The Old Front Line

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...

For our 200th Episode we return to the Somme battlefields where the podcast began in 2020 and walk the ground from Crucifix Corner, along the edge of Authuille Wood to Nab Valley, a terrible killing ground on 1st July 1916, ending at the Lonsdale Cemetery. 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 M...

In our latest batch of Questions and Answers we look at what Mentioned in Despatches were, who they were awarded to how and what they were for, we discuss what special badges were represented on the headstones in War Cemeteries, how German occupation worked in WW1 and how the casualties of the various nations affected them, and who suffered the most? Got a question about this episode or any others...

The Somme is one of the most written about battles in military history. Where to start your reading given the huge number of books about the period? In this episode we take a 'layered' approach to reading and examine everything from 'Gateway Books' to Battlefield Guides. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server o...

In this latest Question & Answer Episode we look at subjects ranging from the Hampshire Regiment in the Great War, to ask if there is an increase in German visitors to the battlefields, and discuss how soldiers are being identified more than a century after the conflict ended. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email th...

On the 80th Anniversary of the Normandy Landings in 1944, we look at how events at Gallipoli in 1915 link the two great conflicts, from Churchill to landing craft to a battalion of the British Army. What lessons were learned from one war to another? 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 Sup...

In our latest series of Questions and Answers we cover a wide range of subjects from the use of alcohol and tobacco by soldiers in the war, to visiting battlefields 'beyond the Somme', to how we present those battlefields of the Great War to future generations and what role Identify Disks or 'Dog Tags' had in the identification of the dead.  Alex's Youtube channel: Alex315...

The War Underground in many ways defined the static nature of the First World War on the Western Front. We examine the history of military mining, discover Sir John Norton Griffiths and his attempt to recruit 10,000 "moles" to work beneath No Man's Land, and examine the pinnacle of mine warfare at Messines in 1917.  Simon Jones' website: Myths of Messines Got a question about t...

In the first of our new 'how and why' podcasts we ask a simple question: Why was there Trench Warfare in the First World War? What factors made it possible, where were the first trenches, who dug them and how did they affects the battles in WW1? Thanks to Doug @colour_history on Twitter for the use of the colourised image of men from the 1/4th East Lancashire Regiment in the trenches in...

In this latest Questions & Answers bonus episode, we look at questions about the Regular Army and the 1914 Star, the Canadians in WW1 as 'Shock Troops', discuss the men from the Southdowns Battalions from Sussex and ask do we have enough memorials along The Old Front Line? Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or em...

Just this week it was announced that the body of an Unknown Soldier from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment would be taken back to Newfoundland to become their Unknown Warrior. In this first episode of Season 7 we look at the story behind this and the history of The Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War and their Missing soldiers. The articles relating to the Newfoundland Unknown Soldier are o...

In this latest Questions & Answers episode we look at how we read the landscape of the Great War, visiting the Sunken Lane at Beaumont Hamel and Talbot House, discuss that remains of RFC/RAF airfields, examine the survival rates of officers and ask what part weather played in the experience of the trenches. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front...

In this latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners asking what is the most memorable story of the Great War I've visited, what battlefield draws me back time and again, what did British troops think about Australians and Canadians, and what was the weaponry of ordinary soldiers and how did that change during the war? This is how the G...

In a special edition of the podcast which marks the end of Season 6, this episode was recorded on The Old Front Line where we take a journey from the vast Etaples Military Cemetery, look at the Tank Gunnery School at Merriment, Douglas Haig and 'GHQ' at Montreuil, and then travel via a small village up to Arras and the Arras Memorial. Season 6 will continue with two more Question & A...

In our latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners covering subjects like the 'Learning Curve' on the Western Front to how to visit battlefields beyond the Somme.  The Naval Flank of the Western Front project I mentioned was this one: Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War . Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop y...