Mike – Page 20 – Battles of the First World War Podcast

Episode 11: Somme – The Grind, Part 1

South of the Somme, the French continue their successful attacks on the Germans after the 1st of July. To the north, from the 2nd through the 14th of July, the British begin grinding towards the German second position with local, uncoordinated attacks. The Germans work desperately to recover their defense. Everyone bleeds.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com or the Battles of the First World War Podcast page on FaceBook. We’re also on Twitter! Follow us at @WW1podcast. Not into social media? Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com. Please consider reviewing the Battles of the consider reviewing the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen.

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Episode 10: Somme – The Reckoning

This episode we will briefly examine the causes of why the British attacks on the 1st of July 1916 were so costly and only partially successful.

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Episode 9: Somme – Valor on the Battlefield

This episode we take a side road on the Somme to honor four British men who were awarded the Victoria Cross on the 1st of July 1916.

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Episode 8: Somme – 1 July 1916, Pt 2 – Fricourt to Gommecourt

1st July 1916, Pt 2: the British Army attacks on the Somme. In this episode the front line from Fricourt to Gommecourt will be covered.

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Episode 7: Somme – 1 July 1916, Pt 1 – Fay to Fricourt

1st July 1916: after one week of bombardment the French and British Armies attack on the Somme. In this episode the front line from Fay to Fricourt will be covered.

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Episode 6: Somme – An Interview with Prof. William Philpott

Hey Folks, welcome to the Battles of the First World War Podcast. Today we will be conducted an interview with Professor William Philpott, who is Professor of the History of Warfare in the Department of War Studies at King’s College in London. So please join us and listen as a very nervous podcaster screws up his guest’s name and the internet connection goes haywire right during the first question, because of course it would.

Professor Philpott is a widely-published author on the topics of the First World War and Anglo-French relations, and has written the monumental work titled “Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme,” which the Financial Times just recently described as having (quote) “widened the perspective [of the Somme battle], to portray the Somme as a key point at which the balance tilted against Germany in an international war.” (end quote) “Bloody Victory,” which was released as “Three Armies on the Somme” here in the US, went on to win the 2009 Society for Army Historical Research Templer Medal and the US Western Front Association’s Norman B. Tomlinson Jr Book prize. “Bloody Victory” is the key information resource for this podcast’s current coverage of the Battle of the Somme.

Prof Philpott has also more recently published the book “Attrition: Fighting the First World War,” which has been released in the US under the title “War of Attrition.” He has also published several articles on the First World War, Anglo-French relations, and Nineteenth & Twentieth Century British, French and European Defence Policy and Strategy, among other related topics.

I am very grateful that Prof William Philpott has given us some of his Saturday afternoon in order to discuss the Battle of the Somme, its impact and effects with us here at the Battles of the First World War Podcast. So right after the intro music, listen in for an at-times awkward and somewhat shaky (that would be me) but very informative interview (that would be Prof Philpott).

Please consider reviewing the Battles of the consider reviewing the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen.

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Episode 5: Somme – The Stahlhelm, the Casque Adrian, and the Tin Hat Pt. 2

In this second part of The Stahlhelm, the Casque Adrian, and the Tin Hat, we take a look at the British soldiers preparing themselves for the Battle of the Somme. The British Expeditionary Force of 1916 was vastly different from the Old Contemptibles who had come across the Channel in 1914, and this was a very different army from its German adversary and even its French ally.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com or the Battles of the First World War Podcast page on FaceBook. We’re also on Twitter! Follow us at @WW1podcast. Not into social media? Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com. Please consider reviewing the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen.

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Episode 4: Somme – The Stahlhelm, the Casque Adrian, and the Tin Hat Pt. 1

On June 24th, 1916, the Allied bombardment of the German trench lines at the Somme began. 3,000 guns pounded away at the enemy. The bombardment was so loud it could London.

As the shells rain down we will take a look at the armies and the men who will be fighting the Battle of the Somme, as well as the German defenses on that part of the Western Front.

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Episode 3: Separate Armies, Different Plans

The Germans attack at Verdun and wreak havoc on the Franco-British plans for the Somme offensive. As the Mill on the Meuse pulls ever more French soldiers into the fire, the British Expeditionary Force takes on a larger role in the coming battle. By the end of May GEN Sir Douglas Haig confirms the BEF will lead the Somme attack on 1 July 1916.

The weeks go by and while stating their goals remain the same, the British and French leadership each plan different operations for the same battle. One army looks to carry out a battle of attrition. The other army plans to break through the German trench line and restart the war of movement.

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Episode 2: Allied Strategy

1915 saw none of the major offensives that rocked the rest of the Western Front, but it was not a quiet sector of the line. Despite the French and Germans having a “live-and-let-live” policy that didn’t keep them from killing each other with exploding underground mines and regular infantry battles.

Towards the end of 1915 GEN Joseph Joffre of the French Army worked on coordinating a strategy among the Allies that would see them attacking the Germans and Austro-Hungarians at the same time in order to wear them out. From this, the idea of the Battle of the Somme was born.

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