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Think of the First World War,
and you think of trenches.
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There was mobility elsewhere,
in the East and Africa,
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but the war on the Western Front
was bogged down.
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The challenge on both sides was to find new ideas,
new weapons, new spirit among the men.
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Only then could they break out and win.
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In September 1914,
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the Allies had stopped the German drive
into France at the Marne.
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The Germans pulled back to high ground
and dug in.
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The Allies followed suit.
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The result:
500 miles of trench and fortification,
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stretching from the Channel to Switzerland,
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allowing ground to be held with fewer men,
freeing troops for other fronts.
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Breaking the deadlock
meant taking the offensive.
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But it was much easier to defend trenches
than attack them.
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For all their blood and mud and horror,
trenches saved lives.
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They were places of fear and bad smells,
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where walls might be shored up
with limbs and corpses,
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but they were the safest places to be
in a battlefield swept by machine-gun fire,
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devastated by shelling.
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The greater danger came when you left them.
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The popular image of First World War soldiers
is lions led by donkeys.
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But the generals knew that battles
couldn't be won from behind a trench wall.
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Sooner or later,
the men would have to go over the top,
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and that meant heavy casualties.
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The generals weren't so much callous
as realistic.
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And there were more good generals than bad.
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Rather than sitting out the war
in chateaux miles behind the lines,
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71 German generals were killed in action,
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55 French,
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78 British.
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The generals' response to the deadlock
was to challenge it...
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to find dynamic ways to beat it.
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In 1916, both sides looked for a place
to break through,
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where an attack could be concentrated
and supplied.
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The Germans thought they had found it at Verdun.
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A town and mighty fortress on a salient.
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A tongue of France sticking out
into the German lines.
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Verdun looked secure,
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with its huge walls,
its giant circle of 19 forts,
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with their outer ring of defences.
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But the French had now downgraded
Verdun's status,
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removing many of its guns to needier sites.
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For the French garrison,
it was becoming known as a "cushy" sector.
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We have almost nothing to worry about.
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We often play cards and sometimes we have to drop them
and pick up our rifles.
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But it's usually a false alarm,
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so we go back to our seats and our cards,
our minds completely on the game again.
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But parliamentary deputy Émile Driant,
now a frontline Colonel,
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realised how vulnerable Verdun really was.
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He warned the French Government.
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We are doing everything day and night
to make our front line inviolable.
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But there is one thing
about which we can do nothing,
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the shortage of hands.
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If our front line is broken by a massive attack,
our second line won't hold.
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Lack of workers and also barbed wire.
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But Driant was ignored.
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On Monday, the 21st of February 1916,
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a clear, still winter's day,
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over 100.000 German soldiers drew breath
and prepared to go over the top.
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They had surprise on their side.
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Above them, they had air superiority.
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No Allied planes had spotted their preparations.
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Behind them,
their own German artillery opened fire.
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And in front of them in the French lines,
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Corporal Marc Stéphane could hardly believe
what was happening.
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We were swept by a storm, a hurricane,
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a tempest growing ever stronger,
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with hail like cobblestones,
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with the destructive force of an express train.
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And we're underneath it, do you follow?
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Underneath it.
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The Germans fired a million shells that day.
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When a shell bursts a few metres away,
there's a terrible jolt,
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and then an indescribable chaos
of smoke, of earth,
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of stones, of branches,
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and too often, alas, of limbs,
flesh and rain of blood.
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By three o'clock in the afternoon,
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the section of the wood which we occupied and which,
in the morning, was completely covered with bushes,
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looked like the timberyard of a sawmill.
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A little later, I had lost most of my men.
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The Germans were evolving new solutions
to the problems of attack.
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They delegated command forward
to the men at the sharp end,
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training them to advance in small groups,
zigzagging and crouching,
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equipped with fearsome new weapons:
light mortars, grenades and flamethrowers.
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They called these units "storm troopers".
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We moved forward from our position.
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That's where I saw the most refined weapon
of modern technology or human bestiality.
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There was a spurt of flame,
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which flooded the attacking enemy
with burning oil.
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Verdun was one of the defining battles
of the 20th century.
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Among the attacking Germans
was a young Lieutenant Paulus
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who, as a general in the Second World War,
would command the siege of Stalingrad.
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25-year-old Charles de Gaulle was also there,
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France's future leader,
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wounded and captured defending Verdun.
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On the second day of the attack,
at his headquarters,
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Colonel Driant received absolution from his chaplain
and wrote a note to his wife.
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The hour is near, I feel very calm.
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In our wood, the front trenches
will be taken in a few minutes,
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my poor battalions spared until now.
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He sent a message to his divisional commander.
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We shall hold out against the Boche,
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although their bombardment is infernal.
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Driant ordered a retreat out of the woods.
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Then one of his men was hit.
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As Driant started to dress the wound,
he too was shot.
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I clearly saw the Colonel throw up his arms
and shout "Oh My God!"
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Then he half-turned and collapsed.
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When I got over to him
there was no sign of life.
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Blood was flowing from a head wound
and from his mouth.
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He had the colour of a dead man.
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Three days later, the Germans captured Douaumont,
Verdun's key fort.
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Germany was jubilant. Church bells rang out.
A national holiday was declared.
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In France, Driant's heroic sacrifice
helped spark the flame of national defiance.
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Verdun was to be held at any cost.
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The survival of France herself was at stake.
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"They shall not pass", declared General Philippe Pétain,
Verdun's new commander.
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He rotated his troops.
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Three quarters of the French Army
at one time or another defended Verdun,
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a national effort that ensured whole units
were not totally destroyed in the battle.
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Pétain was genuinely concerned
for the lives of his men.
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A quarter of a century later, he led his country
into surrender and collaboration with Hitler,
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rather than repeat the bloodbath of Verdun.
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Route Nationale 93.
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An ordinary French road,
but it saved its country's life.
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Night and day, supplies for Verdun rolled along
the Voie Sacrée, the Sacred Way,
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as well as by rail.
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Events on another front
also helped the French at Verdun.
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At the end of 1915,
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the Allies, Britain, France, Italy and Russia,
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had agreed a plan for 1916,
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to pull Germany in different directions.
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Now the deal paid off.
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A successful Russian offensive forced Germany
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to switch troops from France
to the Eastern Front.
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From June, the initiative at Verdun
passed to the French.
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And Germany's technical advantages
were short-lived.
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Throughout the war,
new ideas were quickly picked up by the other side.
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All our inventions seem to turn like evil spirits
against us, like a monster destroying itself.
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Amid these terrible scenes of destruction,
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the idea of ever returning home
seems indescribably glorious.
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Please look after yourself and our home,
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your soul and your body and all that is mine.
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Franz Marc was killed later that day.
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Finally, on the 24th of October 1916,
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the French recaptured Fort Douaumont.
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Verdun was saved.
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At last, the time has come,
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and we set off to conquer the enemy positions.
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They don't offer any resistance,
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and the few men who are still alive
come out of their holes crying "Kamerad!"
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The battlefield of Verdun has a different atmosphere
from any other I was ever on.
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Its horrors are also greater.
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But there's a feeling of intense satisfaction.
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It was at Verdun that the French people
found themselves again,
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and emerged from the clouds
which have hung over them
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since their defeat by the Germans in 1870.
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France had learned a string of lessons at Verdun:
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about artillery, new weapons,
logistics, and manpower.
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But at a cost of over a third
of a million casualties.
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German casualties were nearly as high,
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but Germany, fighting alone in the West
and with weak allies on other fronts,
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could not endure losses on this scale.
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She would not launch another major offensive
on the Western Front until 1918.
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One can look for miles
and see no human beings.
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But in those miles of country
lurk it seems thousands of men,
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planning against each other perpetually
some new device of death.
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Never showing themselves they launch at each other
bullet, bomb, aerial torpedo and shell.
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Unlike previous wars,
the fighting on the Western Front was unceasing.
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Somewhere down the line,
there was always a gun firing, a man falling.
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But for the troops of both sides,
life was not always unrelenting warfare.
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During 1916, the average British soldier
spent 100 days at the front.
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For the remainder, he was in reserve,
on work detail, resting or on leave.
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And over the 500-mile front,
some sectors were easier than others.
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Even busy ones had their lulls.
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One day, British General Lord Edward Gleichen
visited the front line.
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When going round the trenches I asked a man
whether he had had any shots at the Germans.
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He responded that there was an elderly gentleman
with a bald head and long beard,
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who often showed himself over the parapet.
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"Well why didn't you shoot him?"
"Shoot him?" said the man,
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"Why Lord bless you sir,
he's never done me no harm."
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A shocking example of "live and let live."
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"Live and let live" was a pervasive phenomenon
on both sides,
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of accommodation with the enemy.
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It arose because,
in quiet times and in quiet lines,
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men were learning to adapt to war,
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and to adapt war to them.
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We sometimes got out of the trench
into the tall grass behind,
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which the sun had dried,
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and enjoyed a warm indolence with a book.
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Not Infantry Training I think.
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The war seemed to have forgotten us
in that placid sector.
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I´m with officers and sergeants
who are great fun.
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There's lots of schnapps and wine.
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And every day we get so drunk,
we forget whether we're at war or in civvy street.
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In my unit there was a piano,
actually in the trench in the front line,
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and we had many a good singsong.
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I feel great, I have never lived so well
and probably never will again.
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I have just joined our sports club.
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This evening someone got a football.
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Now we can play football, racing, long jump.
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Chocolate is the prize,
donated by our platoon commander.
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Life in this sector is gloriously lazy.
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Weather is perfect, the enemy most peaceful.
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And there's little to do but lie on one's back and smoke,
or write imaginative letters back home.
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It would be child's play to shell the road
behind the enemy's trenches,
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crowded as it was
with ration wagons and water carts,
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into a bloodstained wilderness.
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But on the whole there is silence.
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After all,
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if you prevent your enemy from getting
his rations, his remedy is simple,
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he will prevent you from drawing yours.
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We often see the smoke of the Germans' mealtime fires
ascending in blue-grey spirals.
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It is only common courtesy not to interrupt each other's meals
with intermittent missiles of hate.
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One day, while our infantry was cooking,
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there was a shout from the enemy trench.
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Could he come and eat too?
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He was invited over.
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The Frenchman came and ate
and made himself comfortable.
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And from then on,
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whenever the Frenchman noticed
that food was ready in the German trenches,
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he came and joined in.
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Sometimes an officer tried to stir his men
into a little action.
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How about posting a sniper?
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Or lobbing over a grenade?
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We received the following message
tied to a stone from the German trenches opposite.
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"We're going to send a 40-pounder.
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We've been ordered to do this
but we don't want to.
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It'll come this evening,
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and we'll blow a whistle first to warn you,
so that you have time to take cover."
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All happened as they said it would.
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The sniper is a very necessary person.
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He serves to remind us that we are at war.
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Wherever a head or anything resembling
a head shows itself, he fires.
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Were it not for his enthusiasm, both sides
would be sitting upon their respective parapets,
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regarding each other with frank curiosity,
237
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,956
and that would never do.
238
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,870
British Directive, March 1916.
239
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:56,916
With trench warfare,
240
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,357
there is an insidious tendency to lapse
into a passive and lethargic attitude,
241
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:05,149
against which officers of all ranks
have to be on their guard,
242
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,756
and the fostering of the offensive spirit
calls for incessant attention.
243
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,992
"Live and let live" was dependent on the sector
and the troops manning it.
244
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,431
The Germans didn't like facing
the Highland Regiments.
245
00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,875
The British couldn't get along
with the Prussians.
246
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,315
But some of the other Germans were fine.
247
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,714
The soldier Mike gave us some useful hints.
248
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,519
"It's the saxons that's across the road" he said,
249
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,160
pointing to the enemy lines
which were very silent.
250
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,276
"They're quiet fellows, the saxons.
251
00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:44,318
They don't want to fight any more than we do,
252
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:46,960
so there's a kind of understanding between us.
253
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,838
Don't fire at us
and we'll not fire at you."
254
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:01,154
"Live and let live" did not occur
where elite regiments were operating.
255
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,717
They had their own ideas
about getting at the enemy.
256
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,629
Rare footage of a daylight raid
by South African troops.
257
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,315
The idea was to dominate no-man's-land,
258
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,837
to say to the enemy,
"It's not no-man's-land, it's ours."
259
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:34,156
Raids broke up trench routines,
260
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,869
brought intelligence from prisoners,
encouraged aggression.
261
00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:43,193
This, British High Command thought,
was the cure for "live and let live".
262
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:55,317
Training sessions were organised
using elaborate models of the target area.
263
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,997
Raiding became compulsory for all regiments
and laggards were rooted out.
264
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,154
Higher ranks appeared in our midst,
265
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,276
chief of all the Brigadier General,
266
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,636
followed by an almost equally-menacing
staff Captain.
267
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:17,676
What was my name?
268
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:19,910
I had not been round the company's wire?
269
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:21,672
Why not?
270
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:23,716
I was to go.
271
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,474
Reports of daring raids were duly submitted.
272
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:33,475
But some at HQ, like Brigadier General Crozier,
smelt a rat.
273
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,312
It became increasingly difficult as time went on,
274
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,790
to obtain correct reports from officers patrols.
275
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,590
It was my habit to order samples of German wire
to be cut and brought back.
276
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,559
Thus one would know
that the German line had been visited.
277
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,996
At least one squad of reluctant raiders
had an answer to that.
278
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,436
They found a large coil of German barbed wire
in no-man's-land,
279
00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,354
and just snipped bits off,
sending them in with bogus reports.
280
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:04,796
That went on every night,
281
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,429
and the old man never knew
we had a coil of Jerry wire on our side.
282
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:17,998
Many, though, entered the spirit,
283
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,116
proudly displaying their trophies.
284
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,676
Raiding and shelling helped put the war back
into the gaps between battles.
285
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,354
One night in May 1916,
286
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:32,399
Siegfried Sassoon joined a raiding party
into no-man's-land.
287
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,112
The raiders vanished into the darkness
on all fours.
288
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,156
I crawled out after them,
289
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,196
shells started to fire.
290
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:47,637
News came back "O'Brien says it's a washout.
They can't get through the wire"
291
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,317
A bomb burst, then a concentration
of angry flashes.
292
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,789
Wounded men were crawling back.
293
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:01,351
among them a grey-haired lance corporal
who had one of his feet almost blown off.
294
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,797
"Thank God for this, I've been waiting
18 months for it and now I can go home."
295
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,433
Sassoon's raid was launched from these trenches.
296
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,116
The objective, this ridge.
297
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:23,716
But it all went badly wrong.
298
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,914
I went to look for O'Brien,
groping my way along the edge of a crater.
299
00:27:29,100 --> 00:27:30,718
Bullets hit the water near me.
300
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:33,996
There I discovered him.
301
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,629
He moaned, he'd been hit several times.
302
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,951
The stretcher-bearer bent over him,
then straightened.
303
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,919
In a surprising gesture he took off his helmet.
304
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,958
O'Brien had been one of the best men
in our company.
305
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:08,471
Shelling was the biggest killer of the war.
306
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,271
"Live and let live" continued on and off,
307
00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:22,592
but the loss of comrades
made it increasingly difficult to sustain.
308
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:50,990
Speaking for my companions and myself,
309
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:56,313
I can categorically state that
we were in no mood for any joviality with Jerry.
310
00:28:57,920 --> 00:28:59,592
We hated his guts.
311
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,831
We were bent on his destruction
at each and every opportunity.
312
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:09,475
Our greatest wish was to be granted
an enemy target worthy of our Vickers machine gun.
313
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:34,915
We were under shellfire for eight hours.
314
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:37,592
It was like a dream,
315
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,638
some of the men looked quite insane
after the charge.
316
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:48,518
As we entered the German trenches,
317
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,433
a great number came out asking for mercy.
318
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,512
Needless to say they were shot right off.
319
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,868
The Royal scots took about 300 prisoners,
320
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,235
and immediately shot the whole lot.
321
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,917
There were many cases on both sides
of prisoners being killed after surrender.
322
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,673
Such atrocities fuelled hatred further.
323
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,116
But many prisoners were captured.
324
00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,230
They provided excellent opportunities
for propaganda.
325
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:32,110
British newsreel film of German POWs
326
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:37,149
was used to convince audiences back home
that Britain was gaining the upper hand.
327
00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,515
By the end of the war, there were nearly
nine million prisoners in total,
328
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,114
and captivity was not their only hardship.
329
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,678
It's already been two years
since you were here last,
330
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:54,593
and Mother Nature
needs to fulfil her urges again.
331
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,029
As you can't come and see me,
I'm forced to go looking elsewhere.
332
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,918
Don't think I'm joking, I'm serious.
333
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:07,120
I don't care what you think of me
but you can't expect me to waste my youth like this.
334
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,389
After all I'm not made of wood.
335
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:13,597
And what a person needs,
a person must get.
336
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:16,990
Please don't be cross with me, will you?
337
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:19,036
Your ever-loving Thelma.
338
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,833
Your sweet children send you lots of love.
339
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,918
Another German wife was careful to reassure
her absent husband.
340
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,994
We've got a real slut in our house
who's always got someone new with her.
341
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,595
That bitch isn't good enough
for such a decent man.
342
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,319
The poor thing fights at the front,
343
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,359
while she swans off to the cinema and the pub
with the other fellows back home.
344
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:47,719
Dearest man,
345
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:49,631
please don't think evil thoughts,
346
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,838
because there are also good women
who are faithful to their men.
347
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,919
Letters from home were the soldiers' lifeline.
348
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,317
German troops were offered
these beguiling colour postcards,
349
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,075
to reassure loved ones
that they were comfortable, happy and safe.
350
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,753
But news from the front was rarely so cosy.
351
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:27,879
A German factory worker,
learning that her husband had been killed,
352
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:29,916
wrote to her boss to resign.
353
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:35,148
My beloved husband worked here for years,
354
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,276
and I did the same work with his tools.
355
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:42,195
And I was proud that while he was fighting
at the front I could represent him here.
356
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:47,752
It was not always pleasant in the factory
but my husband's letters gave me courage.
357
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,958
And so until his death,
the job was sacrosanct to me.
358
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,076
That's why I can't do it any more.
359
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:05,632
More and more women in Germany,
France and Britain were making munitions.
360
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,995
Many men were contemptuous
of women's abilities to do their jobs,
361
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:16,278
and fearful that if they managed it,
the women might not clear off after the war.
362
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:23,069
Jeannie Riley wrote to her husband at the front
about her new Job.
363
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,031
We were told that the amount of work
we do in three weeks,
364
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,156
would have taken the men three years.
365
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,232
And Jamie, the men are getting quite mad at us.
366
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,871
One woman I work with, well,
she lost her finger in a machine in the works.
367
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,632
But she's a tough one.
368
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,029
When she came back from the Western Infirmary,
369
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:44,156
she carried on like nothing had happened.
370
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,556
I have to get up
at half past four every morning,
371
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,076
so I'll have you up at the same time
when you come home,
372
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,355
if God spares you.
373
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,033
Jeannie's husband Jamie did come safely home.
374
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:05,876
The most important battle Jeannie Riley
and her colleagues were working towards in 1916,
375
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,110
was the Somme.
376
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,592
It's now a byword
for wholesale suffering and slaughter,
377
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:15,831
but its architect, General Sir Henry Rawlinson,
378
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,037
conceived it as an offensive
with limited objectives,
379
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,350
more dependent on guns than manpower.
380
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,473
With plenty of guns and ammunition,
381
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,233
we ought to be able to avoid the heavy losses
382
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,949
which the infantry have always suffered
on previous occasions.
383
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,350
The French were due to play the lead role,
384
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,512
but with Verdun dragging on,
the British bore the brunt.
385
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,909
And there was intense political pressure
to deliver a victory.
386
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:54,555
General Sir Douglas Haig
was the British Army's Commander in Chief.
387
00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:57,996
He turned Rawlinson's plan
into a major offensive.
388
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:06,598
When the British guns opened up on the Somme
on the 24th of June 1916,
389
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,195
the windows rattled in London 160 miles away.
390
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,556
But after seven days of bombardment,
391
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:28,760
the British artillery had neither silenced
the German guns nor destroyed their defences.
392
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,596
A sergeant of the Tyneside Irish
went over the top on the 1st of July,
393
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,035
with lines of men on either side of him.
394
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,436
I heard the patter-patter of machine guns
in the distance.
395
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:45,954
By the time I'd gone another ten yards,
396
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,679
there seemed to be
only a few men left around me.
397
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,115
By the time I'd gone another 20 yards,
398
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,156
I seemed to be on my own.
399
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:55,196
Then I was hit myself.
400
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:03,872
Farmers around the Somme,
401
00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:08,272
still gather a harvest of iron
for the French army to collect and defuse.
402
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:16,234
In this war, what happened in the factory
directly affected the outcome on the battlefield.
403
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,869
30% of British shells fired on the Somme
were duds,
404
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:22,520
a drastic failure of quality control.
405
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:28,312
But the key factor was there weren't enough heavy guns,
and British artillery wasn't much good.
406
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:40,119
On that terrible first day,
407
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,112
it became clear
that the French knew what they were doing,
408
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,156
and the British did not.
409
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,956
The French artillery, in their attacks,
410
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:05,669
did not shoot the ground to bits
before they moved over it.
411
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:09,196
A short intense bombardment
followed by a rush of men,
412
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:11,919
gave them the position clean and intact.
413
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:15,718
We would shoot our ground into a quagmire
414
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:18,234
and then send troops slowly forward over it,
415
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:22,472
and expect them to provide their own cover
from the enemy's retaliation.
416
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,871
On the 1st of July, the French gained all their objectives
at a cost of a few thousand men.
417
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:43,868
Britain achieved virtually nothing,
with casualties of 57.470.
418
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:52,152
It was the heaviest loss suffered in a single day
by the British Army in its entire history.
419
00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:59,831
There had been a host of lessons
for both sides since 1914,
420
00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:02,480
and the British became avid learners.
421
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:12,353
How to lay down shellfire
over the heads of advancing men.
422
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,908
How to locate enemy guns,
423
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,549
using flash-spotting,
sound ranging and trigonometry,
424
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:20,596
and how to knock them out.
425
00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:26,948
Better shells,
426
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,793
better fuses, better guns and better gunners.
427
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,910
While the Germans came to rely more on skilled infantrymen,
often acting on their own initiative,
428
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,470
the British concentrated on fighting a technical war.
429
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:51,596
It was all too late for the Somme.
430
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,750
Haig bears the responsibility for not stopping the slaughter
when the breakthrough failed.
431
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,074
The battle petered out in November 1916,
432
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,436
with around half a million casualties
on each side.
433
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:27,596
Cambrai, in Northern France.
434
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:33,437
On the 20th of November 1917,
the site of the first major use of tanks in the world.
435
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:42,316
Here, the British army would put
what they had learnt into practice.
436
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:51,474
Britain's invention of the tank
cracked a key First World War problem:
437
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,313
how to combine firepower and movement.
438
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:03,754
Tanks needed dry, hard ground.
439
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:05,796
They got it at Cambrai.
440
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:10,233
The attack was led by a general, from the front.
441
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:17,998
A lithe figure strode up,
pipe aglow, ash stick under his arm.
442
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:20,719
Unexpected it was General Elles.
443
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:24,475
"I'm going over in this tank"
he announced, tapping Hilda.
444
00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,878
I swung the door open
and he squeezed through inside.
445
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:42,310
The artillery now knew
not to chew up the ground ahead.
446
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,989
A short, sharp bombardment,
447
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,755
and then over 300 tanks rolled into the first light.
448
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:56,759
Just before 6:30 a.m.,
the barrage commenced and we started off.
449
00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,400
Our first bump came fairly soon.
450
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:06,271
We climbed a bank, crashed through a hedge,
and came down heavily on the other side.
451
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,515
We were thrown about like so many peanuts,
452
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,068
and we had to clutch on to whatever we could.
453
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:27,474
The tanks looking like giant toads
became visible against the skyline,
454
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:32,668
some of the leading tanks carried huge bundles
of tightly bound brushwood,
455
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,833
which they dropped into the wide German trenches,
then crossed over them
456
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:43,950
It was broad daylight as we crossed no-man's-land
and the German front line.
457
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:48,591
I saw very few wounded coming back
and a few German prisoners.
458
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,315
The enemy wire had been dragged about
like old curtains.
459
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:58,039
The tanks appeared to have busted through.
460
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:03,278
The tanks, still experimental,
461
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:07,319
were part of one of the most sophisticated,
innovative plans of the war.
462
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:12,239
The aim was to break through the German lines
with minimal loss of life.
463
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,553
The artillery would use
their new skills and technology,
464
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:24,076
to locate and target the German batteries
before the battle.
465
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:30,713
The tanks would punch a hole in the German lines,
466
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:34,156
with the infantry tucked up close
for mutual protection,
467
00:42:34,240 --> 00:42:36,629
while the cavalry pushed through.
468
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:47,796
Secrecy was crucial.
469
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:51,715
Screens were erected to hide movements.
470
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,230
Telltale tracks were covered with mud.
471
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:04,550
The question ever uppermost in all our minds was:
"Does the Hun suspect anything?"
472
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:06,596
It was most exciting.
473
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:19,189
About 9:00 a.m. retreating infantrymen
gave us an account of swarms of tanks,
474
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,716
so many that it was absolutely impossible to stop them.
475
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:30,911
A little later, the tank monsters came creeping
to the ridge south of the village.
476
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,958
Not one of us had seen such a beast before.
477
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:44,431
Then a dramatic indication
that real progress had been made.
478
00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:54,678
For the first time we saw the magnificent spectacle
of our field artillery
479
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:56,796
limbering up and going forward.
480
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:03,959
First at a trot then at a gallop,
481
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:05,996
battery after battery,
482
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:10,073
to take up new positions
on the captured German front line.
483
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:21,396
The Germans were caught on the hop,
484
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,436
then pushed back five miles,
485
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:27,911
a greater Allied advance than anything achieved
on the Somme or in Flanders.
486
00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:35,079
It was a long hard day,
487
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:40,188
but the sight of all the ground that had been taken
with so little bloodshed was a real tonic.
488
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:43,828
The troops seemed very pleased with our tanks,
489
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:46,070
so pleased we had many drinks with them.
490
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:50,199
It is astonishing how much whisky
the British Army carries into battle.
491
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:57,638
On the 21st of November,
492
00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:02,430
church bells rang out across Britain,
just as they had done in Germany for Verdun.
493
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:07,233
And again, the celebrations were a little hasty.
494
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:12,960
The British had not achieved all their objectives.
495
00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:18,478
Some villages near Cambrai remained in German hands,
including Flesquieres.
496
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:24,190
The Highlanders in this sector had been ordered
to keep well away from the newfangled tanks,
497
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:28,432
so they couldn't help them by knocking out
machine gun nests and artillery.
498
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:33,792
And lurking near Flesquieres,
499
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,156
was one of the few German batteries
trained against tanks.
500
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:43,070
A tank emerged from the village.
501
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:47,432
"Distance 275 metres! Fire!
502
00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:49,556
Damn, too far!
503
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:50,595
Fire!
504
00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:53,989
Very close. Aim a little to the right.
505
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:55,433
Fire!
506
00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,476
Hit! A hit!"
507
00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:00,068
Oh Lord!
508
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:03,391
A column of fire was bursting out of the monster.
509
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,789
Two of our men ran to the tank
510
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:10,032
and when they returned,
they described the half-burned bodies of the crew.
511
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:18,153
Inside the tanks, the crews wrestled
with the world's latest technology... under fire.
512
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:25,474
Just at this critical moment
the "auto-vac" supplying petrol to the engine failed.
513
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:27,516
The engine spluttered and stopped.
514
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,034
We were now a stationary target.
515
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:33,633
In the sudden silence,
516
00:46:33,720 --> 00:46:36,518
we could hear the thud thud of falling shells,
517
00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:39,637
and metal and earth
striking the sides of the tank.
518
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,314
The atmosphere in the tank was foul.
519
00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:46,469
With tense faces,
520
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,358
the crew watched the imperturbable second-driver,
521
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:53,228
as he cooly and methodically
put the "auto-vac" right,
522
00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:56,790
ignoring all the proffered advice
to give it a good hard knock.
523
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,952
The Germans knocked out 32 tanks at Flesquieres.
524
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,879
More were crippled by storm troopers
in the narrow streets of Fontaine-Notre-Dame.
525
00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:29,151
There was horrible slaughter in Fontaine,
526
00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:33,711
and I who had spent three weeks before the battle
in thinking out its possibilities,
527
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:36,633
had never tackled the subject of village fighting.
528
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:41,677
I could have kicked myself again and again
for this lack of foresight,
529
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:48,517
but it never occurred to me that our infantry commanders
would thrust tanks into such places.
530
00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:54,793
The Germans also had the bright idea
of mounting anti-aircraft guns on lorries
531
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:57,952
and attacking the tanks with armour-piercing shells.
532
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:01,276
Nine tanks roll towards us.
533
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:04,830
The Captain orders,
"Steady men, wait for it."
534
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:07,388
When the enemy is less than 100 metres away,
535
00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:10,472
the command rings out "Rapid fire!"
536
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:14,836
The first tank rears upwards.
Those following halt.
537
00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:18,356
One direct hit after another.
538
00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:28,474
Within a week,
539
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:30,949
the Germans launched a massive counterattack,
540
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:34,032
with storm troopers supported by aircraft.
541
00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:39,396
Within ten days,
they had recovered all their lost ground.
542
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:46,114
Yet Cambrai was crucial for the British.
543
00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:51,274
They had gained valuable experience with the tanks
and cracked their artillery problems.
544
00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,875
Vital lessons were learnt
about teamwork on the battlefield.
545
00:48:56,560 --> 00:49:01,588
The big challenge for both sides now was
how to consolidate the successful breakthrough.
546
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:05,269
The master of that, would win the war.
547
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:34,836
In the next episode of The First World War:
548
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:37,912
British and German navies clash at Jutland.
549
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:40,958
The dark world of spies and saboteurs.
550
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:43,756
And America is pushed into the war.