The Old Front Line

In this episode we look at so-called 'War Damage Postcards' published during the conflict and which depicts the smashed villages, towns and cities, and indeed landscapes of the Western Front. We ask what these postcards tell us about the conflict and the battlefields of the Old Front Line? The images discussed can be found on the Podcast website here: https://oldfrontline.co.uk/2024/02/0...

In this latest Despatches we discuss the passing of author Martin Middlebrook, and look back to another Great War icon, perhaps lesser known, John Giles. John founded the Western Front Association in 1980, wrote a series of books on the Western Front, and in 1982 took what was then a unique flight over the Old Front Line. We look back on that aerial survey and discuss what landscape means to us on...

While the Great War was still on the British Government decided to produce a Next of Kin Memorial Plaque for all those who had died while on service in the conflict, which read 'He Died For Freedom and Honour'. Often called a "Dead Man's Penny" or 'Widow's Penny" or even 'Death Plaque", eventually over 1.1 million were produced for every British an...

A staggering 12 million letters were going to and from the Western Front during the Great War. What was the history of the Royal Engineers Postal Section, how did letters and parcels get to troops in the front line, and how did censorship work for all those letters from the trenches? You can support the podcast on BuyMeACoffee and at Patreon . Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In our first podcast of 2024 we return to Flanders to look at some of the history behind the original burials at Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres, the largest British and Commonwealth cemetery from either World War. Was there really once an Advanced Dressing Station here, and if not what does the archive evidence tell us about how this site evolved? You can support the podcast on BuyMeACoffee and at P...

In this special episode of Despatches we look at two Christmases on the Somme: 1915 and 1916. We do this through the experience of men from southern England who served with the 18th (Eastern) Division and discover what their life in the trenches and behind the front was like during the Christmas period. You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and Patreon . Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this latest edition of Despatches we look at the phenomena of Battlefield Pilgrimages which began almost as soon as the Great War ended and continued throughout the 1920s and 30s. What were they? What motivated people to go on a pilgrimage to the battlefields and what can we find of their history in a new book on the subject? Mike Hill's new book: Pilgrimage to the Western Front Terry When...

In our final main episode of 2023 we travel to the Somme battlefields and visit one of the most iconic parts of the 1916 landscape - the fields where the infamous Schwaben Redoubt once stood near the village of Thiepval. The Schwaben was a strong German defensive position that took over three months to capture, at the cost of thousands of lives. You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and Pat...

Despatches goes on the road, and this episode was recorded on location in Flanders. We visit Coxyde Military Cemetery , a British and Commonwealth cemetery from when these troops held the line on the top end of the Western Front in 1917. What do we find here and what does the cemetery tell us about the Great War? You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and Patreon . Send us Fan Mail Support t...

Bandaghem, Dozinghem and Mendinghem were three made-up names for British Casualty Clearing Stations locations in Flanders, reflecting their use for the wounded: Bandaging Them, Dosing Them Up and Mending Them! What was the story of these important medical facilities and what stories of the war in Flanders do we find here? Returned From The Front website: Battlefield Cross - Caps B.H. Vyvyan The wa...

In this latest episode of Despatches we think about First World War Trench Museums: a battlefield phenomena from the 1920s when thousands of 'pilgrims' travelled to the landscape of the Western Front. We look at some of the famous, and less famous Trench Museums and some that no longer exist. What do they tell us about the experience of trench warfare? You can support the Podcast via Buy...

The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery is the largest US War Cemetery in Europe with over 14,000 graves. We walk the battlefields here from Cunel to the cemetery, and down into Romagne village to visit an amazing private museum. Along the way we discuss the history and ask why such a place receives so few American visitors?  Romagne 14-18 Museum: website of Romagne 14-18 Museum . American Battle Monu...

Welcome to Despatches, a new short-form podcast from The Old Front Line . These new shorter Pods will look at some specific aspects of the Great War and the landscape of the battlefields of the First World War. They will be published in addition to the regular episodes. In this first Despatches episode we travel to the Somme and look at the Butte de Warlencourt, the old burial mound where the figh...

In this episode we look at the War at Sea in the Great War for the first time and are joined by historian Rebecca Clarke to discuss her book on the fate of HMS India and her crew, following the loss of the ship to a German U-Boat in August 1915. The men spent the rest of the war interned in neutral Norway and we discover the fascinating stories behind their experience there. Rebecca Clarke's...

In this episode we return to the Arras battlefields in Northern France and walk to the village of Gavrelle where the men of the Royal Naval Division fought in 1917, and discover the fields where the Royal Marines lost more men in a single days fighting than on any other in their entire history.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode for Armistice Day we look at those who survived the Great War and came home to write about in a series of memoirs which were published from the 1920s until more recent times as that generation faded away. We look at Officer's Memoirs and ask why there are fewer memoirs by ordinary soldiers?  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat we are joined by author and historian Richard Van Emden to discuss his new book 'Volunteers' about the men who enlisted as volunteers in the British Army during the early years of the Great War in 1914/15. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

After moving house, and nearly three hundred miles with the Old Front Line archives and library, we return from a new location, new ideas for the podcast and shifting hundreds of Great War books has prompted some thoughts from the past, from authors to Great War veterans. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this special Trench Chat we bring together four Great War Podcasters: I was so very happy and honoured to be joined by Mike Cunha, Matt Dixon and Terry Whenham. We discuss what podcasting is all about and what we think the subject brings to this medium, and go off on plenty of tangents too!  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat we speak to Professor Peter Doyle about his current research on the mine craters of the Somme battlefields. We learn how were these craters formed, what their wartime story was, and what do they mean in relation to the landscape of the Western Front today? Send us Fan Mail Support the show

On a hill above the village of Hénin, close to Arras, stood a wooden cross remembering soldiers of the 64th Brigade who fell there in 1917. Preserved at Beverley Minster in Yorkshire, what happened to this memorial, and what can we find of the men who fought here at Hénin Hill in 1917?  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Charley's War was a comic strip published in the late 1970s and early 1980s telling the story of Charley Bourne, a 16 year old Tommy on the front line of the Great War. What does it tell us about the conflict, and what impact does it have on our understanding of the subject?  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

In this episode we look back over Season 5, discuss some of the subjects we have spoken about during the past few months, explain how the podcast is planned and made, and look ahead to Season 6. Along the way we also have a few Great War stories. The podcast returns for the next Season in September.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show

For the final episode of Season 5 we are back on the Somme. At Contalmaison we discover the story of how the history of Great War football weaves through that village, how a pioneering eye surgeon from Liverpool came to be killed there, and later we uncover the story of the 'Nine Brave Men' at Bazentin. We look at Private Memorials and how Bazentin Wood almost broke the proud volunteers...

In this special Trench Chat, we meet historian, re-enactor and professional musician Beverley Palin, and discover the story of two original WW1 instruments she has restored and now plays, and discuss the importance of music to the generation of the Great War.  Send us Fan Mail Support the show