Le Cateau - one day in August
Listen now
Description
In this episode, we visit the battlefield of Le Cateau.  In August 1914 Horace Smith-Dorrien's II Corps stood and fought when they had been ordered to retreat.  This disobedience delayed the Germans and has been described by one military historian as being "the battle that saved the BEF". Sir John French later used Smith-Dorrien's insubordination as a tool to dismiss him.  What happened that day? We look at the battle itself and then take a journey around the battlefield to visit some of the cemeteries and memorials commemorating the dead.  Our journey takes in the most famous tree on the battlefield, the grave of arguably the most famous war poet of the Great War, and finishes at the poignant vista of the Suffolk Memorial. Support the podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblog https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen
More Episodes
In this episode, we travel to the Somme and begin our journey at one of the most iconic sites on the battlefield, the Basilica at Albert. We hear about its founding and discover more about the legend of the Golden Virgin.We leave Albert, head onto the battlefields over the Tara and Usna line,...
Published 06/16/24
Published 06/16/24
In this episode, we visit one of the forgotten fronts of the Great War and look at the fighting in Palestine in 1917-1918. This was an unforgiving landscape that saw numerous battles, the removal of a Corps Commander and one of the most impressive military victories in history.Support the...
Published 05/26/24