The Old Front Line

For our 250th episode of the podcast, and as part of our continuing Air War series, we are joined by aviation historian and author Andy Saunders to look at the life, and death, of Edward 'Mick' Mannock VC DSO & Two Bars, MC & Bar and the search for his potential burial place on the Western Front. Is the grave of an Unknown Aviator at Laventie British Cemetery Mick Mannock's final resting place? Andy's book: Mannock: The Life and Death of Major Edward Mannock VC, DSO, MC, RAF by Frank,...

Transcribed - Published: 26 July 2025

For the start of our War in the Air Month, we begin with a look at the real story of the 'Twenty Minuters', the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in the First World War. We look at its history from formation in 1912, its role in the opening months of the conflict, and how the war on the Western Front changed military aviation forever. A good overview of the Air War from the Imperial War Museum: What impact did the First World War have on aircraft and aerial warfare? Photographs of some o...

Transcribed - Published: 19 July 2025

For our latest questions submitted by podcast listeners, we examine what my first visit to the battlefields of the Great War with my school meant to me, ask what the Wiltshire Regiment did in the First World War, what sources in English can we look at to understand the German side of WW1 and what did British veterans think of their German foe? Brigadier E.A. James book - British Regiments 1914-1918. Main image: Group portrait of officers of the 1st Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, after t...

Transcribed - Published: 12 July 2025

Our latest questions from podcast listeners discuss what role German steel helmets, Stahlhelm, had on the First Day of the Somme, how did Great War veterans feel about WW2, how were women who fell pregnant from British soldiers treated during the conflict, and when we visit British and Commonwealth cemeteries are we walking over the graves of those buried there? For more information on the Battlefield Tours I do: Leger Battlefields. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your q...

Transcribed - Published: 5 July 2025

As the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme approaches, we walk part of the battlefield across the iconic Mash Valley, visit Ovillers Military Cemetery and walk through Ovillers village to the far end of the valley facing the Pozières Ridge. Alf Razzell discusses the burial of the dead at Ovillers: A Game of Ghosts. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 28 June 2025

Our latest questions from listeners range from could Britain have stood back from conflict in 1914 and not been part of the Great War, how accurate was the final dugout scene in the film 1917, what duties did Royal Field Artillery Drivers have on the battlefields of WW1 and what was the story of the Canadian soldiers who rioted in Britain in 1919 while awaiting demobilisation? The Old Front Line Youtube Channel: Old Front Line on YouTube. Recommended novel on 1914: Robert Harris - Precipice (...

Transcribed - Published: 21 June 2025

In a Trench Chat special we speak to the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre Commemorations team - otherwise known as 'The MOD War Detectives' - who work to recover and identify the dead on the former battlefields of the Great War. Thanks to the Ministry of Defence for their help in making this possible, and special thanks to Rosie Barron, Nichola Nash and Alexia Clark who all appear in this episode. The images used are Crown Copyright. Discover more about the Joint Casualty and Com...

Transcribed - Published: 14 June 2025

Our listeners have a few intriguing questions: Is there still live ordnance in the moat at the Ypres Ramparts? What exactly was the role of Inland Waterways Transport during the First World War? How would the French portrayal of the Last Hundred Days differ from the traditional British narrative? And finally, if you could take any piece of modern military technology back to the Great War, what would it be, and why? You can watch the Old Front Line Youtube Channel here and remember to Li...

Transcribed - Published: 7 June 2025

In this episode we travel to the Arras Memorial to the Missing, where we explore the powerful story of over 35,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. In this episode, we uncover the personal histories of men from the British Army, Royal Naval Division, and Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, whose names are etched into the stone. We then walk through the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, visiting notable graves—including those of soldiers Shot at Dawn. Discover the human sto...

Transcribed - Published: 31 May 2025

In this episode we discuss the improvised gas masks used by British and Commonwealth soldiers in 1915, the advancement in medical treatment during the Great War, whether soldiers were told in advance about the explosion of mines on the battlefield and the use of soldiers packs in WW1. Our episode on Gas Warfare in WW1 is available here: Gas! Gas! Gas! JD Hutt's YouTube Channel: The History Underground. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line...

Transcribed - Published: 24 May 2025

In this episode we start a look at some of the Forgotten Memoirs of the First World War, starting with Percy Croney's 'Soldiers Luck' published in the mid-1960s. Croney was a 1914 volunteer who served with the Essex Regiment and Scottish Rifles at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, being wounded several times and taken prisoner in March 1918. We ask what the value of memoirs like this are to our understanding of the Great War. Percy Croney - Soldier's Luck on Open Library Got a questio...

Transcribed - Published: 17 May 2025

In this episode of podcast listeners questions we ask: what Great War items would you take to a Desert Island, how was cause of death accurately reported or not by the military authorities, how did men on the front line get news of other fronts and their own, and were truces to bury the dead common on the Western Front? Book Recommendation: Frederick Manning Her Privates We/Middle Parts of Fortune. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Dis...

Transcribed - Published: 10 May 2025

In a special Trench Chat we speak to Philipp Cross who has written a superb book about his great-great grandfather's war as an officer in the German Army. Alexander Pfeifer served from the very beginning until the very end of the conflict on three fronts, and we discover how Philipp researched and wrote the book, and what it tells us about the Great War. Buy The Book on Amazon: The Other Trench. The Other Trench website: The Other Trench. The Other Trench on Facebook: The Other Trench. Got a ...

Transcribed - Published: 3 May 2025

In this episode we ask were there any 'Thankful Villages' in France where everyone came home, what was 'Camp Elisabeth' at Verdun as visited by Professor Richard Holmes in the 1990s, did Great War soldiers experience any spiritual or paranormal activity on the battlefields and how did the presence of British and Commonwealth soldiers impinge on life behind the lines in France. BBC Report: France's Thankful Village With No War Memorial. The Richard Holmes Episode mentioned in the podcast: West...

Transcribed - Published: 26 April 2025

In this episode we travel to the last major battlefield of the Great War on the Western Front - the Sambre Canal. Here we follow the story of the infantry and the engineers who attacked the Canal on 4th November 1918, including the 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment. We also see what remains of the battlefield today. The interview with Josh Grover MM is on the IWM website here: Josh Grover MM interview. Recommended Book: Decisive Victory by Derek Clayton. Thread on the Great War Forum: Royal...

Transcribed - Published: 19 April 2025

Our questions and answers in this episode look at what happened to trench systems when they met a road, was the Battle of the Somme a victory, how France remembers the Great War, and the role of the Army Service Corps in the conflict. Somme Book Recommendations: Gary Sheffield Forgotten Victory and also Paddy Griffith Battle Tactics on the Western Front. Book Recommendations: Michael Young Postcards of the Army Service Corps and Michael Young Army Service Corps 1902-1918. Got a question about...

Transcribed - Published: 12 April 2025

Continuing our journeys along the roads which crisscross the landscape of the Western Front, we travel to Flanders in Belgium, and take the old Roman road between the city of Ypres and the town of Menin which follows the story of four years of conflict here in the First World War and discuss once more the 'culture' of 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 Support the s...

Transcribed - Published: 5 April 2025

This week we discuss the background to the names British soldiers gave their German counterparts - names like Fritz and Bosch - we examine the role Portugal had on the Western Front and discuss where they are memorialised, look out how modern development has changed The Old Front Line and who was Princess Patricia of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry? You can find the Old Front Line YouTube Channel here: Old Front Line on YouTube. Got a question about this episode or any others?...

Transcribed - Published: 29 March 2025

In this episode for the fifth anniversary of the Podcast we travel back to the Somme and look at the story behind the naming of Tara and Usna Hills overlooking La Boisselle, and discuss two First World War objects found in a Somme junk sale. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 22 March 2025

In this episode we cover subjects from how the British and Commonwealth soldier named the 'Battle of the Somme' in 1916 to how Irish soldiers on the front line in France thought about the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916, to the flooding of the Yser Plain in 1914 and how infantry signallers went over the top in the Great War. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 15 March 2025

From a recently recorded livestream on the battlefields of Ypres in Flanders, join us on a walk around the reconstructed First World War trenches in Bayernwald - 'Bavarian Wood' - called Croonaert Wood on the British trench maps. You can watch the livestream from the Bayernwald Trenches on the Old Front Line YouTube Channel. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 8 March 2025

This weeks subjects include how trenches in the First World War got their names, what happened to the pay of Missing soldiers and were men who were Prisoners of War paid at all, why did the Western Front stop at the Swiss border, and what happened to the soldiers and units positioned on the flanks of big attacks and operations? 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 1 March 2025

We visit the Hindenburg Line battlefields of 1917 where the Battle of Cambrai was fought. We see the battlefield around Metz-en-Couture, visit the cemetery here and grave of Patrick Shaw-Stewart, and then walk down in Gouzeaucourt seeing a rare British bunker from WW1 and a memorial to the 11th Engineers of the US Army, ending on the high ground where the Welsh Guards counter-attacked in December 1917. The book mentioned was Children of the Souls by Jeanne MacKenzie. Got a question abou...

Transcribed - Published: 22 February 2025

Our latest Questions and Answers cover the military importance of Ypres in WW1, the French Cemetery and Memorials at Notre Dame de Lorette in Northern France, weather on the landscape of the Western Front, and the role of Women in the British Army in France and Flanders. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 15 February 2025

Our World War was a three-part BBC Drama series for the Great War Centenary in 2014 covering the fighting at Mons in 1914, the Somme in 1916 and the Battle of Amiens in 1918. It pioneered a new approach to film making about the Great War but a decade on is it still relevant and what does it tell us about the Great War? The Paddy Kennedy interview is in the archives of the Imperial War Museum. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord S...

Transcribed - Published: 8 February 2025

In our latest round-up of Questions and Answers we look at Memorials to non-white soldiers on the Western Front, whether 'battle bars' were ever planned for WW1 British and Commonwealth campaign medals, the award of the 'Blue Max' to German soldiers, and were ordinary soldiers told about the explosion of huge mines like the one under Hawthorn Ridge on the Somme. Reading List: Kevin Brazier - The Complete Blue Max: A Chronological Record of the Holders of the Pour le Mérite Erwin Rommel ...

Transcribed - Published: 1 February 2025

Is there a 'culture' surrounding The Old Front Line? One that helps define it and enables us to understand that landscape of the First World War? If so, what is it, and how can we understand it? In this episode we take a major pathway across the Western Front battlefields: the Albert-Bapaume Road on the Somme, and we discuss what the this 'culture' of The Old Front Line might be. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or emai...

Transcribed - Published: 25 January 2025

In our first Questions and Answers Episode of Season 8 we look at 'quiet' sectors of the Western Front, whether civilians got near the battlefields, discuss the 'best' photos of WW1 and ask if Stretcher Bearers were easy prey on the front line doing their vital work. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 18 January 2025

We begin Season 8 back on the Somme Battlefields of 1916 and walk the ground around the village of Mailly-Maillet, located just behind the British trenches in front of Beaumont-Hamel and Serre and later much closer to the fighting in 1918. We visit cemeteries, see original graffiti and end our walk close to the final approach to the battlefield. 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 Suppo...

Transcribed - Published: 11 January 2025

In this special edition we look at how trace to service men and women who fought and died in the Great War. We cover a number of questions covering different aspects of how to trace your WW1 Ancestors from many different nations, but in particular from Britain and the Commonwealth. USEFUL LINKS: Western Front Association Pension Files website Grand Memorial - Tracing French WW1 Records French War Diaries - WW1 Long, Long Trail website - Chris Baker London Gazette - WW1 Notices The Briti...

Transcribed - Published: 28 December 2024

In this episode, we examine five iconic objects from the First World War which came to define the experience of Trench Warfare. These objects include barbed wire, helmets, duckboards, and trench periscopes. There is also a surprise artefact that millions of men carried onto the battlefield. If you are interested in Trench Warfare also check out The Western Front: WW1 Trench Warfare, Why Was there Trench Warfare in WW1? and Five Weapons of Trench Warfare. Got a question about this episode or ...

Transcribed - Published: 21 December 2024

Based on this weeks questions we look at the difference between Ordnance Survey and Trench maps, recommend some WW1 Channels and videos to look at on YouTube, look at how to study a particular regiment and examine souvenirs brought home by veterans. Old Front Line Recommends on YouTube: click here to watch the playlist. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 14 December 2024

We return to the Arras Battlefields of April 1917 and walk from Athies to the high ground at Point du Jour, seeing where men of the 9th (Scottish) Division, including troops from the South African Brigade fought. We visit cemeteries along the way and see the memorial Cairn overlooking the fields where so much sacrifice took place in the Great War. 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 Sup...

Transcribed - Published: 7 December 2024

This week we look at the subject of Army Pay - how were men paid, who paid them and in what currency when On Active Service? We ask why men changed their names when joining up, answer a question about the Ypres Buglers and IWGC Gardeners in WW2, and why were the Germans seemingly allowed to have all the high ground in 1914? Caitlin DeAngelis' podcast War Graves Gardeners is available on all podcast platforms. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Fro...

Transcribed - Published: 30 November 2024

As the seasons change along The Old Front Line we take a winter walk across one part of the Somme battlefields, walking along the tracks from near Courcelette to Thiepval and the Ancre Valley. The WW1 Cemeteries website mentioned can be found here: www.ww1cemeteries.com. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 23 November 2024

We begin at the Battle of Loos in 1915, looking at the casualty figures for the opening stage of the attack and comparing them to the Somme, we then discuss what units formed in WW1 were still part of the Army in WW2, discuss soldiers and their medals and were there examples of 'stolen valour' and examine collectables of the Great War and discuss fakes and what to collect. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the...

Transcribed - Published: 16 November 2024

The film Oh what A Lovely War! based on Joan Littlewood's play was released in 1969 and influenced a whole generation of people in what the Great War stood for. But what does the film really tell us about the First World War and what is its value more than 50 years on? 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 9 November 2024

In a wargraves special, we follow up on the recent episode about the new Loos British Cemetery Extension and we take some Questions relating to the work being carried out there, along with the recovery and identification of the dead from the Great War, both in the past and the present. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 2 November 2024

Our latest questions submitted by podcast listeners lead us to discuss what was a 'British Warm' and how did uniforms change during the Great War, ask if we could go back in time what would we want to see, look at the quarries that were part of the battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme, and ask what happened to Allied Prisoners of War taken in the final days of the conflict in November 1918? The Western Front Association Online Trench Maps: WFA TrenchMapper site. Got a question about thi...

Transcribed - Published: 26 October 2024

We take the podcast across to Northern France and visit Loos British Cemetery on the battlefields of 1915, seeing the new Extension that has been constructed here, looking at the initial burials and asking how this brand new cemetery might develop over the coming years. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 19 October 2024

In our latest selection of questions from podcast listeners we look at the circumstances of the end of the First World War on the Western Front on 11th November 1918, ask why Albert Ball VC has a private memorial over his grave in France, discuss what happened to the Last Post Ceremony during WW2 and examine the 'War of the Guns' in the Great War - the use of artillery. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the pod...

Transcribed - Published: 12 October 2024

Trench Warfare saw the use of existing weapons on the battlefield and the development of new ones to cope with the static nature of the Western Front. In this episode we examine five of those weapons from handguns to trench clubs to mortars, and include a surprising 'weapon' of trench warfare. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 5 October 2024

This week we answer questions about British Prisoners of War held in Switzerland, ask what kind of permission you need to explore the fields and woods across the landscape of the Great War, discuss if any Estaminets survive from the Great War and look at events on the Somme on 1st July 1916 and what the experience of soldiers was on that evening as darkness fell. Red Cross Records from WW1 are found here: Red Cross Prisoner of War Records. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop...

Transcribed - Published: 28 September 2024

Fismes is a small town on the Aisne, close to its neighbour Fismette and divided by the Vesle river. Here in the summer of 1918 men of the American 28th Division took part in a bitter battle for possession of its houses and the bridge over the Vesle, a story retold in possibly the greatest American memoir of the First World War: Toward the Flame by Hervey Allen. Here too a memorial bridge was built commemorating their sacrifice, just a dozen years before Europe went to war once more. Got a ...

Transcribed - Published: 21 September 2024

In this latest Question and Answer Episode we look at several questions about the changing nature of the British Army in the Great War, and its Regimental system, examine one aspect of how WW1 meets WW2 and discuss whether it is possible to trace a fatal casualty for every day of the Great War. The image for this episode shows British tanks passing Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery on the Somme in September 1944. (IWM BU 272) Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your quest...

Transcribed - Published: 14 September 2024

In this special edition of the podcast as we return from after the summer break we speak to author and broadcaster John Nichol about his new book examining the history and story behind the Unknown Warrior buried in Westminster Abbey. John Nichol’s new book, The Unknown Warrior, is published by Simon & Schuster on the 26th September. His national theatre tour, telling the moving story behind the Unknown Warrior’s tomb in Westminster Abbey, runs from 4 October. For more information, visit w...

Transcribed - Published: 7 September 2024

In a special summer edition of the podcast before it returns properly in September, we walk the battlefields near Passchendaele and have an extended Question and Answer session. 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 Support the show

Transcribed - Published: 17 August 2024

In our tenth QnA Episode we look at subjects from Canada's Hundred Days in 1918 to the Missing of the Great War, ask how to begun studying the First World War given all that is available now, and discuss how sickness was as much of a problem to soldiers on the battlefield as wounds from shot and shell. John Livesay - link to a copy of Canada's Hundred's Days on the Internet Archive. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Serve...

Transcribed - Published: 27 July 2024

In an episode recorded live on the battlefields, we travel to Northern France and follow the Southdowns Battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment from behind the lines to their attack at The Boar's Head near Richebourg. We also visit the graves of the fallen at St Vaast Post Cemetery and at nearby Laventie, learning about 'The Day Sussex Died' on 30th June 1916. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast....

Transcribed - Published: 20 July 2024

In our latest Questions and Answers Episode we look at the rifles carried by British soldiers in the Great War, discuss the experience of Prisoners of War, ask what kind of recycling and salvage took place, and discuss the horticulture in British and Commonwealth Cemeteries. Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast. Link to WW1 POW Records: International Red Cross Prisoner of War Records Send us a text Supp...

Transcribed - Published: 13 July 2024