The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

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. 

  1. 12 hr ago

    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 the Western Front and beyond. We begin by looking at the Blue Series IGN maps that first inspired a deeper exploration of the battlefields, before uncovering the remarkable trench maps created during the Great War. What were trench maps? How were they produced? Who used them, and why are they still such an invaluable resource for battlefield historians today? The episode also tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Evan Maclean Jack CMG DSO, one of the key figures behind the development of British trench mapping, and examines his lasting influence on military cartography. Finally, we put theory into practice by studying three original trench maps from very different theatres of war: Richebourg on the Lys battlefield, Neuville Vitasse south of Arras, and the Salonika Front around Lake Doiran. Together they reveal how maps recorded trenches, strongpoints, roads, artillery positions and the ever-changing front line. Main Image: Trench Maps of Arras, Richebourg and Salonika. The portrait is Lt Col Evan Maclean Jack CMG DSO, 'Maps' at GHQ (IWM archive) Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Bonus Episode: Mapping The Old Front Line

  2. 1 Aug

    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, play and live on some historic battlefields, such as the D-Day beaches, while places like Newfoundland Memorial Park on the Somme remain carefully preserved. What makes a battlefield "sacred", and who decides how these landscapes should be remembered? We then untangle the mystery of First World War barbed wire. Discover how troops navigated their own defensive obstacles for raids, wiring parties, patrols and major offensives, and how carefully concealed gaps and communication routes balanced defence with the need to attack. Next, we delve into the history of the King Edward's Horse, examining its formation in 1914, its links to men from across the British Empire, and why some recruits with no Dominion connections—including one listener's ancestor—found themselves serving in this unusual cavalry regiment. Finally, we travel to the closing days of the war to explore what happened after the Armistice. From the emotional scenes of 11 November 1918 to the long process of demobilisation, the return of prisoners of war, encounters between former enemies in No Man's Land, and the immense task of clearing and rebuilding the shattered battlefields of France and Belgium, we trace how Europe emerged from four years of conflict. Main Image: German barbed wire entanglements, known as 'knife rests' photographed in the Beaumont Hamel area, November 1916. (IWM Q1530). Image by Ernest Brookes. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Questions and Answers Episode 58

  3. 25 Jul

    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 including Bazentin-le-Petit, Bazentin-le-Grand and Longueval, bringing British troops to the edge of High Wood and changing the course of the campaign. We examine the battle in detail, explaining the careful planning, the surprise achieved by attacking at dawn, and why this operation succeeded where so many earlier assaults had struggled. Along the way, we tell the stories of two men who experienced the fighting from very different perspectives, one an ordinary soldier, the other an officer, bringing a personal dimension to one of the Somme's defining actions. The episode concludes with a virtual battlefield walk, travelling west to east across the ground of the attack. From the British front lines through the captured villages and on towards High Wood, we explore what survives today and reveal how the landscape still tells the story of this remarkable day in July 1916. Main Image: The 20th Deccan Horse, Indian Army, in the Carnoy Valley shortly before their unsuccessful attack at High Wood during the Somme offensive, 14 July 1916. (IWM Q823). Image by John Warwick Brooke. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Somme: The Dawn Attack

  4. 18 Jul

    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 the Somme, and how geology shaped the way British, German, Australian and other armies built and occupied these remarkable underground shelters. We also examine one of the most fascinating aspects of post-war battlefield recovery by looking at the concentration of casualties from High Wood into Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, and ask how the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission decided where recovered soldiers would ultimately be buried. Why were men from the same battalion sometimes reburied in different cemeteries years apart? From there we consider the impact of mist and fog on the Western Front. Did poor visibility and weather bring fighting to a halt, or was it an opportunity for trench raids, wiring parties, patrols and surprise attacks? Finally, we look at one of the 'what ifs' of the First World War. Following Russia's armistice in late 1917, how much artillery and equipment did Germany transfer west alongside its infantry? Could the Kaiserschlacht have happened without the collapse of the Eastern Front, and how might the war have unfolded if Russia had remained in the conflict? Main Image: Battle of Albert, 1916. The steps leading down to a huge German underground shelter at Bernafay Wood, near Montauban, captured by the 9th Division. The picture gives a good idea of the size and depth of many German dugouts on the Somme. (IWM Q4307). Image by John Warwick Brooke. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Questions and Answers Episode 57

  5. 11 Jul

    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 the Pozieres British Cemetery and Memorial and then walk into the village seeing memorials, and discussing some of the 'characters of the Somme', walking up to Mouquet Farm and ending at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. Main Image: Thiepval Memorial to the Missing under a summer sky. (OFL Archives) Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Old Front Line 300th Episode

  6. 4 Jul

    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 fortifications of the Somme, including the infamous Quadrilateral. How were these massive bunkers and strongpoints constructed so close to the front line, and why were the Allies seemingly unable to prevent their development? We then examine war expectations in 1914 including the belief that the war would be over by Christmas. What did Britain and Germany actually expect from the coming conflict? How did military planners believe victory would be achieved, and what political and territorial objectives were they hoping to secure? The discussion then turns to the Hindenburg Line. How much of this vast defensive system survives today, where can visitors still see it, and why were the Allies caught off guard when German forces withdrew to it during the spring of 1917? Finally, we tackle a practical but rarely discussed aspect of trench warfare: sanitation. Was toilet paper available to soldiers on the Western Front, what alternatives were used, and what can this tell us about daily life, hygiene, and disease in wartime conditions? Main Image: Remains of a German trench in Gommecourt, showing a concrete dug-out entrance, March 1917. (IWM Q4913). Image by John Warwick Brooke. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Questions and Answers Episode 56

  7. 27 Jun

    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 Montauban, we uncover how some of the most successful attacks of the opening day unfolded and why this part of the front achieved results that proved elusive elsewhere. We explore the plans, the units involved, and the fierce fighting that took place as British troops advanced against the German defences. Along the way, we examine the stories of the soldiers who fought here, the objectives they were tasked with capturing, and the cost of victory on the Somme's first day. The episode also includes a virtual battlefield walk across the landscapes of Mametz and Montauban as they appear today, connecting the modern terrain with the events of July 1916 and highlighting key locations, memorials, and surviving traces of the battlefield. Whether you're researching the Battle of the Somme, planning a battlefield visit, or simply interested in First World War history, this episode provides an in-depth guide to one of the most important sectors of 1st July 1916. Jonathan Porter’s Somme Books: Zero Hour Z Day website. Main Image: Infantry from the British 7th Division advancing towards German trenches at Mametz, 7.30am on 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. (IWM Q 89). Image by No 1 Printing Company Royal Engineers. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Somme South: Mametz to Montauban

  8. 20 Jun

    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. In this second special episode of Old Front Line for the Somme 110th Anniversary, we focus on the brutal heart of the Somme battlefield, that stretch of scarred chalk downland running from the village of Ovillers, down through the fortress of La Boisselle, to the encircled ruins of Fricourt. This was the ground where some of the few remaining regulars alongside men of Kitchener's volunteer army, Tyneside Scots and Irishmen, Grimsby fishermen, South Yorkshire lads in the York & Lancs, and Green Howards among so many others, were sent against some formidable German positions on this central part of the Somme front of 1st July. The podcast follows the 8th Division into the killing ground of The Nab and Mash Valley at Ovillers, where German machine guns on three sides made survival almost impossible. We stand at the edge of the Lochnagar crater and trace the advance of the 34th Division, all twelve battalions committed at once, nothing held in reserve, as the Tyneside brigades marched in waves across open ground toward a village that was ready and waiting for them. And we examine the bitter fighting around Fricourt, where the 10th West Yorkshire Regiment suffered the single greatest British battalion casualty toll of any unit in on The First Day of the Somme. We end with a virtual walk across those battlefields today. Jonathan Porter's Somme Books: Zero Hour Z Day website. Main Image: Destroyed German trenches at Ovillers, looking towards Albert, July 1916. (IWM Q 4044). Image by John Warwick Brooke. Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    Somme Central: Ovillers to Fricourt
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Hosts & Guests

4.9
out of 5
506 Ratings

About

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. 

Information

  • Creator
    Paul Reed
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    304
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Old Front Line
  • Show Website
    The Old Front Line

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