somme

We look at two exhibitions in two key institutions that connect us to the history of the Great War: the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres and Imperial War Museum in London. At Ypres we see an exhibition about the history of the war cemeteries in Flanders, and at the IWM a new gallery devoted to war art, photography and film.

Imperial War Museum - Restoration of the John Singer Sergeant Gassed painting.

In this latest episode of Despatches, we examine an original Trench Map from the Battle of the Somme in 1916, showing the battlefield around the village of Courcelette where the Canadians fought. What are Trench Maps, and what do they tell us about the history and landscape of the Great War?

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In this special episode of Despatches we look at two Christmases on the Somme: 1915 and 1916. We do this through the experience of men from southern England who served with the 18th (Eastern) Division and discover what their life in the trenches and behind the front was like during the Christmas period.

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In this latest edition of Despatches we look at the phenomena of Battlefield Pilgrimages which began almost as soon as the Great War ended and continued throughout the 1920s and 30s. What were they? What motivated people to go on a pilgrimage to the battlefields and what can we find of their history in a new book on the subject?

Mike Hill's new book: Pilgrimage to the Western Front

Terry Whenham's Podcast on the Great Pilgrimage 1928.

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In our final main episode of 2023 we travel to the Somme battlefields and visit one of the most iconic parts of the 1916 landscape - the fields where the infamous Schwaben Redoubt once stood near the village of Thiepval. The Schwaben was a strong German defensive position that took over three months to capture, at the cost of thousands of lives.

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In this latest episode of Despatches we think about First World War Trench Museums: a battlefield phenomena from the 1920s when thousands of 'pilgrims' travelled to the landscape of the Western Front. We look at some of the famous, and less famous Trench Museums and some that no longer exist. What do they tell us about the experience of trench warfare?

You can support the Podcast via BuyMeACoffee and Patreon.

Welcome to Despatches, a new short-form podcast from The Old Front Line. These new shorter Pods will look at some specific aspects of the Great War and the landscape of the battlefields of the First World War. They will be published in addition to the regular episodes.

In this first Despatches episode we travel to the Somme and look at the Butte de Warlencourt, the old burial mound where the fighting came to an end in November 1916. It was in the news this week having had a change of ownership, and we look at its history and consider how and why sites like these can be preserved.

The official Butte de Warlencourt website is here: https://www.buttedewarlencourt.com/

The Butte de Warlencourt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ButteDeWar

The Hawthorn Crater Association is here: https://hawthornridgeca.com/

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In this latest Trench Chat we speak to Professor Peter Doyle about his current research on the mine craters of the Somme battlefields. We learn how were these craters formed, what their wartime story was, and what do they mean in relation to the landscape of the Western Front today?

For the final episode of Season 5 we are back on the Somme. At Contalmaison we discover the story of how the history of Great War football weaves through that village, how a pioneering eye surgeon from Liverpool came to be killed there, and later we uncover the story of the 'Nine Brave Men' at Bazentin. We look at Private Memorials and how Bazentin Wood almost broke the proud volunteers of the 'Leicestershire Pals.' in July 1916 and think once more about the 'Forgotten Somme'. 

On the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, we take a virtual walk along all eighteen miles of the Somme front from Gommecourt to Montauban, connecting to the landscape and discovering the stories of those who fought and fell on 1st July 1916: the First Day of the Somme. We also examine the casualties that day and ask where they are buried and commemorated.

In another episode recorded on the battlefields, we walk the crest of the Hawthorn Ridge near Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme, visiting Hawthorn No 1 Cemetery, across to the Hawthorn Mine Crater, and down to the famous Sunken Lane and Beaumont-Hamel British Cemetery.