Battles of the First World War Podcast

In 2022, just as the world began to open after the isolation of a global pandemic, Briana Gervat set out to walk the length of the Western Front. Beginning at the border that France shares with Switzerland she went into the wild in search of hope and in search of peace. For 500 miles, she climbed over the mountains of the Vosges, through the battle-scarred landscapes of Verdun, the Marne, and the Somme, all the way to the North Sea in Belgium. It was not only a journey of thirty-six days, but a journey through a history that we have learned nothing from, only how better to repeat it.

 

Join us for a discussion of travel, France, WW1 history, and the feeling of connection and renewal that travel brings. 

 

Where to buy: https://a.co/d/06vEtvyk

 

Briana Gervat’s website: https://www.theperegrinepilgrim.com/

 

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns. 

 

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! 🙂

 

Check out this episode!

Author, historian, and battlefield guide Susan Raby-Dunne joins us to discuss her book “John McCrae: Beyond Flanders Fields.” 

 

Most Canadians are familiar with John McCrae through his iconic poem “In Flanders Fields,” which was penned on the battlefields of the First World War and remains a symbol of remembrance to this day. Although he will always be remembered as a war poet, the Guelph, Ontario, native was a physician, a university professor, and a veteran of the Second Boer War before he ever laid eyes on the carnage at Flanders Fields. Citing rarely seen diary entries and letters, as well as never-before-published photos of McCrae’s early life, military historian and McCrae enthusiast Susan Raby-Dunne tells the complete story of John McCrae—a man whose final chapter of life made him immortal, but who accomplished so much and helped so many in the decades before.

Canadian War History Tours: https://canadianwarhistorytours.ca/

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns. 

 

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! 🙂

 

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Part 7 of the ongoing discussion continues to look at the French Army in 1917. We look at the state of the French Army going into 1917, where the army itself was in good shape but its leadership was an entirely different story. The rising star of GEN Robert Nivelle and the politics around his ascension is discussed, as well as the offensive that bears his name and destroyed his career. 

 

The indiscipline of the French Army is visited through the question of “Were there mutinies in 1917, or were they more like military labor strikes?” The replacement of Nivelle with GEN Philippe Petain is reviewed as well, but we will get into his leadership of the army and approach to warfighting in the Pt 2 episode. Join us for a fascinating discussion. 

 

Joining us for this discussion are:

 

• Steve Marsdin, a student and researcher of the 1914 Battle of the Frontiers and its effects,

• Jim Smithson, author of “A Taste of Success: The First Battle of the Scarpe. The Opening Phase of the Battle of Arras 9-14 April 1917” and two guide books on the Arras battlefields

 

Suggested reading to expand on this episode – 

 

“Flesh and Steel During the Great War” by Michel Goya: https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781473886964/flesh-and-steel-during-the-great-war/

Great War Group: https://greatwargroup.com/

 

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns.

 

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British Army veteran and University of Wolverhampton PhD candidate Phil Watson joins the podcast for a fascinating discussion on British doctrine in the Great War. (Which YES, they did have a doctrine.)

 

Phil has a couple of questions for the listeners as well, in the interest of generating discussion:

 

Regarding the “chateau generals,” why were chateaus the place for generals?

 

Regarding the idea of mission command and decentralized leadership, were some BEF officers not used to using initiative?

 

Email Phil directly at lancerwatson@live.co.uk with your ideas!

 

Be sure to watch Phil’s talk with the WFA regarding doctrine here as well: https://youtu.be/Y6-LUxYewwU?si=_VyEkG7VpqIfXRD_

 

Link to 1909 Field Service Regulations: 

https://share.google/ypOICUrlYnog7vGbz

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns. 

 

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! 🙂

 

Check out this episode!

Independent historians Eric and Tom Langie, a father and son duo, come on the podcast to discuss the extraordinary life of their ancestor Henri Langie and the book they have written about him, “Henri Langie: From War Volunteer in WW I to Honorary Major in WW II.”

 

Henri went from a schoolteacher to a stretcherbearer and officer in WW1, to professiona soldier and later a battalion commander and POW during WW2, to becoming a beloved “Kleine Bompa” in his peaceful years of retirement. 

 

Henri lived a truly extraordinary life, and this is a story you will enjoy. 

Where to buy (Europe): https://www.bravenewbooks.nl/site/?r=userwebsite/bookdetails&id=22023848

 

Where to buy the book (UK): https://amzn.eu/d/04alvcqy

 

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter at @WW1podcast, the Battles of the First World War Podcast page on FaceBook, and on Instagram at @WW1battlecast. Not into social media? Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com. Rate, review, and subscribe to the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

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Author Antony J. Bell comes on the podcast to discuss his novel “A Penny a Shell.”

From the author’s website: 

 

“In a WWI munitions factory, the lives of three women converge on a dangerous production line where a single spark means the difference between a bonus and a burial.

 

Eliza Wren, a desperate mother, races to pay a looming debt to save her family from eviction. Sarah Jennings, a defiant outcast, endures the factory’s poison to fund an escape from a life of cruelty. Lucy Atkinson, a grieving daughter, works to honor her brother’s memory and support her broken parents.

 

Driven by the promise of a “penny a shell” bonus, the women push themselves and their machinery to the breaking point. But as the pressure from watchers with stopwatches mounts and the equipment begins to fail, they must decide what they are willing to risk for survival.

 

Based on the true, forgotten story of the Barnbow Lasses, A Penny a Shell is a powerful and moving tribute to the quiet courage and fierce solidarity of the women who fought their own war on the home front.”

 

Where to buy: https://antonyjbell.com/books/a-penny-a-shell/

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns. 

 

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! 🙂

 

Check out this episode!

The guns of Blücher-Yorck were still smoking when the Germans reoriented and hastily launched a new offensive between Montdidier and Noyon. The goal was to straighten the line between two bulging German salients, seize more of the Soissons rail line, and continue to drive towards Paris. 

 

But the French Army had other ideas: unleashing GEN Charles Mangin. 

 

A lot will be learned in the Battle of the Matz, and it will be applied on the Marne weeks later. 

 

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns.

 

Check out this episode!

Steven Girard, US Army veteran and veteran battlefield guide, comes back on the podcast to discuss the American Expeditionary Force’s Tank Corps during the First World War. 

 

Suggested reading:

 

Treat ‘Em Rough: The Birth of American Armor 1917–20 – https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781612006680/treat-em-rough/

 

Pershing’s Tankers: Personal Accounts of the AEF Tank Corps in World War I – https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813176048/pershings-tankers/

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns. 

 

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! 🙂

 

Check out this episode!

Dr. Eric Story, a Historian-in-Residence at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in London, Ontario in Canada, and Adjunct Professor at Wilfred Laurier University, joins us on the podcast to discuss the struggles faced by disabled Canadian veterans after the First World War. We begin the talk with a broad look at what Canadian veterans faced in the 1920s, and then look at the efforts of George Hincks and Marshall McDougall to raise awareness of disabled veterans’ struggles. 

Read more about George Hincks and Marshall McDougall here: 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/wwi-amputee-veterans-hike-9.6975252

Follow Dr. Story’s work on BlueSky: @westernuhistory.bsky.social & @ericstory.bsky.social

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns. 

 

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! 🙂

 

Check out this episode!

Independent historian Alfons Philippi of Germany joins the podcast to discuss his German-language book on the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Die Vergessenne Schlacht (The Forgotten Battle). We also discuss the family history that led him to write the book, as well as the impact of 20th century history on his family. 

Link to Die Vergessene Schlacht: https://amzn.eu/d/03UW7TY

 

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast. 

 

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

 

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

 

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns. 

 

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! 🙂

 

Check out this episode!