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Episode SA7: An Interview with the Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association

During my recent trip to France, my crew and I had the most wonderful experience when we visited Mr. Andy Robertshaw and Mr. Colin Winn and their archeological dig team out at the Hawthorn Crater on the Somme. How we met the people of the Hawthorn Crater Association will be told in the interview that follows–it was just a stunningly amazing day amongst so many amazing days out there on the Somme and previously in the Argonne.

For many years the Hawthorn Crater has sat in relative obscurity on the Somme battlefield. It has been overgrown with trees and brush, and it has remained enough off the beaten path that most tourists have bypassed it altogether. The Hawthorn Crater Association is changing that. Through limited clearance of diseased trees and careful archeological digs conducted with the enthusiastic support of the people of nearby Beaumont-Hamel village, Mr. Robertshaw, Mr. Winn, and several others are bringing the story of the crater and the men who lived in it, fought in it, and died in it, back to life.

As I will say at the end of the interview, this is not just digging in the earth looking for pieces of metal from the Battle of the Somme. It is so much more than that, as you will hear. And to be clear: no archeological dig is just digging in the dirt, it’s really important and fascinating stuff!

Due to some technical difficulties, Mr. Robertshaw was unable to join us. The VOIP connection also tended to be a bit wobbly at times, but I think overall you’ll be able to understand things fairly clearly.

Please follow the Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association on Twitter to stay up to date: @HawthornRidgeCA

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St. Mihiel – Blockhaus Field Hospital and MG Post

A German Blockhaus that served as a field hospital in the St. Mihiel sector.
Inscription left by a recent traveler.
Walking in the woods near St. Mihiel.
Christophe took us into the woods to explore well-preserved German positions in the former support and reserve lines of the St. Mihiel Salient.
Gunner’s position. During the war there would have been a wooden plank above the machine gun storage area on which the gunner would have stood. A loader would have stood beside him.
The machine gun storage area.
Going inside the position.
Christophe in the observer’s post.
Observer slit, now filled in after a century.

Episode 46: Belleau Wood – Warriors Into the Woods

On June 6, 1918, men of the 5th and 6th United States Marine Regiments assaulted the German positions in Belleau Wood. So began a three-week battle for a one-mile square patch of wood that would enter US Marine Corps and American WW1 legend.

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Episode 45: Belleau Wood – Among the Distant Trees

The third major German attack on the Western Front in late May 1918 led to the release of the American 2nd Infantry Division to Allied Command to stem the enemy tide. The 5th and 6th Marine Regiments, part of that US Army division, set up positions just south of a patch of forest known as Belleau Wood.

This episode is dedicated to the men and women of the United States Marine Corps, and to the men and women of the US Army 2nd Infantry Division.

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Episode 44: Verdun – Je Fait Verdun

The Battle of Verdun came to an end on December 18, 1916.But the Verdun salient remained a violent sector of the Western Front until the very last days of World War One.

In this final episode of the Battle of Verdun the after-effects of the 1916 onslaught in the Meuse are covered, from military losses to political casualties to the lingering effects on the battle on the battlefield itself.

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Episode 43: Verdun – October Knockout

The long-awaited French counterattack at Verdun comes. Generals Petain, Nivelle and Mangin deliver a powerful strike on the Right Bank, against which the degraded German 5th Army is unable to hold.

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Episode 42: Verdun – Wastage

The Mill on the Meuse grinds on at Verdun through the summer of 1916. The Germans go on the defensive and GEN Mangin hammers away at them.

The Battle of Verdun begins to make political casualties as well. As summer turns to fall the French begin to prepare for their long-awaited counter-offensive.

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Episode 41: Verdun – Little Willie’s Last Thrust

July 1916 begins and the Battle of the Somme erupts to relieve pressure at Verdun. The Germans begin to divert all available resources for the new battle.

The German 5th Army at Verdun makes one more attempt to break through on the Right Bank of the River Meuse. The line Fleury-Fort Souville-Fort Tavannes is attacked to clear the last defensible ridge line before Verdun.

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Episode 40: Verdun – The Trench of Bayonets

The story of the Trench of Bayonets.

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Episode 39: Verdun – Fury in the Desert

With terrible losses and plummeting morale, the French 2nd Army strains to hold the Right Bank after the fall of Fort Vaux. The German 5th Army continues its attacks, focusing on the Ouvrage de Thaiumont – Fleury – Fort Souville ridge line just three miles northeast of Verdun.

In the blazing heat of June, the French and Germans fight desperately in the artillery-plowed lunar landscape. The French fight to hold the line. The Germans fight to break it.

The BFWWP is now on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

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