Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Category: Somme
Walking the Somme: Mailly-Maillet
We begin Season 8 back on the Somme Battlefields of 1916 and walk the ground around the village of Mailly-Maillet, located just behind the British trenches in front of Beaumont-Hamel and Serre and later much closer to the fighting in 1918. We visit cemeteries,… Continue Reading “Walking the Somme: Mailly-Maillet”
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”
Somme 1916: Nab Valley
For our 200th Episode we return to the Somme battlefields where the podcast began in 2020 and walk the ground from Crucifix Corner, along the edge of Authuille Wood to Nab Valley, a terrible killing ground on 1st July 1916, ending at the Lonsdale… Continue Reading “Somme 1916: Nab Valley”
Somme Books
The Somme is one of the most written about battles in military history. Where to start your reading given the huge number of books about the period? In this episode we take a ‘layered’ approach to reading and examine everything from ‘Gateway Books’ to… Continue Reading “Somme Books”
The War Underground
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,… Continue Reading “The War Underground”
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 5
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… Continue Reading “Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 5”
Newfoundland’s Unknown Soldier
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… Continue Reading “Newfoundland’s Unknown Soldier”
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 4
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… Continue Reading “Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 4”
Despatches: Somme – Redan Ridge
We travel to the familiar landscape of Picardy and visit one part of the ‘Forgotten Somme’ – the battlefields on the Redan Ridge. Here we see look at the fighting on 1st July 1916 and at the end of the battle in November 1916,… Continue Reading “Despatches: Somme – Redan Ridge”
Despatches: Somme Trench Map
In this latest episode of Despatches, we examine an original Trench Map from the Battle of the Somme in 1916, showing the battlefield around the village of Courcelette where the Canadians fought. What are Trench Maps, and what do they tell us about the… Continue Reading “Despatches: Somme Trench Map”
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