Old Front Line
WW1 Podcast with Paul Reed
Category: Somme
Despatches: War Damage Postcards
In this episode we look at so-called ‘War Damage Postcards’ published during the conflict and which depicts the smashed villages, towns and cities, and indeed landscapes of the Western Front. We ask what these postcards tell us about the conflict and the battlefields of… Continue Reading “Despatches: War Damage Postcards”
Despatches: Christmas on the Somme
In this special episode of Despatches we look at two Christmases on the Somme: 1915 and 1916. We do this through the experience of men from southern England who served with the 18th (Eastern) Division and discover what their life in the trenches and… Continue Reading “Despatches: Christmas on the Somme”
Despatches: Battlefield Pilgrimages
In this latest edition of Despatches we look at the phenomena of Battlefield Pilgrimages which began almost as soon as the Great War ended and continued throughout the 1920s and 30s. What were they? What motivated people to go on a pilgrimage to the… Continue Reading “Despatches: Battlefield Pilgrimages”
Somme: Schwaben Redoubt
In our final main episode of 2023 we travel to the Somme battlefields and visit one of the most iconic parts of the 1916 landscape – the fields where the infamous Schwaben Redoubt once stood near the village of Thiepval. The Schwaben was a… Continue Reading “Somme: Schwaben Redoubt”
Despatches: WW1 Trench Museums
In this latest episode of Despatches we think about First World War Trench Museums: a battlefield phenomena from the 1920s when thousands of ‘pilgrims’ travelled to the landscape of the Western Front. We look at some of the famous, and less famous Trench Museums… Continue Reading “Despatches: WW1 Trench Museums”
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… Continue Reading “Despatches: The Butte de Warlencourt”
Somme Mine Craters with Peter Doyle
In this latest Trench Chat we speak to Professor Peter Doyle about his current research on the mine craters of the Somme battlefields. We learn how were these craters formed, what their wartime story was, and what do they mean in relation to the… Continue Reading “Somme Mine Craters with Peter Doyle”
Charley’s War
Charley’s War was a comic strip published in the late 1970s and early 1980s telling the story of Charley Bourne, a 16 year old Tommy on the front line of the Great War. What does it tell us about the conflict, and what impact… Continue Reading “Charley’s War”
Somme: Contalmaison to Bazentin
For the final episode of Season 5 we are back on the Somme. At Contalmaison we discover the story of how the history of Great War football weaves through that village, how a pioneering eye surgeon from Liverpool came to be killed there, and… Continue Reading “Somme: Contalmaison to Bazentin”
First Day Of The Somme
On the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, we take a virtual walk along all eighteen miles of the Somme front from Gommecourt to Montauban, connecting to the landscape and discovering the stories of those who fought and fell on 1st July 1916:… Continue Reading “First Day Of The Somme”
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