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Welcome to the latest episode!

Today, we walk the canal at Cuinchy, one of the forgotten battlefields of the Great War. Cuinchy was the site of the infamous brickstacks and the scene of bitter fighting throughout the entire war.

We walk the battlefield to discover the military history of what happened here, and hear the personal stories of the dead as we visit some of the nearby cemeteries.

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Welcome to this latest episode in which we walk the battlefield of Fromelles. On the evening of the 19th July 1916, men of the newly arrived Australian 5th Division were thrown into battle against the heavily fortified village of Fromelles in Artois. In one night, over 5000 men were killed, wounded or missing and the line remained staunchly in German hands.

We begin at Pheasant Wood and meander across the battlefield, visiting some key sites and hearing the stories of the men buried in the cemeteries in and around the old front lines.

A walking map can be found on the website to allow you to follow the route - please see https://footstepsofthefallen.com/gallery/

My apologies for the sound quality in the final segments of the episode. I don't know what happened with the microphone, but it all went wrong!

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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog

https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen

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The 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/footstepsblog

https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen