As the old Frontline podcast moves into its third year, incredibly its third year,

we recently started the new series Battlefields in a Day, taking a particular Great War

battlefield and seeing some of the key locations

connected to that and its story in a single day. And I'm really pleased to see how popular that's been

over the last few weeks and there's more of those to come. But Great War history is also part of what

we do. It's not just the battlefield. It's not just the old front line, because the history is an essential part and weaves its way through those battlefields through the old front line.

So to bring together an easy way of putting some of this history across, This is the start of another new podcast series or

sub-series, whatever we're going to be calling it, and it's the Adjutant's notebook. What is an

adjutant? Well, every unit had an adjutant. He was like the executive officer, whose job it was

to keep the war diary and do the paperwork of the unit

to make sure all the right indents are gone in for rations and ammunition and equipment

and keep the battalion running.

And he kept a notebook to write all this down in the notes of the war diary,

how many tins of plumber apple jam he had,

how many tins of bully beef were required, all those kind of things.

And I have a collection of an adjutant, William Coburn Cowper, who was the adjutant at the

2nd 21st London Regiment, and it's fascinating to read it. It's full of miscellany, basically,

lots of small details, which often are part of the bigger picture. So in this new sub-series, the Adjutant's notebook,

we're going to look at specific aspects of Great War history that tie into our understanding

of the battlefields and the landscape of the Great War. This episode also marks the end of

Season 3 of the Old Front Line. There will be a couple of

weeks off and we will return at Easter, not long away, and that'll see the beginning of season

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