a friend of Moshoeshoe of the Basotho, conciliatory towards the Griqua who lived in the transOrangia, and pretty distrustful of Pretorius' more militant Boers. His friendships with the black and coloured people living around the Free State caused deep mistrust amongst his fellow Boers. Hoffman's term in office was also short-lived, just under one year, thus the crippled government epithet. As a gesture of good faith, Hoffman had given a present of a keg of gunpowder to king Moshoeshoe. His fellow burghers found this an unwise move, over-friendly and potentially dangerous for the survival of the new state. Relations between the Boers and the Basotho were less than cordial with the border dispute unresolved. What sealed Hoffman's fate, however, was not the gift itself so much as the fact that he tried to hide his actions from the Volksraad and the Orange Free State parliament. Living in the Caledon Valley and Orange River confluence areas were the Thlaping - a combination of Tswana peoples who had gathered in the area during the Difaqane, loosely led by Adam Kok but ostensibly under their chief Lephoi. French missionary Jean Pierre Pellissier set up his station at a place called Bethulie and by 1854 more than 3 000 Tswana, Thlaping and others lived there. They were a pretty mixed community, escaped Rolong, Sotho, Tswana and a number of Bastaards as they were known, Khoi and freed slaves — and many of these with special skills. Ironically, many of the former slaves were literate, which made them influential members of the community. Inside this sprawling Free State land of 80 000 square kilometres lived 10 000 Boers and English along with about 30 000 Griquas, Rolong and Thlaping. While Hoffman focused on local diplomacy, Treasurer Jacob Groenendaal and a 26 year-old Irish land surveyor called Joseph Orpen wrote the Free States' first constitution. And this was far more sophisticated than the Transvaal Constitution which was based on the Trekker 33 point manifesto and the Old Testament. In the Cape, the growing density of farm settlement had led to the post of Surveyor General way back in 1826. This officer would oversee surveys within the colony, promote a trigonometrical survey and then produce a map of the Cape and if possible, beyond. Charles Cornwallis Michel who was an energetic colonel of the Royal Engineers set about his task. He also had a perchant for sketch and watercolour. Unfortunately for everyone, except for greedy speculators, he could not complete his task effectively. An enormous backlog of farm and town plot diagrams awaited approval and by mid-1830s, the task was deemed impossible for Michel and his two assistants.

Full Episode: Ep 028 - Sgt Joe O'Connor - British Army Veteran.In this Viewpoint: Joe talks about wanting to challenge himself, away from the Royal Engineers, and in 1999 went on Special Forces Selection. During training with the SF team, late at night with bad weather and visibility, Joe gets taken to hospital after being blown off the side of a cliff, which ended up breaking his neck.He shares the challenges he faced to rebuild his life after this life changing incident, before leaving the military and becoming a veteran in civilian life, where he has managed to continue his success in the financial industry.Watch Full Episode on YouTube:Part 1: youtu.be/7VAeBpLs_QYPart 2: youtu.be/dv6SkhyhfcsTikTok:tiktok.com/@militaryveteranspodcastInstagram:instagram.com/militaryveteranspodcastLinkedIn:linkedin.com/company/military-veterans-podcastMerchandise:milvetpodcast.com/merchSend us a textSupport the show

Stuart Cato joins Paul Meenan to discuss his experiences installing Solar PV and working in the industry. Stuart talks about his time serving in the Royal Engineers, the leap he made into Solar PV, His positive experiences in Solar, Riding the Solarcoaster and the need for more guidance

Ephesians 2:1-10 This service will include an interview with Col. David Ellison, and a talk by him on the central claims of the Christian faith. Col. David Ellison is Deputy Head Corporate Strategy for the Armed Forces Recruiting Headquarters. A Royal Engineer by background, he has served operationally in the Balkans, Northern Ireland, South East Asia, West Africa and Middle East as well as conducting training and exercises in many other countries.

In this episode I'm joined by Colin Tomlinson.Colin owns a learning and development company specialising in teaching Project Leadership and Management in the Civil Engineering and Construction industry.  He uses techniques adapted from his 24 years career as an Officer in the Royal Engineers and his 12 years of experience within the industry to help navigate through the complexities of working on projects.  He has recently completed two legs of The Clipper Race sailing almost 15,000 miles from Australia to Seattle via Vietnam and China. When he and I talked about his recent sailing adventure I found myself fascinated by why he'd decided to do it, how he went about it, what was the impact on his business and family, what was the experience really like and what did he take from it that has remained with him now he's back at home and back in his business.Colin kindly agreed to join me to create this episode and answer all my questions. In doing so he shares how instead of pausing his business to go sailing, the trip has been a catalyst to help him scale it. Perhaps less surprising were the numerous leadership lessons that emerge from the concentrated team environment of an ocean racing yacht.I'm excited to invite you to join Colin and me as he takes us behind the scenes of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, the only event of its type in the world where anyone, even if they've never stepped on a boat before, can join the adventure.Contact Colin:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colintomlinson/Clipper Round the World About AndyI'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.During over twenty years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK. At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.Learn more about Fulfilling PerformanceCheck out Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub. Connect with AndyLinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.ukJoin a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae AcademyThank you to our sponsors: ASKE ConsultingEmail: hello@askeconsulting.co.ukAquilaeEmail: cvm@aquilae.co.ukEpisode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror  If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app. Episode recorded on 11 September, 2024.

This episode of Talking Lead: Lee Jackson is a former British SAPPER. Lee has over 18 years experience in the Executive Protection & Security Industry ranging from serving in the British Army as a Royal Engineer for 6 years to 5 years with Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) and 14 years of performing duties as a certified K9 handler (primarily explosive detection and executive protection) on multiple high profile jobs, such as the 2012 Olympics in London. Lee is also the author of "The K9 Executive.: Unleashing Canine Expertise in Executive Protection" (available on Amazon). Lee dives into the world of executive protection and the indispensable role of canine companions within this specialized field. Drawing from his extensive background in both military and civilian sectors, Lee brings a wealth of knowledge and real-world expertise to the forefront, providing invaluable insights into the integration of K9 units into executive protection strategies.

What happens when you blend military precision with classroom teaching and then pivot to financial planning? Meet Jack Dudley, a former Royal Engineer and Secondary School educator, who shares his intriguing journey on this episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast. Learn how Jack transitioned from the high-pressure world of teaching to a successful career in financial planning, leveraging his skills in numbers and relationship-building to redefine his professional path. Jack's story offers inspiration and practical advice for anyone considering a major career shift.We pull back the curtain on the essential traits and varied pathways that lead to success in financial planning. Jack and I discuss why age and direct experience might not be as crucial as you think, and how transferable skills from seemingly unrelated fields can make all the difference. From understanding the financial commitments involved in obtaining qualifications to strategically positioning yourself to potential employers, this episode covers it all. Explore the importance of a tailored career path and how forcing individuals into unsuitable roles can hinder their potential.Small business owners in the financial advisory space face unique challenges when it comes to hiring and retaining talent. Jack and I dissect these challenges and offer solutions, emphasizing the importance of engaging career development plans and practical training. We also delve into the proactive approaches job hunters should take, the significance of building long-term client relationships, and the evolving landscape of career paths in financial planning. Reflect with Jack as he shares invaluable advice he'd give his past self, highlighting the importance of external recognition and the small adjustments that can make a significant impact. Don't miss out on these insights and real-life success stories that could transform your career trajectory.Begin your financial planning career journey todayWhether you are looking to become a paraplanner, administrator, mortgage and protection adviser or financial planner, the Financial Planner Life Academy is for you. With limited entry-level job roles, giving yourself the best financial planning career education, will not only kick start your financial planning journey with relevant qualifications and skills, but it'll also help you achieve success much faster.&nbsBe sure to follow financial planner life on YouTube for extra content about a career within Financial Planning HIT THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON! If you're looking to start your career in Financial Planning, check out the Financial Planner Life Academy hereReach out to Sam@financialplannerlife.com in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or career development.

1.     Wrecks were pretty commonplace in 1892 and were at best usually a nine days wonder. However, the loss of the P&O Company's SS Bokhara was something else. News stories ran all over the world for almost two years. A presentation silver plate was sent by Queen Victoria to the head of the rescuers of the few survivors. There was involvement by the Governor of Hong Kong, a visit by the C-in-C of the Royal Navy's China Station and the presence of three ships of the Royal Navy. A publicly subscribed memorial was put up by the British Army's Royal Engineers on an uninhabited islet in China. Memorial windows were dedicated in the cathedrals of Shanghai and Hong Kong. But why? Well, the wreck drowned most of the Hong Kong interport cricket team on their way home from Shanghai. And it was carrying gold bullion for the HSBC and the Sassoon family worth almost HK$500,000,000 today. Money and cricket featured large in the British Empire. Cricket representing supposed Imperial values. Money representing the reality.

This is episode 163, the year, 1845. New Cape Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland had shown he was a man of action — as a veteran of the Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon you'd expect that, particularly as he fought at Waterloo. This new man of action governor had some doubts about a few things here in sunny South Africa. He doubted the effectiveness of Andries Stockenstrom's Eastern Cape Ceded territory system for a start. He would sort that he thought with the introduction of a new system which was actually an old system. More about that later. Maitland also doubted the effectiveness of two other treaties signed by his predecessor Sir George Napier with Griqua leader Adam Kok the third and King Moshoeshoe the First of the Basotho. But we need to turn south, back to the Eastern Cape Frontier. The 1840s were a high point of settler power in the Eastern Cape and wool was driving development. As the state expanded, pressure grew on the Ceded Territory, between the Fish and Keiskamma Rivers. It was also a time of reinforcing both the military forts around the frontier, and the communication systems. Starting in the mid-1830s, the British had extended their forts and signalling systems. They had been caught off-guard by the amaXhosa who'd raided the Eastern Cape without warning at the start of the Sixth Frontier War and it was imperative they improve their communication. After the frontier war of 1835-6, the planning of the system of frontier defence fell on the Royal engineers including Lieutenant-Colonel Griffith George Lewis and Captain WFD Jervois, as well as a civilian employee of the War Office, Henry L Hall. Lewis commanded the Royal Engineers in the colony at the time. He repeatedly expressed his frustration at the tardiness of the British government in allocating funds for the effective defence of the frontier districts. These funds of course were squeezed out of the British taxpayer, so the political leadership would not always release investments of this sort immediately. Lewis was one of those folks we come across every now and again, someone who seems to understand the big picture and the need for action. He wrote extensively on frontier defence policy, and complained that for years after the close of the war no clear decisions had been taken on how funds were to be utilised. His warnings like those of Sir John Hare the lieutenant Governor of the Eastern Cape were not being heeded. Jervois built the stockades at Peddie, Trompetter's Drift, Double Drift and fort Brown, all found in the frontier districts of the Eastern Cape. Jervois would end up in the Channel Islands by the way, and designed and built a whole series of fortifications that were to become famous during the Second world War. The imperial government also approved of Lewis's scheme for ‘signal towers', and new roads and bridges to improve communications between these forts and the headquarters at Grahamstown where new barracks were to be built on the old Drostdy Ground. Lewis had been instrumental in building a series of towers to improve communications with Fort Beaufort and Fort Peddie, starting from Fort Selwyn in Grahamstown. The survey to establish suitable points on which to erect the stations was done by Henry Hall, stationed in the Eastern Cape in the period 1842–1858. Robert Godlonton had decided that his Grahamstown Journal was going to up the ante once more when it came to both the Kat River settlement where the khoekhoe lived, and the Ceded Territory. Appropriating the language of civilisation, Godlonton wrote in the journal that “…Colonisation would be then synonymous with civilisation, and the natives instead of being depressed or destroyed, would be raised from their wretched grovelling condition and participate in all the advantages which civilised government is calculated to bestow.” The fact that the amaXhosa people did not regard themselves as in a grovelling condition was utterly ignored by Godlonton.

When we left off last episode, Captain Thomas Smith and two companies of the 27th Inniskilling Regiment, an 18 pounder that had just arrived by ship, two six pounder field guns, a small section of the Royal Artillery, a hand full of Royal Engineers, Sappers and miners, along with a company of Cape Mountain Rifles had formed their laager at level area to then north of Durban CBD today - where the Old Fort can be seen. Just a note - the 27th Inniskilling were an Irish infantry regiment of the British army, formed in 1689 so they'd been around the block so to speak. Boer commander Andries Pretorius had called his men to where he'd setup camp at Congella and by the time this battle commenced, there'd be more than 200 ready to face Smith's professional soldiers. The British were hopelessly optimistic in their plans as you're going to hear. Some of the English traders left at Port Natal, Henry Ogle for example, had warned Captain Smith that his force was somewhat underwhelming and that the Boers were not to be taken lightly. Smith unfortunately had no choice but to impose himself. He'd marched to Durban from Umgazi, and the last orders he'd received from Cape Governor Sir George Napier was to secure the bay for the British Empire. I've already explained that back in England, the Secretary for War and the Colonies Lord Stanley had changed his mind and ordered Smith back to base but his letter was going to arrive woefully too late. Captain Smith was aware of the Boer capacity to fight in bush, so he ordered his men to march along the beachfront. A stunning full moon was shining, causing the waves to fluoresce. Anyone who's marched on a beach knows that its very difficult, made worse by the horses and of course, dragging the three guns along - while they were obviously now clearly visible to anyone lurking in the bush on the dunes. It was low tide, so the going was good at first as the hard sand made things a little easier. The British also deployed a howitzer on a long boat from the Mazeppa which was how folks made difficult trip between ships at anchor in Durban Bay and across the dangerous sandbar to the beach. Smith was hoping that the longboat could row to the beach at high tide to offload the howitzer — but that was seven hours away. There were a lot of what if's that dogged Smith's plan as you can see. Pretorius had also given strict orders that no Boer should fire until the British troops were within 100 metres of the camp. The burghers waited until at Pretoriu's command, five shots rang out. An ox at each of the three gun carriages was shot dead by the sharpshooters only a few metres away in the bush. That wasn't all, Lieutenant Wyatt and a private of the Inniskilling regiment were both shot in the head and killed instantly. Pandemonium broke out in the British ranks. The surviving oxen panicked, but were now dragging the gun and a dead ox with them, while the canon were actually pointed away from the Boer laager so couldn't even be brought to bear and fired. The British in their redcoats dived onto the sand, firing back into the darkness. The soldiers were caught in the full moon light which back in these days of zero light pollution, was like a flare in the sky. The English were in big trouble.

In this episode, our host Captain Ash Bhardwaj speaks to WO1 David Hird, the Command Sergeant Major of the Land Warfare Centre (LWC). He enlisted into the Royal Engineers in 1997, joining 35 Engineer Regiment before moving on to Engineer Search Teams, completing his trade training at 1 Royal School of Military Engineering Regiment in Chatham, and passing All Arms Parachute selection. He has served on Op BANNER in Northern Ireland, Op HERRICK 5 and 11 in Afghanistan, Op TELLICK 9 in Iraq, as well as Op OLYMPIC and exercises all over the world. He instructed at 3 Royal School of Military Engineering Regiment at Minley as a Section Commander, and as a Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor in Combat Engineering Recognisance. He was Squadron Sergeant Major of 17 Field Squadron Explosive Ordinance Disposal and Search (EOD), and Regimental Sergeant Major at 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment. He assumed the role of Command Sergeant Major at the Land Warfare Centre (LWC) in Warminster in April 2021. In this conversation, WO1 David Hird reflects on how his leadership style has needed to evolve in order to keep pace with the changing requirements of a more professional Army, and how good Mentorship helped him build more productive relationships with those in positions of command.

In this episode, our host Captain Ash Bhardwaj speaks to WO1 David Hird, the Command Sergeant Major of the Land Warfare Centre (LWC). He enlisted into the Royal Engineers in 1997, joining 35 Engineer Regiment before moving on to Engineer Search Teams, completing his trade training at 1 Royal School of Military Engineering Regiment in Chatham, and passing All Arms Parachute selection. He has served on Op BANNER in Northern Ireland, Op HERRICK 5 and 11 in Afghanistan, Op TELLICK 9 in Iraq, as well as Op OLYMPIC and exercises all over the world. He instructed at 3 Royal School of Military Engineering Regiment at Minley as a Section Commander, and as a Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor in Combat Engineering Recognisance. He was Squadron Sergeant Major of 17 Field Squadron Explosive Ordinance Disposal and Search (EOD), and Regimental Sergeant Major at 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment. He assumed the role of Command Sergeant Major at the Land Warfare Centre (LWC) in Warminster in April 2021. In this conversation, WO1 David Hird reflects on how his leadership style has needed to evolve in order to keep pace with the changing requirements of a more professional Army, and how good Mentorship helped him build more productive relationships with those in positions of command.

Join us on an exhilarating journey through soccer history as we delve into the pivotal moments that transformed the game we love. In this captivating episode, we'll rewind the clock to August 21st, 1981, when Bolton faced off against Charlton in a Second Division match. Witness the unexpected turn of events that forever changed soccer dynamics, a historic moment that introduced substitutions to the Football League!But that's not all – travel further back to 1865, when an unanticipated injury led to soccer's first-ever substitution in a match between The Royal Engineers and The Wanderers and 1899, when international soccer witnessed its maiden substitution during a Wales vs. Scotland match. Experience the thrill of these game-changing moments that paved the way for the modern game we adore.As we celebrate the birthday of soccer superstar Robert Lewandowski, we salute his journey from Polish fields to global stardom. His inspiring story embodies dedication and passion that fuel his incredible goals and mesmerizing moves.Stay tuned for an exciting quiz that challenges your soccer history knowledge. Can you recall the unexpected event that revolutionized the Second Division match between Bolton and Charlton? Or the situation that triggered soccer's first substitution? And, of course, test your geography skills by identifying Robert Lewandowski's homeland.With the final whistle, we conclude this enlightening episode, reminding you that soccer's evolution thrives on history-making moments and unexpected twists. Join your hosts, Zosia and Frania, as they guide you through the fascinating tapestry of soccer's past and present. Keep exploring, keep kicking, and keep the soccer spirit alive! Your adventure awaits.

Mark joined the British Army in 1990 and served for 23 years with the Royal Engineers, reaching the rank of Corporal.In this episode Mark talks about joining the British Army and going through the Army Apprentices College before completing combat engineer training and becoming a Royal Engineer. He describes what it was like deploying to Bosnia, Norway and Northern Ireland. Later in his career, Mark went on the Clerk of Works course, and he explains what that experience was like being dyslexic.Mark also shares his time during the Invasion of Iraq and completing another 2 operational tours in that country over the subsequent years, including being part of a boat troop, which undertook boat patrols along the Shatt al-Arab. He also talks about deployments to Belize and Afghanistan. Lastly, he describes the benefits of being part of the Royal Engineers Association (REA).Watch Episode on YouTubePart 1: youtu.be/l_U4odJO3WYPart 2: youtu.be/eoEtLuUFfiETikTok:tiktok.com/@militaryveteranspodcastInstagram:instagram.com/militaryveteranspodcastTwitter:twitter.com/MilVetPodcastLinkedIn:linkedin.com/company/military-veterans-podcastMerchandise:milvetpodcast.com/merchIf you've enjoyed any episode from the show, please head over to Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and give the show a 5 star rating. It really will help the show be found by others. Many thanks! Message at the end of the recording is from your host Gav, giving you information on how you can support the show through Patreon.Supporting monthly would help the show record future episodes and help with the upkeep of previous recordings. £5 a month will give you access to bonus recordings, where Gav and the guest chat about things that don't make it into the main recording. Thank you.Support the show

During the course of WW1 over 34 million maps were produced by the Royal Engineers and the Ordnance Survey.  From primitive beginnings, by the end of the war, the British Army was in possession of the finest and most accurate maps of any of the combatant nations.How did this happen and who were these men? We look at the work of the Field Survey Companies commanded by the meticulous Bovril drinking Major E M Jack, who assembled a crack team of surveyors and cartographers to undertake the massive task of surveying the Western Front.  Using skills such as aerial photography, sound ranging, flash spotting and the scientific skills of a Nobel Prize winning physicist, Jack's team produced exceptionally detailed maps.To meet demand the Ordnance Survey launched a new team of map-making experts the OBOS in France, whose output was prodigious.  We hear the story of a gallant RFC officer whose illegal use of a camera revolutionised aerial photographic interpretation, hear the unfortunate fate of the first survey party to be sent out into No Mans Land, and meet Lt. Henry "Crystal Ball" Rowbotham, the so-called Astrologer of Flanders. Support the podcast:https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallenhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog

Clare joins a group of friends as they climb Shutlingsloe as part of their preparation for the much bigger adventure of trekking up Kilimanjaro later this year. Known as the 'Matterhorn of the Peak District' Shutlingsloe is around 500 metres high, where Kilimanjaro is closer to 6000 metres, but it's not a bad training ground with its steep incline as well as the reward of beautiful views from the top. Leading the group is former Royal Engineer, Sean Milner, who has arranged the Kilimanjaro trek for his adventurer father, Frank Milner, who plans to reach the summit on his 82nd birthday. Although unable to join the Ramblings hike, also going up Kilimanjaro will be two of Frank's grandsons, making it a three generation event. The starting grid reference for today's walk is SJ 952 715 which is just by the Leather's Smithy pub in Langley, about 15 mins drive from Macclesfield. Producer: Karen Gregor

This chat I am joined by ‘Ant Middleton' the host of ‘Channel Seven's' new reality series ‘Million Dollar Island' which premieres launches this week in Australia.  The series is extremely ambitious and has the most amount of reality TV contestants ever formed - all competing for the cash prize of a million dollars. $$$$ The show borrows a lot of ideas from some of your favourite Reality Series and rolls them together. Sure there are elements of 'Survivor' and 'Big Brother' which fans will notice but there are also new ways in which these contestants get tested that makes the format new and exciting.  ‘Anthony Middleton' is a British adventurer, writer, television personality and former ‘UK Special Forces soldier,' ‘Royal Marines Commando,' and ‘Royal Engineer' in the ‘British Army.' He is best known as the former Chief Instructor on  ‘SAS.' And it is exciting to talk to him today. I will find out why ‘Ant' said yes to this show and if he is excited to show a softer side. ‘Ant' will talk about why it wasn't hard for him to control 100 contestants and what the pressure of one million dollars does to a person.  We will also unpack ‘Ant's' love of Australian TV and if a role ‘Home and Away'  would interest him? Plus we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes of ‘Million Dollar Island' which starts on the 12th of June and is on three nights a week. Mon, Tue and Wed. Plus is available for catch up on ‘Seven Plus.'  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Bosley is a former Sapper in the Royal Engineers. Unlike his father & brothers, who all joined the Parachute Regiment, John initially went for training with the Royal Marines. His mother, Thelma Bosley & six other people, were killed at Aldershot Barracks in 1972. Read 'Eating Smoke: One Man's Descent into Crystal Meth Psychosis in Hong Kong's Triad Heartland.' Paperback UK: https://amzn.to/2YoeaPx Paperback US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0993543944 Support the podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/christhrall (£2 per month plus perks) https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-our-veterans-to-tell-their-story https://paypal.me/TeamThrall Sign up for my NON-SPAM newsletter and FREE books: https://christhrall.com/mailing-list/ Social media Links: https://facebook.com/christhrall https://twitter.com/christhrall https://instagram.com/chris.thrall https://linkedin.com/in/christhrall https://youtube.com/christhrall https://discord.gg/yqvHRUN https://christhrall.com 

In this week's episode we are joined by Jamie from JW Heating and Blade from Blade Brickworks. Big Al has decided to take the back seat this episode to allow Ash from Mahoney Brickworks to take the host chair. Jamie talks about how he completed the Family Dynasty by becoming the last available Trade, with all of the other ones already been taken. Jamie started his social media journey old school by browsing and posting on Forums. Blade tells us about how he always wanted to be in the Royal Engineers, but due to injuries this wasn't possible. After building up his career as a labourer he talks us through how he eventually ended up working with Ash. ___ Guests this week: Jamie & Blade

Tommo is joined by Serving member of the Royal Engineers and Army Commando Jack Jarvis, now Guinness world record holder for his amazing 111 days out at sea rowing single handedly from main land Europe to the USA. Brought to you by:-Kent CBD www.kentcbd.org @kent_cbd PROMO CODE 10% off: GRANITEZERO Green Beret Coffee @Greenberetcoffeeco PROMO CODE 10% off: GZPODCAST10

Nuacht Mhall: Cothrom an Lae, i gcomhair Sheachtain na Gaeilge * Inniu an séú lá déag de mhí an Mhárta. Is mise Niall Ó Siadhail. Cothrom an lae seo sa bhliain 1872, imríodh an chéad chluiche ceannais sa Chorn FA i Sasana. Bunaíodh an FA féin siar in 1863 ach cuireadh tús leis an chéad Chorn FA i mí na Samhna 1871 agus tharla an cluiche ceannais ar 16 Márta 1872. Ba iad Wanderers FC ó Leytonstone in oirthear Londan a fuair an ceann is fearr ar a n-iomaitheoirí na Royal Engineers. Scóráil Morton Betts an cúl amháin sa chluiche. Bhuaigh Wanderers an Corn cúpla uair eile sa ré sin ach tháinig deireadh leis an chlub sna 1880idí. Ó shin i leith tá an Corn FA ar cheann de na chomórtais pheile is cáiliúla ar domhan. Bhuaigh Leicester City an Corn den chéad uair anuraidh, agus is iad Arsenal a bhfuil an líon is mó Corn FA buaite acu, le ceithre Chorn déag. * Léirithe ag Conradh na Gaeilge i Londain. Tá an script ar fáil i d'aip phodchraolta. * GLUAIS corn – cup, competition iomaitheoirí – rivals

Chris Brown is Principal Lead Consultant at Bridewell Cyber Security (https://www.bridewell.com/) and previously served with the British Army's Corps of Royal Engineers, Intelligence Corps and AGC. ***** Become a patron at patreon.com/hkpodcasts Patrons receive previews of episodes and get private Q&As with guests ******

Last time we spoke Hong Rengan was in misery, nothing was going as planned. Li Xiucheng went off on his own to perform a campaign in the east, but it was drawing ire from the foreign community to make Hong Rengans life even worse. To defend Shanghai from Li Xiuchengs men, Ward's mercenary force became the Ever Victorious Army and began to work alongside the foreign community and Qing. Chen Yucheng was hunted down and executed, yet another great Taiping king gone. Zeng Guoquan made an extremely bold move and began a siege of Yuhuatai, a fort guarding Nanjing. Then the foreigners it seems quasi joined the Qing, thus ending any chance of the Taiping earning their support. With what seems the rest of the world against the Taiping, and the enemy nipping at their doors, what could they do to stop the inevitable? #34 This episode is The Taiping Rebellion part 11: The Siege of Heavenly Kingdom   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Meanwhile, refugees from across Jiangsu and Zhejiang flooded into Shanghai seeked protection. In 1862 alone nearly 1.5 million refugees crammed into the Chinese and foreign held parts of the city. Where there are so many people, comes issues. One particular issue was human waste, with so many people crammed into the city, the waterways literally became clogged with fecal matter and other waste. The rivers were also the primary supply of water for the city and even with the custom of boiling the drinking water, the washing water and that used to prepare food was not. A massive cholera outbreak began in may of 1862 causing the usual symptoms, cramps, vomiting and diarrhea. Death ran rampant and by June it was a full blown pandemic. 10 to 15 Europeans were dying a day based on records, but obviously the Chinese population suffered the most. Hundreds of people died each day and by July thousands. At its peak the Cholera outbreak killed 3000 people a day in the foreing settlement, the streets were ridden with unburied bodies. Some local Chinese called it “fan sha, the foreign infection”. The pandemic spread, first going north to the Taku forts, then Tianjin where it claimed 20,000 lives in a few weeks. From there it hit Beijing, but it was not limited to this northern route, it also went south and over the Yangtze going into the interior of CHina. Zeng Guofan's HQ was hit and men began to die. 10,000 men under Zeng Guoquan at Yuhuatai became sick, 10,000 more under Bao Chaos army in southern Anhui and Bao Chao himself also became sick. 50% of Zuo Zongtangs army in Zhejiang were sick and with the massive amount of illness, the Xiang army simply could no longer continue to be on the offensive.    Zeng Guofan ordered his commanders to distribute Korean ginseng to the sick troops hoping it would at the least alleviate symptoms. Over in Shanghai the British military distributed “cholera belts”, these were wide cummerbunds of flannel wrapped around the persons torso to keep it warm because the belief was the disease was caused by sweaty chills in the bowels. Another British medical officer in Beijing, did not believe the disease was the result of insanitation and instead suspected quote “the operation of certain electrochemical changes in the atmosphere on certain constitutions.” Within Nanjing it seems they fared a bit better, which is understandable as they were more rural and less crowded then places like Shanghai or Tianjin. The disease spread via the trading routes, which were pretty much closed off to the Taiping. Those Taiping around the Shanghai area however got just as smashed by the disease as the rest. The disease would petter off during the winter, but found its way to Manchuria and then Japan. For those of you who know your Bakumatsu period history, the Cholera outbreak began in Shanghai. Overall, in the region surrounding Shanghai for about 40 miles, by September it was estimated by missionaries that cholera had wiped out ⅛ of the population, a population in the several million.   Zeng Guoquans position at Yuhuatai was a precarious one, even before Cholera wreaked its ugly head. Zeng Guofan was shocked by his brothers boldness to dig in so close to the heart of the rebellion. When Cholera began to steal away half of Zeng Guoquans forces, his brother dispatched reinforcements, literally everything he could spare but the Xiang army was fewer than 30,000 strong. The men at Yuhuatai held firm in their trenches, fighting off the occasional Nanjing sorties against them from the southern gate. The Cholera epidemic also gave Li Xiucheng an opportunity to breakoff the Shanghai campaign and return to Nanjing, something  the Heavenly King was begging him to do. Well after a very long time of ignoring the poor heavenly king, Li Xiucheng decided in the late summer to withdrew to Suzhou where he gather 3 separate armies to form a relief expedition back to Nanjing. Each army had its own objective: one was going to attack Bao Chao in southern Anhui, one was going to attack the Xiang and Qing naval forces and logistics line and the third led by Li Xiucheng personally would attack Zeng Guoquan's force at Yuhuatai. By late September his armies were marching, with 120,000 under his immediate command. Rumors at the time talked about his force being as large as 300 to a possible 600,000 men. When Geng Guofan received reports of the Li Xiuchengs force moving back to lift the siege on Nanjing he began to frantically ship provisions and supplies to his brother, but there was simply no way he could send enough men to hold off such a goliath army. Bao Chao was busy fighting in southern Anhui and likewise Duolonga had chased Chen Yucheng north, despite receiving direct orders to turn back to help at Nanjing. It seems the Manchu commander was a bit jealous of Zeng Guofan's brother and was dissatisfied with the special treatment of the Zeng family members. So after the death of Chen Yucheng he went northwest into Shaanxi to suppress another rebellion that was going on at the time, remember there's so many simultaneous rebellions. The Dungan Rebellion was a Muslim rebellion led primarily by Hui groups in Shaanxi, Gangsu and Ningxia. It was a brutal and bloody conflict and would claim the life of Duolonga two years later.    The assault upon Yuhuatai would commence on October the 13th, while Zeng Guofan was tossing as many reinforcements as he could to help his brother, but these figures were in the mere hundreds. Zeng Guofan sent letters to his brother trying to raise his morale, claiming Li Xiucheng would require incredible logistical capabilities to keep his army provisioned and perhaps it would lead to his downfall, but privately he was falling into despair. He had this to write in his diary “Last night, I thought about my brother Guoquan, facing danger in ten thousand forms. Anxiety burned my heart. I repaired to my inner chamber and tried laying out scenarios on a Go board [to distract myself]. Then I paced back and forth, circling the room. At eleven o'clock I went to bed but could not fall asleep. Sometime after three in the morning I finally slept, and had nightmares.” It is alleged, Zeng Guofan began to stop sleeping and refused any visitors while he received daily letters from his brother fanning his anxiety. In one letter dated on October 24th, Zeng Guoquan said his forces were holding the Taiping at bay after 7 days of constant attack. He also noted the enemy were using new weapons purchased from the foreigners, that fired explosive shells, “luodi kaihua pao, shells that bloom like flowers when they fall to earth”. It was two days later, Zeng Guofan learned another Taiping army of at least 100,000 led by Li Xiuchengs cousin the Attending king had left Zhejiang province to help attack the Xiang forces at Yuhuatai. The report was greatly delayed, by the time it reached Zeng Guofan, that said army had been marching for over 3 weeks. There were no letters from his brother after that.   Riddled with anxiety, Zeng Guofan wondered about the fate of his brother. It would turn out his brother was hit by shrapnel from a shell, it struck his face and nearly killed him. Zeng Guoquan was still alive, but there was basically no chance he could escape Yuhuatai. Zeng Guofan pleaded with Li Hongzhang to help send reinforcements, but Li could spare none, though he did recommend sending the EVA force up river using steamships to help. Zeng Guofan was truly desperate as he allowed the EVA force to help, but this did not change the fact it would take weeks for them to get to Nanjing. In the meantime Zeng Guofan sent orders to his brother to retreat at any possible moment the enemy left an opening to flee. His brother refused, and while this sounds like a bit crazy, in reality Zeng Guoquans forces were dishing terrible casualties to the Taiping. The defenses at Yuhaitai were firm with heavy walls and trenches. Each time the Taiping launched an attack several thousand of them paid for it while Zeng Guoquans men faced casualties in the hundreds. While Li Xiucheng's sappers mined under the outer walls of Yuhaitai, the defenders frantically fed the cannons and fired their matchlocks at the Taiping. The defenders tried their best to gauge where the sappers were digging to breach their tunnels before they got under the walls, but just incase they began to build secondary walls in the interior.   Zeng Guofan was so afraid for his brother, he even wrote to his eldest son Jize, in Hunan province asking him to leave home for the first time to come and join him at his HQ in Anqing. Yet Zeng Guoquan managed to hold on, his men wrecked the Taiping tunnels before they could breach his walls. The Xiang force on Yuhaitai survived 45 days of attacks and Li Xiucheng finally broke off the attack on November 26st, absolutely incredible. It turns out Zeng Guofans words of comfort to his brother proved true, Li Xiuchengs logistics failed him. Li Xiucheng was forced to use stores from Nanjing and this began to threaten the city, alongside this the army he sent to attack the Xiang/Qing naval forces failed. Winter was coming and Li Xiuchengs men didnt not have proper winter attire nor equipment. Thus he began to send parts of his army back to Jiangsu and Zhejiang while he took the rest to Nanjing hoping to launch an attack later to dislodge the Yuhaitai force. Zeng Guofan did not give up trying to get his brother to abandon Yuhaitai, insisting that the preservation of his army was more important than maintaining the position. Yet Guoquan kept refusing to budge. Well as Guofan kept worrying about his brother Guoquan, something indeed would occur, but to his other brother Guobao. The younger brother had taken 5000 men to help support Guoquan at Yuhaitai. He had sworn vengeance upon the Taiping whom killed his brother Zeng Guohua in 1858. Zeng Guoquan sent a letter to Zeng Guofan that their brother had fallen gravely ill, he had typhoid. On the morning of january 11th, Zeng Guofan got another letter stating Guohua had died.    Back in the Shanghai front the rambunctious Ward had taken a bullet to his stomach on September 21st and died an apparently very agonizing and slow death the same night of 1862 while in Ningbo. Ward had been campaigning in conjunction with Li Hongzhang's troops taking advantage of Li Xiucheng's massive pull out of the region. In Ward's dying breath he apparently demanded money and declared Wu Xu and Yang Fang, the two juggernaut financial backers in Shanghai owed him 140,000 taels in back pay. He threatened that his family back home would press upon them to make good on their debts. Things began to crumble for the EVA forces after Ward's death, Li Hongzhang began to advise who should take up the mantle of command. One notable prospect was the North Carolinian Henry Burgevine, whom was favored by Admiral Hope and Frederick Bruce. Both Brits of course were keen to have the EVA commander be an American since it certainly took the limelight off their nation. Burgevine was said to be a model southerner type, gallant, charming, but he also loved his alcohol and had a terrible temper.    During the fall of 1862, Burgevine led the EVA to drive the Taiping out of a few towns on the outskirts of Shanghai and by winter the 30 mile radius was met. Burgevine was butting heads however with undue payments from Yang Fang, several months worth. When Li Hongzhang ordered him to take the EVA forces to Nanjing to help Zeng Guoquan, Burgevine refused. It was obvious as to why, being closer to Nanjing greatly risked his and the EVA forces lives and there would be less chance of plundering. Yang Fang then refused to make good on his debts to the EVA force unless they complied with going to Nanjing and apparently Burgevine blew a gasket. On January the 4th of 1863, Burgevine showed up to Yang Fang's house with a few bodyguards and punched the man in the face, robbing him of 40,000 silver dollars before fleeing to Songjiang to pay his men. This led Li Hongzhang to place a bounty over the man's head of 50,000 taels. Well needless to say Burgevine disappeared rather quickly, leaving Frederick Bruce to need to find a new commander. This time Bruce wanted to avoid finding any more filibuster, cowboy types and to find someone more professional, more honorable, who would be more accountable. Thus obviously no Americans were going to fit that role, haha, and Bruce reluctantly had to look towards his fellow Brits.   Bruce eventually found, a rather famous name today, but back then he was a young British officer in the Royal Engineers named Charles Gordon. You may have heard his more famous title as “Chinese Gordon”, he was very much akin to Lawrence of Arabia, similar stories. Gordon was painfully british looking, with an awesome mustache might I add in his defense. Fun fact one of his grandfathers owned a ship that was ransacked during the Boston Tea Party, go USA. One of my sources state he was quote “religiously asexual, never married, and had as early as age fourteen expressed a wish that he were a enuch. He also happened to speak with a pronounced lisp”. There were several allegations to suggest he was gay, seemingly based on the fact he did a lot of charitable work for male youth and that he had a fondness for handsome young men. Honestly if you look him up you will find a wide array of bizarre theories, some suggesting he was a homosexual who was so repressed by his Christian faith that he channeled his frustration into being the perfect soldier. One British historian, Paul Mersh suggested he was not a homosexual, but had Asperger syndrome and this made it extremely difficult for him to express emotions towards women. I have to say that is a wild theory, but I personally don't know enough about the man, nor am I in any way his biographer to say much about this fascination on his sexuality. I will say one thing though as a general rule, when you find older historians, those writing lets say up to the mid 20th century, making excuses as to why some figure was not gay, key words “oh he was just very good friends with so and so”, usually its because the figure was gay, haha. Sigh we have come a long way in the world and there is a lot to be said about prejudices of the past and some that still linger, but anyways.    Gordon inherited a very demoralized force in march of 1863. There were 3000 Chinese soldiers left after many desertions, alongside 30 pieces of artillery and 2 paddle steamers. Gordon unlike his 2 predecessors, was very willing to work closely with Li Hongzhang. He took a leave of absence from the Royal Engineers so he could serve under the Qing, therefore allowing him to campaign outside the 30 mile radius of Shanghai. After a brief period of training he began his campaign by joining the Qing commander Cheng Xueqi to march into Jiangsu province and reclaim lost territory to the Taiping. Gordon's smaller force became the spearhead driving up the waterways to take walled cities by surprise by bashing them with artillery, while Cheng Xueqi's larger army came in to swarm everywhere they struck. By the summer of 1863, their combined forces were approaching Suzhou. All was going great for Li Hongzhang and Charles Gordon, but then came a familiar face to disrupt things, Burgevine. Burgevine showed up to Beijing backed up by the US minister Anson Burlingame, trying to claim back his role as the commander of the EVA forces. Burlingame was able to lobby on his behalf and got Prince Gong to agree to the matter, but Li Hongzhang wanted nothing to do with the ill tempered man who punched Yang Fang in the face. Burgevine showed up to Shanghai with an imperial commissioner instructing Li Hongzhang to put him back in charge, but it is alleged by Li Hongzhang that the letter Prince Gong had sent was more of a suggestion rather than direct order. Regardless, Li Hongzhang was not going to play ball and to get away with not having to take back Burgevine Li Hongzhang simply left on campaign with Gordon to attack Suzhou without taking Burgevine. Well the ill tempered Burgevine got riled up again and quickly made his way into Shanghai where he rallied up 70 foreign mercenaries, many of whom had served Ward but were discharged. He took all these men and stole one of the EVA steamers and they made their way up the waterway to Suzhou to join the Taiping.   Burgevine began training the Taiping in Suzhou how to defeat Gordon's forces and when the battle commenced it seemed the rebels had the upper hand. Burgevine at one point went out at night over to Gordons camp to try and get the man to quit his position, something Gordon allegedly considered because he was having a rough time with the logistics of the EVA force. Regardless while Burgevine looked like he might turn the tides for the Taiping, another event occurred that would give the Qing a distinct edge, Captain Osborn showed up on September 1st to take command of the war fleet. Now what is interesting about the situation was that Prince Gong envisioned using the new naval forces to hit the Taiping along the rivers and then be employed as a patrol force for the eastern coast. But someone else had different ideas about the use of these naval units, Zeng Guofan. Prince Gong had planned to use multiethnic crews, sailors from Shandong, gunners from Hunan and Manchu for marines. Well Zeng Guofan thought the new naval forces would be better employed as an addition to his own naval forces. He began to advise against mixing ethnic groups, because it might cause disunity. He advised instead that all crews should be Hunanese, hmmmm. Thus the squadron of steam powered gunships would be absorbed into his fleet of Long Dragons, Fast Crabs and sampans. With such a fleet Zeng Guofan would control the entire Yangtze River system.   And here emerges the balance of power swinging within the Qing Dynasty. This general with a large amount of autonomy was quasi dictating against the Qing central government. When Captain Osborn arrived he found an official letter from Prince Gong informing him that a Hunanese Admiral would be serving as the new fleets commander in chief, Osborn had just been demoted to assistant commander. Furthermore the letter stated the fleet would take orders from Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. Osborn went to Beijing to protest these changes, but Prince Gong refused to budge on the matter. In fact rumors began to spread that Prince Gong had no choice in the matter, because Zeng Guofan quote “threatened to shut off all the supplies to the Imperial Government”. Osborn was furious “I came here to serve the Emperor, and under him the Regent, not to be the servant of mere provincial authorities.” Osborn resigned, while refusing to surrender control of the fleet to Prince Gong. Then came a real tense situation for Anson Burlingame, because the Confederates had envoys in China who sought to purchase the fleet for themselves so they could use it to fight the Union. Anson Burlingame lobbied hard to make sure this did not occur and in the end the fleet was sold at a loss back to India and then to Britain.   Meanwhile while Gordon was facing the decision to step down at the behest of Burgevine, he decided instead to counter by convincing Burgevine to defect back to the Qing side. Burgevines frequent visits to Gordon were drawing suspicion from his Taiping comrades and his drunken ill tempered behavior did not help his cause too much. Apparently Burgevine really pissed off one Taiping commander, who had sent funds to purchase western guns and ammunition through Burgevines contacts only to find cargo of Brandy showing up. Not only was Burgevine getting on the Taiping's nerves, he also drew ire from his western comrades. On on occasion a western officer brought up Burgevines drinking problem only to have Burgevine fire a shot through the mans cheeks. Thus on October 15th, in the midst of an assault upon Suzhou by Gordons men, several of Burgevines officers defected, forcing Burgevine to do the same. Burgevine was exiled from China, as per the terms of his amnesty, but would show back up later on trying to raise another militia. No one knows for sure how, but Burgevine was captured by Qing soldiers and somehow ended up drowning in a river tied in chains. Local authorities said he had some sort of accident aboard a boat that capsized, but we all know that is not true.    With Burgevine gone, a major obstacle had been overcome for the campaign against Suzhou. Despite this, the battle for Suzhou remained a stalemate by November. The Taiping commander of Suzhou was Tan Shaoguang, he also held the title of “Wang Mu, Esteemed King”, the son in law of Li Xiucheng. He wanted to defend Suzhou to the bitter end, but it turns out many of his subordinate commanders did not feel the same way. On November 28th, one of his subordinates secretly met with Chen Xueqi, promising to give up Suzhou peacefully while getting rid of Tan Shaoguang and his loyal officers. The man's name was Gao Yongkuan whom held the title of “receiving king” though by this point every commander was being given these titles. He offered to open the gates of Suzhou, but was very fearful of being caught by Tan Shaoguang. Gordon and Chen Xueqi agreed with Gao to take the city with minimal bloodshed.   On the morning of December 4th, Tan Shaoguang held a banquet and during a speech he was stabbed by Gao Yongkuans group of mutineers and had his head cut off and sent to Cheng Xueqi. The gates of Suzhou were opened and Gordon with his EVA forces were the first to enter the city peacefully. Gordon spoke with the mutineer commanders and they all shaved their heads ready to surrender, grateful that Gordon kept his word to not slaughter them. Li Hongzhang showed up by boat to take control over the city with his personal guard and this is where things turned dark. Musket fire could be heard, and Gordon went to investigate finding Cheng Xueqi outside the walls of Suzhou looking very uneasy. Gordon asked him what was going on and Cheng replied that the Taiping commanders never showed up to surrender. Gordon rode back into the city to see what was going on, finding Qing forces looting the city. Gordon suspected this was the work of Cheng Xueqi who must be deceiving him, so he hunted down Li Hongzhang for answers. Yet he could not find Li Hongzhang, nor the Taiping commanders, he went back to Cheng Xueqi who simply told him he had no idea what was going on. Now the sources are mirky on this one. One thing to take note is that Cheng Xueqi was a Taiping defector himself, thus it gives some plausibility for his side of the story. Cheng Xueqi was said to be seen weeping on the ground as he sent a western officer to send a message to Gordon. The message was an apology, stating he did what he did because he had to follow Li Hongzhangs orders. Gordon eventually found the remains of the Taiping commanders, he had this to say of the scene. “The hands and bodies were gashed in a frightful way and cut down the middle, the receiving king's body was partially buried.” Gordon was livid, he had promised these men their safety and Li Hongzhang brutally executed them. To this breach of his honor, Gordon renounced his service under Li Hongzhang and this spread to the foreing community like wildfire. This spelled the end of military cooperation between Britain and the Qing dynasty. The British parliament fell back upon the policy of neutrality, but allowed for the defense of Shanghai. Ironically, by the time Britain had finally reached its decision to go back to neutrality, their assistance was basically no longer needed.   The situation in the interior of China was becoming quite horrid. Zeng Guofan wrote in his diary on June 8th “Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people”. It was not the first note of cannibalism from his diary entries and not to be the last. He carried on to write it was not new news that human flesh was being eaten, but the price for said flesh had gone up considerably. The price per ounce had gone up four times that which it was sold at the year prior. Cannibalism was found in Jiangsu province as well. Northern Anhui was a wasteland reported Bao Chao who was desperately trying to scout for a supply line for the drive upon Nanjing. Yet as absolutely horrifying as the situation was in central china, it did benefit the Qing, because the Taiping depended on the peasants amongst them, and the famine was creating internal conflict. As Zeng Guofan put it in his diary about the situation of the Taiping around Nanjing. “Campaigning in a region with no people, the rebels will be like fish out of water. In a countryside devoid of cultivation, they will be like birds on a mountain with no trees.”   On June 13th, Zeng Guoquan finally seized the stone fort atop Yuhuatai. Having control of it meant Zeng Guoquan was able to shut Nanjing's southern gate. The west and northern gates of Nanjing open onto the Yangtze River and their defense laid in these large Taiping forts across the mile wide Yangtze corridor to the city. On June 30th, the Xiang navy attacked these forts in a intense bombardment battle. The Taiping fort shore batteries fired back upon the Xiang, causing 2000 casualties, but in the end the Xiang forces were able to take the forts, slaughtering their defenders. Having taken the forts, the Xiang forces now controlled the Yangtze River northwest of Nanjing. Before the Yangtze River way was closed, Li Xiucheng had left in February of 1863, 3 months after failing to defeat Zeng Guoquan. He took his force into northern Anhui, searching for a supply line for Nanjing. Much like Bao Chao, he found a wasteland and his troops suffered immensely. They were starving, forced to eat grass while facing the Xiang forces who were better provisioned. When word spread that Zeng Guoquan took the fort atop Yuhaitai, Li Xuicheng immediately headed back to Nanjing, managing to cross the river just 10 days before the northern Taiping forts fell. He estimated the campaign into northern Anhui cost him 100,000 men. Yet as soon as he returned to the capital he had to leave yet again because Li Hongzhang was attacking Suzhou and Zuo Zongtang was attacking Hangzhou.    Nanjing's western gate was shut because of Xiang dominance along the Yangtze and its southern gate was shut because of Zeng Guoquans dominance over Yuhaitai. With this in mind Zeng Guofan turned his attention to the remaining easternand northern gates. He sent Bao Chao to lay siege to the Shence Gate, the primary northern inland gate. But Bao Chao faced a terrible epidemic. Simultaneously there were troubles breaking out in southern Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, so he sent Bao Chao to quell them. Meanwhile Zeng Guoquans forces expanded their position at Yuhaitai, seizing 10 bridges and mountain passes allowing them to control the supply roads southeast of Nanjing. By November Zeng Guoquans focus were blocking the eastern approach to the city. The eastern gate to Nanjing was still open and 2 large forts defended atop a mountain that edged towards the city. The mountain was known as the Dragon's shoulder and its fort was the Fortress of Heaven, to its bottom was the Fortress of Earth. By December the eartern gate and the Shence gate were the only points of entry still under Taiping control, out of Nanjing's 23 mile circumference.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Qing coalition lost their foreign support, but it seems it was no longer needed anyways. Zeng Guoquans gambit payed off brilliantly and now the great city of Nanjing was finally under siege, it was only a matter of time for the end.  

CONTENT Our guest today is a former Sapper who joined as a boy soldier and finished his service as a Late Entry officer.  The Royal Engineers help the Army to live, move and fight by increasing survivability, mobility and counter-mobility.  On this pod we will discuss each of these topics but the main focus will be on REST and EOD as this is where he spent the majority of his career.     DESERT ISLAND DITS On Desert Island Dits our guest's choice of film is Ice Cold Alex and his book choice is Arrows Of Fortune  by Tony Deane - Drummond.  The teams book choice this week is The SS: A Warning From History by Guido Knopp. SOCIAL MEDIA Check out or blog site on word press Unconventional Soldier Follow us on social media and don't forget to like, share and leave a review. Instagram @the_unconventional_soldier_pod. Facebook @lateo82.  Twitter @TheUCS473. Download on other platforms via Link Tree. Email us: unconventionalsoldier@gmail.com.  This episode brought to you in association with ISARR a veteran owned company.  

Last time we spoke the Europeans licked their wounds after their nasty defeat to the Taku Forts. Elgin returned to China and a even larger coalition force now set itself on a warpath to march upon Beijing, but this time they went around the Taku Forts. They seized Kowloon, Chusan, Shanghai, Beitang, Tianjin, Danggu and then exacted their revenge upon the Taku Forts. The key to their success was the devastating Armstrong field gun which ripped asunder anything the Qing threw at them. Prince Seng lost the battle for Zhangjiawan utterly humiliating the Qing, but the great General did not simply call it quits, for now he reorganized the forces and put together a last stand at Baliqao. Could Prince Seng stop the European menace before they got to Beijing? Only time will tell.   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. #23 This episode is Part 6 of the Second Opium War: The Burning of the Summer Palace   Prince Seng and Prince Sengbao, the brother of Emperor Xianfeng had gathered a force of the Green Standard Army, reinforced by imperial guards of the 8 Banner Army, for a combined force nearly 30,000 strong. After their victory at Zhangjiawan, both Grant and Montauban were overly confident that they could simply march on Beijing. As they marched, the 101st regiment led by General Jamin arrived to increase their numbers. On the morning of September 21st as the European columns moved past Tongzhou they saw the Qing force in position in front of the Baliqao bridges. The Qing force was formidable with its left on the canal, reinforced by the village of Baliqao, another village in the center and a third on the far right. The road to Beijing passed through a rolling wooden terrain veering towards the canal and the Baliqao bridges. Seng had re-established order to his army and strengthened their resolve by bringing 100 guns and positioning them in the villages, on the other side of the canal and along his entire front. The Green Standard army were the majority, while the 8 Banner Army units were kept in reserve at the bridges. Seng also had of course a large cavalry force which was being led by Sengbao on their formation flanks. Grant kept inline with what he had done in the previous battle, he took the left while Montauban took the center and right to protect his flank. Montauban used the wooden terrain to hide his lack of numbers, sending the first column to hit the Qing center. General Jamin moved to Collineau's right to hit the Qing left. Grant moved to the far left of Collineau hoping to flank the Qing. General Collineau took the advance guard consisting of the elite companies of the 101 and 12nd regiments, two companies of the 2nd Chasseuers a pied, an engineer detachment, two batteries of horse artillery and a battery of 4 pound foot artillery. Montauban and Jamin commanded the 101 regiment along with the 2nd Chasseurs a pied, a battery of 12 pounders and a Congreve rocket section. Collineau's infantry sped through the woods towards the Qing center and their speed shocked Sengbao as he moved most of the cavalry from the wings to protect the center. The French advance guard moved into skirmish order forming a long line towards Baliqao. Montauban ordered Jamin to go forward as two large bodies of Qing cavalry, around 12,000 charged at each of the French columns. Collineau's artillery rained hell into the Mongol and Manchu cavalry, while the elite company's rifle fired from secure locations along the sides of the main road. The accurate rifle fire took a massive toll on the cavalry, but Collineau soon found himself embroiled in hand to hand combat. Montauban and Jamin also used their artillery to devastating effect while their infantry formed two squares before the cavalry hit their position. The French 12 pound battery was positioned between Collineau and Jamin, continuously shelling the enemy. After some time the Qing cavalry broke off their attack having failed to break the French square formations or to overrun Collineau's men. A brief lull allowed Montauban to re-form and advance upon the villages being defended by Green Standard battalions. Prince Sengbao and Seng did not renew their cavalry assaults, because Grants column was marching onto their right flank. The 101st stormed into the village of Oua-kaua-ye in the center scattering the defenders with each and suffering little casualties from the enemies artillery. Montauban followed this up by sending both brigades to march upon the village of Baliqao. Collineau advanced along a road with his elite companies firing upon Qing forces trying to hold the road towards the village. Large cannons in the streets and across the canal fired upon the french columns,but Jamin brought up his batteries to fire upon the cannons easily overwhelming them. The village and bridge of Baliqao were defended by the 8 banner army units and they did not falter nor give ground. Collineau brought up his artillery to form a crossfire with Jamins batteries slaughtering the 8 bannermen. Collineau then formed his forces into a column and stormed the village. Fighting raged on at close quarters for 30 minutes as Montauban led the 101st to Collineaus support securing the village. Suddenly a Qing messenger was sent from Sengbao to Montauban proclaiming that they had two captured colleagues, the French cleric named Abbe Duluc and the British Captain Brabazon of the royal artillery on one of the bridges and would execute them both if the Europeans did not halt their attack. Without pause Montauban pressed the attack. Collineau then reformed his command and rapidly advanced upon the bridge with the French batteries providing cover fire. Most of the Qing artillerymen were killed by European artillery and with them gone the rest of the 8 banner army men were forced to cede ground and the bridge was overwhelmed. The French bayonet charged across the bring as Qing troops leapt into the canal for their lives. Prince Sengbao made good on his threat and had Duluc and Brabazon executed and tossed over into the canal. The bridge was now in the French hands. Grant's column dislodged the Green stand troops from their village while the British and Indian cavalry rolled up the line overwhelming the Qing cavalry trying to hold their ground. Grants line of attack brought him within sight of the bridge that cross the canal 1 mile west of Baliqao. The arrival of the British on Seng's right flank collapsed his forces in the face of their attack and Seng was compelled to pull his army from the field before being trapped on the right side of the canal. The French claimed 3 dead 18 wounded, the British 2 dead and 29 wounded while the Qing had upto a possible 1500 casualties. The shocking triumph prompted Napoleon III to ennoble de Montauban, who would chose his place of victory for his new aristocratic title, Comte de Baliqao, joining the list of name-place conquerors like Scipio Africanus, the Duke of Marlborough or Germanicus. Over on the other Baliqao bridge General Hope was not enjoying the same easy going time the French had. Grant thought a horde of Mongol cavalry in the distance were French and didn't open fire. The mongols mistook this to mean Grants men were cowards and charged upon them. When the British realized it was the enemy they opened fire at close range and blew the Mongolians to pieces with Armstrong guns. Tongzhou surrendered without a fight, but still suffered the same fate as Zhangjiawan. They plundered the town and General Grant had 3 rapists flogged with 100 strokes by a cat o nine tails then hanged one of them, but all 3 of the said rapists happened to be coolies. The British claimed many of the rapes also came at the hands of Sikhs, but again these sources always seem to wash away the British and French from the bad stuff. Oh and the British and French placed blame at one another of course. One French soldier said of the plunder of Beitang “Quant aux anglais, ce sont nos maîtres: on ne trouve pas un clou où ils ont passé.” (“As for the English, they are our superiors [when it comes to looting]. You can't find a nail where they have passed.” Prince Seng panicked after the last two obstacles to Beijing had fallen, Tongzhou and Zhangjiawan. Beijings only remained defense were its thick walls at 40 feet high and 60 feet thick, bristling with towers that housed defenders armed with more antique guns, bows and arrows and spears. Both Elgin and Gros pleaded with the military forces to hurry to Beijing as they feared the hostages might be massacred if they delayed. But General Grant refused to budge until all his heavy siege guns were shipped upriver from Tianjin to support their march on the great city. Elgin and Gros's fears were not unplaced, Emperor Xianfeng had fled Beijing to go to Rehe, leaving his brother Prince Gong behind with orders to dig in and fight. Best Emperor Ever. Gong was 28 years old and a much more capable sibling. The European force made its way to Beijing where Elgin sent word to Gong they refused to negotiate with him until after the hostages were freed. But they also helped him save face by allowing him to blame the hostage taking on his subordinates. Gong was not moved by the gesture and sent word to withdraw from Beijing and then the prisoners would be released. If they began an assault of the city the prisoners would all be beheaded. On October 6th the heavy artillery needed to blast a hole in Beijing's walls arrived. Prince Gong's position was…welll really bad. On top of literally being ditched there by the Emperor, most of the army had left with him as well. On the 5th Parkes and Loch were told their execution would take place the next morning and both prisoners were given paper and pens to write their last will and testaments. But by now the captives were far too important as political pawns than to be wasted away on executions. On the 7th the prisoners all heard the sound of gunfire and presumed the Europeans were bombarding the city meaning they were all going to die soon. They were actually mistaken the British were firing their guns in the air to let the French know their position because they were spreading out. On october the 6th the British and French agreed to march around the grand city from opposite directions and to meet at the Summer Palace just outside the walls. The two armies quickly lost contact with another. The French reached the Summer palace first finding out that its occupant, Emperor Xianfeng had fled with his 13 wives, a fraction of his harem. The French had expected the Emperors personal guard to defend the summer palace to the death, but everyone had fled. The only resistance they faced was 500 unarmed court eunuchs who screamed at them “don't commit sacrilege! Don't come within the sacred precincts!”. The French shot 20 of them on the spot sending the rest fleeing.   The Summer Palace or as the Chinese called it “Yuanming Yuan” (the gardens of perfect brightness”, simply does not embody how grand it truly was. A more accurate term would have been Summer Palaces, since it was a complex of 2 hundred main building sets, in an 80 square mile park dotted with vermillion tents, artificial lakes and exquisite gardens. The interiors were all unique, one for example was Baroque audience chamber designed by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century, two other baroque palaces with gold roofs were designed by the same Jesuit priests. Emperor Xianfeng had spent countless days on the lakes staging mock naval battles with miniature boats representing the Qing navy and the British. The emperor always won the naval battles. The Summer palace was not just an architectural marvel, it was a national treasure, a storehouse of centuries of tribute the Emperors of China had received from barbarians. De Montauban realized what a historical treasure was now laying in his possession and he tried to preserve the place by telling his senior staff quote “he counted on their honor to respect the palace and see that it was respected by others…until the English arrived”. But the sheer temptation of the priceless artifacts which lay littered across the palace floors proved an impossible temptation for the French. Montauban's orders to not touch the treasures quickly fell apart. The French soldiers could not resist helping themselves to an Ali Baba's worth of loot. Later in 1874 Montauban would find himself before a government committee set up to investigate the looting that took place that day. The General lied to his examiners saying the French soldiers had not participated in the looting.  “I had sentries posted, and directed two officers with two companies of marine infantry to protect the palace from depredation and to allow nothing to be moved until the arrival of the English commanders. Thus there would be no pillage. Nothing had been touched in the Palace when the English arrived.” General Hope contradicted this testimony with eyewitness accounts. “It was pitiful to see the way in which everything was robbed. Only one room in the Palace was untouched. General de Montauban informed me he had reserved any valuables it might contain for equal division between the English and French”. Grant's critique of Montauban not being able to control his troops is a bit hypocritical as he himself could not control his men. Despite apparently similar orders from Grant, the British soldiers found a cornucopia of loot to be had. Jewels lay scattered all over the Palaces. One French officer snatched a pearl necklace whose gems were the size of marbles and sold it in Hong Kong for 3000 pounds. De Montauban realized he was fighting against the impossible and just let his men take home souvenirs, he said, one prize per soldier, sureeeee. It's said when the French left the palace at 10pm, their pockets bulged with stolen treasure. When the British infantry arrived on october 7th, they saw French tents piled high with jewels and other plunder, some French soldiers were casually walking around wearing jewels worth millions of Frances. Both generals simply gave up trying to establish order and by October 8th Grant demanded Montauban split the gold bars found in the palace 50/50 with the British. Grant tried to restore some order by ordering his men to render their plunder up for a public auction, the money did not go to charity. One British major turned in 8000 pounds worth of gold ingots alone. The auction listed countless Chinese art and artifacts, sculptures of gold and silver, thousands of bolts of imperial yellow silk and the list could go on forever. The 3 day auction netted nearly 100,000 pounds, ⅓ of which went to the officers and other ⅔'s to the NCOs. A private received 17 pounds, an officer 50. The French simply let their men keep what they had stolen. It was rumored that Baron Rothschild had an outstanding order with one French officer to buy anything he could at whatever price. De Montauban tried to mollify a conscious stricken general Grant by offering him a pair of gold and jade scepters as a gift for Queen Victoria, the other half was going to Napoleon III. Now the European armies did not show up to Beijing with baggage carts, but they soon managed to commandeer 300 local carriages to whisk off their treasure.  When Elgin arrived to Beijing on October 7th he was mortified by the looting of the summer palace. On October 8th, Heng Chi an imperial commissioner assigned to treat with the invaders, visited Loch and Parkes. He treated them with respect, but also fed them lies like how the Emperor had a secret army of hundreds of thousands of men in Mongolia waiting to rescue the capital. He also tried pressing to them the fact the trade between their nations might fall apart. Then Heng Chi delivered to them a request from Prince Gong that they write a letter to Elgin urging him to end hostilities. Parkes declined to help, even though Heng said he might be executed if the men did not write the letter. Then Parkes stated “Although you would do the Allied forces but little injury by killing the few prisoners…you would by such an act bring down on yourselves a terrible vengeance.” Heng switched back to good cop again and said “You will be in no danger for the next two or three days.”. Back on september 29th, Loch and Parkes had been transferred to the Gaomiao temple in northern Beijing where their treatment took a 180. They were wined and dined at a 48 course meal banquet catered by a restaurant near the temple. The men were too ill to eat, but happily accepted a bath and new clothes. Parkes eventually wrote to Elgin “The Chinese authorities are now treating Loch and myself well. We are told that His Highness [Gong] is a man of decision and great intelligence, and I trust that under these circumstances, hostilities may be temporarily suspended to give opportunity for negotiation.” At the bottom of that said letter, Loch added in Hindustani that he was writing under duress and believed the Qing could not decipher the Hindu language. Elgin was happy to receive the letter but worried the hostages would be executed.  Elgin was in a real pickle. He felt as trapped as the hostages. If he ordered the siege to commence the hostages might be executed. On October 8th orders arrived from Prince Gong to release the prisoners. The reason Gong did this was actually because orders were coming in from Emperor Xianfeng to execute them all in revenge for plundering the summer palace. Loch and Parkes were released first and it seems just their release alleviated Elgin and Gros's stress to such an extent that they did not seem to care about the fate of the other 30-40 hostages still in the Qing hands. Less than 24 hours after Loch and Parkes were released the allies on October 9th positioned 13 field pieces opposite of the An Tung Gate, begun to dig trenches and posted a placard threatening bombardment if the gate did not open. Elgin gave the Qing until noon of October the 24th to open the gates to the city or the shelling would commence. And on october 24th, 5 minutes before noon the gate of An Tung cracked open a bit hesitatingly, then swung wide open. Without firing a single shot Elgen marched at the head of 500 men into Beijing as conquerors.  The return of the remaining prisoners was not done promptly. 3 days after the An Tung Gate opened, a frenchman and 8 Sikhs were freed. Two days after that, 2 more Sikhs were freed both both men were almost dead and one did die the next day. In all 19 prisoners were freed, 10 others had died being forced to kneel in the courtyard of the summer palace for days without food or water, their hand bound by moistened ropes and leather straps that shrank and causing excruciating pain. The British and French found coffins with the bodies of the victims, one including The Times correspondent, Thomas Bowlby. Many of the freed prisoners described their ordeal. They said they had been bound with ropes or chains for days, exposed to the elements. Many got gangrene and their infections took their lives. The Sikh and British victims were interred in the Russian cemetery on october 17th without ceremony. The next day the French held an elaborate funeral and high mass for the deaths. The fate of the prisoners seemed to have pushed Elgin over the edge. He rattled his brain for a response to such a heinous crime. Elgin plotted a bloodless revenge in his mind, something to restore British honor through a symbolic act that would prevent the Qing from ever harming a contingent of European ambassadors in Beijing in the future. Elgin thought of a way to hurt the Chinese but not at the cost of any lives, he sought to burn down the Summer Palace, a place where many of the prisoners were tortured to death. Elgin wrote to his wife his decision was in his mind to hurt the Emperor's home but spare the Chinese people. Jack Beeching had a rather interesting thing to say about Elgins decision, “Elgin's decision to burn the Summer Palace at least meant that flesh-and-blood injuries done to people he knew intimately would for once be revenged, not as in war, upon other people—on helpless Chinese—but on inanimate objects, on redundant and expensive things. He had suffered all his life from his father's costly obsession with works of art; now works of art would bear the brunt of his revenge.” Thus Elgin's father had profited from the plunder of art and now Elgin was going to destroy art. Elgin also had pressing concerns, he faced a deadline imposed by General Grant, who warned him that a treaty must be concluded before Beijing's winter set in so the allies could return safely to their base at Tianjin. If they did not Grant warned Elgin that their supply lines were overextended and they would easily be severed off by the Qing forces. Prince Seng had been defeated, but his cavalry remained a constant threat and they could blockade the city off at any time.  D-day for the burning of the summer palace was set to October 18th. A 27 year old captain in the Royal Engineers said this of the event  We went out, and, after pillaging it, burned the whole place, destroying in a vandal-like manner most valuable property which [could] not be replaced for four millions. We got upward of £48 apiece prize money ... I have done well. The [local] people are very civil, but I think the grandees hate us, as they must after what we did the Palace. You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the places we burnt. It made one's heart sore to burn them; in fact, these places were so large, and we were so pressed for time, that we could not plunder them carefully. Quantities of gold ornaments were burnt, considered as brass. It was wretchedly demoralising work for an army The destroyed the 800 acre complex of building and gardens where countless Chinese emperors had spent much of their time. There were so many ornate buildings on the grounds covering more than a square mile that it took 2 full days of burning, breaking and smashing to bring it down. Countless books, artifacts, centuries of history burned to ashes. I don't think its controversial to say it ranks on par with the burning of the library of Alexandria (despite if you believe the library ever burnt down that is, listen to Our Fake History's podcast for that one haha). It was a tragedy and the remains of the summer palace stand today as a monument of what once stood there, China is still trying to have the site placed on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites.  On October 23rd, the Qing imperial treasury paid in full the increased indemnity fee of 500,000 taels to Britain and France. On October 24th Elgin met with Prince Gong at the board of Ceremonies to sign the new treaty of Peking. By this point Elgin had become a student of the Qing court protocols and used his knowledge to further humiliate Prince Gong and the court officials by arrived at the Board in a chair carried by 8 porters. According to tradition, only the Emperor had the right to that many porters. Now Elgin had learnt he was a target for assasination so he showed up with 500 troops and dispatched another 2000 troops to perform a triumph tour of Beijing. Lt Col Wolseley also performed a mine sweep of the meeting room before Elgin went. Elgin also ordered a huge artillery piece to be mounted on the An Tung gate, aimed directly at the city to ensure good behavior from the population. Prince Gong arrived to the board in a sedan chair bourn by 6 porters, something prescribed for his rank and when he saw Elgin's 8 he knew immediately it was a direct insult towards his brother. Elgin also made sure to show up 2 hours late. The signing of the new treaty took on a sort of comedy. Elgin scared the hell out of the court officials when he screamed at them to “keep perfectly still”, because his Italian photographer, Signor Beato was taking a shot of the scene to preserve the Chinese humiliation. Bad lighting, doomed the Italians efforts and no photographic evidence of the signing was made available to the British press. By the way on the note of photography, the 2nd opium war is one of the first instances you have actual photos of some of the events. Over on my personal channel, the Pacific War Channel, I have rather long 45 minute~ episodes, 1 on the first opium war and 1 on the second. My episode on the second utilizes a lot of the photo's taken and they are honestly incredible, especially the shots outside Beijing and the Taku Forts. So stating that it be awesome if you checked my episode out, or give the photos a google! So again the Qing were given a document to sign, not a treaty to negotiate, when Elgin presented the treaty to Prince Gong for his signature. The convention included an apology for the Emperor's aggression, the British ambassador was granted a year round residency and 10 million in reparations were to be paid to Britain. Another port city was added to the list of those to be opened to trade and kowloon was to be handed over to Britain. After signing and being degraded, Prince Gong invited Elgin to a banquet in his honor and Elgin declined citing his fear the Qing would simply poison him, haha! The French version of the same treaty occurred the next day and Baron Gros was much more gracious. After signing the treaty Gross gave Gong a rare collection of French coins and an autographed photo of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie. Gross apologized for the burning of the summer palace, but did not mention the looting. Gross then accepted Prince Gong's invitation to dinner and no one was poisoned.  In December Elgen spent his time recuperating in Shanghai reading victorian romance novels and Darwin's recent bestseller “On the Origin of the Species” which Elgin found to be audacious. In January he left China for good as Britain began the process for annexing Kowloon. Elgin returned to Britain a hero and received the new appointment as Viceroyalty of India, a position Lord Canning fought to get him. As the viceroy Elgin enjoyed the lucrative post for 20 months, but then he died of an aneurysm in november of 1864 in Calcutta, the same city Cantons viceroy Ye Mingchen died, perhaps a symbolic symmetry. Emperor Xianfeng died at 30 years old, only a year after the signing of the Convention of Peking which had humiliated him so much he secluded and anesthetized himself with opium, wine and of course his harem at Rehe. Emperor Xianfeng never returned to Beijing and refused to meet foreign ambassadors or even his own courtiers so deep it was said of his shame.  Prince Seng the defacto commander in chief of the Qing military continued to suffer military setbacks and humiliations. At one point he led 23,000 infantry and cavalry to quell a violent tax revolt in Shandong province and was forced to beg European occupiers to return some of his guns he surrendered to them during the 2nd opium war. They ignored his pleas and the Prince ended up failing to suppress the rebellion. Queen Victoria had received one interesting gift from the summer palace, a small Pekinese dog that she named Lootie. The poor thing had been found wandering around the ruins of the Summer Palace, where a captain in the Wiltshire regiment rescued it and gave it to the Queen. The Queen also of course received a jade and gold scepter from General Hope.  Both the first and second Opium war were fought largely because of the opium trade and British manufacturers. The conflict was an incredible pay off for Britain. Four years after the second opium war ended, Britain sold China ⅞'s of all the conquered nations imports, more than 100,000 pounds annually. Opium imports to China increased from 58,000 chests in 1859 to 105,000 chests by 1879. The British textiles which the Chinese rejected for their own silk eventually found a market, quadrupling from 113 million yards in 1856 to 448 million yards 25 years later. The Treaty of Tianjin basically made opium legal in China by setting the amount at which the Qing taxed it. The Qing court tried to fight the importation of opium by raising taxes on it. There were many attempts by officials in Britain to stop the opium trade, but it was far to profitable and those voices were quelled whenever they rose up. Eventually the Qing realized they could not stop the plague that was opium addiction, so they began to cultivate opium in large quantities within China to at least offset the British imports. Opium addiction became more and more rampant in China. In 1906 the Qing government forbade the sale of opium, but users over the age of 60 were exempted for a specific reason, Empress dowager Cixi was an opium addict herself. Opium cultivation and consumption thrived in the 1920's and 1930's under Chiang Kai-shek's government. By the time of the 2nd sino Japanese war in 1937, 4 million Chinese, around 10 percent of the population were opium addicts. Over in British held Hong Kong 30% of the colony's population were dependent on opium. The Japanese occupiers encouraged opium consumption to make the population more docile. Within a year of the communist takeover under Mao Zedong, dealers of opium were to be executed, some lucky ones got to go to Gulags. Users were treated more humanely and detoxed in hospitals. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me.  The Chinese struggled for 150 years against opium. More than half a century of legislation by both Britain and China failed, while Mao's totalitarian efficiency succeeded in half a generation. Ironically Mao Zedong enforced a policy and plan that had been first tried by a commissioner named Lin Zexu, go figure. 

This week we welcome Former Assistant Curator of the Royal Engineers Museum, current Curator of the Royal Logistics Corps Museum and absolute Napoleon groupie Sam JolleySam has come to rage at Paul and Kyle about how there is a whole load more to the Royal Engineers than building bridges in World War 2. There's a VC for extreme carpentry, there are armed floating tractors, super gas, giant molotov cocktails and a huge number of places where 300 years of Sapper history has left its mark.You can follow Sam on Twitter @s_jolley and you can follow the Royal Engineers Museum at @REMuseum or better yet, why not visit the museum in Medway? Visit their website hereSupport the showYou can follow History Rage on Twitter @HistoryRage and let us know what you wish people would just stop believing using the Hashtag #HistoryRage. You can join our 'Angry Mob' on Patreon as well. £5 per month gets you episodes 3 months early, the invite to choose questions, entry into our prize draws and the coveted History Rage mug. Subscribe at www.patreon.com/historyrage

The Battle of Rorke's Drift (1879), also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was an engagement in the Anglo-Zulu War. The successful British defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenants John Chard of the Royal Engineers and Gonville Bromhead, 24th Regiment of Foot began when a large contingent of Zulu warriors broke off from their main force during the final hour of the British defeat at the day-long Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, diverting 6 miles (9.7 km) to attack Rorke's Drift later that day and continuing into the following day. If you want to physically see us check out the history youtube channel Bonus episodes as well as ad-free episodes on Patreon. Find us on Instagram. Join us on Discord. Submit your relatives on our website Join the Book Club on http://chirpbooks.com/history Get some delicious COFFEE Podcast Youtube Channel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Steven speaks with geospatial tech leaders Colonel Paul Hammett and Major George McCrea of the British Army's Royal Engineers. Approximately one third of geospatial professionals work for the military. These particular geographic technicians are involved in many defence organisations operations by providing critical understanding of geospatial data to decision makers. Listen to learn about what they do, how they use existing technology to improve the user experience, and why paper maps will not to be phased out anytime soon! Show notes on the Geomob website, where you can also learn more about Geomob events and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

On this podcast, Rad features Gary Weaving, Founder and CEO of Forgotten Veterans United Kingdom (FVUK). A former Royal Engineer who served in Afghanistan, he started the charity in 2016 following his medical discharge from the British Army. Failure to get a correct diagnosis of his physical injuries led him to spiral down, abuse substances, and lose the will to live. He began posting details about his troubles on social media and was amazed by the response from fellow veterans going through similar difficulties. He started FVUK with his own personal funds to provide immediate and much-needed support for fellow veterans. To this day Gary does not take any payment or money from the charity for himself.  The mantra of their organization is "selfless commitment to others" and their goal is to give back purpose and hope to veterans forgotten by the system.   Connect with Gary and FVUK by checking out the links below: Website: https://www.forgottenveteransuk.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SelflessCommitmentToOthers Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alone_Soldiers See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul continues his story with his recruitment into the Army Air Corps. It's initially delayed with a tour providing airfield repair in West Germany and then the Falklands, but finally, he's at training at Middle Wallop, the home of the Army Air Corps.  He describes the training including underwater escapes, flying and navigation. As a Gazelle crewman, his role was navigator, observer and co-pilot.  We hear of exercises including the lesser-known  Railex/Probex,  a US, French and British exercise to re-open a land corridor to West Berlin should the links be closed by Warsaw Pact forces and the British Frontier Service.Paul's story is again full of great anecdotes and the dangerous reality of flying low-level missions in a single-engine aircraft including a forced landing with a General on board.Cold War history is disappearing; however, a simple monthly donation will keep this podcast on the air. You'll get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/If a financial contribution is not your cup of tea, then you can still help us by leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us as well as sharing us on social media. It really helps us get new guests on the show.I am delighted to welcome Paul to our Cold War conversation…Photos and videos here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode246/Don't miss our previous episode where Paul joins the Army as a boy soldier in the Royal Engineers here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode245/Follow us on Twitter here https://twitter.com/ColdWarPodFacebook here https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/The Greg Krino ShowVeteran, pilot, and attorney - Greg Krino - takes you on a deep-dive with experts to...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Paul joined the Royal Engineers in 1977, aged 16 as an apprentice. We hear of his experience of joining the army at such a young age and being away from home for the first time. After initial training his  first posting was to Osnabruck in 1979. Shortly after his arrival Paul is appointed to the challenging role of driver to the Squadron Sergeant MajorWith participation in exercises such as Crusader 80 and Active Edge Paul  describes  in detail the role of Royal Engineers in Cold War Germany, including  mine laying, bridge demolition and  fixed defence construction.Paul's story is full of great anecdotes and tales of the reality of life in the British Army of the Rhine.Don't miss our next episode where Paul joins the  Army Air Corps and becomes an Aircrewman Observer on Gazelle helicopters along the Inner German Border.Cold War history is disappearing; however, a simple monthly donation will keep this podcast on the air. You'll get a sought after CWC coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/If a financial contribution is not your cup of tea, then you can still help us by leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us as well as sharing us on social media. It really helps us get new guests on the show.I am delighted to welcome Paul to our Cold War conversation…Episode notes here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode245/Follow us on Twitter here https://twitter.com/ColdWarPodFacebook here https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/Support the show

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. Went The Day Well? (1942) May 1942. The small English village of Bramley End is visited by a detachment of about 60 Royal Engineers. They are ostensibly there on an exercise but are in actual fact a detachment of German paratroopers, the advance guard of Hitler's invasion of England. Some of the villagers figure out their true identities but before they can do anything all the villagers are held prisoner by the Germans. Will the villagers be able to get word out of the threat? The fate of England depends on them. “Oh, you great beast! You great bullying brute you, knocking a child about! You're a disgrace to your uniform! Why, you're no better than a German, - that's what you are!”   You can find this and all our previous episodes at: https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/reelbritannia And everywhere that you download your podcasts Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod Join us over at our Facebook Group ….we'd love to chat with you email: reelbritannia@gmail.com   #podcast #britmovie #reelbritannia #warmovie   Thanks for listening Scott, Steven and Tony

If you're new to the show, you'd probably like it best if you started listening to this sprawling story at episode 1.1 or 1.3 ... depending how you like consuming your stories. If you're not new to the show, read on :) In this mini-episode of the Forgotten Wars Podcast....Learn how balloons were wielded as weapons before and during the Anglo-Boer War. 1) More sources from today's episode available at https://forgottenwarspodcast.com/blog/ 2) Choose how you'd like to keep the show going at https://forgottenwarspodcast.com/donate/

Nuacht Mhall: Cothrom an Lae, i gcomhair Sheachtain na Gaeilge * Inniu an séú lá déag de mhí an Mhárta. Is mise Niall Ó Siadhail. Cothrom an lae seo sa bhliain 1872, imríodh an chéad chluiche ceannais sa Chorn FA i Sasana. Bunaíodh an FA féin siar in 1863 ach cuireadh tús leis an chéad Chorn FA i mí na Samhna 1871 agus tharla an cluiche ceannais ar 16 Márta 1872. Ba iad Wanderers FC ó Leytonstone in oirthear Londan a fuair an ceann is fearr ar a n-iomaitheoirí na Royal Engineers. Scóráil Morton Betts an cúl amháin sa chluiche. Bhuaigh Wanderers an Corn cúpla uair eile sa ré sin ach tháinig deireadh leis an chlub sna 1880idí. Ó shin i leith tá an Corn FA ar cheann de na chomórtais pheile is cáiliúla ar domhan. Bhuaigh Leicester City an Corn den chéad uair anuraidh, agus is iad Arsenal a bhfuil an líon is mó Corn FA buaite acu, le ceithre Chorn déag. * Léirithe ag Conradh na Gaeilge i Londain. Tá an script ar fáil i d'aip phodchraolta. * GLUAIS corn – cup, competition iomaitheoirí – rivals

This week I'm talking to British Armed Forces Veteran and founder of Veterans in Action, the post traumatic growth charity, Billy MacLeod MBE. After leaving the Royal Engineers and running his own successful business for decades, he started Veterans in Action to help armed forces veterans discover a sense of achievement, aiding them to rebuild their confidence, self-esteem and self-belief.  What evolved was a charity that played a key role in the Coronavirus Pandemic response, delivering essential goods to vulnerable people throughout the UK and more recently providing humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees and those still trapped by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Due to his incredible work, Billy was awarded an MBE in the Queen's 2020 birthday honours. At the time of release, Billy and members of his team were in Poland distributing aid and medical supplies. If you'd like to donate medical supplies, food or other items to be taken to aid Ukrainian refugees in Poland, you can send them the following address: Veterans In Action, The Old Grain Store, Home Farm Lane, Redenham Park, Andover, Hants, SP11 9AQ, UK veteransinaction.org.uk -- If you'd like to support Sod's Law you can become a Sod's Law patron at patreon.com/sodspod from as little as £1 /$1 a month - there are different tiers including ad-free episodes, giveaways and more! See podcast.co/privacy for privacy information.

The experience each person has in the military varies by branch, unit, and whether they served in wartime or peacetime. But there are also differences between fully enlisting and serving in the National Guard, or – as the British Army calls it – the Territorial Army. In this interview, host Scott Luton speaks with two Royal Engineer veterans from the British Territorial Army: Dan Reeve (who regular Supply Chain Now listeners will know from Esker) and Rob Chell. They served together in the same troop, and although they didn't initially get along, they found a way to “figure it out” in the end and became good friends. Dan and Rob joined Scott to share their stories and thoughts about: • Why serving in peacetime can be more dangerous than serving in wartime • The importance of decompression – and the process associated with settling down from a high state of alertness • Why even journeys taken side by side can be very different from the perspective of each traveler Additional Links & Resources: Learn more about Veteran Voices here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/veteran-voices Subscribe to Veteran Voices and other Supply Chain Now programs here: https://supplychainnow.com/subscribe Learn more about Vets2Industry: https://vets2industry.org/ This episode was hosted by Scott Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/adventure-hard-mentally-physically-vv53

Summary: In the 7th episode of season 8 of the Propcast, Louisa is joined by Julia Paolucci, Managing Director at HqO France and Samuel Warren, Managing Director of HqO UK Ltd about how tenant engagement can slow down the resignation movement and help landlords meet ESG targets. They touched on what tenants can get out of HqO's product, the acquisition of Office App and how ESG plays into the tenant experience. They also discussed what HqO has planned for 2022 as well as JLL Spark being a key investor. The key takeaway from this episode is that the focus in the current era is all about the employee experience.  Resources: LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy LMRE YouTube Interviews Companies Mentioned: HqO WorkWell Insight Partners  JLL Spark  Navitas Capital Cushman & Wakefield Suffolk Capital Office App by HqO Shout Outs:   Chase Garbarino - Cofounder and CEO at HqO   Key Insights From This Episode:    In a tech company, or a very service-driven company, things do change considerably month in, month out – Samuel When we started delivering something to the office market, it was something that was predictable, something pretty stable, and now we've seen everything transforming. - Julia In this era right now, the focus is really being directed at the employee and what their experience is as well as engaging with them and making them see the benefits of the workplace. - Julia  48% of the working population in the US are seeking new employment, therefore employers really need to understand what an employee wants. - Louisa The trend right now for us is; what can the landlord give to their tenant to enhance that tenant experience, to make the experience in the building as attractive as possible? - Julia     Keywords: ESG, tenants, landlords, real estate, office, future of work   About Our Guests: Julia Paolucci Julia Paolucci is Managing Director for France at HqO, where she is responsible for establishing and growing the French business.  Julia brings forward a property technology expertise, and a track record of leading greenfield organisations. In her previous role, as Head of Sales for Workwell, she was tasked with building the organisation's client base in the proptech sector's nascent stages, developing a thorough understanding of the landlord, tenant, service provider, and end-user experiences. Julia started her career in banking, working in New York, Paris and London for the New York Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, and lastly HSBC Corporate Bank where she spent 7 years.  Julia graduated with a BComm from McGill University in Montreal and an Executive MBA from IE University in Madrid.    Samuel Warren Samuel Warren is the Managing Director of HqO UK Ltd, our London based business. At HqO Samuel is responsible for the growth of our platform in Northern Europe, including Germany, Netherlands and Nordics.  Prior to HqO, Samuel spent 12 years in the real estate market specialising in growing new businesses and high performing sales and marketing teams with companies such as CBRE and Chesterton Global and developers such as Berkeley Group and Country Garden. He worked in the Middle East, Singapore, China and Russia.  He is a graduate of Exeter University and also commissioned into the British Army, serving as a Bomb Disposal and Search Officer in the Royal Engineers.    About Our Host Louisa Dickins https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-dickins-ab065392/ Louisa started her career in property working at a well-known estate agency in London. Realising her people skills, she moved over to Lloyd May to pursue a career in recruitment. She now is a Director at LMRE, who are a specialist recruitment firm driven by PropTech and recruitment professionals, and Louisa oversees their 5 core areas. Louisa co-founded LMRE and provides a constructive recruitment platform to the new disruptors in real estate. Louisa is also on the board of Directors at UK PropTech Association (UKPA). About LMRE www.lmre.tech LMRE believe there is a better way to recruit. LMRE focus on a more comprehensive, client led focus delivering exceptional talent to the place at the time. They are passionate about the industry and passionate about people's careers. LMRE spend time with each client to become and an extension of the business, and their transparency and core values help them grow with the sector. LMRE simplify recruitment and innovate with our clients and evolve the people driven, PropTech community. Timestamps: [01:50] Julia, how did you become the managing director of HqO France? I started my career in finance, working for different financial institutions in New York, Paris and London.  I was one of the first members of WorkWell.  I joined HqO in November 2019 to launch the French market.  [03:15] Sam, how did you end up at HqO and what experience do you bring to it?  I have a varied career, I worked for the British army and now my career in real estate has been focused on growing high-performance sales teams.  I started at HqO and set up a country from the start, I grew the team and brought everything together.  [04:30] Tell us more about the product and how has the product pivoted over the last few years?  One of the underlying things at HqO is regardless of the product, it's working with our customer base to really understand what they're trying to achieve.  We've done a huge amount of work on analytics and data. When we started delivering something to the office market, it was something that was predictable, something pretty stable, and now we've just seen everything transforming.  [06:20] Say I'm one of the tenants, what value do I get out of this product? An individual employee in a building is going to have the technology on their mobile phone and will be able to do a whole range of things in that workplace; from booking different meeting spaces, being able to work in different places to being able to use your phone as an access badge.  Connecting you to those services and features as well as making your day in the building a lot happier and easier.  Bringing perks to employees, thinking of discounts in the vicinity, or promoting local foods and beverages.  [09:25] You have some well known investors; Insight Partners, JLL Spark, Navitas Capital, Cushman & Wakefield and Suffolk Capital. This has allowed you to grow across North America, UK and Europe. Are there any areas of focus or growth for the business which you are looking at?  It varies from region to region so in Europe, we are consolidating what we deliver across those territories.  Making sure that we can service a customer in all the different languages, all the different territories and all the different technologies.  [11:20] You acquired Office App. How did that come about and what does it mean for the business? You also have a fantastic culture; how do you sort of balance that with the acquisition? They were a direct competitor of ours in the European market but our cultures weren't miles apart. What they brought to the table was where we had gaps and vice versa. [13:25] How does ESG play into obviously tenant experience? It is a necessity right now for real estate because they actually have to take action, they have to reduce their carbon footprint but they don't necessarily know how to do that yet.  From the employer's perspective, this is becoming more important because we are in a great resignation period and people are looking for new employment opportunities. [15:50] Can you talk us through how HqO can help clients achieve their ESG goals?  ESG = environmental, social, and governance. Social: Our customer success team can implement for our clients can be things like events that are going to bring about inclusion or can push a different cause.  We've been able to include a lot of guidance to users. [17:00] JLL Spark has made an investment into HqO, what does this mean for the whole of HqO?  Their knowledge of the marketplace has been put forward by them in the early days when no one knew who we were and it was really fundamental.  They provide introductions that ratify who we are. Our clients know and trust JLL and their evaluations. [19:25] What's next for 2022 in HqO, in each of your regions?  The great resignation and people in work spaces are really driving that more holistic experience for both users of our product and people in buildings. With our acquisition of Office App, we have acquired a lot of knowledge about the corporate market. The trend right now for us is; what can the landlord give to their tenant to enhance that tenant experience, to make the experience in the building as attractive as possible.  Enriching the experience for the employee and creating that engagement for them in their workplace in general, not just the building.  Landlords and corporations desperately want to understand more about their population. A big trend of 2022 in the real estate world, in France, is satisfaction, how do we gauge satisfaction? [23:40] The ‘LMRE' part, Louisa asks the guests to talk about:   Lessons learned in your career   Julia: Revolutions don't happen overnight but they do happen. To make revolutions happen, you need to keep pushing, you need to have energy, but you also need to have patience.     Mention a person, product or service   Samuel: Some of our early adopters, some of our customers that have got innovation teams that wanted to test the product and innovate, evolve, work with us.    Rewarding parts of working in the space:    Julia: Seeing my clients not refer to tenants anymore but rather as users.    What are you most Excited about for the future of the space?:     Samuel:  A more holistic approach. The big goal is the way that physical space will be totally connected, be it whether you are in a residential component of it, whether you're in an office component of it, whether you're a public visitor. It's not about tenants anymore, it's about customers. 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