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
259 episodes
Remembering the Forgotten Front
What was the “Forgotten Front” of Northern France? In this episode, we explore the stretch of battlefield from Armentières on the Belgian border through La Bassée to the ground near Loos, scene of the Big Push of September 1915: f...
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Season 9
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Episode 3
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1:07:11
Questions and Answers Episode 36
In our first QnA Episode for Season 9 we look at what happened to the German forces when the guns went silent on 11th November 1918, discuss the use of poison gas and it's legacy on the battlefields today, examine if British and German dead wer...
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Season 9
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Episode 2
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37:59
Walking the Somme: Gommecourt
In our first episode of Season 9, we walk the northern part of the Somme battlefield from Foncquevillers out to the ground before Gommecourt, and examine the attack here by the 46th (North Midland) Division on 1st July 1916. We examine the Cour...
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Season 9
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Episode 1
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1:06:55
Bonus Episode: The Menin Gate at Night
In our third and final Bonus Episode that brings Season 8 to a close, we have a live recording from the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, recorded while out leading a battlefield tour a few weeks ago. We reflect on the subjects we have covered on t...
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Season 8
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Episode 35
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26:13
Bonus Episode: A Siege Battery Gunner
In this second Bonus Episode to end Season 8 of the podcast we look at the subject of Great War veterans and in particular Malcolm Vyvyan who served as a Siege Battery officer in the Royal Garrison Artillery on the Somme, Arras an...
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Season 8
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Episode 34
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29:40
Bonus Episode: A Divisional Memorial
In the first of three Bonus Episodes of the podcast to end Season 8, we travel to Fricourt on the Somme and examine the journey to unveil a memorial to the 17th (Northern) Divisio...
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Season 8
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Episode 33
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26:10
RFC/RAF: Where They Flew & Fell
In the final episode of our Air War series we travel across the landscape of the First World War and discover what we can find that connects us to the story of the Royal Flying Corps and RAF in WW1, from memorials to cemeteries and sites of for...
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Season 8
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Episode 32
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46:44
Questions & Answers: RFC/RAF Special
In this special and extended QnA Episode we look at Parachutes in the Air Services in WW1, the Ground Crew who kept the planes in the air, what are the best RFC/RAF memoirs of WW1, how the filming of the Red Baron's funeral was received, and ho...
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Season 8
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Episode 31
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49:33
The Air War in WW1 - with Josh Levine
In the second of our special interviews for the War in the Air series, we are joined by historian and broadcaster Josh Levine to discuss the war in the air in WW1, based on his best-selling book On A Wing and A Prayer.Josh's book ...
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Season 8
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Episode 30
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58:28
The Search for Mick Mannock with Andy Saunders
For our 250th episode of the podcast, and as part of our continuing Air War series, we are joined by aviation historian and author Andy Saunders to look at the life, and death, of Edward 'Mick' Mannock VC DSO & Two Bars, MC & Bar...
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Season 8
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Episode 29
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49:24
Above the Battlefield: Royal Flying Corps & RAF in WW1
For the start of our War in the Air Month, we begin with a look at the real story of the 'Twenty Minuters', the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in the First World War. We look at its history from formation in 1912, its role in the openin...
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Season 8
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Episode 28
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47:24
Questions and Answers Episode 34
For our latest questions submitted by podcast listeners, we examine what my first visit to the battlefields of the Great War with my school meant to me, ask what the Wiltshire Regiment did in the First World War, what sources in English can we ...
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Season 8
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Episode 27
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37:13
Questions and Answers Episode 33
Our latest questions from podcast listeners discuss what role German steel helmets, Stahlhelm, had on the First Day of the Somme, how did Great War veterans feel about WW2, how were women who fell pregnant from British soldiers treated during t...
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Season 8
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Episode 26
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37:52
Return to the Somme
As the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme approaches, we walk part of the battlefield across the iconic Mash Valley, visit Ovillers Military Cemetery and walk through Ovillers village to the far end of the valley facing the Pozières Ridge.<...
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Season 8
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Episode 25
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1:04:38
Questions and Answers Episode 32
Our latest questions from listeners range from could Britain have stood back from conflict in 1914 and not been part of the Great War, how accurate was the final dugout scene in the film 1917, what duties did Royal Field Artillery Drivers have ...
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Season 8
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Episode 24
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36:51
The MOD War Detectives
In a Trench Chat special we speak to the Joint Casualty and Compassionat...
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Season 8
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Episode 23
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1:00:23
Questions and Answers Episode 31
Our listeners have a few intriguing questions: Is there still live ordnance in the moat at the Ypres Ramparts? What exactly was the role of Inland Waterways Transport during the First World War? How would the French portrayal of the Last Hundre...
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Season 8
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Episode 22
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37:55
Live from The Arras Memorial
In this episode we travel to the Arras Memorial to the Missing, where we explore the powerful story of over 35,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. In this episode, we uncover the personal histories of men from the ...
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Season 8
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Episode 21
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1:08:36
Questions and Answers Episode 30
In this episode we discuss the improvised gas masks used by British and Commonwealth soldiers in 1915, the advancement in medical treatment during the Great War, whether soldiers were told in advance about the explosion of mines on the battlefi...
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Season 8
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Episode 20
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37:19
Forgotten Memoirs of the Great War Part 1
In this episode we start a look at some of the Forgotten Memoirs of the First World War, starting with Percy Croney's 'Soldiers Luck' published in the mid-1960s. Croney was a 1914 volunteer who served with the Essex Regiment and Scottish Rifles...
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Season 8
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Episode 19
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54:21
Questions and Answers Episode 29
In this episode of podcast listeners questions we ask: what Great War items would you take to a Desert Island, how was cause of death accurately reported or not by the military authorities, how did men on the front line get news of other fronts...
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Season 8
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Episode 18
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38:51
The Other Trench: with Philipp Cross
In a special Trench Chat we speak to Philipp Cross who has written a superb book about his great-great grandfather's war as an officer in the German Army. Alexander Pfeifer served from the very beginning until the very end of the conflict on th...
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Season 8
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Episode 17
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48:56
Questions and Answers Episode 28
In this episode we ask were there any 'Thankful Villages' in France where everyone came home, what was 'Camp Elisabeth' at Verdun as visited by Professor Richard Holmes in the 1990s, did Great War soldiers experience any spiritual or paranormal...
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Season 8
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Episode 16
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38:15
Sambre Canal 1918: Lock No 1
In this episode we travel to the last major battlefield of the Great War on the Western Front - the Sambre Canal. Here we follow the story of the infantry and the engineers who attacked the Canal on 4th November 1918, including the 2nd Battalio...
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Season 8
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Episode 15
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52:55
Questions and Answers Episode 27
Our questions and answers in this episode look at what happened to trench systems when they met a road, was the Battle of the Somme a victory, how France remembers the Great War, and the role of the Army Service Corps in the conflict....
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Season 8
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Episode 14
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38:01
