Walking The Somme: Guillemont

Posted on May 16, 2020 by

23 Comments

In this episode we walk the Somme battlefields between Trônes Wood and the village of Guillemont. We follow the story of Noel Chavasse VC & Bar, the son of a Royal Academy artist, Raymond Asquith whose father was Prime Minister, and discover how the stories of men from either side of No Man’s Land collided in a sunken lane. Our WW1 object is a small Old Comrades badge; what does it tell us about veterans of the Great War?

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23 Comments on “Walking The Somme: Guillemont”

  6. Started listening late last night and your voice sent me to slumber! Listened today and v much enjoyed.

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  8. Just listened to the podcast. Very evocative, particularly the epitaphs. You mentioned Hitchcock’s ‘Stand To!’ and it’s relative rarity. There is now a Kindle version of the 90s reprint
    .

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  9. Another brilliant podcast all the more special with Noel Chevasse’s story. Very lucky to see his grave on a battlefield trip in 2017 something very special looking at 2 VC’s on the headstone.

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  10. Another absorbing podcast.You have a real gift in taking your listeners directly to the places you talk about. I had a Great Uncle who was a member of 55th DAC and may well have served near here in August 1916.

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  12. Had to listen to this for a second time after recently finding out i had a great uncle who is named on the Thiepval Memorial. After contacting the Liverpool museum (who were a great help) and the Duke of Lancasters Association i have managed to build a vague picture of how and where i think my great uncle fell and not recovered.

    On 08 Aug 1916 the 1st & 1/8th Kings attacked (for the third time) Guillemont with their objective being the station which is no longer there. In the confusion of battle and with no real landmarks (having been smashed) the Kingsmen found themselves in the written words of ‘Difficulties be Damned’ ‘cut off, surrounded and shot to pieces’.

    I believe its in one of the nearby fields between Trones Wood and Guillemont that 307241 Pte Joseph Gains (18) fell.

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