Die Vergessene Schlacht - A Discussion with Alfons Philippi

Battles of the First World War Podcast

Mike Cunha

History

4.8 • 838 Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Independent historian Alfons Philippi of Germany joins the podcast to discuss his German-language book on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Die Vergessenne Schlacht (The Forgotten Battle). We also discuss the family history that led him to write the book, as well as the impact of 20th century history on his family.

Link to Die Vergessene Schlacht: https://amzn.eu/d/03UW7TY

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hey folks, welcome to the battles of the First World War podcast. This episode is a real
0:56.9	milestone for the podcast, and I am at the same time embarrassed that I have not made it happen
1:02.8	sooner. It is a milestone because today we have our first German historian joining us on the
1:10.3	podcast. Joining us on the podcast.
1:11.7	Joining us today is Mr. Alphonse Philippi, an independent historian who has written a German
1:17.6	language history of the Mursargan offensive for a German audience titled The Fogessina Schlacht,
1:24.2	the Forgotten Battle. Alphonse reached out to me to join the 2026 Lost Battalion
1:29.1	Tours tour after he read a short article I wrote for the Do Boy Foundation's newsletter.
1:34.7	We exchanged a few emails and here we are, recording a podcast.
1:40.1	Alphonse has a personal connection to the Mursargan and and indeed, his family history is deeply intertwined with Germany's 20th century history.
1:49.9	I'm excited to have Alphonse come on the show, and so let's get right into it.
1:55.4	Again, Alphonse, thank you so very much for taking time out of your evening in Germany to come on the podcast.
2:02.3	It's a pleasure for me. Thank you, Mike.
2:04.9	All right. We'll get right into the questions. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your
2:11.5	background and how did you become interested in the First World War?
2:17.1	Well, I was born in 1955, so I'm 17 now.
2:23.5	My family has had a long traditional farming history.
2:28.8	So in this village where I still live today, they've been living for about 200 years.
2:38.2	And probably I'm the first one to go to university in the family line because, you know, in the past, it was, it was
2:44.3	customary for sons of a farmer to become farmers again. Correct. So I graduated from school. I did
	...

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