The Old Front Line

In December 1920 a large concrete shelter financed by an American millionaire marked the spot where French soldiers had fallen in one of the many small actions around Verdun in 1916. The story of the Trench of Bayonets was born, but what is the real story behind this episode of the Great War, and the memorial that still marks the spot?  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we ask: what was The Hindenburg Line? A system of German defences built in Northern and Eastern France, it was the largest single engineering project of the Great War on the Western Front. Some of the key battles of 1917/18 were fought along it, and we look at the background to these important First World War fortifications. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we look at the four years of the Great War in Flanders and the battles around the city of Ypres, in what became known as the 'Immortal Salient'. What was the Ypres Salient, what was its meaning and what does it still mean to us more than a century later? Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin . You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old...

In this Trench Chat, we are joined by Roger Steward who works as a Battlefield Guide in Flanders, and is the author of an excellent book on Langemarck German Cemetery and a new one 'Reclaiming the Salient' about the battlefields around Ypres in the years following WW1. We look at the problems of the 'Iron Harvest', the recovery of the dead, and modern battlefield archaeology. S...

In this episode, we look at the birds which flew above and lived across the battlefields of the Western Front during the First World War, and what they meant to the men who served in the trenches of France and Flanders. We also look at how birds did their bit in the war, too, how the battlefield conditions affected them, and discuss ways we can connect this subject to what we see on the Great War...

In a Trench Chat special we are joined by Professor Mark Connelly of the University of Kent to discuss the post-war Pilgrimages to the Great War Battlefields, and his new work on the postcards, ephemera and guidebooks that came out of this period.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we look at the men of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) who fought in Flanders, from Ypres to the Scheldt River, in 1918. What were American troops doing in Belgium away from the main US sector and what remains of their battlefields more than a century later?  Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin . Got a question about this episode or any other...

What can War Art and the work of Official War Artists tell us about the experience of the Great War and the landscape of the Western Front? We examine this through the work of three war artists: John Nash, CRW Nevinson, and Paul Nash. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

We look at three winters on the Somme front: from 1914 to 1916. We discuss Christmas Truces involving the French and Germans, and later when the British arrive, discuss the terrible sub-zero conditions of 1916, and look at the problem of Trench Foot, particularly amongst Australian troops faced with the harsh reality of Somme mud.  Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulle...

Who was Harry Moseley? In this episode we ask: can one man's life be more important than another? Our journey takes us from the Helles Memorial, and the Missing of the Gallipoli Campaign, up to the high ground at Chunuk Bair and a walk to the isolated cemetery at The Farm, uncovering the life and achievements of one of Britain's greatest Edwardian scientists.  Send us Fan Mail Support th...

In this episode we explore five little-known memorials along the Western Front battlefields in France and Flanders, looking at how different nations commemorated the battles of the Great War, and what they chose to remember.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

This weekend marks History Writers Day, a new venture from Simon at History Book Chat on Twitter . As part of my contribution to the event, in this episode I talk about how I came to write my trilogy of WW1 Battlefield Walking Guides covering the Somme, Ypres and Arras.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat we are joined by Mike Cunha of the Battles of the First World War Podcast to talk about his interest in the Great War and the wider aspect of American involvement in the conflict and how it is remembered there today.  We also discuss the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and Mike's recent visit to the battlefields.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we travel along The Old Front Line in France and Flanders to visit five lesser-known war cemeteries from different nations where the dead of the Great War lie, some with only a handful of graves and others with thousands of burials. We visit: Nécropole Nationale de la 28ème Brigade (La Ferme de Wacques), Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Noyelles-sur-Mer Chinese Cemetery, Vladslo Ge...

We are joined by Renny Richardson, author of a trilogy of books about the men of Crawley in West Sussex who fought in the Great War. Renny chats with Paul Reed, who was born in Crawley, about the town at war and the stories of the men commemorated on the war memorials here.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Following the purchase of a Great War book owned by author and veteran Henry Williamson, we explore something of Williamson's life, the Writing Hut where he crafted his work and look at what the book was, and how it connects is to the battlefields of the Great War.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Thanks to Netflix, I've been able to watch a preview of the new film All Quiet on the Western Front . In this episode we look at the film, the story behind the book that gives it its name, and I share my thoughts on what the film is like and the impact it may have on our understanding of the Great War.  Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin . You can order Old...

In this episode, we feature another Battlefield In A Day and visit the area around the Northern French coal-mining village of Loos-en-Gohelle where the Battle of Loos was fought in September-October 1915.  Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin . You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop . Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop you...

Following a battlefield tour looking at the early work of the Imperial War Graves Commission and the establishment of the permanent cemeteries across Belgium and France, we examine some keys sites connected to the Soldier's Cemeteries of the Great War, what Rudyard Kipling called 'The Silent Cities'. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we look at how the criss-cross paths of two Great Wars collide on the old battlefields of the First World War. What happened to the approach to war, how were the battlefields affected in the fighting of 1940 and the Occupation, and what happened during the Liberation in 1944?  Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin . You can order Old Front Line Merch...

In this episode, we look at the fighting around Villers-Bretonneux on the Somme in April 1918, seeing where Australian and British soldiers stopped the German advance on the key city of Amiens. We visit the cemeteries and memorials, and see where Tanks fought Tanks for the first time in history.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

This episode marks forty years since I first visited the battlefields of the Great War. We look back over those four decades and discuss what those first trips meant to me, what it was like to live on the battlefields, my work as a Battlefield Guide and examine some of my favourite locations that I've visited over the years. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we go behind the lines in Flanders and look at the key locations that enabled the British and Commonwealth forces to keep millions of men on the front line near Ypres during the Great War. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode of the podcast we look at several objects connected to the First World and ask what they tell us about the wider history of the period and those who fought and died.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we look at the experience of war and how it affected veterans who returned home and live long lives. When did they feel able to talk about the Great War? What did they say? And how was it possible to conduct interviews with Great War veterans in the 1980s and 90s. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin . You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old...