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Welcome to the first Trench Talk of the season, where Taff Gillingham joins me. Taff is a military historian and specialist historical advisor for the film, TV and theatre industries and has worked as an advisor on many well-known productions from Downton Abbey to the film 1917.

Taff is an expert on WW1 uniforms and kit, and in this fascinating and wide-ranging conversation, he shares his encyclopedic knowledge.

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Welcome to the first episode of Season 8!

Today, we travel to the forgotten front and the village of Bois Grenier. The fields in this sleepy corner of agricultural France contain dozens of German bunkers and blockhouses from the time of World War I. The sector was a nursery sector - a relatively quiet location where new battalions could learn the regimes of trench warfare. The peace was shattered on the afternoon of the 25th September 1915 when a diversionary attack for the Battle of Loos had disastrous effects for the men of the 2nd Rifle Brigade and the Royal Berkshires.

We walk the fields and hear about the infamous "Dicky's Dash", the tragic end to the life of a Canadian flying ace, listen to stories of murder most foul and unbelievable gallantry, as well as boomerangs and the mystery and unknown fate of Clifford the monkey.

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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog

https://footstepsofthefallen.com/gallery/

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Welcome to the final episode of Season 7!

In today's episode, we look at the little-studied role played by the Chinese Labour Corps during the Great War.

Over 90,000 Chinese labourers served in France and Belgium, engaged in manual labour and the dangerous work of clearing munitions and bodies from the battlefields.

Who were these men, and how did they end up so far from home?

The podcast will be back for Season 8 on Sunday July 6th 2025.

Supoort the podcast:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog

https://footstepsofthefallen.com/gallery/