The Old Front Line

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 as “missing” across the Western Front, is there any real evidence that some chose to disappear, seizing the chaos of war to start new lives elsewhere? We explore the realities of desertion, the systems used to reco...

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 landscape south of Ypres, this battle saw the devastating use of underground mines transform the battlefield into a nightmarish maze of mud-filled craters. We examine how British tunnelling companies detonated mas...

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 on the Battle of the Somme and beyond.

We begin on the heights above the battlefield, exploring the idea of Bouzincourt Ridge as a “grandstand view” on 1 July 1916. What could be seen at 7:30am...

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 explores the power of personal stories, memory, remembrance, and the impact of war on individuals and collective memory.

A bonus for TOFL pod listeners - 50% off for the first 50 TOFL listeners with coupon: TOFL...

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 Commonwealth War Graves Commission replaced thousands of temporary wooden crosses with the iconic headstones we see today. How was this monumental task organised? How many stonemasons were involved, and how ...

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 influence on cultural memory and battlefield symbolism.

We dive into how the beautiful, chalky terrains of England shaped the identity of soldiers during the Great War. Many of them carried an intimate knowl...

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 soldier’s photograph to the vast, uneasy scale of a battlefield that never fully stops giving things back to the surface.

We start with the stories that first hooked me on First World War history: indi...

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 February 1916.

Commanding the 56th and 59th Battalions of Chasseurs à Pied, Driant faced the full force of the German offensive as it erupted with one of the most intense artillery bombardments of the First World War. Ou...

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 ever allowed to be buried within the official war cemeteries alongside the comrades who fell during the war, and look at the rules established by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission after the creati...

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 in understanding the human experience of war, the challenges faced in recovering human remains, and the impact of television on the field. Transitioning to wargaming, they explore its historical roo...

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 cemeteries, explaining how the headstones are kept perfectly aligned and why some graves appear in straight rows while others are spaced further apart, including the role of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission of how t...

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 control of the high ground overlooking Ypres. Using contemporary accounts and battlefield evidence, we explain why this small rise in the landscape mattered so much and how the battle unfolded.

The Bluff was crea...

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.

We begin by exploring what happened to the woods and forests on the Western Front during World War One. Were they completely destroyed by shellfire? Did they naturally grow back after the war, or were they replanted? And more t...

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 War. The discussion begins with an exploration of the origins and purpose of the Territorial Force, established in 1908, which served primarily for home defense before the war. The historians highlig...

In this latest First World War Q&A episode we tackle some of the most intriguing and overlooked questions about life, strategy and survival on the Western Front and after the guns fell silent.

Why did the British Army so often attack on ground not of its own choosing, at places like Loos and the Somme? If British commanders could have picked the battlefield, where might they have fought instead, and why? 

We then explore the ever...

In this episode, we explore the four brutal wartime winters in Flanders during the First World War, focusing on the Western Front around Ypres from 1914 to 1918. Beginning with the establishment of the British front line at Ypres in late 1914, we examine how soldiers endured cold, mud, and constant danger during the Great War’s earliest winter, including the famous Christmas Truce of 1914.

Using firsthand accounts, battalion war dia...

In this latest Questions & Answers episode, we tackle some intriguing, and often misunderstood, aspects of life and fighting on the Western Front during the First World War.

Who actually decided what a battle was called? Did the ordinary soldier know, at the time, which battle he was fighting in – or even when one battle had ended and another begun, during almost four years of near-continuous combat? We explore how battles were ...

In this special episode, Paul Reed discusses the Ypres League's mission to preserve the history of the Ypres Salient and the significance of Demarcation Stones that mark the furthest advance of German forces during the First World War in 1918. Roger Stewart and Dr Dominiek Dendooven share insights into the history, design, and restoration efforts of these stones, emphasizing the importance of community involvement and funding ...

In this episode, we explore the role of British Army Chaplains during the First World War, examining who they were, what duties they performed at the front, and how effective they were in the brutal conditions of the Great War. We also ask whether chaplains are commemorated on their own permanent memorial today.

We then tackle a persistent myth of the First World War: were German machine-gunners really chained to their weapons, or w...