Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Despatches: The Butte de Warlencourt
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 fighting came to an end in November 1916. It was in the news this week having had a change of ownership, and we look at its history and consider how and why sites like these can be preserved.
The official Butte de Warlencourt website is here: https://www.buttedewarlencourt.com/
The Butte de Warlencourt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ButteDeWar
The Hawthorn Crater Association is here: https://hawthornridgeca.com/
BATTLEFIELD MAP:
RECOMMENDED READING:
5 Comments on “Despatches: The Butte de Warlencourt”
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Old Front Line 
Great addition to the outstanding OFL regular Podcasts! As you mentioned today in the Patreon Zoom, ” The ” Last page of history hasn’t been turned”!
Thanks Paul!
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I really like the format of this shorter pod. I walked to the Butte from my hotel in Albert in February. A round trip of 17.5 miles. Very enjoyable but I had sore feet and hips at the end!
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Thanks Stephen – thatās quite a walk!!
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Only discovered your podcast via a friendās recommendation link to your Charleyās War episode tonight (17/12/23)ā¦ and whilst listening to that excellent cast I perused your episode list & found this one. Butte de Warlencourt, which holds a personal ātugā of interest for me.
My first inherited medals were given to me at a young age of 9 or 10yrs of age, about the same time as I was also reading Charleys War. These medals were in honour of Hubert Frederick Jolly, who was killed on the 7th Oct 1916, having just turned 21 years old, as he āgot right up to the Butte and then disappearedā¦ā with the Civil Service Rifles.
He is now buried in Warlencourt cemetery, but Red Cross/CWWGC maps from 1920/21 (originals in IWM, London) show that his original grave was in the corner of the field between the Butte and the sunken Le Barque Road.
Iāve now completed my research on the 1/15th CSR attack on the Butte and am happy to share if this is of interest? Iām glad to hear this podcast and that the Butte is still in safe hands after another change of ownership. You now have another follower, and I look forward to going through your back catalogue.
Thanks.
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Thanks so much, Keith. Drop me a line via the website as Iād love to hear more about this and Iāve some photos of the Civil Service Rifles I can share with you.
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