189 episodes

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. 

The Old Front Line Paul Reed

    • History

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. 

    Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 3

    Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 3

    In this latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners asking what is the most memorable story of the Great War I've visited, what battlefield draws me back time and again, what did British troops think about Australians and Canadians, and what was the weaponry of ordinary soldiers and how did that change during the war?
    This is how the German Army rated British and Commonwealth Divisions in the Great War, taken from a 1916 report by the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL): 
    Good - 47th, 6th, 20th, 50th, 18th, 1st Canadian, 2nd Canadian
    Medium - 11th, 39th, 41st, 3rd Canadian, NZ 
    Poor - 61st, 40th, 60th, 63rd, 3rd Australian, 5th Australian, 4th Canadian
    Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.
    Support the Show.

    • 30 min
    Etaples to Arras: A Journey

    Etaples to Arras: A Journey

    In a special edition of the podcast which marks the end of Season 6, this episode was recorded on The Old Front Line where we take a journey from the vast Etaples Military Cemetery, look at the Tank Gunnery School at Merriment, Douglas Haig and 'GHQ' at Montreuil, and then travel via a small village up to Arras and the Arras Memorial.
    Season 6 will continue with two more Question & Answers episodes and then after a short break the Podcast will return in early May. 
    Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.
    Support the Show.

    • 1 hr 15 min
    Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 2

    Podcast Questions & Answers Ep 2

    In our latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners covering subjects like the 'Learning Curve' on the Western Front to how to visit battlefields beyond the Somme. 
    The Naval Flank of the Western Front project I mentioned was this one: Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War.
    Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.
    Support the Show.

    • 22 min
    Despatches: Somme - Redan Ridge

    Despatches: Somme - Redan Ridge

    We travel to the familiar landscape of Picardy and visit one part of the 'Forgotten Somme' - the battlefields on the Redan Ridge. Here we see look at the fighting on 1st July 1916 and at the end of the battle in November 1916, examine the story of a soldier 'Shot at Dawn' and discuss the writer H.H. Munro ('Saki') who fell here during the Battle of the Somme.

    Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.
    Support the Show.

    • 41 min
    Aftermath: The Myth of the Red Zone

    Aftermath: The Myth of the Red Zone

    At the end of the Great War, vast areas of France were left devastated by the fighting: this became the 'Zone Rouge' or the 'Red Zone'. Reconstruction and recovery of ground brought that Red Zone to an end in the 1920s but stories of it circulated once more during the Great War Centenary. So what are the Myths of the Red Zone, and what are its truths?

    Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.


    Support the Show.

    • 55 min
    Podcast Questions & Answers: Episode 1

    Podcast Questions & Answers: Episode 1

    In the first of our new 'your questions answered' episodes we answer six questions sent in by listeners to the podcast covering subjects like how the army saw itself in the Great War, why the podcast is called 'the Old Front Line', how the opposing armies held the Western Front, and what kind of methods did I use to check the accuracy of Great War veterans interviews made in the 1980s and 90s.

    Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.


    Support the Show.

    • 55 min

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