The Old Front Line

In this 50th Episode of the podcast, we return to home ground - the village of Courcelette on the Somme. We walk the Canadian attack route in the attack on the village, visit Courcelette British Cemetery and then look at the final stage of the battle around Regina Trench and Desire Trench.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Along the old Roman Road between Ypres and Menin was a road junction that became the main route to the front line: this was Hell Fire Corner, the most infamous spot on the Western Front. In this episode, we walk from the centre of Ypres to the Lille Gate and along the old railway line to Hell Fire Corner.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

We return to Picardy, for a walk across the 'Forgotten Somme': those places less visited on these battlefields of 1916, and see the villages of Ginchy and LesBoeufs, look at the story of the 'Tally Ho VC', of author Charles Dickens' grandson killed near Ginchy, and discuss conditions in the dreadful Somme mud of the autumn and winter of 1916. Send us Fan Mail Support the s...

In this episode, we travel to Vimy Ridge in Northern France, taken by Canadian soldiers in April 1917. We walk from a series of preserved trenches and mine craters to the crest of the Ridge and look at the impressive Vimy Memorial unveiled in 1936. Has a memorial come to symbolise Canada's connection to the Great War?  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode, we are joined by Military Historian Amy Harrison to discuss her work as a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Intern, and her research into Battlefield Tourism and Landscape for the Ph. D. she is researching at the University of Kent. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we take a detailed look at the film 1917, examining how it represents this period of the First World War, how it depicts the landscape of the Western Front, and how it links us to the battlefields of the Hindenburg Line around Arras today.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Cambrai in November 1917 witnessed the first mass use of British Tanks in the Great War as battalions of the Tank Corps supported the infantry. On this walk we follow the men from the West Riding of Yorkshire in their attack at Havrincourt, look at the story of the chateau here, the West Riding Memorial, and visit a small 'Comrade's Cemetery' neat Havrincourt Wood.  Send us Fan Mail...

In the shadow of Lutyens' mighty Thiepval Memorial, we visit the graves of British soldiers in the picturesque Authuille Military Cemetery, discover how a Newcastle United player launched the attack here with a football on 1st July 1916, and find what remains of the pre-war village of Thiepval, more than a century after its destruction.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

On a cold winter's day in December 1914, the men of both sides emerged from their trenches. Not to fight, but to take part in the Christmas Truce. For a brief moment, there was Peace in No Man's Land. But what is the real story of this famous event? You can support the podcast on BuyMeACoffee and Patreon . Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Amidst the dark trees of Polygon Wood near Ypres, bunkers and old shell craters tell the story of the Great War in Flanders. This week we walk the cemeteries and memorials around the wood, follow the ANZACs, and discover the story of the Black Watch in 1914.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat, we are joined by military historian Mathilde Bernardet who works at the Memorial 14-18 Museum near Lens in Northern France. Mathilde discusses how France remembers the Great War, the history of France's largest military cemetery at Notre Dame de Lorette, and the new memorial, the Ring of Remembrance.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Alongside a busy road in Northern France, the Star of India rises from between two weeping willows, commemorating the thousands of Indian Army soldiers who died in the trenches of the Western Front. What took place at Neuve-Chapelle and what was India's story in the early years of the Great War? Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In the latest Trench Chat, we talk to historian and battlefield guide Andrew Thornton about his research on the men of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, the 'Old Contemptibles'. Who were they, and what is the history behind the Old Contemptibles Association. We also discuss the death of John Parr at Mons in 1914, the soldier believed to be the first killed on the Western Front in...

We return to Flanders and walk the battlefields near the village of Langemarck across to Langemarck German Cemetery, the story of which runs like a dark thread through the history of the Twentieth Century, uncovering many of the myths about this iconic symbol of German loss in the Great War. For our WW1 Object, we look at a German 1917 Artillery Signalling Lamp.   Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Today is Armistice Day; a century ago in 1920, the body of the Unknown Warrior was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. What lays behind this story, how was he selected, and what of the Unknown Warriors in our own connections to the Great War? A bonus episode for Armistice Day. Support the podcast via BuyMeACoffee or Patreon . Send us Fan Mail Support the show

As Remembrance Sunday approaches we look at the final day of the Great War on the Western Front. What happened on 11th November 1918, what brought the war in France and Flanders to an end and who were the last men to die that day?  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 episo...

As part of Black History Month, we look at the often forgotten story of the Black African-Caribbean men who joined the British Army during the Great War or who served in the ranks of the British West Indies Regiment on the Western Front.  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 thi...

We're joined by Military Historian Taff Gillingham this week to talk about his amazing Great War Huts project taking place in Suffolk. We learn about how he and his team have saved many of these original WW1 huts and will open them to the public.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

What is the story behind a place known as 'The Colonel's Field' near to the Somme village of Flers? In this episode, we link Picardy with Yorkshire and follow the story of an English Earl and a Battalion of Yeoman who marched to the front in 1916.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Rudyard Kipling called the cemeteries of the Great War 'Silent Cities', these vast cities of stone where the dead of that conflict lay. What is the background and history of these cemeteries, what happened to them in WW2, and what is their meaning to us today?  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat we talk to historian and author John Broom about his new book Reported Missing in the Great War which will be published by Pen & Sword Books in October 2020. John tells us about his research, some of the stories of grief and loss, and how in some cases closure for families took over a century to happen.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

The war poet Siegfried Sassoon referred to the Missing of the First World War as 'nameless names'. Who were the Missing, what was their fate, how were they commemorated, and is it a story lost in the past, or still part of the Great War battlefields today?  Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin . Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your q...

In this episode, we walk the fields that link together an English composer, a Canadian who was one of three from the same street to be awarded the Victoria Cross, a black cat that went into battle in one of the first Tanks, and a young officer who collected books. We're back on the Somme, walking the ground between Pozières and Martinpuich where the fighting in September 1916 took place. Send...

On the slopes of the Messines Ridge, Croonaert Wood (or Bayernwald as the Germans called it) was one of the places connected to Adolf Hitler's story in the Great War. We uncover his connection to the fighting here in 1914, look at the role of the French Army in this sector and uncover the history of the WW1 Trench Museum that was once here in the 1970s and 80s and the reconstructed trenches t...

Why is the Geology of the First World War so important? In this latest Trench Chat, we are joined by Professor Peter Doyle to discuss landscape and memory, and how the geology of Mud, Chalk, and Rock affected the battlefields of the Western Front.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show