In our final main episode of 2023 we travel to the Somme battlefields and visit one of the most iconic parts of the 1916 landscape - the fields where the infamous Schwaben Redoubt once stood near the village of Thiepval. The Schwaben was a strong German defensive position that took over three months to capture, at the cost of thousands of lives. You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and Patreon. Support the show

Despatches goes on the road, and this episode was recorded on location in Flanders. We visit Coxyde Military Cemetery, a British and Commonwealth cemetery from when these troops held the line on the top end of the Western Front in 1917. What do we find here and what does the cemetery tell us about the Great War? You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and Patreon. Support the show

Bandaghem, Dozinghem and Mendinghem were three made-up names for British Casualty Clearing Stations locations in Flanders, reflecting their use for the wounded: Bandaging Them, Dosing Them Up and Mending Them! What was the story of these important medical facilities and what stories of the war in Flanders do we find here? Returned From The Front website: Battlefield Cross - Caps B.H. Vyvyan The wartime book on Best-Dunkley VC: At Ypres with Best-Dunkley You can support the Podcast via...

In this latest episode of Despatches we think about First World War Trench Museums: a battlefield phenomena from the 1920s when thousands of 'pilgrims' travelled to the landscape of the Western Front. We look at some of the famous, and less famous Trench Museums and some that no longer exist. What do they tell us about the experience of trench warfare? You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and Patreon. Support the show

The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery is the largest US War Cemetery in Europe with over 14,000 graves. We walk the battlefields here from Cunel to the cemetery, and down into Romagne village to visit an amazing private museum. Along the way we discuss the history and ask why such a place receives so few American visitors?  Romagne 14-18 Museum: website of Romagne 14-18 Museum. American Battle Monuments Commission website: ABMC website. You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and...

Welcome to Despatches, a new short-form podcast from The Old Front Line. These new shorter Pods will look at some specific aspects of the Great War and the landscape of the battlefields of the First World War. They will be published in addition to the regular episodes. In this first Despatches episode we travel to the Somme and look at the Butte de Warlencourt, the old burial mound where the fighting came to an end in November 1916. It was in the news this week having had a change of...

In this episode we look at the War at Sea in the Great War for the first time and are joined by historian Rebecca Clarke to discuss her book on the fate of HMS India and her crew, following the loss of the ship to a German U-Boat in August 1915. The men spent the rest of the war interned in neutral Norway and we discover the fascinating stories behind their experience there. Rebecca Clarke's website: HMS India website. Support the show

In this episode we return to the Arras battlefields in Northern France and walk to the village of Gavrelle where the men of the Royal Naval Division fought in 1917, and discover the fields where the Royal Marines lost more men in a single days fighting than on any other in their entire history.  Support the show

In this episode for Armistice Day we look at those who survived the Great War and came home to write about in a series of memoirs which were published from the 1920s until more recent times as that generation faded away. We look at Officer's Memoirs and ask why there are fewer memoirs by ordinary soldiers?  Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat we are joined by author and historian Richard Van Emden to discuss his new book 'Volunteers' about the men who enlisted as volunteers in the British Army during the early years of the Great War in 1914/15. Support the show

After moving house, and nearly three hundred miles with the Old Front Line archives and library, we return from a new location, new ideas for the podcast and shifting hundreds of Great War books has prompted some thoughts from the past, from authors to Great War veterans. Support the show

In this special Trench Chat we bring together four Great War Podcasters: I was so very happy and honoured to be joined by Mike Cunha, Matt Dixon and Terry Whenham. We discuss what podcasting is all about and what we think the subject brings to this medium, and go off on plenty of tangents too!  Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat we speak to Professor Peter Doyle about his current research on the mine craters of the Somme battlefields. We learn how were these craters formed, what their wartime story was, and what do they mean in relation to the landscape of the Western Front today? Support the show

On a hill above the village of Hénin, close to Arras, stood a wooden cross remembering soldiers of the 64th Brigade who fell there in 1917. Preserved at Beverley Minster in Yorkshire, what happened to this memorial, and what can we find of the men who fought here at Hénin Hill in 1917?  Support the show

Charley's War was a comic strip published in the late 1970s and early 1980s telling the story of Charley Bourne, a 16 year old Tommy on the front line of the Great War. What does it tell us about the conflict, and what impact does it have on our understanding of the subject?  Support the show

In this episode we look back over Season 5, discuss some of the subjects we have spoken about during the past few months, explain how the podcast is planned and made, and look ahead to Season 6. Along the way we also have a few Great War stories. The podcast returns for the next Season in September.  Support the show

For the final episode of Season 5 we are back on the Somme. At Contalmaison we discover the story of how the history of Great War football weaves through that village, how a pioneering eye surgeon from Liverpool came to be killed there, and later we uncover the story of the 'Nine Brave Men' at Bazentin. We look at Private Memorials and how Bazentin Wood almost broke the proud volunteers of the 'Leicestershire Pals.' in July 1916 and think once more about the 'Forgotten Somme'.  Support the show

In this special Trench Chat, we meet historian, re-enactor and professional musician Beverley Palin, and discover the story of two original WW1 instruments she has restored and now plays, and discuss the importance of music to the generation of the Great War.  Support the show

In the latest of our series of Battlefields in a Day, we travel to Eastern France and look at the Battlefields around Verdun. Verdun was the longest single battle of the Great War, lasting some 300 days and 300 nights, fought between February and December 1916. More than 770,000 French and German soldiers became casualties in what the Poilus called 'the mincing machine'.  Support the show

Concrete bunkers - pillboxes - are an iconic symbol of the Great War, and in this episode we look at the book 'The Pillboxes of Flanders' published in the 1930s, examine their history and use, and then visit some of the surviving examples of bunkers around Ypres.  Support the show

In this latest Trench Chat we speak to historian and writer Caitlin DeAngelis who has just finished a fascinating new book 'The Caretakers: War Graves Gardeners and the Secret Battle to Rescue Allied Airman in World War II'. We discuss her research for the book, look at the community of War Graves gardeners that existed on the battlefields in the late 1930s and what happened to them when war swept across Northern France. The book will be released in January 2024.  Support the show

In this episode we look at how British soldiers joined the army, either before the war or when the New Army of volunteers was created in 1914, what their training and preparation for war consisted of, and what their route to the trenches was.  Support the show

On the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, we take a virtual walk along all eighteen miles of the Somme front from Gommecourt to Montauban, connecting to the landscape and discovering the stories of those who fought and fell on 1st July 1916: the First Day of the Somme. We also examine the casualties that day and ask where they are buried and commemorated. Support the show

In 1986 the BBC Drama 'The Monocled Mutineer' was released, starring Paul McGann who plays Percy Toplis. In this episode, we look at the series and ask what is the truth behind Toplis and the claim that he dressed as an officer and took part in the Etaples Mutiny? We also ask how realistic the series was in depicting various aspects of the Great War. Support the show

In this episode we look at a weapon that came to symbolise the First World War - Poison Gas. We look at the history behind its use, the story of the 'Birth of Chemical Warfare' at Ypres in April 1915 and what measures were made to protect soldiers against the gas, as well seeing what can be found of this history on the battlefield today. Support the show