Questions and Answers Episode 59

In this latest Old Front Line Q&A, we tackle four fascinating questions that take us from the opening moments of the Battle of the Somme to the long legacy of the Western Front landscape.

We begin at Hawthorn Ridge on 1 July 1916 and ask whether the famous mine was detonated ten minutes early to help the attack, to provide Geoffrey Malins with the perfect filming opportunity, or for a combination of both. We also examine whether the advanced position of the Lancashire Fusiliers in the Sunken Lane, together with the early gains of the Ulster Division nearby, could have transformed a disastrous sector of the Somme battlefield into a genuine British success.

We then explore memories of the Second World War, discussing whether First World War veterans ever compared their own experiences with the rapid collapse of France and the BEF in 1940.

A question inspired by a walk along the Old Front Line looks at modern ownership of battlefield land. If your house stands on top of a trench system, can you excavate it, and what permissions might be required in France and Belgium?

Finally, we examine what happened when soldiers’ remains were discovered in the 1920s. How were they identified, who carried out the work, and what kind of burial and ceremony followed?

Book: Nick and Fiona Jenkins – Walking The Line (Wetsocks Books 2021)

Main Image: Field Marshal Montgomery reads the inscription on a grave at the Canadian First World War memorial at Vimy Ridge, 8 September 1944. (IWM BU 763).

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