Episodes
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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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 www.JohnNicholLive.com
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Link to WW1 POW Records: International Red Cross Prisoner of War Records
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For our 200th Episode we return to the Somme battlefields where the podcast began in 2020 and walk the ground from Crucifix Corner, along the edge of Authuille Wood to Nab Valley, a terrible killing ground on 1st July 1916, ending at the Lonsdale Cemetery.
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In our latest batch of Questions and Answers we look at what Mentioned in Despatches were, who they were awarded to how and what they were for, we discuss what special badges were represented on the headstones in War Cemeteries, how German occupation worked in WW1 and how the casualties of the various nations affected them, and who suffered the most?
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The Somme is one of the most written about battles in military history. Where to start your reading given the huge number of books about the period? In this episode we take a 'layered' approach to reading and examine everything from 'Gateway Books' to Battlefield Guides.
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In this latest Question & Answer Episode we look at subjects ranging from the Hampshire Regiment in the Great War, to ask if there is an increase in German visitors to the battlefields, and discuss how soldiers are being identified more than a century after the conflict ended.
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