The Old Front Line
Walk the battlefields of the First World War with Military Historian, Paul Reed. In these podcasts, Paul brings together over 40 years of studying the Great War, from the stories of veterans he interviewed, to when he spent more than a decade living on the Old Front Line in the heart of the Somme battlefields.
Episodes
211 episodes
Loos: A New WW1 Cemetery
We take the podcast across to Northern France and visit Loos British Cemetery on the battlefields of 1915, seeing the new Extension that has been constructed here, looking at the initial burials and asking how this brand new cemetery might deve...
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Season 7
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Episode 21
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44:43
Questions and Answers Episode 14
In our latest selection of questions from podcast listeners we look at the circumstances of the end of the First World War on the Western Front on 11th November 1918, ask why Albert Ball VC has a private memorial over his grave in France, discu...
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Season 7
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Episode 20
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35:57
Five Weapons of WW1 Trench Warfare
Trench Warfare saw the use of existing weapons on the battlefield and the development of new ones to cope with the static nature of the Western Front. In this episode we examine five of those weapons from handguns to trench clubs to mortars, an...
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Season 7
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Episode 19
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1:12:13
Questions and Answers Episode 13
This week we answer questions about British Prisoners of War held in Switzerland, ask what kind of permission you need to explore the fields and woods across the landscape of the Great War, discuss if any Estaminets survive from the Great War a...
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Season 7
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Episode 18
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37:03
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 par...
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Season 7
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Episode 17
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46:50
Questions and Answers Episode 12
In this latest Question and Answer Episode we look at several questions about the changing nature of the British Army in the Great War, and its Regimental system, examine one aspect of how WW1 meets WW2 and discuss whether it is possible to tra...
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Season 7
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Episode 16
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32:32
The Unknown Warrior with John Nichol
In this special edition of the podcast as we return from after the summer break we speak to author and broadcaster John Nichol about his new book examining the history and story behind the Unknown Warrior buried in Westminster Abbey.J...
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Season 7
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Episode 15
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48:25
Podcast Summer Special
In a special summer edition of the podcast before it returns properly in September, we walk the battlefields near Passchendaele and have an extended Question and Answer session.Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your q...
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Season 7
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Episode 14
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1:04:40
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 10
In our tenth QnA Episode we look at subjects from Canada's Hundred Days in 1918 to the Missing of the Great War, ask how to begun studying the First World War given all that is available now, and discuss how sickness was as much of a problem to...
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Season 7
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Episode 13
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33:14
Return to Richebourg
In an episode recorded live on the battlefields, we travel to Northern France and follow the Southdowns Battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment from behind the lines to their attack at The Boar's Head near Richebourg. We also visit the graves o...
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Season 7
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Episode 12
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49:12
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 9
In our latest Questions and Answers Episode we look at the rifles carried by British soldiers in the Great War, discuss the experience of Prisoners of War, ask what kind of recycling and salvage took place, and discuss the horticulture in Briti...
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Season 7
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Episode 11
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31:43
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 Lonsda...
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Season 7
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Episode 10
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51:07
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 8
In our latest batch of Questions and Answers we look at what Mentioned in Despatches were, who they were awarded to how and what they were for, we discuss what special badges were represented on the headstones in War Cemeteries, how German oc...
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Season 7
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Episode 9
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34:13
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 Bo...
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Season 7
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Episode 8
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1:02:54
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 7
In this latest Question & Answer Episode we look at subjects ranging from the Hampshire Regiment in the Great War, to ask if there is an increase in German visitors to the battlefields, and discuss how soldiers are being identified more tha...
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Season 7
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Episode 7
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30:05
Gallipoli: The First D-Day?
On the 80th Anniversary of the Normandy Landings in 1944, we look at how events at Gallipoli in 1915 link the two great conflicts, from Churchill to landing craft to a battalion of the British Army. What lessons were learned from one war to a...
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Season 7
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Episode 6
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37:28
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 6
In our latest series of Questions and Answers we cover a wide range of subjects from the use of alcohol and tobacco by soldiers in the war, to visiting battlefields 'beyond the Somme', to how we present those battlefields of the Great War to fu...
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Season 7
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Episode 5
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29:47
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 M...
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Season 7
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Episode 4
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1:03:12
Why was there Trench Warfare in WW1?
In the first of our new 'how and why' podcasts we ask a simple question: Why was there Trench Warfare in the First World War? What factors made it possible, where were the first trenches, who dug them and how did they affects the battles in WW1...
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Season 7
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Episode 3
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50:58
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 me...
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Season 7
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Episode 2
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35:11
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 a...
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Season 7
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Episode 1
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48:29
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...
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Season 6
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Episode 36
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31:54
Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 3
In this latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners asking what is the most memorable story of the Great War I've visited, what battlefield draws me back time and again, what did British...
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Season 6
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Episode 35
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30:02
Etaples to Arras: A Journey
In a special edition of the podcast which marks the end of Season 6, this episode was recorded on The Old Front Line where we take a journey from the vast Etaples Military Cemetery, look at the Tank Gunnery School at Merriment, Douglas Haig and...
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Season 6
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Episode 34
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1:15:42