With special guest:
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Dr Will Davies
… in conversation with Bill Kable
In a very unusual year for commemorations of any sort we had the opportunity to speak with historian Dr Will Davies on the 102nd anniversary of peace being declared at the end of the First World War.
Will is always great to speak to because he knows the human side of that conflict and tells the real stories behind the history to bring it alive.
We start by going back to March 1918 when the outcome of the war was far from certain. The Germans had launched a spring offensive which they hoped would lead to victory. However the Allied forces prevailed and a big part of that was the heroic action taken by the Australian diggers. Any Australian visitor to the battlefields of France even today will still feel the gratitude of the French people for having the Australians on their side.
Will gives us a picture of what the Australians were doing in October and November of 1918 when unbeknown to them the war was approaching the end. There was certainly no understanding on the Australians’ part that there would soon be peace. It is interesting to hear from Will what the reaction on the field was when the soldiers were assembled to be told that hostilities would end at 11am on the 11th day of November 1918.
We hear the tragic stories of lives being lost in the last minutes leading up to 11am and in some cases the fighting continued after the armistice had been called. Will tells us about the behind the scenes activity leading up to the surrender and the outcome of the German initiatives for peace.
We hear about the oversized role for Australia that our Prime Minister Billy Hughes grabbed in the Versailles war reparations conferences. Interestingly the demands that the Allies made on Germany followed a model that the Germans had themselves imposed on Russia when the Russian army had surrendered.
We think a trip to the battlefields of France is something every Australian should try to do in their lifetime. If you decide to take further advantage of Will’s expertise we would recommend that you contact Will about his personal battlefield tours hopefully recommencing in 2021. Treat it as a pilgrimage. For more information send an email directly to Will at info@willdavies.net.au
Dr Will Davies
Dr Will Davies is an historian, writer and filmmaker who began working with Film Australia (Commonwealth Film Unit) in 1972 following his graduation from the ANU. After a stint abroad where he worked at the BBC, he worked freelance in the emerging Australian film industry including stints on a number of feature films including Phar Lap, Monkey Grip and Hostage. In 1983 he produced his first television documentary and for the next thirty years, produced a broad range of documentaries, corporate films and educational programmes, mainly for the ABC and SBS, but for Australian commercial channels and overseas broadcasters.
Somme Mud: The war experiences of an Australian infantryman in France 1916-1919, which he edited, has become a bestseller in Australia, the UK and The Netherlands. In the Footsteps of Private Lynch has also been published to acclaim in Australia and the UK. Beneath Hill 60 tells the true story of the Australian miners and soldiers who tunnelled under Hill 60 near Ypres in Belgium and eventually broke through to create a new frontline. Will Davies also edited Somme Mud: Younger Reader’s Edition for high school aged readers.
Will’s latest books are The Last 100 Days and The Forgotten: the Chinese Labour Corps and the Chinese Anzacs in the Great War.
Song selection by our guest: Never Going Back Again by Fleetwood Mac
Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 5th November, 2020.