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
309 episodes
Questions and Answers Episode 60
In this episode of The Old Front Line Podcast, we answer another fascinating selection of listener questions that explore the realities of life, death, remembrance and battlefield tactics on the Western Front during the First World War.<...
Somme: Mighty Thiepval
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing is the largest British war memorial in the world and one of the most powerful places where we remember the sacrifice of the Missing on the Western Front. In this episode, we explore the story behind "...
Questions and Answers Episode 59
In this latest Old Front Line Q&A, we tackle four fascinating questions that take us from the opening moments of the Battle of the Somme to the long legacy of the Western Front landscape.We begin at Hawthorn Ridge on 1 ...
The Great War Around Us
We begin Season 10 of The Old Front Line with a journey into The Great War Around Us: the First World War history that can still be found in the places where we live.In this episode, we visit the East Sussex village of W...
Bonus Episode: A Roll of Honour
For our final Bonus Episode before Season 10 begins in September, we look at a rare Roll of Honour for the Gravesend and Dartford area of Kent, and discuss the whole history of these Rolls of Honour and then look through this example see...
Bonus Episode: Mapping The Old Front Line
How do you find the hidden story of the First World War landscape? In this special bonus episode of The Old Front Line, we explore the fascinating world of WW1 trench maps and discover how they can transform your understanding of ...
Questions and Answers Episode 58
In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we answer another fascinating collection of listener questions that explore the people, places and practical realities of the First World War.We begin by asking why visitors can walk,...
Somme: The Dawn Attack
In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we explore one of the most successful British attacks of the Battle of the Somme: the Dawn Attack of 14 July 1916. Launched before first light, the assault captured key objectives inc...
Questions and Answers Episode 57
In this Questions and Answers episode we head beneath the battlefields to explore the hidden world of First World War dugouts and bunkers, asking whether the Ypres Salient saw more extensive underground construction than th...
Old Front Line 300th Episode
For our 300th Episode we reflect on six years of the Old Front Line Podcast and go back to where we started in March 2020 by retaking a virtual walk through the battlefields and village of Pozières on the Somme.We start at ...
Questions and Answers Episode 56
In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we answer another fascinating selection of listener questions covering some of the most intriguing aspects of the First World War.We begin by exploring the formidable German concrete fort...
Somme South: Mametz to Montauban
In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we continue our exploration of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916 by examining the southern sector of the British attack. Travelling across the battlefields of Mametz and Montauba...
Somme Central: Ovillers to Fricourt
On the morning of 1st July 1916, as whistles blew along miles of the Somme front, the men of the III Corps and XV Corps rose from their trenches and walked into the centre of one of the most catastrophic days in British military history....
Questions and Answers Episode 55
In this latest Questions & Answers episode of the Old Front Line podcast, we tackle another fascinating collection of listener questions that uncover some of the lesser-known aspects of the First World War.We begin by explorin...
Somme North: Serre to Thiepval
In the first of a three-part series marking the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, we explore the fighting in the northern sector of the battlefield on 1 July 1916.This episode examines the attacks at Serre, Beaumont...
Questions and Answers Episode 54
For this episode of the Old Front Line podcast, we open the virtual mailbag once again for another Questions & Answers special covering some fascinating and lesser-known aspects of the First World War. From observation balloons hangi...
Thunder in the Mountains with Tom Isitt
In this special edition of the podcast we explore a lesser-known theatre of conflict from the First World War in Northern Italy with historian Tom Isitt. Tom's new book - Thunder in the Mountains - follows a journey he made...
Questions and Answers Episode 53
In this wide-ranging listener Q&A episode of Old Front Line, we dive into some intriguing and human questions thrown up by the Great War.We begin with the fate of the missing. With hundreds of thousands of men listed ...
St Eloi Craters 1916
Step into one of the most chaotic and little-known battles of the First World War in 1916 with this episode of The Old Front Line, as we explore the Battle of the St Eloi Craters (March–April 1916).Fought in the shattered...
Questions and Answers Episode 52
Step back from the battlefield and into the questions that bring the Great War to life in this special Q&A episode. Drawing on years of battlefield exploration and historical research, we tackle four fascinating listener questions centred o...
The Bad Luck Battalion
With a special edition for ANZAC Day, in this insightful interview, playwright Arthur Meek discusses his project to bring to life the voices of Gallipoli veterans through oral histories and verbatim theatre. The conversation explo...
Questions and Answers Episode 51
In this in-depth Questions & Answers episode of The Old Front Line, we tackle four fascinating listener questions exploring the aftermath and realities of the First World War.We begin in the Ypres Salient, examining how the ...
Chalk, Englishness and the Great War
In this special episode with Professor Mark Connelly we explore the profound connection between landscape, memory, and national identity during the Great War, focusing on the significance of chalk landscapes in Britain and their influenc...
