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Amal’s Report on the Podcast The Old Front Line — “Remembering The Forgotten Front”

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The Old Front Line is a podcast series hosted by Paul Reed. The episode I am reviewing, “Remembering the Forgotten Front,” encompasses the Allied front on French terrain, between La Bassée and Armentieres. Reed shares in broad detail the stories and battles that happen across what he calls “the forgotten front,” as the name of the episode suggests, starting from as far as 1914 to the end of the war in 1918.

Armentieres and La Bassée

“Static Front”

Other than in major battles such as the Battle of Loos, Reed describes this front as the “quiet, static, front” of the West, in which soldiers would study and observe the trench warfare before being thrown into the actual battle. Because it was a static front, the British set up bunkers, thinking they wouldn’t advance far on the offensive — though they achieved small breakthroughs, such as in September 1918, where they seize the City of Lille in France from German hold.

Terrain of the Forgotten Front

On multiple points within the podcast, Reed describes the trenches and elevation of the front between Armentieres and La Bassé as above ground level, so as to not be subjected to heavy flooding. This provided advantage due to its viewpoint and perspective, and was therefore desirable for the Germans. The front used Armentieres as a main route, setting up medical bays and weaponry in nearby towns and using the small rivers and waterways to their advantage.

Red Dragon Crater

Reed mentions how the land on La Bassée is suitable for tunneling due to its elevation, and that troops would dig tunnels as a battle tactic. Tunnels could collapse and fall over the soldiers using them. In 1916, the Germans blew up a mine that collapsed the tunnels and created a crater called the Red Dragon Crater. Soldier William Hackett had gone to rescue his comrades from the collapsing tunnel and sacrificed his life doing so.

Memorials, Landmarks and Cemeteries

Ploegsteert Memorial

Reed mentions many landmarks on the Forgotten Front, including mass graves and memorials for soldiers. In Belgium, the Ploegsteert Memorial (shown above) honors 11,334 British and South African men which were killed and went missing on the front for the span of the Great War (1914 – 1918).

Main Route

According to Reed, since Armentieres was considered the “main route” to the front, lots of war cemeteries can be found in this area of France now.

Lone Tree

Reed also mentions the Lone Tree, the only tree left standing on the battlefield of Loos during October 1915

Colonial Soldiers (Neuve Chapelle)

The Ploegsteert Memorial shows Britain’s inclusion of its colonies into its battles. At the beginning of the podcast, Reed mentions how Australian and New Zealand soldiers were brought in as well, from their fight in Gallipoli. Additionally, Reeds also briefly mentions the Indian Corp that went to battle for the first time at Neuve Chapelle in 1915.

The Road to La Bassée

In 1934, two WWI veterans, Bernard Newman and Harold Apthorp, return to the battlefield, return to the battlefield twenty years after the end of the war, to reflect on what they remember from their days in battle to how the land and people have changed since then. Reeds reads a small excerpt from Newman and Apthorp’s poem in his podcast.

Review

I found Reed’s detailed accounts of the different battles of the “forgotten front” to be extremely intruiging, and I could imagine well the movement of the front through his deep, descriptive imagery of both the landscape and the impact the war had left on the land, whether it be through the mine collapses, the digging of the trenches, or the building of bunkers, factories, and medical bays near the fronts of both the German and British sides. Although Reed gives way to my imagination with his voice, it became difficult to take notes of the places he described without any transcription — especially when he talks quite fast. Personally, his accent was also hard to understand, specifically when he gave the names of French battlefields and memorialized soldiers. I feel as if the information he gives his listeners would be more accessible with a transcription, so that we could comprehend and easily search up the names he provides instead of playing it by ear. I do appreciate the additional links he provided linked on his website — even if the one for the poem did not work, I was able to search up and find another source easily.

Here I have found the lyrics to The Road to La Bassée: https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/228739-help-with-a-poem/

More info about William Hackett: https://guidedbattlefieldtours.co.uk/red-dragon-crater/

Sierra’s Special Mission

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Sierra’s report on the Battles of the First World War Podcast 

Tags: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2WNqacSbhvaZtVfPG1DE1b?si=g4uTX9_GQCyR6YLYvyKwQw&nd=1&dlsi=e85be20343c340a0

 To the Limit of Endurance/Great War Expo II at SGT Alvin C.

Taking us into the podcast we experience the music that draws us into the historical battle and history alongside canons and music showing remembrance. It helps create the feel for the podcast putting us in a place to reflect and turn our focus upon the podcast. This increased the quality for me and set the scene of information I was about to discover. The music is in the intro of every video or if you would rather take a listen elsewhere to see. Look up “Cortège” by composer Cecil Coles. 

In both podcast episodes I listened to by the Battles of the First World war there was a discovery of what it was like to train, to be disciplined and the lifestyle of being out in the war. We were in the midst of the war which was our timeline. There however in the other one of the episodes also showed the aftermath or the life of a soldier after being in a war and using his experience for good creating  historical sites on how to carry on the history. I think often times we see and look at what it is like in the midst of a war and its struggles, its training, its leadership and its physical and mental impact on a recruited soldier but we don’t always tread towards what their life became after they served their mission or had to leave abruptly due to other unfortunate circumstances. It shows that they don’t stop serving when they are in the midst of the war but to what they choose their life to be after and how they want to carry on that act of service. 

This is the cover of the podcast I listened to that I took off spotify If you plan to go take a listen. 

In the limit of endurance podcast one thing that I thought was a strength that the speaker Owen helped set was the scene as he had examples to back up what he was describing such as the used journals or diaries which showed a glimpse into the pain and exhaustion as a Marine and the level of endurance they had to endure hence the title. It gave more vivid descriptions setting the scene for the amount of resilience and courage they had to have to keep going. There was a lot of talk on the disciplines and training they had to go through. They had physical training and learning how to manage the weapons as well as learning coordination. I think it was smart that they focused on this specific group of marines and how they prepped going into the war and the life they had to live during the war. I will say the only weakness I would say that lost my attention is when the guest speaker kept repeating the same thing over because it seemed as though he was put on the spot with the questions and didn’t have much prep beforehand. I think this man had a lot of well known knowledge and information to back up his statements and helped us see how much prep and energy these marines went through and the toll it can take on them as they are only human. 

(“The Importance of the Battle of Belleau Wood”)

In this podcast they talk about the Battle of Belleau Wood so I went and found a picture referencing the Battle of Belleau Wood and the Marines in action to help create a visual idea. 

In the second podcast I listened to about Sgt Alvin C and his life after the war as well as the memorial site created in his name, I think this one had more of a different lens then the first one showing the life he created for himself after he was done serving in the war and how he never really stopped serving in a way. We learn a lot about the park’s development and learn about the process and how it has connected to WWI and will continue to hold that history and memorial. I personally think that one of the strengths they have in this podcast is talking and expressing what the goals were for the rangers and how they will use history to demonstrate and to bring a better glimpse of what it was like. I think it will do them good to help educate as much as possible on site and to offer more open learning from the War. It keeps the memory of the war alive and the sacrifices people made helping to educate and also brings light to the hard work and sacrifice. This podcast to me flowed a little bit better and I had an easier time comprehending what was happening and the guest speaker seemed to have a better flow in his knowledge or was able to describe it better to me.

(“Alvin C. York statue – Alvin C. York – Tennessee Virtual Archive”)

I wanted to show what the statue looks like for the second podcast. 

The two podcasts I showed and listened to both served a different purpose. They both educated us on the history from the past and how they have carried it on in today’s day and age. They also showed a variety of examples from being in the military and what that was like to have cultural history and how that has been passed on through generations. Both of the podcasts wanted to keep alive the truth and history and through the podcast. I believe that they both exceeded that goal in expressing life from what it once was to now and how people carry on those legacies and history. I highly recommend listening to the wonderful people that the podcast interviewed if you are interested in seeing and understanding more of the sacrifice and lifestyle these soldiers on and off of the field had lived. Thanks for joining on my special mission. 

Works Cited

“Alvin C. York statue – Alvin C. York – Tennessee Virtual Archive.” Tennessee Virtual Archive, https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll10/id/31/. Accessed 25 September 2025.

“The Importance of the Battle of Belleau Wood.” War on the Rocks, 4 June 2018, https://warontherocks.com/2018/06/the-importance-of-the-battle-of-belleau-wood/. Accessed 25 September 2025.

Noah’s report on the podcast episode “Walking the Somme: Gommecourt” (from the Old Front Line podcast)

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Here is my review for the podcast episode “Walking the Somme: Gommecourt” from the Old Front Line podcast, hosted by Paul Reed!

Summary

The episode follows a walkthrough format in which Reed directs us as though we were taking a walking tour of the area between the villages of Foncquevillers and Gommecourt, interlacing his descriptions of the landscape with stories from the war. The region was part of the Northern front of the Somme battlefield in France, one of the most deadly battles in history. 

Reed begins by talking through the Foncquevillers Military Cemetery, where over 640 Somme casualties were buried, with most of the burials remaining there today being fallen British soldiers. While the cemetery was originally started by French troops, it was taken over by the British in the summer of 1915 after France encouraged Britain to expand their lines further within the Western Front.

Foncquevillers Military Cemetery
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Captain John Leslie Green

Reed lists some of the prominent men who were buried in this cemetery, including Private William Bradley, who had been enlisted in France since the summer of 1915 and died that September, and Captain John Leslie Green, who was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme while attempting to save the life of another officer caught in German wire. The cemetery mainly consists of original burials from 1915 to the Battle of the Somme, making it a compelling insight into the type of soldiers who fought in this region of the Somme. 

In his recounting of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Reed focuses on the story of the 46th (North Midland) Division, a territorial division that moved into the Somme region in June of 1916, about a month before the battle began. The division was put in charge of leading a diversionary attack against the Germans at Gommecourt along with the 56th (1/1st London) Division, in which the two would draw attention away from the advances further north as well as capture the Gommecourt Salient held by the Germans. The 46th was meant to attack in the north, while the 56th would be attacking in the south, and the two divisions planned to meet in the Gommecourt village in order to successfully “bite off” the Salient.

Barbed wire defenses from WWI

This was the 46th Division’s second time in action, having previously led a disastrous attack during the Battle of Loos that gained it a poor reputation. Unfortunately, the attack on the 1st of July, 1916, was no different, ending in heavy losses for each of the two divisions, largely due to the German wire having been unexpectedly repaired after the previous 7 days of bombardment. 

After the attack on Gommecourt, the public was desperate for someone to blame for the failure. The 56th Division claimed that, while their men had done their jobs, the men of the 46th Division never met them at Gommecourt, therefore ruining the attack. A court of inquiry was called against the 46th (North Midland) Division, wherein the surviving officers as well as ordinary soldiers were interviewed to give statements about the day of the attack. This was highly unusual, but since very few officers remained after Gommecourt failure, the inquiry was forced to have to call upon “regular” soldiers as well. The inquiry ended when Major General Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley was found to be to blame, resulting in his dismissal from service. As their second time in action and second major failure, the 46th Division was subsequently sidelined from the war until 1918, when they finally struck victory at the Hindenburg Line. 

Major General Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley

Review

Overall, the quality of the episode was very high, with incredibly clear and consistent audio and a compelling topic. I found Reed’s spotlighting of the stories of several different men who died during this battle to be a particularly powerful aspect of the episode, since with battles like these with such a drastic number of casualties, it can be hard to truly comprehend the sheer amount of people who died. By closely examining a number of specific deaths instead of just plainly stating the number of fallen soldiers, I felt that I was better able to recognize the true horror of the Battle of the Somme. I found the episode’s attention to the details of this small area to be very well done, since if the focus had been too broad, the episode would have lost the richness of information Reed was able to cover about these two villages.

While I enjoyed the podcast, I did find it difficult to follow at times. I am far from a regular listener of podcasts—in fact, I think this might have been the first podcast episode I’ve ever listened to in full—so I would say to take my opinion with a grain of salt, but the fact that the episode was almost exclusively just Reed’s voice with very few breaks made much of the information blend together as I was listening. I found myself having to go back several times to replay certain sections because I kept zoning out a bit. Like I said, I’m no podcast expert, but I think this episode could have benefited from a slightly slower pace and more transitional periods in between the topic changes. I would also appreciate if the podcast had professionally transcribed captions rather than auto-generated ones, since I found that many words were incorrectly spelled, especially the French names, making it confusing at times.