In our latest episode we visit the tiny Somme hamlet of La Boiselle and look at the action which led up to the creation of the massive Lochnagar Crater, which stands on the site to this day as a memorial to the men who died in combat on the first day of the Somme.
The men of Tyneside paid a heavy toll at the hands of German machine gunners, and we look at how German intelligence intercepts rendered any element of surprise obsolete. We hear about the three Victoria Cross winners from the fighting at La Boiselle, including the eccentric and bellicose Adrian Carton de Wiart, a man who described WW1 as really rather good fun.
Our episode concludes with looking at the works of William Orpen, the official war artist, a man who never let the truth get in the way of gaining access to the battlefields, and who used his connections with senior command to get him out of numerous scrapes as he travelled the battlefield producing his exceptional works of art.
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