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About this episode
In this latest First World War Q&A episode we tackle some of the most intriguing and overlooked questions about life, strategy and survival on the Western Front and after the guns fell silent.
Why did the British Army so often attack on ground not of its own choosing, at places like Loos and the Somme? If British commanders could have picked the battlefield, where might they have fought instead, and why?
We then explore the everyday realities of the British Army by looking at the role of regimental cooks: were they safe behind the lines, or did they have to fight as front-line soldiers too? And if so what examples do we have of this?
Moving beyond the Armistice, we examine what happened when civilians returned to their shattered towns and villages after the Great War. Did governments help rebuild devastated communities, or was the burden carried by charities and local people? How were homes, farms and businesses reconstructed across the former battlefields of France and Belgium, and who actually paid for the enormous clean-up of the Western Front? We look at unexploded shells, wrecked trenches, barbed wire and battlefield debris, and ask whether German reparations really covered the cost.
Finally, we investigate one of the visual trademarks of First World War battlefields: blasted woodland reduced to splintered stumps. If forests offered little cover and tangled roots made digging trenches harder, why were woods and copses fought over so fiercely?
A deep dive into strategy, soldiers’ daily lives, post-war reconstruction and the scarred landscapes of the Western Front, this episode sheds new light on how the First World War was fought and how its aftermath reshaped Europe.
Main Image: 'This Place was Hooge' - Provisional housing at Hooge in c.1919/20 (Old Front Line archives)
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