The Old Front Line Paul Reed

In the first of our new 'how and why' podcasts we ask a simple question: Why was there Trench Warfare in the First World War? What factors made it possible, where were the first trenches, who dug them and how did they affects the battles in WW1?Thanks to Doug @colour_history on Twitter for the use of the colourised image of men from the 1/4th East Lancashire Regiment in the trenches in January 1918. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Li...

In this latest Questions & Answers bonus episode, we look at questions about the Regular Army and the 1914 Star, the Canadians in WW1 as 'Shock Troops', discuss the men from the Southdowns Battalions from Sussex and ask do we have enough memorials along The Old Front Line?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 a Text Message.Support the Show.

Just this week it was announced that the body of an Unknown Soldier from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment would be taken back to Newfoundland to become their Unknown Warrior. In this first episode of Season 7 we look at the story behind this and the history of The Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War and their Missing soldiers.The articles relating to the Newfoundland Unknown Soldier are on the Veterans Affairs Canada website and Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.The new Old F...

In this latest Questions & Answers episode we look at how we read the landscape of the Great War, visiting the Sunken Lane at Beaumont Hamel and Talbot House, discuss that remains of RFC/RAF airfields, examine the survival rates of officers and ask what part weather played in the experience of the trenches. 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 a Text Message.Support the Show.

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 O...

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...