In the first of our new 'how and why' podcasts we ask a simple question: Why was there Trench Warfare in the First World War? What factors made it possible, where were the first trenches, who dug them and how did they affects the battles in WW1?

Thanks to Doug @colour_history on Twitter for the use of the colourised image of men from the 1/4th East Lancashire Regiment in the trenches in January 1918.

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 Message.

Support the Show.

In this latest Questions & Answers bonus episode, we look at questions about the Regular Army and the 1914 Star, the Canadians in WW1 as 'Shock Troops', discuss the men from the Southdowns Battalions from Sussex and ask do we have enough memorials along 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 Message.

Support the Show.

The articles relating to the Newfoundland Unknown Soldier are on the Veterans Affairs Canada website and Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

Send us a Text Message.

Support the Show.

In this latest Questions & Answers episode we look at how we read the landscape of the Great War, visiting the Sunken Lane at Beaumont Hamel and Talbot House, discuss that remains of RFC/RAF airfields, examine the survival rates of officers and ask what part weather played in the experience of the trenches.

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 Message.

Support the Show.

In this latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners asking what is the most memorable story of the Great War I've visited, what battlefield draws me back time and again, what did British troops think about Australians and Canadians, and what was the weaponry of ordinary soldiers and how did that change during the war?

This is how the German Army rated British and Commonwealth Divisions in the Great War, taken from a 1916 report by the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL):

Good - 47th, 6th, 20th, 50th, 18th, 1st Canadian, 2nd Canadian

Medium - 11th, 39th, 41st, 3rd Canadian, NZ

Poor - 61st, 40th, 60th, 63rd, 3rd Australian, 5th Australian, 4th Canadian

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 Message.

Support the Show.

In a special edition of the podcast which marks the end of Season 6, this episode was recorded on The Old Front Line where we take a journey from the vast Etaples Military Cemetery, look at the Tank Gunnery School at Merriment, Douglas Haig and 'GHQ' at Montreuil, and then travel via a small village up to Arras and the Arras Memorial.

Season 6 will continue with two more Question & Answers episodes and then after a short break the Podcast will return in early May.

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 Message.

Support the Show.

In our latest Old Front Line Podcast Questions & Answers Episode we answer four questions from listeners covering subjects like the 'Learning Curve' on the Western Front to how to visit battlefields beyond the Somme.

The Naval Flank of the Western Front project I mentioned was this one: Forgotten Wrecks of the First World 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 Message.

Support the Show.

We travel to the familiar landscape of Picardy and visit one part of the 'Forgotten Somme' - the battlefields on the Redan Ridge. Here we see look at the fighting on 1st July 1916 and at the end of the battle in November 1916, examine the story of a soldier 'Shot at Dawn' and discuss the writer H.H. Munro ('Saki') who fell here during the Battle of the Somme.

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 Message.

Support the Show.