Explore every episode of the podcast The Old Front Line
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast Summer Special | 17 Aug 2024 | 01:04:40 | |
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. | |||
| Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 10 | 27 Jul 2024 | 00:33:14 | |
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. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| The War Underground | 01 Jun 2024 | 01:03:12 | |
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 | |||
| Ypres In A Day | 12 Mar 2022 | 00:59:14 | |
In this episode, the first in a series of Battlefields in a Day, we explore one of the iconic British and Commonwealth battlefields of the Great War: Ypres, in Flanders. On our tour we take in some well known and famous locations, and travel off the beaten track, too. | |||
| Walking Arras: Feuchy Chapel | 05 Mar 2022 | 00:56:56 | |
Astride the Arras-Cambrai road a small wayside memorial commemorates a missing British officer. Out in the fields small Comrade's Cemeteries act like beacons to the fighting here in April 1917. What took place on this ground around Arras, near to Feuchy Chapel? | |||
| Walking Ypres: Brandhoek | 26 Feb 2022 | 01:03:21 | |
Just astride the road between Poperinghe and Ypres, the hamlet of Brandhoek was a main site for the treatment of wounded soldiers. Here women serving as Army nurses got close to the realities of war, and the war cemeteries here today remind us that not everyone could be saved. | |||
| The Bantams of Bourlon Wood | 19 Feb 2022 | 00:56:19 | |
Among the dark Oak trees of Bourlon Wood, the Bantam Battalions from England, Scotland and Wales experienced their baptism of fire. Who were The Bantams, and did all roads lead to Bourlon Wood in November 1917? | |||
| 100th Episode: Across The Old Front Line | 12 Feb 2022 | 01:03:37 | |
To commemorate one hundred episodes of the podcast we take a journey along the Western Front visiting four locations from Flanders to the Somme to Verdun to the Vosges. What does the landscape of the Great War mean to us? | |||
| Henry Williamson's War | 05 Feb 2022 | 01:03:51 | |
In this episode we look at the writer Henry Williamson, best known for his nature writing and Tarka The Otter novel, but in the 1950s he began to publish 'A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight', some fifteen novels, five of which cover the Great War. We look at his life, his war, and his work as a writer, a forgotten author of the First World War. | |||
| Aisne: The Old Contemptibles at Soupir | 29 Jan 2022 | 00:53:47 | |
We visit the small village of Soupir on the Aisne where men of the British Expeditionary Force, known as The Old Contemptibles, fought in September 1914. We visit the British graves here and walk the battlefield to the Aisne heights where some of the first trenches were dug in the Great War. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| Tommy Tucker: Food in WW1 | 22 Jan 2022 | 01:08:23 | |
From Bully Beef to Hardtack and Plum and Apple Jam... what did the British Tommy in the trenches of the Western Front eat? How was it supplied, how good was his food, how did it reach him, and having had a meal, how did he go to the toilet? | |||
| Forgotten Front: The Cuinchy Brickstacks | 15 Jan 2022 | 01:01:00 | |
We return to the 'Forgotten Front' in Northern France where the British operations on the Western Front took place in 1915, and there were long periods of static trench warfare. Here we visit the site of the Cuinchy 'Brickstacks' - huge stacks of undelivered bricks that formed towers on the battlefield here. | |||
| Poets on the Somme | 08 Jan 2022 | 00:59:07 | |
In this episode, we follow Great War poets Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon into the trenches near Fricourt at the 'Bois Français' during the months before the 1916 battle and learn about how the death of a much-beloved comrade affected them both. | |||
| Why was there Trench Warfare in WW1? | 25 May 2024 | 00:50:58 | |
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 January 1918. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| Unquiet Truce: The Men Who Died on Christmas Day 1914 | 24 Dec 2021 | 00:54:05 | |
Christmas Day in 1914 - a day we more commonly associate with a Christmas Truce between the British and Germans. Who died and where, and how many? | |||
| Trench Chat: Matt Dixon from Footsteps of the Fallen Podcast | 18 Dec 2021 | 01:02:04 | |
In a special Trench Chat, we are joined by Matt Dixon, host of the Footsteps of the Fallen Podcast. We talk about Matt's interest in the Great War, what led him to produce the podcast and the books he is currently working on. | |||
| Vimy Ridge: The Crater Cemeteries | 11 Dec 2021 | 01:01:52 | |
In this episode, we go 'off the beaten track' at Vimy Ridge and look at two unusual cemeteries on the battlefield here - Lichfield and Zivy Crater Cemeteries - where the Canadians buried their dead in some old mine craters in April 1917. | |||
| Somme: Heilly Station Cemetery | 04 Dec 2021 | 00:50:19 | |
In this episode we are Behind the Lines on the Somme, starting in the small village of Heilly, and looking at how soldiers were billeted in places like this, we then walk down to the railway station and examine the use of railways on the Somme and establishment of medical facilities for the wounded. We end at Heilly Station Cemetery, a vast city of the dead from the Somme battles of 1916. | |||
| Ypres: Lille Gate to Bedford House | 27 Nov 2021 | 00:55:40 | |
In this episode, we return to Flanders, and walk from the Lille Gate on the edge of the city of Ypres via 'Shrapnel Corner' to Bedford House Cemetery, one of the largest in this area and laid out in an unusual way. We end on the old Ypres-Comines Canal where the German Army was stopped south of Ypres in April 1918. | |||
| Back To The Front: Arras & The Somme | 20 Nov 2021 | 00:42:12 | |
In the second of our episodes recorded while on a Leger Battlefield Tour, we travel to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Experience at Arras and then down to the Somme battlefields to see the Lochnagar Crater, the Ulster Tower, the trenches in the Newfoundland Park and end at 'Mighty Thiepval'. | |||
| A Time to Remember | 13 Nov 2021 | 00:40:13 | |
In an episode released between Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, we pause to Remember. We reflect on the veterans back in the 80s and 90s, and think about what visiting the battlefields of the Great War means to us more than a century later. | |||
| Back To The Front: Ypres | 06 Nov 2021 | 00:44:34 | |
In this episode after so many months away from The Old Front Line we return to Flanders with a Leger Battlefield Tour group on a trip along the Western Front. We visit Tyne Cot, walk the trenches at Sanctuary Wood and attend the Last Post at the Menin Gate. | |||
| Somme: Journey Up The Line | 30 Oct 2021 | 00:46:29 | |
In this episode, we are behind the lines on the Somme, in the village of Englebelmer. We look at life behind the front on the Somme, discover what remains from 1916, and follow a journey many soldiers made towards the front line in this sector of the battlefields. | |||
| Gallipoli Cemeteries | 23 Oct 2021 | 00:49:29 | |
In this episode, we travel away from the Western Front to Gallipoli. Here there are thirty-one British and Commonwealth cemeteries on the Gallipoli Penninsula, and we visit some on the beaches and others in more isolated locations, along with the stories of the men buried there from the 1915 Campaign. | |||
| Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 5 | 22 May 2024 | 00:35:11 | |
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 email the podcast. | |||
| Ypres: Across the Messines Ridge | 16 Oct 2021 | 00:56:53 | |
In this episode we walk from the village of Wytschaete ('Whitesheet' to the soldiers), along part of the Messines Ridge, scene of fighting in 1917, and visit three small battlefield cemeteries, reflecting on how we connect with these comrade's burial grounds of the Great War. | |||
| WW1 at Home: Mells, Somerset | 09 Oct 2021 | 00:47:30 | |
With the Great War battlefields still seeming far away, this week we travel to a picturesque church in Somerset to look at memorials to men bound together by family, sacrifice and duty, and in the churchyard discover the grave of one of the major Great War poets: Siegfried Sassoon. | |||
| A Space Has Been Reserved | 02 Oct 2021 | 00:46:01 | |
After the Great War, more than half a million casualties had marked graves. A decision was made to mark them permanently with headstones and allow the families of the fallen a chance to add their own inscription; more than a century later what do they tell us about grief and loss, sacrifice and service, and the myriad faces of the Great War? | |||
| Sussex to the Somme: Lowther's Lambs | 25 Sep 2021 | 00:58:16 | |
In this episode, we follow the story of the Southdowns Battalions of the Royal Sussex, "Lowther's Lambs"; often seen as the nearest Sussex had to Pals Battalions. We look at their story from their formation in September 1914 to their virtual destruction at Richebourg and Hamel in 1916. We also discuss the journey I made in the 1980s to follow their war and interview some of the last remaining veterans. | |||
| Somme105: The Battle of Flers-Courcelette | 18 Sep 2021 | 00:47:00 | |
Continuing with our look at the 105th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, we examine the fighting on 15th September 1916, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, when tanks were used for the first time in history. After an overview of the fighting that day, we also walk the battlefield near 'Bully' and 'Lousy' Wood where men from the London Regiment fought. | |||
| Shot At Dawn | 11 Sep 2021 | 00:53:37 | |
More than 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers were executed 'for the sake of example' during the First World War, for crimes from desertion to striking a superior officer. In this episode, we look at the background to military discipline, the process of Field General Courts-Martial, and what was involved when a soldier was executed by firing squad. And we discover how the inscription on an executed soldier's grave - 'Shot At Dawn' - remains as powerful as when his father chose it in the 1920s. 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 your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| Walking the Somme: The Devonshire Cemetery | 04 Sep 2021 | 00:44:30 | |
After the fighting at Mametz on 1st July 1916, the Devonshire Regiment buried their dead in an old disused trench among the trees of Mansel Copse. Here the 'Devonshires Held This Trench, The Devonshires Hold It Still'. In this episode, we walk the ground at Mametz and discover the stories of three men: a poet who loved the countryside, a former spy who made a model of the battlefield, and a young man who had traveled the world. | |||
| Mons: A Bridge At Nimy | 21 Aug 2021 | 00:44:08 | |
In the final episode of Season 2, we look back at this season's podcasts and ahead to the future of The Old Front Line, and then travel to Belgium, to examine some of the opening shots of the war at the village of Nimy, near Mons, where the men of the 4th Royal Fusiliers fought in August 1914. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| Behind The Lines: The Crimson Coast | 14 Aug 2021 | 00:48:58 | |
The 'Crimson Coast' extended along the Northern French coast where the British Base Hospitals were located during the Great War. Here men shattered by wounds were treated, in the massive Base Depots new soldiers were prepared for the front line and women worked in changing ways behind the front. In this episode, we visit Le Treport and Etaples, including the cemeteries in both locations. | |||
| Walking the Somme: Mouquet Farm | 07 Aug 2021 | 00:44:49 | |
In this episode we walk the Somme from Ovillers to Mouquet Farm; 'Moo-Cow Farm' or 'Mucky Farm' as the soldiers called it. Here we examine the attacks by Australian, Canadian and finally British units, discovering just how costly this corner of the Somme battlefields was in 1916. | |||
| Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier | 18 May 2024 | 00:48:29 | |
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 on the Veterans Affairs Canada website and Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| Third Ypres Remembered | 31 Jul 2021 | 00:45:19 | |
On 31st July 1917 the Third Battle of Ypres - or the Battle of Passchendaele as it is often called - began with an attack on a forteen mile front near the city of Ypres. In this Anniversary episode we look at the first day of Third Ypres; who attacked, what happened and what were the casualties? Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| The Loos Memorial | 24 Jul 2021 | 00:45:35 | |
the heart of the Loos Battlefield. Here we look at the fighting in this part of the Western Front, the background to the Missing, and examine some stories of those commemorated here: from a Major-General to the son of Rudyard Kipling, to the men from Sussex, many of whom died at Richebourg. | |||
| Somme 105: The Battle Continues | 17 Jul 2021 | 00:43:02 | |
As the Battle of the Somme continued, it took the British Army into the 'Horseshoe of Woods' that characterised the next phase of the fighting here in July 1916. As the 105th Anniversary of the Somme continues, we look at how the battle progressed. | |||
| The Western Front: WW1 Trench Warfare | 10 Jul 2021 | 00:57:53 | |
The Great War went from a mobile war in 1914 to a static conflict with hundreds of miles of trenches across France and Flanders. How did trench warfare come about, what were the trenches that crisscrossed the battlefield and what were the differences between Allied and German trenches? 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 your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. | |||
| Walking Ypres: Wieltje to the Steenbeek River | 03 Jul 2021 | 00:58:24 | |
In this episode, we look at how the Northumbrian Territorials were thrown into battle at Ypres in April 1915, look at Wieltje as a front line village, and walk the ground where the opening phase of the Third Battle of Ypres took place following the men from the medical services as they struggled to save the wounded, including Captain Noel Chavasse VC & Bar. | |||
| Somme 105th Anniversary | 01 Jul 2021 | 00:32:35 | |
Today is the 105th Anniversary of the First Day of the Battle of the Somme. The battle began on this day at 7.30 am, when the British soldiers went Over The Top on a perfect summer's morning. On this anniversary we look at the background to 1st July 1916, visit the Thiepval Memorial, and discuss what the First Day of the Somme means to me, reflecting on the experience of the veterans I interviewed. | |||
| Walking The Somme: High Wood | 26 Jun 2021 | 01:03:15 | |
High Wood was one of the most fought-over corners of the Somme battlefields in 1916. We take a walk from Caterpillar Valley Cemetery via Longueval, to stand beneath the dark trees of the wood. We learn about New Zealand's Unknown Warrior, Indian Cavalry, and a father and son who were both awarded the Victoria Cross. | |||
| Walking Ypres: Plugstreet Wood | 19 Jun 2021 | 01:11:34 | |
South of the city of Ypres in Belgium, a large area of woodland was swallowed up in the fighting of 1914. For the next four years, the British and Commonwealth forces held the line in and around Ploegsteert Wood - "Plugstreet Wood" to the British Tommy. | |||
| Trench Chat: Canadian Remembrance Tourism with Samantha Cowan | 12 Jun 2021 | 00:56:01 | |
In this 'Trench Chat' we talk to Canadian Tour operator Samantha Cowan about battlefield tourism coming to the Great War battlefields from Canada. What inspires Canadians to come? What does Vimy mean to them? Samantha shares her years of experience with her tour company TheBattlefieldTours. | |||
| Walking Arras: The Pals at Oppy Wood | 05 Jun 2021 | 00:46:39 | |
The story of the Northern Pals battalions who marched to war in 1914 is forever linked to the Somme, but their war continued and in May 1917 they found themselves up against a 'dark wood' - Oppy Wood, near Arras. | |||
| Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 4 | 08 May 2024 | 00:31:54 | |
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. | |||
| Walking The Somme: Albert | 29 May 2021 | 01:00:43 | |
Located at the heart of the Somme battlefields, the town of Albert, known as 'Bert to the troops, was the route to the front line - all roads led there in 1916. Here we look at what the town meant to those who served on the Somme, examine the story of the Basilica with its figure of Mary, which Australian soldiers called 'Fanny Durack' and then look at the British graves in Albert Communal Cemetery and end on the outskirts of the town at Bapaume Post Military Cemetery. | |||
| WW1 at Home: War Graves Week | 22 May 2021 | 01:11:12 | |
It's War Graves Week! The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintain all cemeteries and memorials from both World Wars worldwide. This week sees the first War Graves Week and the focus is on the graves we see at home, in the cemeteries close to where we live. In this special episode, we talk to Megan Maltby and James King from CWGC, and Battlefield Guide Martin Garnett in Barnsley Cemetery. | |||
| Trench Chat: WW1 Machine Guns with Richard Fisher | 15 May 2021 | 00:58:56 | |
In this latest Trench Chat, we are joined by Richard Fisher of the Vickers Machinegun Collection & Research Association to talk about the Machine Gun Corps, Graham Seton Hutchison ('Hutchy') and did they make tea from the hot water in their Vickers gun water jackets?! | |||