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WW1 Digger History Podcast

WWI Digger Stories Podcast reproduces the diaires, memoirs and letters of the real participants in the war that changed the course of the 20th Century. What was it like to be in the trenches, on the ships or behind the big guns where death stalked in infinite ways and it was impossible to make friends unless you were prepared to lose tham at any moment.

This podcast is formatted with each diairy or memoir forming a series, usually taking the listener through the war from beginning to end, from raw recruit to returning veteran, as it was experienced by the soldier and in his (or her, when I include Nurses stories) own words.

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  2. The Battles for Palestine 1918 Bluegum Part 19

The Battles for Palestine 1918 Bluegum Part 19

Apr 24, 2026

This episode has some of Oliver Hogue's best battlefield writing. As the commander of a squadron of now cavalry trained Australian Light Horse he describes the actions north and east of Jerusalem as General Allenby's force and their arab allies sweep through Palestine and the Levant / Syria and take Damascus from the defeated Ottoman 4th, 7th and 8th Armies. Herés a taste: "The ruin and slaughter on the road from Tulkeram to Nablus defy description. Never shall I hear the trite expression "horrors of war" without thinking of that road. Dead men, horribly gashed, lacking limbs or head, lay strewn around. Poor wounded creatures beyond all aid lay in the gutters moaning for water. Broken and bleeding animals still kicked in the wrecked wagons. All around were littered the vast impedimenta of an army. Ordinarily our troopers laughed and joked as they rode along. To-day they were strangely silent on their tired charges picked their way amongst the debris."