Battles of the First World War Podcast

Authors Paul Friedland and Robert Hornick join us on the podcast to discuss their thoroughly researched, well-argued and thrilling biography of a now-forgotten German spy during WW1. 
 
One of the most notorious German spies of the twentieth century, Lothar Witzke lived a life that reads like a thriller. Convicted of espionage in 1918, he was the only German spy sentenced to death by the United States during World War I. After the war, he was pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge, only to be later accused of responsibility for one of the most spectacular acts of sabotage in US history: the Black Tom munitions depot explosion.
 
After being repatriated to Germany, Witzke lived in Latin America and China as a German expat and later joined the Nazi party. He ran espionage squads in Great Britain during World War II and became a prominent businessman in Hamburg after the war. He was killed in Hamburg in 1962, possibly by an East German agent as payback for suspected double agent work on behalf of the British.
 
With Citizen of the Shadows, the first full biography of Witzke, Paul Friedland and Robert Hornick trace Witzke's morally complicated life and show readers how an infamous spy thrived in the interwar years and after. They probe his trial, conviction, and pardon, and analyze whether Witzke was really involved in the Black Tom explosion. In doing so, the authors uncover that many of the details of Witzke's life—long assumed to be true—were lies.
 
Where to buy: https://utpress.org/9798895270332/citizen-of-the-shadows/
 
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 [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns. 
 
Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! :)

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 [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns. 
 
Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! :)

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 [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns. 
 
Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! :)

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 [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns.

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns. 
 
Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! :)