Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Category: Podcast Episode
Return to the Somme
As the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme approaches, we walk part of the battlefield across the iconic Mash Valley, visit Ovillers Military Cemetery and walk through Ovillers village to the far end of the valley facing the Pozières Ridge. Alf Razzell discusses… Continue Reading “Return to the Somme”
Live from The Arras Memorial
In this episode we travel to the Arras Memorial to the Missing, where we explore the powerful story of over 35,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. In this episode, we uncover the personal histories of men from the British Army, Royal Naval Division, and Royal… Continue Reading “Live from The Arras Memorial”
The Other Trench: with Philipp Cross
In a special Trench Chat we speak to Philipp Cross who has written a superb book about his great-great grandfather’s war as an officer in the German Army. Alexander Pfeifer served from the very beginning until the very end of the conflict on three… Continue Reading “The Other Trench: with Philipp Cross”
Sambre Canal 1918: Lock No 1
In this episode we travel to the last major battlefield of the Great War on the Western Front – the Sambre Canal. Here we follow the story of the infantry and the engineers who attacked the Canal on 4th November 1918, including the 2nd… Continue Reading “Sambre Canal 1918: Lock No 1”
Ypres: The Menin Road
Continuing our journeys along the roads which crisscross the landscape of the Western Front, we travel to Flanders in Belgium, and take the old Roman road between the city of Ypres and the town of Menin which follows the story of four years of… Continue Reading “Ypres: The Menin Road”
Somme: Tara-Usna Hills
In this episode for the fifth anniversary of the Podcast we travel back to the Somme and look at the story behind the naming of Tara and Usna Hills overlooking La Boisselle, and discuss two First World War objects found in a Somme junk… Continue Reading “Somme: Tara-Usna Hills”
Somme: Albert-Bapaume Road
Is there a ‘culture’ surrounding The Old Front Line? One that helps define it and enables us to understand that landscape of the First World War? If so, what is it, and how can we understand it? In this episode we take a major… Continue Reading “Somme: Albert-Bapaume Road”
Five Iconic Objects of Trench Warfare
In this episode, we examine five iconic objects from the First World War which came to define the experience of Trench Warfare. These objects include barbed wire, helmets, duckboards, and trench periscopes. There is also a surprise artefact that millions of men carried onto… Continue Reading “Five Iconic Objects of Trench Warfare”
Somme Winter Walk
As the seasons change along The Old Front Line we take a winter walk across one part of the Somme battlefields, walking along the tracks from near Courcelette to Thiepval and the Ancre Valley. The WW1 Cemeteries website mentioned can be found here: http://www.ww1cemeteries.com.… Continue Reading “Somme Winter Walk”
A Bridge at Fismes
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… Continue Reading “A Bridge at Fismes”
Old Front Line 