Episodes
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"Einstein was right â time really is relative. Weeks feel like years and also like minutes at the same time"
Dispatches from the Frontline brings you podcasts from the diary of World War 1 nurse. At the same time, they also are a recording of how three artists re-directed their creative energies at home, on rehearsing on zoom and recording and editing on audacity during Melbourneâs lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Great War lasted four years (1914-1918). Everyone thought it was going âto be over by Christmasâ. At the beginning of 2020, the world was asking the same question. How long will our âwar on the pandemicâ last? As we recorded the Sister Nan Reayâs descriptions of tending to the wounded soldiers from the trenches, we noticed how the language of war had become the current parlance of 2020. We were facing âthe war on Covidâ, the âfrontlineâ, the âbattle against the coronavirusâ and daily reminders of how to survive our âwar on Covidâ. It seems that our language has not changed in over 104 years. In fact, the survival practices of keeping people alive â good hygiene, quality care, respect, tolerance and humour are enduring human qualities to help us survive.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nan Reay arrived in England, from Australia, in December 1912 with her mother Lucinda (Louie) and sisters Millie, Beatrice, Amy and Alice. She then nursed privately in London until the outbreak of war in 1914. When war was declared she immediately put her name forward to join the war effort and was recruited to join the Australian Voluntary Hospital (AVH) established by Lady Dudley in England.
Lady Dudley raised the funds and established the AVH in a remarkably short time in August 1914 to give expatriate Australians in Britain the opportunity to support the war.
By August 27th the AVH left for the Front with Lady Dudley as Superintendent to establish their work at St Nazaire.
There were eighteen nurses, sixteen of whom were Australian, eighty non-commissioned officers and men, including twenty-five medical students.
Nan Reay records this day by noting that she received her âfirst army pay. In this episode she describes her journey into the âunknownâ as she travels to the harbour of Le Havre, in north western France.
The AVH served as a military hospital from 1914-1916 on the Western Front and for much of this time, it was the only Australian presence on the Western Front. It has been described as the United Nations of emergency healthcare because it was established as an independent field hospital to care for French, Russian, Serbian and Portugese soliders, as well as Commonwealth soldiers.
By the end of October 1914 the AVH moved to Wimereux, a coastal town situated five kilometres north of Boulogne on the north-west coast of France. The town was an important hospital centre during WW1.
At the end of the war, in 1918, Lady Dudley was appointed C.B.E. and was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her work with the AVH.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 1
28 June 1914.Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie Chotek, are assassinated by Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Austria suspects Serbia is responsible.
28 July 1914
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
August 1914
Germany declares war on Russia, France and Belgium.
Britain declares war on Germany.
Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
France and Britain declare war on Austria-Hungary.
Japan declares war on Germany.
Austria-Hungary declares war on Belgium.
The United States declares its neutrality.
âThe Retreat from Monsâ is written across the left hand margin between the entries for 2 and 3 September in Nan Reayâs handwriting.
The Battle of Mons took place in Belgium on 23 August 1914, when the German army forced the British Expeditionary Force into a retreat.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episodes manquant?
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Due to the advance of the German army, the Australian Voluntary Hospital is established at St. Nazaire instead of Le Havre. Nan Reay arrives on the 6 September and noticing St. Nazaire to be a little cleaner than Le Havre, sets to work with her colleagues to get everything ship shape at headquarters.
We are introduced to Gabriel, (Ida Gabriel) Nanâs Australian friend with whom she had sailed back to Australia in 1913 after accompanying a ship load of migrants from England to Australia in 1912. Nan Reay is comforted by meeting Melbourne Hospital colleagues and friends who have also joined the AVH.
For the first time, Nan describes her patients and their injuries. We are introduced to the word âTommiesâ which was slang for common soldier in the British army in WW1.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 2
4 September 1914.Germany invades Belgium and advances to within 48 kms of Paris. They are stopped at the First Battle of the Marne (6-12 September) in north-eastern France by the French armies and the British Expeditionary Forces. The Germans dig in north of the Aisne River, and a system of fighting known as trench warfare that is to typify the Western Front (areas of Belgium and France) for the next four years begins.
During the battle, the French had around 250,000 casualties and the British lost 12,733 men. Although the French and British were able to prevent the Germans from a swift and decisive victory, the German army was not beaten and their successful retreat ended what was expected to be a war which would be âover by Christmasâ.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In this episode Nan provides us with more information about the people she is working with and specific details of the soldiersâ injuries and treatments. She writes about a conversation she had in French with a local driver, his attitude to âles allemands blessesâ, the âGerman woundedâ and how they will âfinish them offâ.
After the entry for 14 September where she describes the work of the orderlies, she has handwritten: âThese men all joined the fighting units soon after and several were killed on the Sommeâ. Nan Reay would have written this comment as a postscript. The Battle of the Somme did not take place until 1 July 1916.
Nan collected postcards of the places she visited and pasted these into the hardcopy of the diary: Le Havre; the Australian Voluntary Hospital, formerly the clinic of Dr. Dufreche at Boulevard de lâOcean; Nazaire, and the beach at Nazaire.
World War 1 Time line for Episode 3
12 -15 September 1914. After the First Battle of the Marne, the Germans deployed its army along the north bank of the River Aisne. Aisne is in north-eastern France about 128 kms from Paris. The Germans really âdug inâ here and this battlefield area was to mark the beginning of the entrenchments which would gradually spread all along an area known as the Western Front; a 400-plus mile stretch of land weaving through France and Belgium from the Swiss border to the North Sea. The war moved from a mobile to a static war.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In this episode, we gain insight into many aspects of Sister Nan Reay. She provides more details about the wounded and the living conditions in the nursesâ quarters. We hear how she manages when other nursing sisters are ill, her moments of assertiveness and her moments of empathy and sorrow.
When she refers to the padre, Mr.Sheppard, Nan Reay writes his full name in the margin: Mr. Sheppard, Canon Sheppard, St. Martins-in-the Field, London.
âLay Down Your Armsâ was a novel written by Baroness Bertha Von Suttner, a peace activist.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 4
From 22 September until end of November 1914, battlefields started to be established along the Western Front as each side tried to out manoeuvre each other in an attempt to gain more unoccupied ground. The Germans endeavour to capture more ground on their enemiesâ northern flank as they try to reach Paris, resulting in a side stepping movement towards the Belgian coast and the Channel ports of Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend and Zeebrugge. This period of fighting has become known as âThe Race to the Seaâ.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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No two days or nights the same. Nan Reay is only about six weeks into her work at the AVH hospital. The medical staff anxiously spend their time receiving and evacuating the wounded and her life is full of constant adjustments to the incessant ârushâ that brings wounded soldiers to the clearing hospital.A manâs chances depend on how quickly his wound is treated.
Oh, but the joys of the Grand Hotel and a trip into the country! A welcome respite for Sister Reay and her friends and colleagues.
Nan Reayâs entries are punctuated with postcards from her walks along Boulevard de lâOcean and the beach at St. Nazaire, a port on the northwest coast of France. St. Nazaire became a significant port to transport soldiers and the wounded to and from the Front.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 5
The most significant battles of World War 1 began around 22 September.. They were known as the Battles of the Somme and included First Battle of Picardy (22-26 September 1914)
A famous song of the era was âRoses are shining in Picardyâ whose refrain was often printed on postcards below a picture of a of woman.
Roses are shining in Picardy, in the hush of the silver dew,
Roses are flowering in Picardy, but there's never a rose like you!
And the roses will die with the summertime, and our roads may be far apart,
But there's one rose that dies not in Picardy!
'Tis the rose that I keep in my heart!
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nan Reay has been at the base hospital in St. Nazaire for three weeks. She has been told that they have had over 650 patients during that time. We are introduced to Major Studdy and Colonel LâEstrange Eames, her Australian O.C â Officer in Command. Too old to be recruited into the Australian Imperial Forces at the age of 51, Col LâEstrange Eames, was recruited by Lady Dudley to the AVH. The British War Office only accepted the hospital on the understanding that a man holding a Royal Army medical commission should be put at the head of it, and this position was given to Colonel LâEstrange Eames with the title of temporary Lieutenant Colonel.
Rumours abound as to where the nurses, medical officers and orderlies will be moved onto next.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 6
After the invasion of Belgium by the German army, most of the Belgian army fell back to the fortress city of Antwerp. The siege of Antwerp from 27 September to 7 October 1914 started with a major bombardment on the fort and city by the German army. The British began to land naval infantry but as the German army closed in the Belgians decided to abandon the city on 7 October and move towards Ostend to fight on more open terrain. Two days later, German troops entered the Antwerp and the siege was over.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nursing in World War 1 was often exhausting, relentless and sometimes disgusting. Nan Reayâs entries in this episode describe the difficult living conditions the nurses had to endure. Despite her weariness due to lack of sleep, she is still able to enjoy the little excursions beyond base camp.
Rumours also abound and the nurses must be prepared to leave at a momentâs notice. Who knows
where?
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 7
On the 5 October 1914 the first German aircraft was shot down by an Allied plane, the Voisin V. This plane was used by the Royal Flying corps and British and Belgian airforces. It was the first bomber to be armed with a cannon instead of a machine gun.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The image of a World War 1 nurse in a starched white apron and cap is one which dominated the records of female nurses after the war. Civilians would have seen the impossibility of maintaining such an image in the conditions under which they worked, if the writing of these women had been publicised immediately after the war.
In this episode Nan Reay again details the severe living conditions under which nurses had to exist. However, the necessity to always be prepared to pack, to move, to set up camp elsewhere at a momentâs notice doesnât deter Nan from interspersing these events with humorous anecdotes of makeshift hearty meals.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 8
The first battle of Ypres took place on 15 October. Ypres was a Belgian town that had been captured by the British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) in 1914 but on October 15th the Germans attacked the town for four weeks until they finally decided to abandon the offensive on the 22 November. 135,000 Germans were killed or badly wounded and the BEF lost around 75,000 men.
âBrusselsâ â there is some confusion as to how the word is actually being used in this context. However historical records show that nurses often called their cloaks or capes, Brussels.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In this episode Nan Reay explains the âdrillâ for setting up a dressing station and the ferrying of men from the front line to the dressing stations and from there to the clearing hospitals. These drills were conducted like military operations. Amidst all this, Nan manages to do some shopping!
âBivouacsâ â a temporary shelter often with open sides or sometimes made with natural materials such as bracken etc. Medical staff were forced to sleep outdoors at dressing stations, and their equipment sometimes did not arrive for a further three weeks. Nurses worked in tents in primitive conditions: sterilising equipment and preparing food by spirit lamp, with scant water and other supplies.
âForty-ninerâ was an army issue biscuit so called because it had 49 holes made in the biscuit. It was said to have as much nutrition as a loaf of bread.
The quote from the bible: âthe peace that passeth all understanding" is from the Philippians 4:7. Nan Reay doesnât provide full quote.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Shampoos, luncheons, baths and some unexpected visitors. The desire to write about normal things seizes Nan Reay in these diary entries. She chats to French children and their mothers on her excursions from the camp and never misses an opportunity to practise her schoolgirl French for which she received an honours prize at Tintern Grammar in Melbourne.
Nan Reay stuck postcards of the town of Pornichet in her diary alongside these dates.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 10
The First Battle of Ypres(19 October-22 November 1914) was a significant battle because the Allied and German troops were unable to outflank each other and it marked the onset of trench warfare.
The battles listed below give a sense of the escalation of the war at this point. There were many battles along the Western Front, called a âRace to the Seaââ, as the French, British and Belgian armies tried to outflank the German army and block them from the ports of Calais, Le Havre and Dunkirk.
For further information go to: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/index.htm#racetothesea
Battles in the autumn of 1914 during this period of mobile fighting were:
the First Battle of Picardy (22-26 September 1914)the First Battle of Albert (22-25 September 1914)the First Battle of Artois, (27 September - 10 October 1914)the Battle of La Bassée (10 October - 2 November 1914)the First Battle of Arras (1 October - 4 October 1914)the First Battle of Messines (12 October - 2 November 1914)the Battle of ArmentiÚres (13 October - 2 November 1914)the Battle of the Yser (16 October - 10 November)the First Battle of Ypres (19 October - 22 November 1914)the Battle of Langemarck (21 October - 24 October 1914)the Battle of Gheluvelt (29 October - 31 October 1914)the Battle of Nonneboschen (11 November - 22 November 1914)For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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A frenzied packing up and moving on to the next AVH base. This episode reveals the frustration and anxiety which was to become part of Nan Reayâs life. Of course, at this stage she has no idea how long this was to last. After many false starts the journey begins north from Rouen, through Abbeville, Eu and finally to Boulogne. She is getting closer to the Somme but still has time to soak up the beautiful countryside of western France and paints an image of a serene autumnal landscape occasionally interrupted by the sight of French soldiers.
âBully beefâ - Canned corned beef that was the principal protein ration of the British Army.
âDixieâ â a British Army camp kettle
âH.A.C.â - Honourable Artillery Company
World War 1 timeline for Episode 11
Fierce fighting continues along the Western Front.
On 29 October, Turkey commences hostilities with Russia. Russia entered the war in August 1914 and allied with France, Britain and Belgium. Turkish warships bombarded Odessa, Sebastopol, and Theodosia.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The final diary entry for 29 October reads: âWe were all working at high pressure because we knew there was fierce fighting, and wounded might come at any momentâ. It is 1914 and we are half way through the podcasts. There is a gap from this entry on 30 October until 1916. The absent pages are a mystery to Nan Reayâs family.We can only surmise that either, she didnât write her diary during that time because of the thousands of wounded arriving from the Somme or, the pages were lost in the many frenzied movement orders she had to follow to work at another AVH base, or possibly, she just couldnât summon up the energy to deal with the daily atrocity she was facing. However, it is hard to imagine Nan Reay not writing her diary which had become almost like a âfriendâ.
Nan Reayâs fiancĂ© was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and perhaps her grief was too near the surface for her to write when she was tending to thousands of dying and wounded soldiers day in and day out. We will never know.
Nan Reay writes in the margins: "Mentioned in Dispatches" Sir Douglas Haigh. NB The Battle of the Somme took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916. Mentioned in dispatches describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy is described. We assume that Nan Reayâs fiancĂ©, Lieut. Onslow was âmentioned in dispatchesâ.
Lieut. Onslow was awarded an M.C. posthumously on 22 September 1916: For conspicuous gallantry and coolness in leading his company in an attack until stopped by uncut wire and concentrated machine gun fire. He exposed himself, regardless of danger, in carrying in wounded.
The first day of the battle was one of the bloodiest on the Somme. On 1 July 1916, the British forces suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 fatalities. They gained just three square miles of territory. By November 18th, more than 600,000 British and French soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing in the action. German casualties were more than 650,000. Total ground gained amounted to 125 square miles for the Allies.
On 14 July 1916, the Australian Voluntary Hospital ceased to exist. It was taken over by the Imperial Government and became No.32 Stationary Hospital British Expeditionary Force at Wimereux. Nan Reay and four others were asked to stay on and were transferred to the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve. Nan Reay always considered No. 32 as her âhomeâ. Wimereux is a coastal town situated five kms north of Boulogne.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The diary begins again in 1917. Movement orders arrive for Nan Reay but at first, there is little certainty as to which hospital she is to be sent to. Finally, she embarks upon an eventful journey and has her first encounter with âFritzâ and his bombing raids.
The Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) was part of the casualty evacuation chain, further back from the front line than the Aid Posts and Field Ambulances.The job of the CCS was to treat a man sufficiently for his return to duty or, in most cases, to enable him to be evacuated to a Base Hospital.
The CCS was constantly being moved as the geography of the fighting changed. According to:https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/locations-of-british-casualty-clearing-stations/No. 34 CCS was moved to Zudycoote, a town 10 kilometres from the port of Dunkirk, on 1st September 1917. Nan Reay marks her arrival there on 10 July 1917. She is getting closer to the Front.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 13
21 February â 18 December 1916.The Battle of Verdun. Over 10 months, French and German armies at Verdun, France, suffer more than 700,000 casualties, including some 300,000 killed.It was one of the longest, bloodiest, and most-ferocious battles of the war; French casualties amounted to about 400,000, German ones to about 350,000. Some 300,000 were killed.
15 March 1917 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the throne after a week of riots in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg. Russia is an ally of French and Britain.
6 April 1917.The United States is officially at war with the German Empire and on 25 June American troops arrive in France.
19 June 1917 George V of Great Britain changed his family name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor because of anti-German feelings.
31 July 1917 Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele): Allied troops, largely those from the British Empire, launch an attack to seize key ridges near Ypres. Ypres is about 50 kms from Dunkirk.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Picking up her kit again, Nan Reay moves on to Casualty Clearing Station 36, also situated not far from the port of Dunkirk and she becomes part of a theatre team where her skills and expertise are put to good use.These Casualty Clearing Stations are nestled amongst the dunes, autumn is giving way to a cold and frosty winter and heavy enemy bombardment is almost a daily occurrence.
âButterfliesâ - cluster bombs
âNose-capâ â bomb shell
World War War 1 Timeline for Episode 14
The major battle that took place during these diary entries was the third battle of Ypres, known as the Battle of Passchendael (July and November 1917).During this battle, floods of rain caused heavy mud and created terrible problems for the infantry. The use of tanks became impossible. The whole area was covered in slimy mud and soon became a quagmire. Soldiers were unable to take their clothes off for weeks and arrived at the Casualty Clearing Stations, not only badly wounded but in a foul state with lice and infected wounds.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This episode covers one of Nan Reayâs longer diary entries. The bombs are very near now and the barrage of anti-aircraft guns constantly sweeps overhead the huts with unexpected casualties. Orders arrive again to pack up and move. Nan Reay is granted leave. On her return from leave she joins a base hospital, No. 26 General Hospital Etaples, a town on the north west coast of France about 77 kms from Dunkirk. In the diary , she wrote, in capital letters, ON TEMPORARY DUTY AT NO. 26 GENERAL HOSPITAL AT ETAPLES.
No. 26 Etaples was established in June 1915 and dismantled in July1919.
C.M.E - Cristabel Mary Ellis
DDMS - Deputy Director of Medical Services (First World War)
Archie - Apparently derived from an old music hall song called Archibald, Certainly Not! Archie was a British military slang word for German anti-aircraft fire.
A Base Hospital was part of the casualty evacuation chain, further back from the front line than the Casualty Clearing Stations.
Ătaples became the principal depĂŽt and transit camp for the British Expeditionary Force in France and also the point to which the wounded were transported. During the First World War the town became a vast Allied military camp and then a giant 'hospital city'. The abundance of military infrastructure in Ătaples gave the town a capacity of around 100,000 troops during the war and made the area a serious target for German aerial bombing raids, from which the town suffered heavily. Many medical facilities were established by the Australians, New Zealanders and British. Wounded soldiers were consequently often sent to Etaples to recover or en route for Britain.
World War Timeline for Episode 15
The Battle of Passchendael finally ends on 6 November, but only after months of fighting in horrific conditions and heavy casualties on both sides.
2 November 1917
Britain issues the Balfour Declaration, a statement of support for the establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine.
7 November 1917
Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks assume complete control over the new Soviet Russian state.
6 December 1917
A French munitions ship collides with a Belgian relief ship resulting in 11,000 casualties
9 December 1917
The British capture Jerusalem from the Ottomans.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Very cold weather has set in. Movement orders again and this time Nan Reay was sent to an Advanced Operating Centre where they dealt only with emergencies. Nan was near Chauny which is 120 kms north west of Paris and very close to the front line.
âna poo!â Slang from French il nâ y a plus, which British soldiers anglicized to âna pooâ meaning, dead or finished.
Advanced Operating Centres
It was important that each medical unit attached to a fighting unit was able to mobilise quickly and move forward to the fighting soldiers. Advanced Operating Centres were closer to the fighting. The closest Casualty Clearing Station was 16 miles behind the Advanced Operating Centre where Nan Reay was stationed.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 16
8 January 1918 USA President Woodrow Wilson presented his Peace Program to Congress. This became the basis for the signing of the Armistice in November 1918.
3 March 1918 Russia and Germany sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, officially removing Russia from World War I.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nan Reayâs prolific entries are astonishing in this episode. Despite awful weather, the constant barrage of enemy bombs and the chaotic arrival and evacuation of wounded soldiers, she manages to write in her diary nearly every day. The number of wounded brought to the Advanced Operating Centre near Chauny is extaordinary. She goes for a stroll one evening and sees the beginning of some âHunâ (German) saps in a cutting which shows how close she was to the front line. Saps were short trenches dug towards the enemy trenches across No Manâs Land and enabled soldiers to move forward without exposure to fire. Several saps were dug along a section of a front-line.
This episode is quite remarkable for its detail of normal routines, such as having tea and doing a spot of gardening despite the intensity of her work.
"Liza-Jane" â a naval gun near their camp.
The town of Noyon changed hands throughout the war. It was the British General Head Quarters on 26 - 28 August 1914. It was entered by the Germans on 1 September 1914, by the French on 18 March 1917 and by the Germans again in March 1918. The French finally retook it on 29 and 30 August 1918.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 17
8 March 1918 Camp Funston at Fort Riley, Kansas makes the first report of influenza. The disease spreads overseas to the Western Front. Over the next year this âSpanish Influenza" kills 20 million worldwide.
21 March 1918 Start of the Spring Offensive. Now that Germany and Russia were no longer at war after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Germany was able to remove its troops from the Eastern Front and begin an offensive along the Western Front at Arras, Aisne and Lys.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Sudden order to move again â at once! This time the move is through Amiens, onto Abbeville to work at Camiers and then back to Etaples. Extremely busy times in theatre and life is very chaotic but Nan Reay is always ready for duty. What is striking about her entries is the pure physical effort it took to get to the hospital bases and then the exhausting work which follows. Nan Reay meets refugees fleeing to safety from hard continuous fighting along the frontlines and an old friend from London.
Chinese Labor Corps. These labourers have been essentially been wiped out of the history of the Great War. Recruitment began in 1916 when the escalating deaths and casualties meant labourers became disastrously scarce. The allies had promised that after the war, the Shandong peninsula would be returned from Japanese control but that promise was broken and consequently, China did not sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. There is no tribute to them amongst Britainâs 40,000 war memorials (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/14/first-world-war-forgotten-chinese-labour-corps-memorial). China declared war on Germany in 1917 when a German torpedo ship sank the French ship Athos, with the loss of 543 Chinese lives.
World War 1 Timeline for Episode 18
29 March 1918 . Ferdinand Foch appointed as Allied Co-ordinator in France, He was very successful and is credited with masterminding the victory over Germany. Foch headed the Armistice negotiations and played a vital role at the Paris Peace Conference from 1919-1920.
28 May 1918 Battle of Cantigny: in their first major battle of World War I, American troops captured the town of Cantigny, depriving the Germans of an important observation point.
May 1918 Casualties escalated at the 3rd Battle of Aisne and on 30 May, the Germans were only 90 kms from Paris.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Nan Reay visits Blighty (England) for a very special occasion. Her spirits are lifted and she is surrounded by family and friends even managing to see a show and eat a sumptuous dinner. She is granted seven days extension and returns to Boulogne on 1 July and then on to Etaples. However she is never in one place for very long as movement orders arrive again. Nan Reay takes charge at No. 19 Casualty Clearing Station and meets some resistance.
In the summer of 1918 No. 19 Casualty Clearing Station was located at Frevent, a town situated between Arras and Abbeville.
World War 1 Timeline for 19 Episode
6 August 1918 The German army retreated at the second Battle of the Marne (July-August 1918).Allied and German casualties were heavy: French (95,000), British (13,000) and United States (12,000). It is estimated that the German Army suffered an estimated 168,000 casualties. The first Battle of the Marne from 6-12 September 1914 had been successful in pushing back the German advance on Paris. The Second Battle of the Marne, the last major German offensive on the Western Front was defeated by an Allied counter-attack, leading eventually to the Armistice. The river Marne is an eastern tributary of the Seine lying south and south-east of Paris.
For more information on Dispatches from the Frontline project, go to: www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org
Dispatches from the Frontline is brought to you by:
Geraldine Cook-Dafner â Narrator
Naomi Edwards - Director
Alex Dafner â Voice recording and editing
Zoltan Fecso â Music composition, sound design and editing
Tristan Meecham â Creative Producer, All the Queenâs Men
Image â Sarah Corridon
Dispatches from the Frontline is supported by funding from the Public Record Office Victoria, Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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