Questions and Answers Episode 54

Questions and Answers Episode 54

Author: Paul Reed May 30, 2026 Duration: 45:06
For this episode of the Old Front Line podcast, we open the virtual mailbag once again for another Questions & Answers special covering some fascinating and lesser-known aspects of the First World War. From observation balloons hanging silently over the trenches to trench foot, white feathers and booby traps in No Man’s Land, this episode explores the realities of life on the Western Front beyond the better-known battles. We begin by looking at the observation balloons - the so-called Bal...

Imagine standing on a quiet French field, the same earth that once shook with the fury of the First World War. The Old Front Line is your guide to that landscape, hosted by military historian Paul Reed. This isn't a dry lecture from a distant studio; it's an audio journey built on a lifetime of dedication. Paul draws from more than forty years of research, weaving together the poignant first-hand accounts of veterans he met with his own unique perspective gained from living for over a decade right in the heart of the Somme battlefields. Each episode of this podcast feels like walking alongside him, tracing the contours of history that are still etched into the land. You'll hear the human stories behind the maps and monuments, understanding the conflict through the very ground where it was fought. It’s a deeply personal and evocative exploration, connecting the peaceful present with the tumultuous past. For anyone fascinated by history, landscape, or the powerful echoes of the Great War, this series offers an unparalleled, grounded perspective that only someone with Paul Reed's intimate experience can provide.
Author: Language: en-gb Episodes: 100

The Old Front Line
Podcast Episodes
Ypres: The Menin Road [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:49
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…
Questions and Answers Episode 26 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:17
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 memorialise…
Somme: Tara-Usna Hills [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:27
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…
Questions and Answers Episode 25 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:46
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…
Live From Ypres: Bayernwald Trenches [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:29
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 tre…
Questions and Answers Episode 24 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:05
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 Swis…
Walking Cambrai: Gouzeaucourt 1917 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:32
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 Go…
Questions and Answers Episode 23 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:46
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 o…
WW1 on Film: Our World War [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:33
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 ab…
Questions and Answers Episode 22 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:02
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…