The Old Front Line

In our latest round-up of Questions and Answers we look at Memorials to non-white soldiers on the Western Front, whether 'battle bars' were ever planned for WW1 British and Commonwealth campaign medals, the award of the 'Blue Max' to German soldiers, and were ordinary soldiers told about the explosion of huge mines like the one under Hawthorn Ridge on the Somme.  Reading List:...

Is there a 'culture' surrounding The Old Front Line? One that helps define it and enables us to understand that landscape of the First World War? If so, what is it, and how can we understand it? In this episode we take a major pathway across the Western Front battlefields: the Albert-Bapaume Road on the Somme, and we discuss what the this 'culture' of The Old Front Line might b...

In our first Questions and Answers Episode of Season 8 we look at 'quiet' sectors of the Western Front, whether civilians got near the battlefields, discuss the 'best' photos of WW1 and ask if Stretcher Bearers were easy prey on the front line doing their vital work. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or em...

We begin Season 8 back on the Somme Battlefields of 1916 and walk the ground around the village of Mailly-Maillet, located just behind the British trenches in front of Beaumont-Hamel and Serre and later much closer to the fighting in 1918. We visit cemeteries, see original graffiti and end our walk close to the final approach to the battlefield. Got a question about this episode or any others? Dro...

In this special edition we look at how trace to service men and women who fought and died in the Great War. We cover a number of questions covering different aspects of how to trace your WW1 Ancestors from many different nations, but in particular from Britain and the Commonwealth.  USEFUL LINKS: Western Front Association Pension Files website Grand Memorial - Tracing French WW1 Records French War...

In this episode, we examine five iconic objects from the First World War which came to define the experience of Trench Warfare. These objects include barbed wire, helmets, duckboards, and trench periscopes. There is also a surprise artefact that millions of men carried onto the battlefield. If you are interested in Trench Warfare also check out The Western Front: WW1 Trench Warfare , Why Was there...

Based on this weeks questions we look at the difference between Ordnance Survey and Trench maps, recommend some WW1 Channels and videos to look at on YouTube, look at how to study a particular regiment and examine souvenirs brought home by veterans. Old Front Line Recommends on YouTube: click here to watch the playlist . Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the...

We return to the Arras Battlefields of April 1917 and walk from Athies to the high ground at Point du Jour, seeing where men of the 9th (Scottish) Division, including troops from the South African Brigade fought. We visit cemeteries along the way and see the memorial Cairn overlooking the fields where so much sacrifice took place in the Great War. Got a question about this episode or any others? D...

This week we look at the subject of Army Pay - how were men paid, who paid them and in what currency when On Active Service? We ask why men changed their names when joining up, answer a question about the Ypres Buglers and IWGC Gardeners in WW2, and why were the Germans seemingly allowed to have all the high ground in 1914? Caitlin DeAngelis' podcast War Graves Gardeners is available on all p...

As the seasons change along The Old Front Line we take a winter walk across one part of the Somme battlefields, walking along the tracks from near Courcelette to Thiepval and the Ancre Valley. The WW1 Cemeteries website mentioned can be found here: www.ww1cemeteries.com . Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast...

We begin at the Battle of Loos in 1915, looking at the casualty figures for the opening stage of the attack and comparing them to the Somme, we then discuss what units formed in WW1 were still part of the Army in WW2, discuss soldiers and their medals and were there examples of 'stolen valour' and examine collectables of the Great War and discuss fakes and what to collect. Got a question...

The film Oh what A Lovely War! based on Joan Littlewood's play was released in 1969 and influenced a whole generation of people in what the Great War stood for. But what does the film really tell us about the First World War and what is its value more than 50 years on? Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podca...

In a wargraves special, we follow up on the recent episode about the new Loos British Cemetery Extension and we take some Questions relating to the work being carried out there, along with the recovery and identification of the dead from the Great War, both in the past and the present.  Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or em...

Our latest questions submitted by podcast listeners lead us to discuss what was a 'British Warm' and how did uniforms change during the Great War, ask if we could go back in time what would we want to see, look at the quarries that were part of the battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme, and ask what happened to Allied Prisoners of War taken in the final days of the conflict in Novem...

We take the podcast across to Northern France and visit Loos British Cemetery on the battlefields of 1915, seeing the new Extension that has been constructed here, looking at the initial burials and asking how this brand new cemetery might develop over the coming years. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast ....

In our latest selection of questions from podcast listeners we look at the circumstances of the end of the First World War on the Western Front on 11th November 1918, ask why Albert Ball VC has a private memorial over his grave in France, discuss what happened to the Last Post Ceremony during WW2 and examine the 'War of the Guns' in the Great War - the use of artillery. Got a question ab...

Trench Warfare saw the use of existing weapons on the battlefield and the development of new ones to cope with the static nature of the Western Front. In this episode we examine five of those weapons from handguns to trench clubs to mortars, and include a surprising 'weapon' of trench warfare. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Dis...

This week we answer questions about British Prisoners of War held in Switzerland, ask what kind of permission you need to explore the fields and woods across the landscape of the Great War, discuss if any Estaminets survive from the Great War and look at events on the Somme on 1st July 1916 and what the experience of soldiers was on that evening as darkness fell. Red Cross Records from WW1 are fou...

Fismes is a small town on the Aisne, close to its neighbour Fismette and divided by the Vesle river. Here in the summer of 1918 men of the American 28th Division took part in a bitter battle for possession of its houses and the bridge over the Vesle, a story retold in possibly the greatest American memoir of the First World War: Toward the Flame by Hervey Allen . Here too a memorial bridge was bui...

In this latest Question and Answer Episode we look at several questions about the changing nature of the British Army in the Great War, and its Regimental system, examine one aspect of how WW1 meets WW2 and discuss whether it is possible to trace a fatal casualty for every day of the Great War. The image for this episode shows British tanks passing Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery on the Somme...

In this special edition of the podcast as we return from after the summer break we speak to author and broadcaster John Nichol about his new book examining the history and story behind the Unknown Warrior buried in Westminster Abbey. John Nichol’s new book, The Unknown Warrior , is published by Simon & Schuster on the 26th September. His national theatre tour, telling the moving story behind t...

In a special summer edition of the podcast before it returns properly in September, we walk the battlefields near Passchendaele and have an extended Question and Answer session. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast . Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In our tenth QnA Episode we look at subjects from Canada's Hundred Days in 1918 to the Missing of the Great War, ask how to begun studying the First World War given all that is available now, and discuss how sickness was as much of a problem to soldiers on the battlefield as wounds from shot and shell. John Livesay - link to a copy of Canada's Hundred's Days on the Internet Archive....

In an episode recorded live on the battlefields, we travel to Northern France and follow the Southdowns Battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment from behind the lines to their attack at The Boar's Head near Richebourg. We also visit the graves of the fallen at St Vaast Post Cemetery and at nearby Laventie, learning about 'The Day Sussex Died' on 30th June 1916.  Got a question about...

In our latest Questions and Answers Episode we look at the rifles carried by British soldiers in the Great War, discuss the experience of Prisoners of War, ask what kind of recycling and salvage took place, and discuss the horticulture in British and Commonwealth Cemeteries. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podc...