Imagine you are a Scottish soldier and you’re handed a pair of wire cutters, then told to cross no man’s land and open the wire in front of the German trenches in the midst of one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War.
Those were the orders given to Private James Arthur Heysham Johnstone of the 5th Battalion (Scottish Rifles)—known as the Cameronians—near Mametz Wood on the night of July 19-20, 1916. It was less than three weeks into the 141-day Somme offensive and the losses had already been staggering.
New traces of a very old war
The Sinking of U-94
Afghanistan veteran recounts brutal battle
Diver discovers suspected wreckage of Halifax Explosion
The graveyard of empires
Bleeding us dry
Games of war
Disaster aboard HMCS Kootenay
Deadly tech: the rapid advance of First World War weaponry
Stuff of legend: ingredients that make the Victoria Cross
The mystery of the Thames Victoria Cross
James Andrew Watson: WW II bomber pilot sacrifices life to save crew
The juice that fuelled victory in the Battle of Britain
The fighting Robertson brothers of Campbellton, N.B.
Estate auction chronicles the colourful life of war correspondent Bill Boss
Climate anomaly caused WW I mud, flu pandemic
Non-combatants accounted for the bulk of Second World War deaths
German Red Cross to continue tracking WW II disappearances
The “Miracle of Dunkirk” came at high cost
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Lore