The Old Front Line

Latest Episodes:

Etaples to Arras: A Journey Apr 27, 2024

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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 'GHQ' at Montreuil, and then travel via a small village up to Arras and the Arras Memorial.

Season 6 will continue with two more Question & Answers episodes and then after a short break the Podcast will return in early May.

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Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 2 Apr 24, 2024

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In our latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners covering subjects like the 'Learning Curve' on the Western Front to how to visit battlefields beyond the Somme.

The Naval Flank of the Western Front project I mentioned was this one: Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War.

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Despatches: Somme - Redan Ridge Apr 20, 2024

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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, examine the story of a soldier 'Shot at Dawn' and discuss the writer H.H. Munro ('Saki') who fell here during the Battle of the Somme.
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Aftermath: The Myth of the Red Zone Apr 13, 2024

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At the end of the Great War, vast areas of France were left devastated by the fighting: this became the 'Zone Rouge' or the 'Red Zone'. Reconstruction and recovery of ground brought that Red Zone to an end in the 1920s but stories of it circulated once more during the Great War Centenary. So what are the Myths of the Red Zone, and what are its truths?
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Podcast Questions & Answers: Episode 1 Apr 03, 2024

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In the first of our new 'your questions answered' episodes we answer six questions sent in by listeners to the podcast covering subjects like how the army saw itself in the Great War, why the podcast is called 'the Old Front Line', how the opposing armies held the Western Front, and what kind of methods did I use to check the accuracy of Great War veterans interviews made in the 1980s and 90s.
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Despatches: A Weekend in Ypres Mar 30, 2024

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We've just had the first ever Old Front Line Podcast Supporter's meet-up on the battlefields of Flanders near the Belgian city of Ypres. What was the weekend all about, what plans have we got for more of these, and in the episode we share some of the stories we discussed at Ypres on our walks.

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Beyond The Somme Mar 23, 2024

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The Great War on the Western Front was much more than Flanders and the Somme, and the experience of British and Commonwealth soldiers. When we travel 'Beyond the Somme' - what does that mean, and what do we find on these battlefields where soldiers from France and its Empire, and later American troops fought?

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Four Years of the Old Front Line Mar 16, 2024

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On our fourth anniversary of launching The Old Front Line, I look back over the episodes and discuss how the podcast has helped shape and define how I see the landscape of the Great War, helped me find a language for what it means more than a century later, and we look back too over some of my favourite episodes and those which have proved especially popular.

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Despatches: By Train to Ypres Mar 09, 2024

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Railways were an essential part of the Great War, and the line which ran from Northern France to Poperinghe and Ypres became the route in and out of the battlefield for millions of men during the conflict. What can we learn of the history of the railways in Flanders and what do we find of it on the landscape of the Western Front today?

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Despatches: Fort de Loncin 1914 Mar 02, 2024

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In August 1914 a force of more than 55,000 German soldiers descended on the Belgian city of Liege. Protected by a belt of steel and concrete forts, at Fort de Loncin the garrison of 550 men came under murderous German artillery fire resulting in a huge explosion that turned this site into a national cemetery and memorial, and came to stand for Belgian defiance in that first year of the war.
The website of the fort is here: Fort de Loncin.

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