Footsteps of the fallen
163 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 23 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 22 ratingsA journey through the Great War
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
A mile and a half of history - White House to Kitchener's Wood
July 14, 2024 01:00 - 1 hour - 45.5 MBWelcome to this latest episode. We find ourselves in Ypres, on a part of the salient that offers real bang for the buck regarding military history. Our journey today covers just over a mile and a half from White House Cemetery to Kitchener's Wood, and we hear the stories of the cemeteries and memorials on this part of the old front line. We visit White House Cemetery, where we also discover the social history behind a small wooden house opposite the cemetery entrance. We visit Oxford Road,...
Unseen and unwanted - a colonial soldier's war
June 30, 2024 01:00 - 1 hour - 53.6 MBIn this latest episode, we look at colonial soldiers' experiences in the Great War. Britain and France made full use of the human capital of their global empires to provide extra manpower for their armed forces. Our journey begins in an art gallery in Belgium, and we look at the work of the famous German artist Karl Goetz and his most scandalously infamous medallion depicting "The Black Shame." We examine the role played by French colonial troops and discover the story of the most decorate...
The man they couldn't kill.
June 16, 2024 01:00 - 1 hour - 46.5 MBIn this episode, we travel to the Somme and begin our journey at one of the most iconic sites on the battlefield, the Basilica at Albert. We hear about its founding and discover more about the legend of the Golden Virgin. We leave Albert, head onto the battlefields over the Tara and Usna line, and visit the Lochnagar Crater at La Boiselle. Just to the right of the crater on the 2nd of July 1916, a Victoria Cross was won by one of the great characters of the First World War. A man whose l...
Palestine
May 26, 2024 01:00 - 1 hour - 52.2 MBIn this episode, we visit one of the forgotten fronts of the Great War and look at the fighting in Palestine in 1917-1918. This was an unforgiving landscape that saw numerous battles, the removal of a Corps Commander and one of the most impressive military victories in history. Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog
Festubert - a walk round a battlefield
May 12, 2024 01:00 - 1 hour - 46.6 MBIn this episode, recorded live on the battlefields, we are at Festubert, the forgotten battle of 1915, and we visit some of the cemeteries around the battlefield to hear the personal stories of the men buried within them. Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog
The Devil's breath
April 28, 2024 01:00 - 1 hour - 46.7 MBWelcome to Season 7! In our first episode, we look at poison gas, its development and use on the battlefield, and how the science of chemical weapons saw the militarisation of academia in the pursuit of developing more lethal and deadly weapons. We discover how the Allies combated the German gas threat, what it was like to be a gas victim and how a common garden pest was, in fact, nature's most effective gas detector. Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen http...
The farm cemeteries - Ypres
March 31, 2024 02:00 - 1 hour - 51.1 MBWelcome to the final episode of Season 6 and our 150th podcast! In this episode, we look back at the podcast since it began 3 1/2 years ago, examine some of the statistics about the pod, and contemplate some of my favourite episodes that have been released. We then head over to Belgium and travel from Essex Farm to Elverdinghe, where we visit some of the smaller and less visited cemeteries in this part of the Ypres salient, including Talana Farm, Bleuet Farm and Ferme Olivier cemeteries. ...
Trench Talk - Tom Isitt and the Italian Front
March 17, 2024 02:00 - 1 hour - 50 MBIn this latest podcast, historian and author Tom Isitt joins us. Tom has a passion (or, he might say, obsession) with the Italian Front in the Great War. An inhospitable battlefield with appalling weather conditions and treacherous terrain, the fighting around the Isonzo River proved to be the graveyard of the Italian army in a series of 12 battles that cost hundreds of thousands of casualties. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about the fighting at Isonzo and Caporetto, the Asiago...
Fricourt
March 03, 2024 02:00 - 1 hour - 47.4 MBWith the sad news of the passing of Martin Middlebrooke, this podcast heads to the Somme battlefield where we walk across the battlefield at the village of Fricourt. Our journey takes in some of the cemeteries and memorials that cover this part of the Somme battlefield, and we look at some of the literary figures whose output provides so many insights into Fricourt and its surroundings during the Great War, including John Masefield, Siegfried Sassoon and Bernard Adams amongst others. Supp...
Special podcast update
February 19, 2024 10:00 - 8 minutes - 5.64 MBMany of you who listen to the podcast aren't on social media and are not followers of me on Twitter so please find attached a very brief update on what's happening with the podcast going forward. I posted a video on Twitter on Sunday 18th February and this is the audio recording of that video. You can view the video on YouTube with the following link: https://youtu.be/AmNHLbK_rWk?si=TVvX8atZEBm5sSNF
Trench Talk - Roger Steward in conversation about Langemarck German Cemetery
February 18, 2024 02:00 - 1 hour - 49.2 MBIn this latest episode of Trench Talk, it's a real pleasure to be joined by military historian, battlefield guide and author Roger Steward. Lockdown allowed Roger to write the book he always wanted to write about the German Cemetery at Langemarck. Very few places on the Western Front have as many myths attached to them, and in this wide-ranging chat we discuss the cemetery, what there is to see, the unpalatable history it played in the mindset of the Third Reich and debunk some of the myths...
Where it all began - Vimy
February 11, 2024 23:00 - 1 hour - 49.7 MBIn this latest episode, we visit the battlefield where my journey through the Great War began some 35 years ago - Vimy Ridge. We look at what happened in this part of the front and have a brief look at the battle of the 9th April 1917, before we travel around some of the cemeteries and memorials that cover this part of the battlefield. We begin at the French National Cemetery at Notre Dame de Lorrette where we discover the story behind how the Basilica got its name. We hear about the dea...
Beyond the front - Kemmel
February 04, 2024 03:00 - 1 hour - 43.2 MBWelcome to this latest episode of Footsteps of the Fallen. In this episode we travel to Flanders and visit one of the lesser-visited corners of the Great War in this part of Belgium, the area around the mighty Kemmelberg. Our journey begins at Underhill Farm cemetery before heading to Nieuwkerque and across to Kemmel and Dranoutre. On route, we visit some of the cemeteries, memorials and monuments that commemorate the men from France, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Germany who fought ...
Cambrai - one day on the battlefield
January 14, 2024 02:00 - 1 hour - 46 MBIn our latest podcast, we visit the battlefield around Cambrai, where, on the 20th of November 1917, the first mass tank battle in military history took place. The Allies smashed a 5-mile hole in the German's lines. Still, poor communication and placement of the reserves failed to exploit the advantage and when the campaign ended 12 days later, over 40,000 men had become casualties. If you have only one day to visit the battlefields, what should you see? We visit some of the cemeteries an...
Cobbers - Australia on the Somme
January 07, 2024 02:00 - 1 hour - 49.4 MBWelcome to our first podcast of 2024! In this episode, we visit the battlefields around Villers Brettoneux on the Somme, an area of Picardy that will be forever associated with the Australian Army. We tour the battlefield and discover the military history of this part of the Somme, discover just how close the Germans came to Amiens in 1918, and visit some of the many cemeteries and memorials which cover this part of the battlefield. Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/footstepso...
Trench talk - Peter Doyle and the Princess Mary Christmas Box
December 24, 2023 02:00 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBWelcome to our Christmas episode of Footsteps of the Fallen! In this special Trench Talk I'm joined by Professor Peter Doyle who tells us all about the history behind one of the most iconic of all Great War artefacts, The Princess Mary Tin. In this fascinating talk, we hear about the history of the box, the minute attention to detail that went into ensuring that its contents catered to all creeds and nationalities. We hear the incredible story of trench lighters, dispel some of the myths ...
Dud Corner - a journey through a cemetery
December 17, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 52.2 MBIn our latest podcast, we travel to Dud Corner Cemetery and the Loos Memorial in Artois to discover the stories of some of the men who lie here. The podcast begins with an overview of the Battle of Loos, and we look at what went wrong with the offensive in September 1915. Like all cemeteries, every story and every name on a memorial is a tale to be told. We encounter a formidable boxer, known as the "Widowmaker", as well as two officers whose indiscipline landed them in front of the Cour...
Trench Talk: Jules the Poilu - in conversation with Alexandre Lyons
December 10, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 44.9 MBThe discovery of a huge collection of letters, postcards and writings of his great-great-grandfather has taken Alex on a fascinating journey through the wartime experiences of his ancestor, Jules Destrigniville. A Parisian police officer by trade, Jules was conscripted into the 315th Infantry Regiment in October 1915 and promised to write home every day. The letters provide a fascinating insight into the life of a French infantry soldier who went through the hell of Verdun, was wounded a...
The end of the line
November 26, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 44.1 MBIn our latest podcast, we visit the end of the Western Front and take a whistlestop tour around the Lys battlefield near the North Sea coast of Belgium. We look at the military actions that took place in this part of the battlefield including the famous flooding to stem the German advance and look at the heroic actions of French Marines in their stemming the tide of the German advance. We visit the Nieupoort Memorial to the Missing, and the Albert Memorial and then head inland to the Germa...
The Foresters of Flanders
November 19, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 44.7 MBDuring the Great War the demand for timber for the front line exceeded at one stage 50,000 tonnes a month. But where on earth could this amount of timber be sourced and who would be capable of felling that many trees? In WW1 over 35,000 men served in the Canadian Forestry Corps; recruited from the millions of acres of Canadian wilderness, these were physically tough men who thrived on the backbreaking work of lumberjacking. In this episode we look at a little-known aspect of the war, but o...
Bunkers and bards - Boesinghe to Ypres
November 12, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 43.8 MBIn today's episode, we travel the Ypres salient from Boesinghe to Ypres and visit some of the many cemeteries and memorials that dot this part of the battlefield. We begin at the Ziegler Bunker and one of the finest bunkers left on the Western Front before continuing to a roadside memorial bedecked with the tricolor of Ireland, and hear the sad tale of one of Ireland's finest poets. Our journey continues taking in demarcation stones and memorials before we had back toward Ypres and pay a ...
The most dangerous man I ever knew.
October 29, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 43.5 MBOur latest podcast begins at the Guards Grave in the Retz Forest near the village of Villers Cotteret on the Aisne battlefield. It contains the graves of 98 men of the Guards Brigade who fought one of the most remarkable rear-guard actions of the Great War near this spot on the 1st of September 1914. We meet the eccentric and dangerous-to-know Irish Guards officer Lt Aubrey Herbert. A loose cannon with a volcanic temper, Herbert was almost blind, but despite this, he proved to be a capa...
Mazengarbe - a journey through a cemetery
October 22, 2023 06:00 - 59 minutes - 41.2 MBIn today's episode, we visit the communal cemetery and extension at Mazengarbe on the Loos battlefield and discover the stories of some of the men who lie buried within. We begin by reminiscing on an encounter in a cemetery on All Souls Day, hear the story of a Scottish VC winner who performed two remarkable acts of heroism on the battlefield at Hill 70, and meet one of the lesser-known poets of the Great War, the idealistic Canadian Bernard Trotter. We meet a man of the cloth who was awar...
Mount Sorrel
October 08, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 43.7 MBIn this episode, we travel to Flanders and look at the fighting of June 1916 for Hill 62, or Mount Sorrel as it was known. Standing on the top of the ridge today overlooking Sanctuary Wood is a Canadian Memorial and this is a battlefield always associated with the soldiers of Canada. We begin at Hooge Crater Cemetery and hear the story of two remarkable VC winners, before we move to Hill 62 and examine the ebb and flow of the fighting in June 1916. We hear the remarkable story of the Colo...
The Nivelle Offensive
October 01, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 45.5 MBIn 1917 French general Robert Nivelle launched an offensive against the Germans on the River Aisne which he was convinced would break the Western Front once and for all. After nine days of fighting 187,000 French soldiers had been killed, wounded, or missing, and the French Army was in a state of mutiny. In this episode we look at the Nivelle Offensive, why it happened, and what went so wrong for the French Army. We look at the mutinies and discover a story where fact and fiction are some...
Farming the front
September 10, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 42.2 MBDuring the course of the Great War, the problem of feeding the vast numbers of men and animals in the military was a constant source of concern for Army command. The Army contained many men whose background was in agriculture and the decision was made to turn 45000 acres of fertile French land into a central farm to supply food to the front. Run by the Army Agricultural Companies, the cultivation of land was a remarkable and very successful endeavor. We hear about the dangers of using tra...
Le Cateau - one day in August
September 03, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 43.2 MBIn this episode, we visit the battlefield of Le Cateau. In August 1914 Horace Smith-Dorrien's II Corps stood and fought when they had been ordered to retreat. This disobedience delayed the Germans and has been described by one military historian as being "the battle that saved the BEF". Sir John French later used Smith-Dorrien's insubordination as a tool to dismiss him. What happened that day? We look at the battle itself and then take a journey around the battlefield to visit some of th...
Surrender be damned! The Battle of Frezenberg Ridge
August 27, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 45.5 MBBetween the 8-13th of May 1915, the Germans attempted to smash their way through the British lines in the Ypres salient launching an attack against the Frezenberg Ridge. The British were subjected to an artillery bombardment of a ferocity never seen before and suffered over 8,000 casualties in defending the ridge. Our journey begins at the Menin Gate where we discover the works of one of the lesser-known poets of the Great War before we look at the ebb and flow of the battle. We hear stori...
The sculpting soldier
August 20, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 44.9 MBStanding at Hyde Park Corner in London, the Royal Artillery Memorial has been cited by one art critic as the finest work of sculpture of the 20th Century. Its creator, Charles Sergeant Jagger, was once described by Auguste Rodin as "The Master". Who was Charles Jagger? In this episode, we look at one of the finest sculptors of the human form to have lived, his work including the RA Memorial and his incredible piece which stands on Platform 1 at Paddington Station commemorating the dead of ...
The lost cemetery
August 06, 2023 06:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBOur journey today begins at Berkshire Cemetery Extension near Ploegsteert Wood, home of a stunning memorial to the missing, and two magnificent stone lions guarding the entrance in allegorical perfection. We hear the story of a short-sighted 2nd Lt whose father pulled strings to get his son a commission and look at the tragic death of a New Zealand chemist who lies buried in the cemetery. But it's the graves in Plots II and III that grab our attention. The 457 men who lie buried in these ...
Fricourt to Flatiron
July 30, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 48.5 MBWelcome to Season 6! My wife went away with the kids and instructed me not to anything rash while she was away. So I got on a ferry and went to the Somme.... In this episode, recorded on the Somme battlefields we travel from Fricourt to Mametz via Flatiron Copse and visit some of the cemeteries and memorials on this beautiful part of the Somme battlefield. Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen
I died in hell....
July 02, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 48.8 MBWelcome to the final episode of Season 5! In today's episode, we look at the 3rd Battle of Ypres, more commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele. A campaign flawed in its inception, and blighted by the weather, when the ridge at Passchendaele was finally captured some ninety-nine days after the offensive began, over 250,000 men had become casualties. We conclude with a visit to Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world, and contemplate why Yp...
The Astrologer of Flanders
June 25, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 45.4 MBDuring 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 ma...
Mr Tickler's Suicide Squad
June 18, 2023 06:00 - 55 minutes - 37.9 MBIn this episode, we look at the weapons of war used by men in the trenches. The standard rifle of Tommy Atkins was the Short Magazine Lee Enfield, a highly effective rifle, that was deadly in the hands of a trained marksman. As casualties rose the declining standards of British musketry were a real concern for senior command. At the business end of the rifle was often found the sword bayonet, 12" of honed steel used in close combat with the enemy -what did soldiers really think about thi...
Trench Talk: Dr Lindsey Fitzharris - The Facemaker
June 11, 2023 06:00 - 55 minutes - 38.4 MBIn our latest podcast, it's a privilege to be joined by the writer and historian Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris, who wrote the superb book "The Facemaker" about the pioneering WW1 surgeon Dr. Harold Gillies. Gillies was determined to give wounded and disfigured servicemen as normal an appearance as possible and his groundbreaking plastic surgery revolutionized maxillofacial medicine, and developed techniques that are still used to this day. Beautifully written and impeccably researched, The Facema...
Le Touret - a journey through a cemetery
June 04, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 44 MBStanding at the side of the main road from Bethune to Armentieres, the Le Touret Memorial commemorates over 13,400 men who died on this part of the battlefield between October 1914 and September 1915. In our latest podcast, we discover the stories of the men who are commemorated here including a Private who wasn't, the distant relative of the founder of Georgian England's most salubrious drinking den, discover a family connection to the Queen Mother's rocking horse, and hear about the Austr...
The sound of sadness - a journey round The Birdcage
May 28, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 42.1 MBIn our latest podcast, we visit the hulking mass of Plugstreet Wood and look at the actions of December 1914 around the German strongpoint known as The Birdcage. Formed of trenches captured from the Worcestershire Regiment and three ruined farm buildings, it was a show-stopper for the men of the Rifle Brigade, Somerset LI and Hampshire Regiment who paid a heavy toll in trying to capture it. We begin with a reminiscence of guiding a remarkable man around Plugstreet Wood, consider why some pl...
Was I brave?
May 21, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 50.6 MBIn this latest episode of the podcast, we look at bravery on the battlefield through the stories of six remarkable men. Between them, they won 4 Victoria Crosses, 4 Distinguished Service Orders, 8 Military Crosses, 6 Military Medals, 2 Distinguished Conduct Medals, and 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and were mentioned in despatches no less than 17 times. What does bravery on a battlefield mean, and how does one define the "value" of a particular medal? Support the podcast: https://www.p...
"Take one more step and I'll bloody shoot you!" - Aubers Ridge
May 14, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 43.5 MBOn the 9th May 1915, the British launched an attack on the billiard table flat fields of Artois against the Aubers Ridge. What was supposed to be a gentle stroll across the Artois countryside, turned into one of the great military disasters the British suffered during the Great War. As night fell, nearly 11,000 men lay dead or wounded, and the ridge remained firmly in German's hands. The ensuing crisis saw the Government toppled in what became known as the "shell scandal". Support the po...
Trench Talk: William Stroock - "Blackjack"
April 30, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 43.6 MBIn this episode, it's a real pleasure to be joined by the American writer and former History professor, William Stroock. William's historical interests are many, but his book on the WW1 American general John J "Blackjack" Pershing is a fascinating insight into one of the Great War's most complex and colourful characters. We talk about Pershing's early life and military career, examine whether some of the more disagreeable traits in his character were compatible with Generalship, and consid...
Conchies - the men who wouldn't fight
April 23, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBDuring the Great War over 16,000 men registered as Conscientious Objectors; men whose conscience wouldn't allow them to take the life of another human. Ridiculed in the press, humiliated by the Government, and shunned by friends and neighbours, the life of a CO was a lonely one. An organisation aimed at helping those who objected to war was set up, the No-Conscription Fellowship, which became one of the most powerful anti-war bodies of the time. Our episode begins with looking at the back...
Gully Ravine
April 16, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 46.4 MBThe Gallipoli campaign presents military historians with some of the great "what-ifs" of Great War history, and perhaps nowhere more so than the fighting around Gully Ravine in June 1915. The ravine was a barren strip of land running from the Aegean to within touching distance of the town of Krithia. Flanked by tall spurs on either side, Gully Spur to the North and Fir Tree Spur to the South, the Ravine was the scene of some of the most brutal fighting of the campaign. Ghurka Bluff and Fu...
Here we fight and here we die!
April 02, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 45.1 MB1917 was a difficult year for the Allied high command. With the British and the French suffering from the exertions of the Somme and Verdun, the French army was in a state of mutiny on the Chemin des Dames, and the British were bogged down in the hell of Passchendaele. The Spring of 1918 saw the British on the defensive around the city of St Quentin, in a series of eight heavily defended strongpoints called Redoubts. On the 21st of March, the Germans launched Operation Michael, their las...
Beyond the front - Epehy
March 26, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 49.3 MBIn today's podcast we visit one of the forgotten battlefields of the Great War, the tiny farming village of Epehy. While small in size, it proved a formidable obstacle to be captured as the Allies advanced towards the Hindenburg Line. We look at the origins of the Hindenburg Line and the fighting for villages and copses that the British had to undertake in order to get near to this masterpiece of German military engineering. We hear about new British tactics involving armoured cars, the f...
God wears velvet........
March 12, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 47.1 MBIn our latest episode we visit a group of cemeteries that were attached to the Casualty Clearing Stations and discover the stories of some of the men and women who lie buried within them. Our journey begins at Dozinghem, Bandaghem, and Mendinghem cemeteries in Belgium, where we hear the personal recollections of an American surgeon, and meet a VC winner who was a Lt. Col aged only in his mid-twenties. We hear the remarkable story behind the award of what is possibly the world's rarest gall...
One day in Artois
March 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 50 MBIn today's podcast, we visit the battlefields of Artois, the scene of so much fighting during the spring and summer of 1915. It's a battlefield region that provides so much for the battlefield tourist in a very small place. But, if you haven't visited the battlefields of Artois and only have one day in which to visit some of the key sites, where should you go and what should you see? Beginning at the massive French memorial on the Notre Dame de Lorrette ridge, we head from south to north ...
Footsteps in the city - six magnificent memorials
February 26, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 48.5 MBWelcome to our latest podcast, which was recorded live on the streets of London. In this episode, we travel around the capital to discover the stories behind six memorials, all of which have a connection to the Great War. Some of them are very well known, some of them less so, but they each tell a story of this tumultuous period of social and military history. Please do check out the website for images of all the memorials - www.footstepsofthefallen.com Please support the podcast: https...
Trivial, Treatable, Terrible - medicine goes to War
February 19, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 45.4 MBThe Great War saw casualties on an industrial scale. The changing face of warfare placed demands on the medical profession like no conflict before or since. How did medicine adapt to cope with the demands of Great War casualties? We begin at Lijssenthoek Cemetery at the grave of Nurse Nellie Spindler who was killed by shell fire while working at a CCS near Brandhoek, and is the only female buried amongst 10,000 men. We look at the chain of evacuation, the complex series of medical facilit...
Trench talk - Tim Godden illustrating the Great War
February 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 48.3 MBIn our latest episode of Trench Talk it's a real pleasure to be joined by illustrator Tim Godden (http://www.timgodden.co.uk) Tim is an artist and illustrator with an instantly recognisable style of cartoon drawings illustrating scenes of life in the trenches and cemeteries of the Great War. In this wide ranging chat we talk about his career as an artist, his unique style of drawing, his work on the wonderful book Percy, his latest exhibition in Talbot House, and how his love of cycling g...
Croisilles - a journey through a cemetery
January 29, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 42.5 MBIn today's podcast, we visit Croisilles cemetery near Arras to discover the personal stories of some of the men who lie within. Many of the men who lie dead in the cemetery were killed in the actions against the formidable German strongpoint of Tunnel Trench which ran just to the east of the village. We look at the Sassoon poem "The Rear-guard" which documents his experiences of being underground in the troglodyte kingdom the Germans created. We hear about two British sappers, found dead ...