The Old Front Line

Latest Episodes:

Somme Books Jun 22, 2024

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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 Battlefield Guides.

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Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 7 Jun 15, 2024

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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 than a century after the conflict ended.
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Gallipoli: The First D-Day? Jun 08, 2024

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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 another?
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Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 6 Jun 05, 2024

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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 future generations and what role Identify Disks or 'Dog Tags' had in the identification of the dead.

Alex's Youtube channel: Alex315 on YouTube.

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The War Underground Jun 01, 2024

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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, and examine the pinnacle of mine warfare at Messines in 1917.

Simon Jones' website: Myths of Messines
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Why was there Trench Warfare in WW1? May 25, 2024

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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?

Thanks to Doug @colour_history on Twitter for the use of the colourised image of men from the 1/4th East Lancashire Regiment in the trenches in January 1918.

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Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 5 May 22, 2024

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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 The Old Front Line?

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Newfoundland's Unknown Soldier May 18, 2024

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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 the history of The Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War and their Missing soldiers.

The articles relating to the Newfoundland Unknown Soldier are on the Veterans Affairs Canada website and Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

The new Old Front Line Substack is available here: The Old Front Line with Paul Reed.
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Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 4 May 08, 2024

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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 part weather played in the experience of the trenches.
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Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 3 May 01, 2024

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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 troops think about Australians and Canadians, and what was the weaponry of ordinary soldiers and how did that change during the war?

This is how the German Army rated British and Commonwealth Divisions in the Great War, taken from a 1916 report by the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL):

Good - 47th, 6th, 20th, 50th, 18th, 1st Canadian, 2nd Canadian

Medium - 11th, 39th, 41st, 3rd Canadian, NZ

Poor - 61st, 40th, 60th, 63rd, 3rd Australian, 5th Australian, 4th Canadian

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