1 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,920 Winter. The fourth winter in the trenches. 2 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,600 The battles of yet another year had passed - 3 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,880 Arras, the Nivelle Offensive, Messines, Malmaison, 4 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,920 Passchendaele, Cambrai - 5 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:49,840 hopes of 1917 that had fallen and withered with the autumn leaves. 6 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:03,800 The Western Front remained. But now it was becoming only a facade. 7 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,200 Three and a half years of battle had crumbled away the living walls 8 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:11,960 that had once lined the front from Switzerland to the sea. 9 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,720 The French army could only replace a third of its monthly losses. 10 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:26,200 Its divisions were skeletons of only 6,000 men. 11 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:32,680 The British Army in France in January 1918 was 80,000 men below its strength. 12 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:40,160 In every country, the generals pleaded with the politicians for men, more men and ever more men. 13 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,760 Haig confided to his diary - 14 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,600 "We have plainly told the Cabinet in writing 15 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:53,600 "that they may lose the war if the armies are not brought up to and kept at strength." 16 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:58,480 In the place of the armies vanished into gun smoke, there now stood 17 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,360 thinned ranks of shaken survivors and recruits raw from the depots. 18 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,320 Such was the Western Front of January 1918. 19 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,760 EXPLOSIONS 20 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,760 In the east, there was no longer a front at all. 21 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:20,840 In September 1917, the final defeats of the Russian army. 22 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,720 In October, revolution and a Communist government. 23 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,480 In December, an armistice and peace talks. 24 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,920 Hindenburg wrote - "Under our last blows, 25 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,440 "the colossus not only trembled but split asunder and fell." 26 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,600 After four titanic campaigns, the Eastern Front was silent. 27 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:54,040 The peasant millions of the Russian army would march no longer as allies of the French and British. 28 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,880 From now on, there was only one major front - 29 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:58,520 the west. 30 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,280 Russia's fall had transformed the war. 31 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:07,560 Germany's problem of manpower was solved, for the time being. 32 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,040 Now the Allies, 33 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,040 not Germany, were struggling against odds. 34 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,280 Hindenburg rejoiced. 35 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:21,960 "For the first time in the whole war, the Germans would have the advantage of numbers on one of their fronts. 36 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,880 "We were now in a position to concentrate an immense force 37 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:31,080 "to overwhelm the enemy's lines at some point of the Western Front." 38 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,120 Every German instinct was in favour of attack. 39 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:39,960 Ludendorff wrote - "The army came victoriously through 1917. 40 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:47,400 "But it was clear that to hold the Western Front purely by defensive action could no longer be counted on. 41 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:55,520 "The troops no longer showed their old stubbornness. They thought with horror of fresh defensive battles 42 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,200 "and longed for a war of movement." 43 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:03,280 The Germans had fought the Russians at Tannenberg and Gorlice-Tarnow... 44 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:20,040 ...the French on the Marne, in Artois, in Champagne and at Verdun. 45 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,400 They'd fought the British on the Somme and at Ypres. 46 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,160 They'd been skilful in attack and steadfast in defence. 47 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:02,160 But four years of war had crumbled and shaken the German army. 48 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,000 It was beginning to lose its discipline and self-confidence. 49 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:20,440 The words "Gott mit uns" - "God with us" - 50 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,040 were inscribed on the buckle of every German soldier's belt. 51 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:29,320 Did he still believe it? Ludendorff wrote - 52 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,880 "Loss through desertion was uncommonly high. 53 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:39,440 "The number that got into neutral countries like Holland ran into tens of thousands. 54 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:46,240 "Even more lived at home, tacitly tolerated by their fellow citizens and unmolested by the authorities." 55 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,160 Only a great victory could halt the slow disintegration. 56 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:57,600 In Ludendorff's words, 57 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,920 "In the west, the army pined for the offensive." 58 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,280 Week by week, Allied intelligence officers 59 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:11,680 verified the remorseless increase of German divisions 60 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,840 in France and Belgium, as crowded trains rolled in from the east. 61 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:21,720 It was estimated that, by spring 1918, the Germans would be stronger 62 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,720 than the French and British by 200,000 men. 63 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,800 These were the statistics of catastrophe. 64 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:34,000 In December 1917, the French commander in chief, General Petain, 65 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,160 calculated that, in 1918, 66 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:41,520 the Allies would face 200 German divisions in the west. 67 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:46,360 "Germany will be able to hold her line with 100 divisions. 68 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:54,640 "She will have another 100 available for a great spring offensive. We are on a tightrope." 69 00:07:54,640 --> 00:08:00,960 Only the Americans could fill the colossal gap in Allied ranks opened by Russia's collapse. 70 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:05,560 In December 1917, there was only one US division in the line. 71 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:11,200 It was hoped there would be 18 in seven months' time. 72 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:17,000 Could the British and French - tired, thin on the ground - hold off a desperate German onslaught 73 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,560 long enough for the Americans 74 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,120 to tip the balance for ever against Germany? 75 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,200 The Germans too asked this question. 76 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,960 Only time - time that none could measure - 77 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,560 stood between them and the United States Army. 78 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:38,200 Hindenburg weighed the sombre chances. 79 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:43,720 "We had a new enemy, economically the most powerful in the world - 80 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:47,840 "an enemy possessing everything required for hostile operations, 81 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:52,640 "reviving the hopes of all our foes and saving them from collapse, 82 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,040 "while preparing mighty forces. 83 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,000 "It was the United States of America, 84 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,760 "and her advent was dangerously near. 85 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:06,880 "Would she appear in time to snatch the victor's laurels from our brows? 86 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:11,240 "That, and that only, was the decisive question." 87 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:16,840 Time was Germany's enemy - time was her enemy because of the Americans. 88 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:21,400 It was her enemy because her allies were on the verge of collapse. 89 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:36,120 Time was her enemy because hunger, blockade and illness were doing their work behind the German armies. 90 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:44,360 The pre-war death rate of German children under 15 doubled. German society was beginning to break up. 91 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:49,920 On 24 January 1918, 250,000 workers came out on strike 92 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,000 in Berlin and other towns. 93 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:57,000 Time hounded her on to a colossal gamble. 94 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:02,240 She must have swift victory or she was finished. 95 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:07,040 She staked every last ounce of her power on a spring offensive in France. 96 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:13,160 Every last ounce, every last hope. Hindenburg wrote - 97 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,600 "I hoped that, with our first great victories, 98 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:21,040 "the public would rise above the seeming hopelessness of our struggle 99 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:26,160 "and impossibility of ending the war except by submission." 100 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:32,400 Ludendorff flung all his restless energy into planning the "Kaiserschlacht", 101 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,680 the Imperial Battle that would win the war. 102 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:41,520 The blow would fall on the British, astride the Somme on a 40-mile front. 103 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,640 It would split the British from the French and sweep them into the sea. 104 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,880 December, January, February, March - 105 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:58,000 every man, every gun, every lorry, every horse that could be spared 106 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,960 flooded into France and Belgium. 107 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:08,920 From generals to privates, 108 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,920 the army was trained for breakthrough and pursuit. 109 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:17,560 "The objective of the first day must be at least the enemy's artillery. 110 00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:23,800 "There must be no rigid adherence to plans made beforehand. The fastest, not the slowest, must set the pace." 111 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,200 Behind the front-line divisions, 112 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,080 47 specially equipped attack divisions 113 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:36,280 and 6,000 guns were stealthily slotted into place. 114 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:41,880 On 10 March, Hindenburg issued the final order for Operation Michael. 115 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:48,200 "His Majesty commands the Michael attack will take place on 21 March. 116 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,760 "Break in to the first enemy position at 9.40am." 117 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:05,400 Haste. Desperation. Supreme effort. The German soldiers 118 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,680 were infused with a sense of destiny. 119 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:14,760 "The brazen spirit of the attack, the spirit of the Prussian infantry, 120 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:17,600 "swept through the massed troops." 121 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:23,640 "One is amazed at the preparations being made, down to the last detail. 122 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,840 "That is, after all, the source of our greatness." 123 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,360 "The men were in good form. 124 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:35,200 "Hearing them talk of the coming event as the 'Hindenburg Stakes', 125 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:41,440 "one knew they would fight as they always did - with absolute reliability." 126 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,400 "The great attack will succeed. It MUST succeed. 127 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:49,320 "It will free Germany from hunger and suffering. 128 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,920 "It will bring us victory. So, over the top and forward!" 129 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:59,360 "This was the decisive battle - final reckoning - culminating attack. 130 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:05,000 "The atmosphere was extraordinary, heavy with tension and excitement." 131 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:09,560 "We are really conscious of the greatness of the hour." 132 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:20,440 On the other side of no-man's-land, there was also desperate haste. 133 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:26,880 The British and French trenches had been only jumping-off lines for past offensives. 134 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:31,760 Now, under threat of the German onslaught, they had to be converted, 135 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,400 within weeks, to defensive systems. 136 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,040 Not enough men to dig trenches, 137 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:41,120 lay out barbed wire and fill the defences. 138 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:45,960 Not enough time to rest the survivors of the battles of 1917. 139 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,600 Not enough time to train the scanty reinforcements. 140 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,680 The French and British looked towards Germany 141 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:57,600 and wondered how long they would be given. 142 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:02,440 In the trenches at night, when the wind was in the right direction, 143 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:08,960 we could hear the German transport trains rumbling up their great army from the east 144 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:12,520 that was going to sweep us into the sea. 145 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,200 We were grim. We were determined. 146 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,560 Behind us lay the old Somme battlefields, 147 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,280 every yard soaked with British blood. 148 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:28,560 They were determined, but they were tired - deadly tired. 149 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:35,640 "5 March 1918. The battalion wants a rest. It had been up 42 days 150 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:40,600 "when, last night, it was relieved and, even now, I doubt whether a rest is in sight, 151 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:45,440 "since an order has just come in to go up tomorrow for the day and dig. 152 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:49,000 "I leave you to imagine the state of the men's bodies and clothing 153 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,560 "after so long a time almost without a wash." 154 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:59,600 The British knew the German plan - a blow against the British Army. 155 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,440 They comforted themselves with the belief - 156 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,280 "If Germany attacks and fails, she will be ruined." 157 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:14,400 The British 5th Army, holding the longest and weakest sector in Haig's line - 158 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:21,320 12 infantry divisions to 42 miles - lay in the path of the German mass. 159 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:26,280 Behind the 5th Army was Amiens, the rail centre that linked the British and the French. 160 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,480 20 March 1918 - 161 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,520 a cold evening, mist forming, 162 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,640 apprehension prickling along the forward defences. 163 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,680 Night fell. 164 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:45,880 I couldn't sleep. 165 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:50,880 A quietness I knew so well falls over fronts before an attack. 166 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,520 The quietness was on. I fell into an uneasy sleep. 167 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,720 EXPLOSIONS IN QUICK SUCCESSION 168 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:23,360 On the stroke of 4.40am, 21 March 1918, 169 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:29,000 the German guns fired together all along the fronts of the British 5th and 3rd Armies. 170 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,120 4,000 field guns, 2,600 heavy guns, 171 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,640 3,500 trench mortars, 172 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,360 high explosive shell, 173 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:39,680 shrapnel, 174 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,160 mustard gas, phosgene gas - the bombardment 175 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,640 had been orchestrated into a great symphony of destruction. 176 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:52,160 It swept away guns, HQs, telephone exchanges, trenches. 177 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:59,160 The amount of firepower by the enemy was so great 178 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,040 that those who weren't gassed, or suffering the effects of gas, 179 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:04,920 would be numbed 180 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,560 by the shock of the continual bombardments. 181 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:17,320 The bombardment was concentrated into only five hours. 182 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:21,120 The German gunners worked with the speed of frenzy. 183 00:17:21,120 --> 00:17:27,920 "It was like the end of the world. The gunners have their shirt sleeves rolled up. They are bathed in sweat. 184 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,120 "Never have they fired faster." 185 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:35,560 In the forward area, the British waited for the hurricane to cease - 186 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,920 waited for the German battle groups to loom through the enveloping fog. 187 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,920 "The moment arrived and we rushed out of our trenches. A wild exultation seized us - 188 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,600 "anger, drunkenness and blood lust all rolled into one. 189 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:55,120 "We crossed the enemy's barbed wire easily and were in his first line. 190 00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:59,120 "The wave of men seemed to dance, a row of ghosts in the white mist." 191 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:08,240 The British in the forward area were swamped by the German advance. 192 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:23,840 By the end of the day, the Germans had smashed gaps through the British defence into open country. 193 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:32,640 British heavy artillery was dragged from static positions in the rear 194 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,560 and hauled away westwards. 195 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:37,840 The British front trembled, 196 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,680 or crumbled, beneath the weight and force of the German tidal wave. 197 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:04,000 22 March - disintegration and collapse. The Germans flooded through the British defence system 198 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:09,320 all along the front of the 5th Army and on part of the front of the neighbouring 3rd Army. 199 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,840 Haig wrote in his diary - 200 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,480 "At 8pm, Gough telephoned. 201 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,920 "Parties of the enemy 202 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,240 are through our reserve line. 203 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:21,200 "I concurred on his falling back and 204 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,120 "defending the line of the Somme." 205 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:34,880 The impossible, the incredible had happened. 206 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,760 The Western Front had been broken. 207 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,120 As in 1914, a great army was treading the bitter road of retreat 208 00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:45,160 with an exultant pursuer at its heels. 209 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,600 Haste, confusion, 210 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,280 rumours, orders, counter-orders, 211 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,600 and always the menace of German fire close behind. 212 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:06,200 One of our staff officers rode up on his horse and said, "Men, I want you to stand firm on this hillside. 213 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:13,320 "It's a good position. You should be all right." But the men took no notice and began to stampede. 214 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:18,400 They said, "We've got no chance, sir. The Germans are coming with tanks." 215 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:23,960 He started to appeal to our regiment and he said to me, at his side, 216 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,640 "Men of the East Lancashire Regiment, you've got a good reputation." 217 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,520 I said, "It's not much good here." 218 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:35,960 Just at that moment, a German tank came up the hill and started firing. 219 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:41,760 The staff officer on his horse got off his marks as quick as he could. 220 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:45,360 23 March - the retreat went on. 221 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:47,120 Peronne fell. 222 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,280 Behind the slow procession of defeat, 223 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:58,880 the sound of German guns came ever nearer. 224 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:10,480 "Along the road, a slow stream of traffic was moving towards Bapaume and beyond, 225 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:15,720 "first waves of a tide which rolled westwards for days and days. 226 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,920 "Here and there a battery in column of route, 227 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,960 "walking wounded in twos and threes, a lorry or two. 228 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:29,680 "A staff car carrying, with undignified speed, the dignified sign of corps HQ. 229 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,160 "A column of horse transport. 230 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,080 "I stood watching the unforgettable scene for ten minutes. 231 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,120 "It was too sad for words." 232 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:53,440 24 March - Bapaume fell. A gap grew between the 3rd and 5th Armies. 233 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:59,400 The 5th Army was now only a thin screen of stumbling, exhausted troops. 234 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,080 The Allies faced disaster. 235 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:13,120 That day, Haig met Petain. 236 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:20,520 "Petain told me that he'd directed General Fayolle, in the event of the German advance being pressed further, 237 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,840 "to fall back south-westwards 238 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,560 "to cover Paris. 239 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,040 "It was clear to me that the effect 240 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:30,400 "of this order must be to separate 241 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,480 "the British from the French 242 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,840 "and allow the enemy to penetrate between the two armies." 243 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,920 To the Kaiser, this was victory. He awarded Hindenburg 244 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:44,960 the Iron Cross with golden rays, last given to Blucher after Waterloo. 245 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,960 The German press echoed the Kaiser's pride - 246 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,160 "The great battle in the west is won. 247 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:59,240 "A large part of the English army is beaten." 248 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:04,200 But Hindenburg realised the Germans were only halfway to victory. 249 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,920 "Whole sections of the English front had been utterly routed 250 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:13,160 "and were retiring, apparently out of hand, towards Amiens. 251 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,880 "If the town fell into our hands, 252 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:20,640 "the strategic and political interests of France and Britain 253 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,040 "might possibly drift apart. 254 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:25,000 "So, forward against Amiens!" 255 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:31,640 The Kaiserschlacht - the Imperial Battle - raged on. 256 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:37,920 The line of gunfire crept ever nearer Amiens. Each side threw every man and gun into the struggle. 257 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:52,360 The Allied air forces flew to the limits of endurance, 258 00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:56,600 machine-gunning and bombing the advancing Germans. 259 00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:01,360 "Only time to refill tanks and guns and re-bomb when we land from a raid. 260 00:25:01,360 --> 00:25:03,840 "Then all machines off again on the next." 261 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:23,760 Only the airmen could scan the whole panorama of battle. 262 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,400 "The country presents an extraordinary sight from above - 263 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:33,200 "columns of dense smoke going up to 8,000ft from every town and cottage. 264 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,480 "Enormous fires from burning stores and dumps. 265 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,880 "Shells bursting every few yards. 266 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:45,880 "Columns retreating along main roads and stragglers crossing fields." 267 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,720 Still the retreat went on. 268 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,920 "I think we were past hope or despair. 269 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,920 "We regarded all events with an indifference of weariness, 270 00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:00,320 "knowing that dawn would bring another attack." 271 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:05,920 Once again, civilian refugees left their homes and fled from the enemy. 272 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:11,880 "On the road, the flood of refugees was tramping along amidst a cloud of powdery dust 273 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,560 "that settled on every one of them. 274 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:20,320 "The air was filled with the squeaks of carriages, the smack of whips and the jingle of cow bells." 275 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,600 Haig and Petain strove to rebuild their shattered line. 276 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:55,800 Hindenburg realised the battle was becoming a race to Amiens. "English reserves from the north, 277 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:01,840 "French troops drawn from the whole of central France, were hastening to Amiens and its neighbourhood." 278 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,520 More reinforcements were on their way from England. 279 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,760 "Under my office window in the City, 280 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:22,120 "there passed this morning as fine a body of men as one could wish to see. 281 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:26,280 "They were a draft, marching to the station en route to France. 282 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,000 "The wives and sweethearts of some marched with them. 283 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:36,520 "One couldn't watch these fellows marching to face the terrors of war without an inexpressible pride." 284 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:51,680 25 March. To the men on the crowded roads, it seemed the retreat would never end. 285 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,240 In the words of a gunner, 286 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:59,400 "We were on the move again with real dismay in our hearts." 287 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,720 Officers were ordered to use their revolvers to check panic if need be. 288 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,560 26 March. 289 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:11,280 Now the armies were fighting in the wasteland of the Somme battlefield of 1916. 290 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,560 On 26 March we dropped into a trench. 291 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,640 It was a trench we knew of old. 292 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:32,480 We had started to retreat on the 21st of March, 1918. 293 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:37,520 And here we were, back in the trench we had started the attack from 294 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,720 on November the 13th, 1916. 295 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,240 In the shadow of catastrophe, 296 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,880 the British high command 297 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:47,680 looked to the Channel ports. 298 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,600 The French looked to Paris. 299 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,000 A gulf was opening 300 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,640 between the Allies. 301 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:59,720 In Doullens, in the path of the German attack, the Allied leaders gathered 302 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,240 in an atmosphere of crisis. 303 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:06,480 Haig believed Petain had lost his nerve. Petain believed 304 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,000 the British would be herded into the Channel. 305 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,840 French Prime Minister Clemenceau was appalled at Petain's pessimism. 306 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,400 But General Foch was resolute - 307 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:22,640 "We must fight in front of Amiens. We must fight where we are now. 308 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:31,240 "As we have not been able to stop the Germans on the Somme, we must not now retire a single inch." 309 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:35,520 This was Haig's chance to have the pessimistic Petain overruled. 310 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,360 He took it. 311 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:43,600 "If General Foch will consent to give me his advice, I will gladly follow it." 312 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:50,680 The conference broke up. Foch had been made supreme Allied commander in all but name. 313 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:55,400 But the crisis of the Imperial Battle had already passed. 314 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,680 The tidal wave - the rolling force of 21 March - had spent itself. 315 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,320 Five days of marching and fighting without relief, 316 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,040 short of water, without proper sleep, 317 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:19,240 with the heaviest air attacks ever yet suffered by fighting troops. 318 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:23,960 The German soldiers knew the life and death of the Fatherland were in their hands, 319 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,160 but they could do no more. 320 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,880 "The power of attack was exhausted. 321 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,440 "Our spirits sank to zero." 322 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,680 Day by day, the advance went slower, grew narrower. 323 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,920 Hindenburg read the signs of failure. 324 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:48,480 "With us, 325 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,040 "human nature was urgently voicing its claims. 326 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:56,280 "We had to take breath. The infantry needed rest 327 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:58,320 "and the artillery, ammunition. 328 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:05,480 "We were lucky in being able to use the supplies of the beaten foe. 329 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:10,720 "Otherwise, we should not have been able to cross the Somme." 330 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:15,320 British canteens and supply dumps helped hinder the German advance. 331 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:19,200 The Germans had not seen such riches for years. 332 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:24,680 "We came across a richly furnished provision and kitting-out depot the British had abandoned. 333 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,080 "We rushed for the provisions. 334 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:33,200 "There was thick, brown beer that cooled our parched throats. 335 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:39,160 "We were so desperate for good food that we forgot about the enemy." 336 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,880 Suddenly they realised what paupers the Germans had become, 337 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:47,440 how little the British had been injured by four years of war. 338 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:53,840 You know that the German army and the German doctors didn't have any bandages. 339 00:31:53,840 --> 00:32:00,600 What we used was crepe paper to wind round the wounds of the soldiers. 340 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,480 And one can imagine how long that lasted. 341 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:11,640 They just dissolved as quickly as many of the greatcoats our soldiers had to wear. 342 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:17,680 The proud German army looted British depots like peasants in a palace. 343 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:19,720 On 28 March - 344 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:24,040 "Today the advance of our infantry suddenly stopped near Albert. 345 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,560 "Nobody could understand why. Our airmen 346 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:30,360 "had reported no enemy between Albert and Amiens. 347 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,680 "I jumped into a car with orders to find out what had caused the halt. 348 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,840 "As soon as I got near Albert, 349 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:44,600 "I began to see men dressed up in comic disguise, men in top hats, 350 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,760 "men who could hardly walk. 351 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:48,880 "The advance was held up 352 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:52,440 "and there was no means of getting it going again for hours." 353 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,760 "That our troops did not achieve all possible success 354 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:01,680 "was due to a lack of firm control by their officers. 355 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:07,520 "They had been checked by finding food depots, and valuable time had thus been lost." 356 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,080 The Germans grew weaker. 357 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:17,080 The Allies grew stronger. 358 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:20,280 Since 25 March, a French army of seven divisions 359 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:25,520 had entered the line and another was marching up fast. 360 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:31,920 "A fleet of trucks was sent to carry off the division. There could be no doubt 361 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,440 "we were about to go to battle. 362 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,600 "Our life was a turmoil for the next two days. 363 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:44,000 "We were going day and night, halting, then moving on again shortly afterwards." 364 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,840 Haig used the rest of the British front to bar the road to Amiens. 365 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,480 By the end of March, the retreat was over. 366 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:58,880 We got to Ham, eventually. That was the biggest town outside St Quentin. 367 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:00,840 When we got into there, nobody knew anybody. 368 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:07,960 There was no such thing as a battalion. We were a non-descript pile of all sorts of regiments. 369 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,680 Bits and pieces - anybody at all. 370 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:15,480 Sanitary people, cooks - everybody. They were all in it. 371 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:17,160 5 April. 372 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:22,160 Disappointment in German hearts. Weariness in German bodies. 373 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,880 They strove for the last time to break through. 374 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:47,160 They failed. 375 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,480 The Imperial Battle was over. 376 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:55,280 Hindenburg and Ludendorff ordered another offensive against the weakened British, 377 00:34:55,280 --> 00:35:02,120 in Flanders, where the British line ran close to the sea and Haig dared not give ground. 378 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:04,480 9 April 1918. 379 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,120 Three hours of bombardment so terrible that it drove men mad. 380 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:25,840 Then the attack - only half the number of men of 21 March, 381 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:27,960 only half the width of front. 382 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,000 CONTINUOUS GUNFIRE 383 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:43,760 But the German storm groups struck not British defenders 384 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,120 but raw Portuguese. They broke. 385 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:51,560 Once again, the Allies trod the humiliating road of defeat. 386 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,200 There seemed to be nothing to stop the Germans reaching the sea. 387 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,320 We reached a village called Estaires. 388 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:13,480 When we reached it it was like the Bank of England on a busy morning, 389 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:17,280 or Staines Bridge on a Sunday afternoon - 390 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:22,520 hundreds of vehicles and nothing moving at all. 391 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:27,040 One of the drivers in one of the wagons behind me was crying. 392 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:34,120 We expected to be taken prisoner - the Germans were coming on. Their batteries were leapfrogging forward. 393 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:39,240 Haig had very few reserves. They had been sent to the Amiens front. 394 00:36:39,240 --> 00:36:44,880 Only the British soldiers' fighting spirit could stave off catastrophe. 395 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:48,360 Censorship reports on soldiers' letters home 396 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:53,160 reveal the effect of the retreat on the morale of the army. 397 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:59,760 "No-one believes we're winning. The Germans have gained more in a month than we have in 18." 398 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:07,000 "There are a good many out here like myself - fed up and don't care a damn which side wins." 399 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:12,400 "I'm surprised you've joined the Women's Land Army. Do you realise 400 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:15,000 "you're helping to prolong the war? 401 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:21,120 "We shall never get it over so long as the women keep relieving men for the army. 402 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:28,040 "Only when there are no men left will the war finish. That's the way the lads out here look at it." 403 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:33,240 "The men's nerves are gone and not one has any stomach for this game." 404 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:38,480 Haig appealed to the doggedness of the British soldier. 405 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:44,000 "There is no other course open to us but to fight it out. 406 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:48,600 "Every position must be held to the last man. 407 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,960 "There must be no retirement. 408 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:57,280 "With our backs to the wall and believing our cause to be just, 409 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:01,040 "each one of us must fight on to the end." 410 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:06,880 The British fought it out. By the end of April, the Germans were again brought to a standstill. 411 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,760 The greatest of all attempts since 1914 412 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,320 to win the war by purely military victory had failed. 413 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:21,280 The very size of the Imperial Battle had doomed it. 414 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,400 It could not be nourished, 415 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:32,960 despite Ludendorff's mobilisation of every horse and lorry and wagon. 416 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:37,640 The German failure cost 350,000 out of their last reserves of men. 417 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,080 Men were the fuel of war. 418 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,400 As the manpower of Europe became exhausted, 419 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:51,960 the war began to burn itself out, like a forest fire starved by its own appetite. 420 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:57,760 Only America could pour fresh fuel into the diminishing flames. 421 00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:02,680 Since 21 March, nearly 200,000 Americans had landed in France. 422 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:09,120 Germany's chances of snatching victory dwindled with every tick of the clock. 423 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:12,400 Ludendorff was forced to stake Germany's waning power 424 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,400 on another gamble. 425 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:20,960 With desperation in his heart, Ludendorff swung his armies south.