For our final Bonus Episode before Season 10 begins in September, we look at a rare Roll of Honour for the Gravesend and Dartford area of Kent, and discuss the whole history of these Rolls of Honour and then look through this example seeing what it can tell us about the wider history of the Great War. Main Image: Extracts from the Gravesend and Dartford 'Peace Souvenir' 1919. (Old Front Line archives) Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin. You can order O...

How do you find the hidden story of the First World War landscape? In this special bonus episode of The Old Front Line, we explore the fascinating world of WW1 trench maps and discover how they can transform your understanding of the Western Front and beyond. We begin by looking at the Blue Series IGN maps that first inspired a deeper exploration of the battlefields, before uncovering the remarkable trench maps created during the Great War. What were trench maps? How were they produced? Who u...

In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we answer another fascinating collection of listener questions that explore the people, places and practical realities of the First World War. We begin by asking why visitors can walk, play and live on some historic battlefields, such as the D-Day beaches, while places like Newfoundland Memorial Park on the Somme remain carefully preserved. What makes a battlefield "sacred", and who decides how these landscapes should be remembered? We then untan...

In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we explore one of the most successful British attacks of the Battle of the Somme: the Dawn Attack of 14 July 1916. Launched before first light, the assault captured key objectives including Bazentin-le-Petit, Bazentin-le-Grand and Longueval, bringing British troops to the edge of High Wood and changing the course of the campaign. We examine the battle in detail, explaining the careful planning, the surprise achieved by attacking at dawn, and why ...

In this Questions and Answers episode we head beneath the battlefields to explore the hidden world of First World War dugouts and bunkers, asking whether the Ypres Salient saw more extensive underground construction than the Somme, and how geology shaped the way British, German, Australian and other armies built and occupied these remarkable underground shelters. We also examine one of the most fascinating aspects of post-war battlefield recovery by looking at the concentration of casualties ...

For our 300th Episode we reflect on six years of the Old Front Line Podcast and go back to where we started in March 2020 by retaking a virtual walk through the battlefields and village of Pozières on the Somme. We start at the Pozieres British Cemetery and Memorial and then walk into the village seeing memorials, and discussing some of the 'characters of the Somme', walking up to Mouquet Farm and ending at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. Main Image: Thiepval Memorial to the Missing und...

In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we answer another fascinating selection of listener questions covering some of the most intriguing aspects of the First World War. We begin by exploring the formidable German concrete fortifications of the Somme, including the infamous Quadrilateral. How were these massive bunkers and strongpoints constructed so close to the front line, and why were the Allies seemingly unable to prevent their development? We then examine war expectations in 1914...

In this episode of the Old Front Line Podcast, we continue our exploration of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916 by examining the southern sector of the British attack. Travelling across the battlefields of Mametz and Montauban, we uncover how some of the most successful attacks of the opening day unfolded and why this part of the front achieved results that proved elusive elsewhere. We explore the plans, the units involved, and the fierce fighting that took place as British troops adva...

On the morning of 1st July 1916, as whistles blew along miles of the Somme front, the men of the III Corps and XV Corps rose from their trenches and walked into the centre of one of the most catastrophic days in British military history. In this second special episode of Old Front Line for the Somme 110th Anniversary, we focus on the brutal heart of the Somme battlefield, that stretch of scarred chalk downland running from the village of Ovillers, down through the fortress of La Boisselle, to...

In this latest Questions & Answers episode of the Old Front Line podcast, we tackle another fascinating collection of listener questions that uncover some of the lesser-known aspects of the First World War. We begin by exploring the German tradition of Sterbebilder or Death Cards, the memorial cards issued to commemorate fallen soldiers. How were these cards produced, who organised them, and where did the photographs that often appeared on them come from? Next, we examine the impact of th...