The Old Front Line

Latest Episodes:

Somme: Schwaben Redoubt Dec 16, 2023

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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 strong German defensive position that took over three months to capture, at the cost of thousands of lives.
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Despatches: Cemetery in the Sand Dunes Dec 13, 2023

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Despatches goes on the road, and this episode was recorded on location in Flanders. We visit Coxyde Military Cemetery, a British and Commonwealth cemetery from when these troops held the line on the top end of the Western Front in 1917. What do we find here and what does the cemetery tell us about the Great War?
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Flanders: The CCS Cemeteries Dec 09, 2023

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Bandaghem, Dozinghem and Mendinghem were three made-up names for British Casualty Clearing Stations locations in Flanders, reflecting their use for the wounded: Bandaging Them, Dosing Them Up and Mending Them! What was the story of these important medical facilities and what stories of the war in Flanders do we find here?
Returned From The Front website: Battlefield Cross - Caps B.H. Vyvyan

The wartime book on Best-Dunkley VC: At Ypres with Best-Dunkley
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Despatches: WW1 Trench Museums Dec 06, 2023

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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 and some that no longer exist. What do they tell us about the experience of trench warfare?
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Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery Dec 02, 2023

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The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery is the largest US War Cemetery in Europe with over 14,000 graves. We walk the battlefields here from Cunel to the cemetery, and down into Romagne village to visit an amazing private museum. Along the way we discuss the history and ask why such a place receives so few American visitors?

Romagne 14-18 Museum: website of Romagne 14-18 Museum.

American Battle Monuments Commission website: ABMC website.
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Despatches: The Butte de Warlencourt Nov 29, 2023

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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 regular episodes.
In this first Despatches episode we travel to the Somme and look at the Butte de Warlencourt, the old burial mound where the fighting came to an end in November 1916. It was in the news this week having had a change of ownership, and we look at its history and consider how and why sites like these can be preserved.
The official Butte de Warlencourt website is here: https://www.buttedewarlencourt.com/
The Butte de Warlencourt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ButteDeWar
The Hawthorn Crater Association is here: https://hawthornridgeca.com/
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War at Sea: HMS India Nov 25, 2023

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In this episode we look at the War at Sea in the Great War for the first time and are joined by historian Rebecca Clarke to discuss her book on the fate of HMS India and her crew, following the loss of the ship to a German U-Boat in August 1915. The men spent the rest of the war interned in neutral Norway and we discover the fascinating stories behind their experience there.

Rebecca Clarke's website: HMS India website.

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Walking Arras: Gavrelle Nov 18, 2023

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In this episode we return to the Arras battlefields in Northern France and walk to the village of Gavrelle where the men of the Royal Naval Division fought in 1917, and discover the fields where the Royal Marines lost more men in a single days fighting than on any other in their entire history.

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Memoirs: The Great War Remembered Nov 11, 2023

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In this episode for Armistice Day we look at those who survived the Great War and came home to write about in a series of memoirs which were published from the 1920s until more recent times as that generation faded away. We look at Officer's Memoirs and ask why there are fewer memoirs by ordinary soldiers?

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Volunteers in WW1 with Richard Van Emden Nov 04, 2023

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In this latest Trench Chat we are joined by author and historian Richard Van Emden to discuss his new book 'Volunteers' about the men who enlisted as volunteers in the British Army during the early years of the Great War in 1914/15.

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