48 Hours to Victory

The Somme

Episode 2

In the second episode, Dermot, Arthur and Lucy delve into the final 48 hours of a battle that raged for over four months – The Battle of the Somme. A byword for slaughter and sacrifice, we reveal how the lessons learned in previous months of battle finally came to fruition in the final two days when the German lines were penetrated and victory was claimed.

The team follow the fortunes of men from the 2nd Manchesters and the Glasgow Boys Brigade to unpack a wider story of this battle and what it took to finally break-through.

Dermot spends time in reconstructed trenches eating the very meal soldiers ate hours before going over the top, as well as meeting the descendants of a Glasgow soldier who was one of just 15 men in his battalion to survive. Arthur flies above the Somme battlefields in his plane to reveal the tiny area of land being fought over and the complicated trench system the Germans built. He fires a German machine gun dubbed the devil’s paintbrush and finds out how the British infantrymen perfected grenade warfare on the ground. He joins Lucy inside a replica tank – a brand-new bit of technology at the time. Lucy dons WW1 waders to follow in the footsteps of men on the ground and joins the bomb disposal team dealing with the shells still littering the landscape today.

Waterloo

Episode 3

In Episode 3, Dermot and the team unpack one of the most famous battles in British History – Waterloo – as it unfolded over 48 hours. It was a battle that would pave the way for a new Europe, cement Britain’s position as a world power and pitch two famous generals, Wellington and Napoleon, against one another.

To tell the stunning story of Waterloo’s twists and turns, we focus in Marshall Michel Ney (one of Napoleon’s top commanders) and Major General Sir William Posonby who led the cavalry brigade in battle. Through their actions in this timeframe, we tell a wider story of this battle.

Dermot unearths what conditions were like for the men – from their conditions to their food – visits one of the most famous paintings of Waterloo and finds out about Posonby’s grave at St Paul’s cathedral. He also meets the great-great-great grandson of a British major who wrote a heart-breaking farewell letter on the eve of battle and gets up close and personal with a Brown Bess gun. Together with Arthur & Lucy, the team use the graphic war table to pick out key strategic moves and actions throughout the 48 hours.

Arthur flies his plane over the battlefield in Belgium, meets historian Gareth Glover to explore Napoleon’s state of mind and fires a Napoleonic canon. On the ground, Lucy’s on foot and on horseback as she traces British movements and attacks. She also unearths the little told story of women on the battlefield – 4000 nurses, wives, girlfriends and even some who fought alongside the men.