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
301 episodes
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...
Questions and Answers Episode 50
We are now 50 Q&As in, and the questions keep getting better, sharper, and more human! This milestone edition of The Old Front Line is built around four listener prompts that take us from the small, intimate scale of one soldi...
Colonel Driant's Command Post
In this episode of The Old Front Line, we explore the dramatic opening moments of the Battle of Verdun, focusing on the heroic stand of Lieutenant Colonel Émile Driant and his men in the Bois des Caures on 21st/22nd ...
Questions and Answers Episode 49
In this Old Front Line Q&A episode, we tackle a fascinating range of questions from listeners about life, death, and survival on the battlefields of the First World War. We begin by exploring whether veterans of the conflict were eve...
From The Battlefield to the Tabletop
In this special episode of the Podcast, Paul Reed speaks with archaeologist and wargamer Alex Sotheran about his journey in battlefield archaeology and the evolution of wargaming. They discuss the significance of battlefield archaeology ...
Questions and Answers Episode 48
In this Old Front Line WW1 podcast Q&A episode, we answer listeners’ questions about the history of the First World War and the legacy of the conflict today. We begin by exploring British and Commonwealth war cemeteri...
Ypres: A Walk on The Bluff
Step onto the Western Front in Flanders as we explore the area near to Ypres known as The Bluff. In this episode we uncover the story of the fighting here in February-March 1916, when British and German forces struggled for contro...
QnA Special: On The Battlefields
In this special Q&A episode of the Old Front Line podcast, recorded on location at Hooge, near Ypres, we answer questions about the battlefields of the Western Front and the legacy of the First World War.W...
London Pride: The London Territorials in WW1
In this episode of the Old Front Line podcast, host Paul Reed is joined by military historians Charles Fair, Richard Hendry, and Dr. Tom Thorpe to delve into the often-overlooked history of the London Territorial Force during the Great W...
