Trench talk - Michael Nugent and the Battle of Festubert

Send us Fan MailOn the evening of the 15th May 1915, men from the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers left their trenches and crawled into No Mans Land in preparation for a massive attack against the Germans, just to the east of the tiny village of Festubert.  As the men lay in No Mans Land surrounded by the bodies of the dead who had been killed in a fighting a week earlier, they waited for zero hour.The great uncle of Irish historian, Michael Nugent, was killed that day at the age of 17, and it was this tragedy that prompted Michael to write his magnificent account of the Inniskilling's actions that day, entitled "It was an awful Sunday".We talk about the lead up to the battle, what happened on the day, and look in detail at what went wrong.  Michael shares some of the personal stories he uncovered, as well as the mystery behind why his two Uncles travelled over 90 miles from home to enlist in a regiment when their local regiment had a recruiting office just two minutes walk from home.  The remarkable discovery of a Bible on the battlefield finally led to closure for the family of one missing soldier.Festubert is one of the forgotten battles of the Great War, and this fascinating chat with Michael sheds light on what happened on that awful Sunday in May 1915.