Battles of the First World War Podcast

Adam Pearce and his uncle Ron Howard have spent the past few years visiting the graves of the UK's and British Commonwealth's Victoria Cross recipients. They hope to raise awareness of not just  the recipients of the British Army's highest award for valor, but of the other men buried with them in Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries on the Old Front Line and elsewhere around the world. 

Also, to British li...

Authors and historians Andrew Lucas and Jürgen Schmiseschek come on the podcast to discuss their collaborative work on the Saxon Germans on the Flanders front during the Great War. 

Where to buy "Fighting the Kaiser's War:"

https://royalsaxonarmy.co.uk/index.php/our-publications/13-fighting-the-kaiser-s-war

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstW...

Author and grandson John Chase, MD comes on the podcast to discuss his book based on the letters his grandfather, John DeWitt, wrote home during the First World War. 

From Hellgate Press: When recently retired orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Chase stumbles upon a hidden trove of over 80 letters from his grandfather, John DeWitt, written from the trenches of World War I, he embarks on a life-changing journey....

Founders of the New Ypres League Dr Dominiek Dendooven and Roger Steward join the podcast to discuss a worthy remembrance project for the old Ypres battlefields: replacing and restoring the demarcation stones that marked the limit of German advances throughout the Great War. 

Where to donate -

New Ypres League vzw: www.newypresleague.com

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://w...

In the prelude to the prelude of the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918, we set the clock back to December 1917 to look at the position of the Allies at that point in the war. Specifically, we look at French Army commander General Philippe Petain's Directive No. 4 issued that month. In this short memo Petain advocated for a defense in depth strategy on the front lines, as Entente forces began to prepare for the inevita...

Cape Ann, Massachusetts resident Brett Hawkes comes on the podcast to discuss his long bicycle trips through France, where he followed in his Doughboy grandfather's WW1 footsteps.

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at...

This is a quick episode to make listeners aware of a fundraising drive by the New Ypres League to restore some of the post-WW1 demarcation stones in the Ypres, Belgium area. 

Where to donate: https://www.newypresleague.com/

There will be a talk released in early December where the New Ypres League will go into more details about their fundraiser, but for now we wanted to get the word out a...

Educator and First World War enthusiast Kristin Stelfox comes on the podcast to discuss some of the first and pathbreaking American women war correspondents who covered the first years of the war. 

New Ypres League: https://www.newypresleague.com/

"An Unladylike Profession" by Chris Dubbs - https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/an-unladylike-profession-american-women-war-correspondents-in-world-w...

Writer Craig DeSteiguer joins us to tell the story of his grandfather John Horace Merriman, who was deeply affected by his First World War-era service. 

"Death in the Trench"

Let me sing no whispers of war.

Let me tear my eyes, of all death…that lay.

Let me hold the hand of their last breath.

Let me pray their soul is gone….to home.

Let me ...

We have dates for the 2026 Meuse-Argonne Battlefield Pilgrimage!

The trip is from July 02 - 08, 2026. 

This next visit will be one where we really plan to put boots on the ground: we will be walking in the paths of some individual Doughboys in 2026. This is a new feature of Lost Battalion Tours, and we're excited to share it with you!

A sample of the 2026 itinerary:

In the final days of the Aisne-Marne Offensive, American forces pursued the retreating Germans to the River Vesle in August 1918. During the battles for possession of the key village of Bazoches-sur-Vesle, an American son of Russian-Jewish immigrants would distinguish himself by looking out for his friends and soldiers. 

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

...

NYT bestselling author Daniel Kraus comes on the podcast to talk about his novel set in the Meuse-Argonne battle "Angel Down." 

From Simon & Schuster:

Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four oth...

Historian Michel Gravel comes back on the podcast to discuss an incredibly interesting gentleman named John Stevenson Youngson. 

Michel's works can be found here:

https://ysec.fr/?s=Michel+Gravel&post_type=product

Michel's GoFundMe for "La place Joseph Kaeble, VC, MM," in Neuville-Vitasse, France:

https://gofund.me/17574db1

Regarding Michel's me...

My good friend Xavier Lewis comes on the podcast to discuss his dissertation topic.

General Edmond Buat had an idea and devised a plan to defeat the German army on the Western front in World War I. A study of his diary, the notes he wrote and his later writings on German generals Ludendorff  and Hindenburg, shows how his plan and the Réserve Générale de l'Artillerie Lourde (Heavy Artillery General Reserv...

Pete Owen, LTC USMC (Ret.) comes on the podcast to talk about his book "To the Limit of Endurance: A Battalion of Marines in the Great War." 

From Texas A&M University Press:

"Scholars and historians offer several theories for the crippling losses suffered by the American Expeditionary Forces on the battlefields of World War I: inexperience, poor leadership, hasty expansion of duties, and ...

Tennessee State Park Rangers Nate Dodson and Tanner Wells come on the podcast to discuss the upcoming Great War Expo II at York State Park in Pall Mall, TN.

On April 5th, 2025, the second annual Great War Expo will be held at Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historic Park in Pall Mall, TN.  This is an educational event highlighting all things WW1 at the homesite of one of its more well known soldiers.  Experienc...

Part 6 of the ongoing discussion continues to look at the French Army in 1916, and this time we focus on events and developments outside of the Verdun battlefield. 

This episode will focus on the French Army's experience in 1916 outside of the Verdun battlefield. 

Joining us for this discussion are:

• Bart Debeer, who co-w...

Dr. Isherwood returns to the podcast to talk about his new book "The Battalion: Citizen Soldiers at War on the Western Front." 

From Casemate Publishers:

"How did ordinary citizens become soldiers during the First World War, and how did they cope with the extraordinary challenges they confronted on the Western Front? These are questions Ian Isherwood seeks to answer in this absorbing and d...

Before the First World War officially began, the killing was already underway. 

In the small French village of Joncherey, two men would meet for a brief but violent moment on August 2nd, 1914, the day before war was officially declared. The moment would turn them into eternal brothers, transformed by their explosive meeting. French Corporal Jules André Peugeot and German Lieutenant Albert Otto Walther Ma...