THE STORY OF THE SOMME 9 | A Long Night - Sapper George Coward

Welcome to THE STORY OF THE SOMME podcast series, which tells the story of the Somme Offensive in the words of those fighting on the Western Front and their families back home. The series was commissioned by the DEPARTMENT FOR DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT and developed in partnership with the FIRST WORLD WAR CENTENARY BATTLEFIELD TOURS PROGRAMME and CHROMERADIO. It was first released to accompany the SOMME100 VIGIL at Westminster Abbey, held through the night of 30 June/1 July 2016 to mark the centenary of the opening of the Battle of the Somme. In this podcast, SAPPER GEORGE COWARD recalls the night before the infantry attack on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. George Coward was a professional soldier in the Royal Engineers at the outbreak of war. He was one of the first servicemen to leave for France in 1914 with the British Expeditionary Force and saw action on the Somme in July 1916. PRODUCTION | ChromeRadio for the DEPARTMENT FOR DIGITAL, CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT | Producer - Catriona Oliphant | Narrator - Nicholas Rowe | Reader - Charles Pitt | The Last Post played by LSgt Stuart Laing, Welsh Guards on a First World War bugle.