Somme Books

Somme Books

Author: Paul Reed June 22, 2024 Duration: 1:02:54
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. 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 Fan Mail Support the show

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
Questions and Answers Episode 27 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:01
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…
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…