They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

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This film contains some scenes which
some viewers may find upsetting

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I gave every part of my youth
to do a job

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and to go through a savage war.

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It was a different war from
year to year, and one's reactions

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were completely different.

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The intensity changed so much
that anybody who'd been out in 1914

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and went home and came back in 1917,

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wouldn't recognise it
as the same war.

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I can only say one thing,
I wouldn't have missed it.

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It was terrible at times,
but I wouldn't have missed it.

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Oh, yes, if I could have
my time again, I'd go through it

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all over again because
I enjoyed the service life.

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I could only say that I have never
been so excited in my life,

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this was like a boy going
to the play the first time.

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I never realised there was
anything unusual about it.

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There was a job to be done
and you just go on and did it.

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We were all instilled with the idea
that this was war

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and that we've got to kill the
Germans, and this is how we looked

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at the thing.

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I don't regret
having experienced it.

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I wish I hadn't, but I don't
regret it because I'm safe.

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HE LAUGHS

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There were good times
and bad times in France.

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But you took the rough
with the smooth.

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I was twice wounded and gassed,
but it was just war and you made

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the best of it.

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Just took it in its stride,
like everybody else.

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We were glad to be in it
and we expected it to be rough,

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and it WAS rough,
but we didn't complain.

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There was no real excitement
about it.

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You'd seen death so many times,
you'd seen wounded so many times,

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blood didn't excite you.

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We were professionals
and to us it was just a job of work.

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It would be a fallacy to say
that one enjoyed it,

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but one got afterwards
a nice, warm inner feeling that

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one had been some use.

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It didn't affect me very much
because I wasn't

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sufficiently open in the ways
of the world, I was only a kid,

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like other blokes there.

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It was more like
a great big game to be enjoyed,

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apart from the actual killing
and all that sort of thing.

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It made me a man.

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Yes, it did.

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I don't think I should
have ever been the man I am if it

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hadn't been for having to serve.

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You'd learn to look after yourself.

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Whereas in your civilian life,
your mother did all the chores.

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You've got to learn
how to cook for yourself,

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darn your own socks,
sew on your own buttons

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and all the things like that.

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It was just a day's work.

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I knew that I was not alone,
I knew I wasn't fighting the war

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by myself and that what happened
to other people might happen to me.

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I had no regrets at all.

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But, you see, I had no wife,
no girl, no nothing.

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No regrets, no horrors...

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..because if you survive that,
you can survive anything.

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We was aware that there was
sort of a nasty feeling

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between England and Germany.

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We knew of the Kaiser's ambition
to expand his empire

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and all that sort of thing.

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During that summer, there was a lot
of talk about trouble

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going on in the Balkans,
but we were a long way

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from the Balkans
and it didn't worry us at all.

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It was that Serbia business,
wasn't it?

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Serbia, when that chap was shot.

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I was paying attention
to politics and I realised

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that there was going to be trouble
between England and Germany.

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It was a lovely
August the 4th morning.

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We were all seated around the table
and we were starting

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the Rugby football dinner
with the German team.

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There was a German here,
next to him was an Englishman,

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and next to him was a German,
and so on and so on.

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And a runner arrived into the middle
of this dinner

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with extraordinary news
of outbreak of war.

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There was a big placard -
"War declared on Germany."

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We didn't know what we ought to do.

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Whether we got to seize
a knife off the table

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and plunge it into the German
or what!

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But, after a little bit
of discussion, we decided

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that as far as we were concerned,
the war was going to start tomorrow,

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and the party proceeded.

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I'm proud of being a British hero.
I mean, I think we're as good

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a country as any in the world

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and you've got to be prepared
to fight for that.

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There's no doubt about it -

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in the First World War,
we prepared for war.

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The empire was strong,
we weren't afraid of anyone.

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Everybody bought little buttons
and white flags and sang songs,

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there was no feeling of despair
about it at all.

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England couldn't possibly lose,
no matter how many Germans pushed

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how many Englishmen into the
Channel, that they'd get no further.

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We couldn't possibly lose.

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We were brought up to think that one
Englishman was worth ten Germans.

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I thought that any enemy
of England was an enemy of mine

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and I wanted to be in it.

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Oh, 6 months or 12 months,
it would be all over

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and Bob's your uncle.

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I went with a friend of mine
to Shepherd's Bush Empire

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to see the picture show there
and they showed the fleet

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saving the high seas and played
"Britons never shall be slaves",

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and one feels that little shiver run
up their back and you know

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you've got to do something.

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A friend of mine said to me,
"We're going to join up."

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It was from the
patriotic point of view,

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and from the general excitement of
the whole affair, I suppose.

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I didn't believe in war
to that extent, but I was prepared

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to do my part.

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You see, in those days, men weren't
to think for themselves,

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they just had to do what they were
told and that's all there was to it.

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Oh, my mother
was very aggrieved about it.

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But, you know, a young man,
you decide you're going to go.

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At lunchtime, I left the office,
went along to Armoury House

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and there was a queue of about
1,000 people trying to enlist.

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Everybody thought
it would be a civilised war

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and wanted to be fit enough to go.

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Two of us decided to join up
together, and when we told

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the boss we were going to start
training on Monday,

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he was very annoyed.

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He didn't make any promise
at all that our jobs would be there

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when we got back.

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My mother, she said,
"You wait until you're 19."

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See, that was the age
in those days, 19 to 35.

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Well, it was supposed to be.

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We were all lads together, you know,

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full of excitement

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and all this kind of thing.

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I mean, I just wanted

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to have a go at Jerry.

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I just thought that I'd like
to go and fight for the country.

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This was the thing, you were proud
of your country

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and you'd do the best you could
for it.

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And this was what most of the
young people thought of doing

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in those days.

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My mother, she said to me,
"Look, we could stop you doing this

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"because of your age."

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I said, "Yes, I know you could,
Mother, but I'm sure you won't."

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Which they never did.

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I just felt that all the young
fellows of that age

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were volunteering

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and I thought it was
my job to do the same.

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I was desperately keen
and a whole heap of us were.

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I said, "Direct enlistment, please."

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They were highly delighted

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and pushed me in
as quick as lightning.

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Lots of the lads were
joining the local regiments,

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like the Bucks and the Middlesex.

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Lads that I knew
and had been to school with,

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played football and cricket with,

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we joined up, hoping for the best.

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We were good friends, comrades

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and it was a relief from rather
boring jobs at home, you see.

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I was walking down
the Camden Town high street,

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when two young ladies approached me,
"Why aren't you in the Army?"

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I said, "I'm only 17."

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"Oh, they all say that here."

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And to my amazement,
she put her hand in her bag

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and I put my hand up to sort of
safeguard myself,

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and this white feather
finished up my nose.

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As we marched to the station,
some of the chaps had bowler hats,

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some had straw hats, some had the
regulation peaked Army cap.

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Some would have tunics,
some would be dressed

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with their ordinary jackets
with a pair of Army trousers.

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Some had Army boots, some didn't.

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And we really were a motley throng.

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Some of them were obviously chaps
who had hoped to live

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in some comfort and brought
suitcases with clothes with them,

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which they never saw again.

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We had to all get our hair cut.

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"How would you like it, sir?"

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And you'd say,
"Short back and sides."

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But the answer was,
straight over the top

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with horse clippers, and we looked
more like convicts than soldiers.

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As soon as war broke out,
there was a call made

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for all ex-soldiers to rejoin,

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and they made them sergeants
straight away.

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So you got a lot of instructors
that way.

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The people who really carried us
through was the old sweats

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who'd had previous war experience
and gave us a lot of wise advice

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as to what to look for
and what to dodge.

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We were ordered down onto the parade
ground and then we were allotted

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to different platoons.

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When they came to us,
they were weedy, sallow,

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skinny, frightened children.

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The refuse of our industrial system
and they were in very poor condition

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and had to be made into soldiers.

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Many of us had given
our wrong ages to join the Army.

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The agent walked down
the lines and gave an order,

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"Every man under the age of 19
should take two paces forward."

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Nobody moved.

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I was a lad of 17 and
they'd probably say I wasn't 19,

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which you had to be to join up.

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But he says, "How long
do you want to sign on for?"

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Everyone else was joining up so
I called into the recruitment office

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and he said to me, "How old
are you?" I said, "17, sir."

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Well, he said, "Go outside and
come back and say you are 18."

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So of course, I went outside
and said we were 18.

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I was straight up there.

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The Sergeant said,
"How old are you?"

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I said, "I'm 18 and one month."

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He said,
"Do you mean 19 and one month?

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So I thought for a moment,
I said, "Yes, sir."

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He said, "Right, sign here, please."

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He asked me how old I was
and I said I was 16 in March.

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He said, "You're too young,

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"you better go outside
and have a birthday."

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I was 16 years old in 1917

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and I was six foot two tall
and my father allowed me to go.

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So I entered my age as 19 years old,

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three years older
than what I really was.

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I was 15 years,
just 2½ years short of 18,

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and I got before this
medical officer, who said,

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"All right, you pass."

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I had just turned 17 at the time
and I went up to Whitehall

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and enlisted in the 16th Lancers.

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I was 15 and I thought
I'd have a better chance

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than when I were 14.

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So I walked into the barracks
and just said, "I'm 18,"

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and that was it.

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My parents wrote to the
commanding officer and asked for me,

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as I was underage, to be released.

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And he said, "Your parents
want you back - do you want to go?"

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I said no.

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The chaplain asked me my age,
and I said I was 16.

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He said, "Much too young.
Would you like me to pray for you?"

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The clothing came piecemeal
into the quartermaster stores.

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One lad said,
"These boots don't fit me."

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And the quartermaster said,
"There isn't such a thing as boots

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"that don't fit in the Army,
it's your feet that don't

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"fit the boots."

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Some men would find a tunic
to fit them or perhaps

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a pair of trousers.

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And so it went on
for nearly a fortnight.

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Just one uniform.

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I was in the Army nearly four years,
I only had one uniform.

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We were all issued
with these famous puttees,

237
00:12:12,530 --> 00:12:15,740
which were news to all of us,
and I personally could never quite

238
00:12:15,740 --> 00:12:18,410
master the putting on of puttees.

239
00:12:18,410 --> 00:12:22,620
The main reason for puttees were
to support the legs in marching.

240
00:12:22,620 --> 00:12:26,320
I was issued with a kilt
but nothing to wear underneath it,

241
00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,870
and I was given a slip of paper
to say,

242
00:12:28,870 --> 00:12:32,070
"This man has not
been issued with underpants."

243
00:12:32,070 --> 00:12:34,620
I was given strict instructions
that I couldn't ride on top

244
00:12:34,620 --> 00:12:37,740
of the tram car,
had to ride downstairs.

245
00:12:39,700 --> 00:12:43,280
Now, the pack was for
everything that you own.

246
00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,700
The overcoat had to be folded
very, very neatly and tightly.

247
00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:51,120
There was a needle, thread,
spare buttons, knife,

248
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:56,370
fork, spoon, razor, shaving brush,
toothbrush and also a half-pint mug.

249
00:12:58,490 --> 00:13:03,700
One spare shirt and one spare pair
of socks, and that was your kit.

250
00:13:03,950 --> 00:13:07,410
The Army razor with which we were
issued was absolutely useless,

251
00:13:07,410 --> 00:13:10,660
but it came in handy
for cutting up meat and so forth.

252
00:13:10,660 --> 00:13:13,740
The toothbrush, that came in handy
for cleaning buttons.

253
00:13:13,740 --> 00:13:16,530
But one of the peculiarities
about the Army was that,

254
00:13:16,530 --> 00:13:19,280
though it was a crime
to have dirty buttons,

255
00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,490
you were never issued
with the materials to clean

256
00:13:21,490 --> 00:13:24,120
the buttons,
you had to buy them yourself.

257
00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:28,120
We were awakened by the bugle,
which sounded Reveille.

258
00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,070
Wash, shave, pack your bed up
and pack your kit.

259
00:13:31,070 --> 00:13:35,530
About half past six, and you would
have an hour, PT before breakfast.

260
00:13:35,530 --> 00:13:39,950
Press-ups and physical exercises,
arms upward stretch.

261
00:13:39,950 --> 00:13:43,570
They knew you were fresh
and they tried to take it by stages,

262
00:13:43,570 --> 00:13:46,490
there wasn't any bullying
or anything like that.

263
00:13:46,490 --> 00:13:50,370
Breakfast consisted
of bread, butter,

264
00:13:50,370 --> 00:13:53,530
one rasher of
Lance Corporal Bacon.

265
00:13:53,530 --> 00:13:56,370
It was streaky bacon,
it had one stripe in it.

266
00:13:56,370 --> 00:13:59,030
Well, there was jam and
they seemed to make nothing

267
00:13:59,030 --> 00:14:01,120
but plum and apple, you know?

268
00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,410
If you got any other kind,
it was a celebration event.

269
00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,160
There were the Bruce Bairnsfather
cartoons depicting that,

270
00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:11,490
handing him a tin of plum
and apple jam.

271
00:14:11,490 --> 00:14:13,530
"When the 'ell is it
going to be strawberry?"

272
00:14:13,530 --> 00:14:15,490
It was wonderful, that jam.

273
00:14:15,490 --> 00:14:19,030
Tickler's, the jam manufacturers,

274
00:14:19,030 --> 00:14:23,320
they must have made millions of tins
of P&A, plum and apple.

275
00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,120
# Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war

276
00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:29,910
# What do we want with eggs and ham

277
00:14:29,910 --> 00:14:33,490
# When we've got bags
of Tickler's Jam? #

278
00:14:33,490 --> 00:14:37,280
And then it would be parade time
and the Sergeant would take over

279
00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:40,370
and you'd have a whole morning
of marching

280
00:14:40,370 --> 00:14:42,870
and you would learn all commands,

281
00:14:42,870 --> 00:14:46,070
such as "about turn"
and all that sort of thing.

282
00:14:46,070 --> 00:14:49,820
Having been in the Boy Scouts,
it was dead easy to me.

283
00:14:49,820 --> 00:14:52,120
When you get the order
"right dress",

284
00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:54,950
you turn your head only,
to the right.

285
00:14:54,950 --> 00:14:57,200
Some of them managed to turn left,

286
00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:00,370
which didn't exactly please
the drill Sergeant.

287
00:15:00,370 --> 00:15:02,490
We were all youngsters,
we'd come from

288
00:15:02,490 --> 00:15:05,120
fairly sheltered lives and so forth.

289
00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,490
This Sergeant of ours
was the loudmouth shouting type.

290
00:15:09,490 --> 00:15:14,450
Coming up against
military discipline was a shock,

291
00:15:14,450 --> 00:15:18,780
being chased around from pillar
to post by disciplinarian NCOs.

292
00:15:18,780 --> 00:15:21,030
Some of the sergeants were shockers.

293
00:15:21,030 --> 00:15:24,280
They would cause a lot of trouble
if you were out of step

294
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,200
or if you didn't keep time,
or if you didn't handle

295
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,070
your rifle properly.

296
00:15:29,070 --> 00:15:31,490
They were always having a go at you.

297
00:15:31,490 --> 00:15:33,780
Most of them were all right,
the shouting meant nothing,

298
00:15:33,780 --> 00:15:35,820
but some of them never lost it.

299
00:15:35,820 --> 00:15:40,780
One night I'd gone to bed and
this pot was brought round to my bed

300
00:15:40,780 --> 00:15:43,950
and they said,
"Oh, you want to do a piss?"

301
00:15:43,950 --> 00:15:46,160
So I did the business in the pot.

302
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:48,820
They'd rested this big, huge pot

303
00:15:48,820 --> 00:15:51,910
which contained gallons,
on the door.

304
00:15:51,910 --> 00:15:56,240
And when this Sergeant came along
to see that everybody

305
00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,620
was in bed, this thing turned up
and he was drenched

306
00:15:58,620 --> 00:16:00,870
from top to bottom in fluid!

307
00:16:00,870 --> 00:16:03,160
HE LAUGHS

308
00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,240
First of all,
I was full of enthusiasm.

309
00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,370
But after about the first week,
I wished I hadn't done it.

310
00:16:09,370 --> 00:16:12,950
Because the discipline was so strict
that I was beginning to get

311
00:16:12,950 --> 00:16:15,950
a little bit nervous
as to what was in store.

312
00:16:15,950 --> 00:16:18,410
We weren't out dancing,
anything like that.

313
00:16:18,410 --> 00:16:20,200
We were getting ready for a war.

314
00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:24,990
The thing was, you were in the Army,
you had to do as you were told.

315
00:16:24,990 --> 00:16:28,990
You had one master, or dozens,
but you just had to get on with it

316
00:16:28,990 --> 00:16:30,530
and that was it.

317
00:16:30,530 --> 00:16:32,620
I did find that right
through the Army,

318
00:16:32,620 --> 00:16:35,450
if you behaved yourself,
you'd nothing much to fear.

319
00:16:35,450 --> 00:16:37,490
This was quite a new world to us.

320
00:16:37,490 --> 00:16:40,030
I mean, you can imagine.
I came out of civilian life,

321
00:16:40,030 --> 00:16:42,160
like all the others did,
and we weren't in a position

322
00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,410
to argue or object.

323
00:16:44,410 --> 00:16:46,990
It was just a matter of doing
what we were told.

324
00:16:46,990 --> 00:16:48,320
I liked it.

325
00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,160
I liked to be told what I had to do
because there was a reason

326
00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,280
for doing it, and later on I
realised that was the best training

327
00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,030
you could have.

328
00:16:58,030 --> 00:17:01,410
The first week, our route march
would be ten miles,

329
00:17:01,410 --> 00:17:04,450
the second week it would be 12,
and so on and so on.

330
00:17:04,450 --> 00:17:08,910
It intensified, because
it's of the utmost importance

331
00:17:08,910 --> 00:17:12,660
that the infantry soldiers
could march with a full kit.

332
00:17:12,660 --> 00:17:15,620
What you had to carry was 109 lbs.

333
00:17:15,620 --> 00:17:19,280
The marching was easy for me,
but quite a lot of chaps

334
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,950
who were in sedentary jobs
found it pretty hard.

335
00:17:22,950 --> 00:17:28,200
It numbed and cramped my muscles
on my thighs and calves

336
00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:33,320
Oh, those Army boots.

337
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:34,910
I could have cried.

338
00:17:34,910 --> 00:17:40,200
My feet and ankles with those heavy
Army boots after civilian shoes.

339
00:17:40,570 --> 00:17:44,320
So to get your boots made pliable,
you used to urinate in them

340
00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,490
and leave it overnight.

341
00:17:46,490 --> 00:17:51,320
Quite a lot of men were clerks
or they worked in shops,

342
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,570
and the very nature of their calling
didn't make for fitness.

343
00:17:55,570 --> 00:17:58,990
Well, they sent me to hospital
and they gave me the cure

344
00:17:58,990 --> 00:18:04,240
for hookworm and I found that
I could stand the drill after that.

345
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,990
They used to march us
all round the West End.

346
00:18:06,990 --> 00:18:11,240
Crowds used to foregather, and
some of the poor, deluded ones

347
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,620
fell for the con trick and
lined up behind us

348
00:18:14,620 --> 00:18:17,120
and we used to march
them all down to Chelsea barracks,

349
00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:18,620
where they got signed up.

350
00:18:21,410 --> 00:18:24,570
Lunch would consist
of inedible stew.

351
00:18:24,570 --> 00:18:28,620
Now, you must remember the chaps
in the cookhouse were by no means

352
00:18:28,620 --> 00:18:31,120
experienced cooks,
but anybody can make a stew,

353
00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:33,030
and that's what they did.

354
00:18:33,030 --> 00:18:38,120
Sometimes we got a bit of plum duff
and milk puddings and tapioca rice.

355
00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:40,820
It was the good old-fashioned,
plain stuff

356
00:18:40,820 --> 00:18:42,410
that I was brought up on.

357
00:18:42,410 --> 00:18:44,870
I had no complaint about it.

358
00:18:44,870 --> 00:18:49,950
In the afternoon, it could be
a lecture on Vickers machine guns.

359
00:18:49,950 --> 00:18:53,530
We used to strip the machinegun
right down

360
00:18:53,530 --> 00:18:55,450
and put it together again.

361
00:18:55,450 --> 00:18:59,160
And, luckily, I seemed to cotton on
to that quite quickly.

362
00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:02,200
We were always told
the man's best friend is his rifle,

363
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:03,910
and it was.

364
00:19:03,910 --> 00:19:08,320
Our rifle was a short Lee-Enfield,
a very good rifle indeed.

365
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,280
A real sturdy rifle.

366
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:14,530
You had your ammunition pouches
on both sides of the chest,

367
00:19:14,530 --> 00:19:16,780
to counterbalance the weight
of the pack,

368
00:19:16,780 --> 00:19:21,740
and those pouches carried 150 rounds
of .303 ammunition.

369
00:19:21,740 --> 00:19:24,450
We were supposed to hold
the rifle up in one hand,

370
00:19:24,450 --> 00:19:26,910
but I could never hold
a rifle properly.

371
00:19:26,910 --> 00:19:29,740
My right wrist wouldn't hold it up.

372
00:19:29,740 --> 00:19:32,660
I'd never fired a rifle in my life,
but on the first day we went

373
00:19:32,660 --> 00:19:34,160
onto the rifle range,

374
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:36,740
and it was amazing
the bull's-eyes I was getting.

375
00:19:36,740 --> 00:19:40,370
So, the next thing, I was made
a first-class rifleman.

376
00:19:40,370 --> 00:19:42,910
Above all, we learned rapid-fire.

377
00:19:42,910 --> 00:19:46,450
Ten rounds, get those ten rounds
onto the target in one minute.

378
00:19:46,450 --> 00:19:48,740
It was known as "the mad minute".

379
00:19:48,740 --> 00:19:52,160
I'd never seen a dead man
or anything of that kind,

380
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,870
and I wondered, if it came
to my shooting a man,

381
00:19:54,870 --> 00:19:56,950
whether I would be able to do this.

382
00:19:56,950 --> 00:19:59,990
Plunge the bayonet into the sack,
shout like hell.

383
00:19:59,990 --> 00:20:02,320
And they would tell you
where to put your bayonet.

384
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:04,700
Either into his left shoulder,
his right shoulder,

385
00:20:04,700 --> 00:20:06,990
in the chest or in the body.

386
00:20:06,990 --> 00:20:09,200
We was told to make
as much noise as we could.

387
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,280
I think that was
to frighten the enemy.

388
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:15,030
It didn't seem to me to be a likely
thing to do, but we used to shout.

389
00:20:15,030 --> 00:20:18,160
When you train as a division,
there's 12 battalions,

390
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,240
there's roughly 12,000 men
who are on the move,

391
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:25,200
and you're a very small cog
in a big wheel.

392
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,200
Saturday mornings we were let off,
but we had to do

393
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:29,910
sometimes barrack duties.

394
00:20:29,910 --> 00:20:33,410
And then, on Sundays, we were all
marched down to church.

395
00:20:33,410 --> 00:20:35,950
It didn't matter what religion
you were, you all had to go,

396
00:20:35,950 --> 00:20:37,660
and that was it.

397
00:20:37,660 --> 00:20:40,160
Hardly a day passed
without the shout

398
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:41,530
around the barrack-room,

399
00:20:41,530 --> 00:20:43,910
"Has anybody here had
any experience with horses?

400
00:20:43,910 --> 00:20:46,530
"Can anybody here play
any musical instruments?

401
00:20:46,530 --> 00:20:49,070
"Anybody had an experience
at so and so?"

402
00:20:49,070 --> 00:20:52,780
So gradually, the thousand men
who were joined up

403
00:20:52,780 --> 00:20:57,280
as a motley throng, now became
a transport man, a bandsman,

404
00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,240
signalman and so on.

405
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:01,450
You didn't want to mess
about on the parade ground

406
00:21:01,450 --> 00:21:03,780
with heavy packs
on the route marches.

407
00:21:03,780 --> 00:21:07,620
Most of us wanted to go across
and do some scrapping.

408
00:21:07,620 --> 00:21:11,120
After good food,
fresh air and physical exercise,

409
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:14,070
they changed so that their mothers
wouldn't have recognised them.

410
00:21:14,070 --> 00:21:18,280
They put on an average of one stone
in weight and one inch in height.

411
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,700
Although we hated the sight and
sound of our disciplinary sergeants,

412
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:25,490
this reflects greatly to their
credit because they knocked us

413
00:21:25,490 --> 00:21:28,240
into shape as regards
to marching and foot drills.

414
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,780
But far more than that,
they were handsome,

415
00:21:31,780 --> 00:21:35,200
ruddy, upstanding,
square-shouldered young men

416
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:37,780
who were afraid of nobody,
not even the Sergeant Major.

417
00:21:37,780 --> 00:21:40,450
After the six weeks,
we were informed we were going

418
00:21:40,450 --> 00:21:42,910
to be posted overseas.

419
00:21:42,910 --> 00:21:47,070
They said, "You're leaving tomorrow
morning for an unknown destination."

420
00:21:47,070 --> 00:21:49,570
You were never told
where you were heading for.

421
00:21:49,570 --> 00:21:52,780
I just wanted to fight the Germans,
and as far as that was concerned,

422
00:21:52,780 --> 00:21:55,530
it didn't matter tuppence to me
where we went.

423
00:21:55,530 --> 00:21:58,570
And when we pushed them
through this crash programme

424
00:21:58,570 --> 00:22:00,410
of military training,

425
00:22:00,410 --> 00:22:02,490
they were pushed off to
France in batches.

426
00:22:02,490 --> 00:22:05,620
Before we left, the officer said,
"well, you haven't had time

427
00:22:05,620 --> 00:22:09,070
"to be made sergeants, so we'll give
you a couple of stripes."

428
00:22:09,070 --> 00:22:12,780
So they made us corporals,
and in less than no time

429
00:22:12,780 --> 00:22:15,820
we were marched down to the station.

430
00:22:15,820 --> 00:22:18,950
In my mind I wondered,
"Shall I ever come back?"

431
00:22:18,950 --> 00:22:21,070
I didn't think I would at the time.

432
00:22:21,070 --> 00:22:23,410
I didn't worry about it.

433
00:22:23,410 --> 00:22:26,990
Oh, they were all full of euphoria,
they were all glad they were going.

434
00:22:26,990 --> 00:22:28,950
Nobody was crying.

435
00:22:28,950 --> 00:22:31,070
I wrote a postcard
when I was in the train

436
00:22:31,070 --> 00:22:33,990
and chucked it out of the window,
hoping that it would be delivered

437
00:22:33,990 --> 00:22:35,530
to my family.

438
00:22:35,530 --> 00:22:38,280
We arrived at Folkestone
in the evening.

439
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,950
We embarked on one of
the old Thames pleasure boats.

440
00:22:41,950 --> 00:22:46,030
Well, pretty crowded, but of course
there's only 21 mile

441
00:22:46,030 --> 00:22:48,780
from Dover to Calais on the boat.

442
00:22:48,780 --> 00:22:51,820
There were talks by officers to us
as to how to behave ourselves

443
00:22:51,820 --> 00:22:54,950
on foreign soil, and that we've
got to respect other people's

444
00:22:54,950 --> 00:22:57,070
modes of conduct.

445
00:22:57,070 --> 00:23:00,910
The biggest number of casualties
were NCOs,

446
00:23:00,910 --> 00:23:03,370
and we weren't all too keen
about this.

447
00:23:03,370 --> 00:23:07,030
So I went into the lavatory
and my stripes came off

448
00:23:07,030 --> 00:23:09,570
and they disappeared
through the porthole.

449
00:23:09,570 --> 00:23:12,570
And with that, I went back on deck
as a private.

450
00:23:16,570 --> 00:23:18,700
As our horses were brought
down the gangways,

451
00:23:18,700 --> 00:23:21,660
I noticed the expression
on the men's faces.

452
00:23:21,660 --> 00:23:24,370
There were no cheerful,
smiling faces coming down

453
00:23:24,370 --> 00:23:25,910
that gangway at all.

454
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,660
It was beautiful weather,
very warm,

455
00:23:30,660 --> 00:23:34,410
and every village and town
we went through, people rushed out,

456
00:23:34,410 --> 00:23:37,740
bottles of wine,
yards of French bread, flowers.

457
00:23:37,740 --> 00:23:40,200
The land flowed
in every single aspect.

458
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,320
There were farmers
going about their business,

459
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,240
the most lovely country.

460
00:23:46,450 --> 00:23:49,240
If we passed a field of carrots,
we used to raid the field

461
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,740
and walk along munching
the carrots and turnips.

462
00:23:56,870 --> 00:23:59,070
I was dead scared
that the war would be over

463
00:23:59,070 --> 00:24:00,370
before I got out to it.

464
00:24:00,370 --> 00:24:02,030
When I got out to France,

465
00:24:02,030 --> 00:24:04,660
I was terribly pleased,
really keen.

466
00:24:07,370 --> 00:24:10,280
You just marched and marched
until roughly 20 miles

467
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,030
from the trenches.

468
00:24:12,030 --> 00:24:14,700
We knew we were getting close
to the line because the gunfire

469
00:24:14,700 --> 00:24:16,950
was becoming more noisy.

470
00:24:16,950 --> 00:24:19,570
I remember the first shell,
I was delighted.

471
00:24:22,370 --> 00:24:26,070
We went through towns, villages
that were absolutely derelict.

472
00:24:26,070 --> 00:24:29,530
So we never knew where we were,
except that we were in Belgium.

473
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,530
The devastation was something
I never could have imagined.

474
00:24:35,530 --> 00:24:38,410
The whole place gave one
the most eerie sensation.

475
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,070
There was stunted trees,
torn to shreds with shellfire

476
00:24:46,070 --> 00:24:49,950
and there was shell holes
all over the place.

477
00:24:49,950 --> 00:24:52,820
We were relieving men of the
28th division,

478
00:24:52,820 --> 00:24:56,200
and as they passed us, we would say,
"What's it like up there?"

479
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,620
The reply invariably came back,
"Bloody awful, mate."

480
00:24:59,620 --> 00:25:03,200
The old sweats coming back
got their tails up all right,

481
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,990
but I didn't know what to expect,
just hadn't a clue.

482
00:25:06,990 --> 00:25:10,370
It was deadly warfare,
you were facing the Germans.

483
00:25:14,620 --> 00:25:16,070
Follow me.

484
00:25:18,820 --> 00:25:20,410
You got the order, "load".

485
00:25:20,410 --> 00:25:24,320
You put nine in your magazine
and one up the spout

486
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,070
and you put the safety catch on,

487
00:25:26,070 --> 00:25:28,780
and you always went into the line
prepared to use

488
00:25:28,780 --> 00:25:30,450
your rifle immediately.

489
00:25:32,410 --> 00:25:35,070
That's when you got rigid orders,
no talking whatsoever,

490
00:25:35,070 --> 00:25:36,620
keep your head down.

491
00:25:36,620 --> 00:25:38,740
Single file, no smoking.

492
00:25:38,740 --> 00:25:41,910
The captain would then direct you
right to the front trenches.

493
00:25:45,530 --> 00:25:48,120
Before a man goes into the trenches,
he usually carries

494
00:25:48,120 --> 00:25:52,910
a roll of barbed wire or a bag of
bombs, besides his own equipment.

495
00:25:52,910 --> 00:25:55,570
That's the way to get the stuff
up to the front line.

496
00:25:55,570 --> 00:25:58,370
Now,
a guide would always be sent out.

497
00:25:58,370 --> 00:26:00,990
Extend this part of
the trench over there.

498
00:26:00,990 --> 00:26:02,410
What, that way? That's it.

499
00:26:02,410 --> 00:26:04,320
The trenches in France were a maze.

500
00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,070
If you didn't have a guide,
you could very soon get lost.

501
00:26:07,070 --> 00:26:09,660
Smile, so your mother thinks
I'm looking after you.

502
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,070
Coming up, coming up!

503
00:26:18,530 --> 00:26:20,620
The trenches weren't
in one straight line.

504
00:26:20,620 --> 00:26:24,030
They were built on what they call
a Travis System.

505
00:26:24,030 --> 00:26:26,990
The Travis would break up
the shellfire

506
00:26:26,990 --> 00:26:30,280
and stop it spreading right along
the trench.

507
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,070
There was a front line of trenches

508
00:26:32,070 --> 00:26:34,410
and then there was a second line
of trenches.

509
00:26:34,410 --> 00:26:38,820
The support line would be about 50
yards or more behind the front line.

510
00:26:38,820 --> 00:26:41,370
In between, there would be
communication trenches

511
00:26:41,370 --> 00:26:43,910
so that they could move through
if the front line

512
00:26:43,910 --> 00:26:45,620
was under jeopardy.

513
00:26:45,620 --> 00:26:48,990
First impression I got
of the trenches was they were

514
00:26:48,990 --> 00:26:51,120
very much lived in.

515
00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:53,030
We had to take them
as we found them.

516
00:26:53,030 --> 00:26:56,660
You would see an overcoat
hanging from a wooden peg.

517
00:26:56,660 --> 00:27:00,450
You would see a mess tin
with some tea in it.

518
00:27:00,450 --> 00:27:03,570
A dugout, which had a piece
of blanket in it,

519
00:27:03,570 --> 00:27:05,740
a bed made of sandbags.

520
00:27:05,740 --> 00:27:08,740
Our world was divided
by no-man's-land,

521
00:27:08,740 --> 00:27:10,570
a sort of Iron Curtain,

522
00:27:10,570 --> 00:27:14,490
beyond which were bogey men who
would kill you if they ever saw you.

523
00:27:14,490 --> 00:27:17,660
As you look through your periscope,
all you could see were hundreds

524
00:27:17,660 --> 00:27:22,660
of shell holes, your barbed wire
and the German barbed wire.

525
00:27:22,660 --> 00:27:25,620
You could see dead bodies
hanging on the barbed wire

526
00:27:25,620 --> 00:27:28,570
and they may have been there
for a long, long time.

527
00:27:28,570 --> 00:27:31,620
It was one of the most desolate
looking places in the world.

528
00:27:31,620 --> 00:27:36,070
You never saw a sign of life,
and yet you knew very well that,

529
00:27:36,070 --> 00:27:40,490
within shouting range, there were
hundreds and hundreds of men.

530
00:27:40,490 --> 00:27:43,240
A platoon of about 50 men
would have about 100 yards

531
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,780
of front line trenches
as their responsibility.

532
00:27:46,780 --> 00:27:48,950
There were signs
all over the trenches,

533
00:27:48,950 --> 00:27:52,450
Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street
and all that sort of thing,

534
00:27:52,450 --> 00:27:54,240
telling you where water points were

535
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,740
and which was the
most dangerous part of the land

536
00:27:56,740 --> 00:27:59,030
with regard to snipers.

537
00:27:59,030 --> 00:28:01,700
You had to be extremely careful
because a bullet could go

538
00:28:01,700 --> 00:28:04,450
through one layer of
sandbags quite easily.

539
00:28:04,450 --> 00:28:07,030
I was talking to a bloke one day
and, pop,

540
00:28:07,030 --> 00:28:09,410
his head was bashed in like an egg.

541
00:28:09,410 --> 00:28:12,570
He just happened to be in a place
where a sniper could get an aim.

542
00:28:14,070 --> 00:28:16,780
We used to do
a four-day stint in a line.

543
00:28:16,780 --> 00:28:21,200
We took with us sufficient food
to last the four days.

544
00:28:22,700 --> 00:28:24,620
Go on, lads, give our love to Jerry.

545
00:28:24,620 --> 00:28:26,120
Mind yourselves out there.

546
00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:30,160
Your day would start before dawn
when NCOs would go round

547
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,160
this 100 yards and
make sure everybody was alive.

548
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:36,870
Of a day in the trenches,
you had two hours on, four off.

549
00:28:36,870 --> 00:28:39,030
A third of the people
were on sentry duty,

550
00:28:39,030 --> 00:28:41,740
a third working
and a third sleeping.

551
00:28:41,740 --> 00:28:43,700
We just slept where we were.

552
00:28:43,700 --> 00:28:46,200
No beds, just flopped down
on the ground.

553
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:48,780
Been to the pictures, mate!

554
00:28:48,780 --> 00:28:51,910
The trench was very wet
and, wherever possible, we would try

555
00:28:51,910 --> 00:28:53,620
and get above the water.

556
00:28:53,620 --> 00:28:56,240
We were able to dig out
the side of the trench

557
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,700
and that was when we used
to steal our sleep

558
00:28:58,700 --> 00:29:01,240
on the two-on and four-off stretch.

559
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,160
And then you'd have
your couple of hours on the parapet

560
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:06,070
and then rest again.

561
00:29:06,070 --> 00:29:09,160
If nothing untoward happened,
there would be perhaps

562
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,820
two or three sentry groups
in the whole company's front.

563
00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:14,950
EXPLOSIONS BOOM IN DISTANCE

564
00:29:24,490 --> 00:29:26,240
It was a job to keep awake.

565
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,200
Woe betide you
if you were caught asleep.

566
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,280
If you are so tired,
you can sleep standing up,

567
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:33,990
which I've done many times.

568
00:29:35,530 --> 00:29:40,780
The first thing you did when you got
into the line was to have a brew-up.

569
00:29:40,780 --> 00:29:43,120
There was one thing
about the Vickers gun,

570
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:44,910
it being a water-cooled weapon,

571
00:29:44,910 --> 00:29:47,370
if you were continuously firing,
you'd find that the water

572
00:29:47,370 --> 00:29:50,160
would be boiling.
You could disconnect the tube

573
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:51,780
and make a cup of tea.

574
00:29:51,780 --> 00:29:54,660
The water came up
in two-gallon petrol cans.

575
00:29:54,660 --> 00:29:57,070
And we could taste the petrol in it
because they couldn't

576
00:29:57,070 --> 00:29:58,950
wash it completely out.

577
00:30:01,950 --> 00:30:04,240
In every bay was a little fireplace.

578
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,700
You used tiny slivers of wood
because if you made smoke

579
00:30:08,700 --> 00:30:10,740
in the front line,
over would come a shell.

580
00:30:10,740 --> 00:30:12,070
I fancy a brew.

581
00:30:12,070 --> 00:30:14,450
But save a drop of that tea
to shave with.

582
00:30:14,450 --> 00:30:16,990
Because we had to shave
in the front line.

583
00:30:16,990 --> 00:30:19,740
We used to put a lot of tins
out on the parapet

584
00:30:19,740 --> 00:30:23,120
if it rained. You daren't touch
any of the other water.

585
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,910
We were scooping water
out of shell holes,

586
00:30:25,910 --> 00:30:27,990
there might have been
dead bodies underneath.

587
00:30:27,990 --> 00:30:30,120
We thought as long as
we boiled it for a long time,

588
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,240
all the green stuff
would come off the top.

589
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,990
Nice and gentle.
Anyway, we'd made tea with it.

590
00:30:34,990 --> 00:30:37,320
That's how I got
my dose of dysentery.

591
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:39,950
Of course,
there was no sanitary arrangements.

592
00:30:39,950 --> 00:30:42,160
They'd dig a trench
and stick a pole across,

593
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:45,910
and you'd get about seven
or eight chaps on the pole.

594
00:30:45,910 --> 00:30:48,070
God, to have a clear-out
was terrible.

595
00:30:48,070 --> 00:30:49,780
FLIES BUZZ

596
00:30:49,780 --> 00:30:52,280
People used to go
to the toilet with no privacy.

597
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,530
Being rather a shy nature,
if I had pissed with somebody,

598
00:30:55,530 --> 00:30:57,070
I felt a bit nervous.

599
00:30:57,070 --> 00:31:00,030
But when you were in the Army,
you got quite used to it.

600
00:31:00,030 --> 00:31:02,660
Of course, it didn't matter a damn
because there was no women

601
00:31:02,660 --> 00:31:04,200
or anything like that.

602
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,700
The flies used to crawl
over your bottom.

603
00:31:06,700 --> 00:31:07,990
Most unpleasant.

604
00:31:07,990 --> 00:31:09,990
And no such thing as toilet rolls.

605
00:31:09,990 --> 00:31:12,120
You had to wipe your
behind with your hand.

606
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,570
Your hands might have been
in all sorts of things,

607
00:31:14,570 --> 00:31:16,200
but you never washed.

608
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:17,910
Well, you heard a terrific shout...

609
00:31:17,910 --> 00:31:19,660
MEN SHOUT AND YELL, LOUD THUD

610
00:31:19,660 --> 00:31:22,570
..and the pole had snapped
and the poor men

611
00:31:22,570 --> 00:31:24,870
who were sitting on the bar
fell down in the muck!

612
00:31:24,870 --> 00:31:26,820
MEN LAUGH

613
00:31:26,820 --> 00:31:29,780
There was always the humorous side
of the war.

614
00:31:29,780 --> 00:31:32,950
We had to put rifles down for them
to hang onto,

615
00:31:32,950 --> 00:31:37,780
and they came out like slimy rabbits
and nobody wanted to go near them.

616
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,160
We had no spare clothes at all
and you were living for weeks

617
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,240
without washing or getting a bath.

618
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,240
I personally became really badly
infested and chatty,

619
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:52,780
as we used to call it,
with these lice.

620
00:31:52,780 --> 00:31:55,320
Oh, lice was a dreadful problem.

621
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,910
They were funny little things,
like little monster sort of things,

622
00:31:58,910 --> 00:32:01,910
with six legs, and they used
to feed ten times a day.

623
00:32:01,910 --> 00:32:03,620
You had to kill the bloody things.

624
00:32:03,620 --> 00:32:05,950
My favourite way was burning them.

625
00:32:05,950 --> 00:32:08,910
You would run the seams
over the lighted candle

626
00:32:08,910 --> 00:32:11,530
and you could hear the eggs going
pop, pop, pop, pop.

627
00:32:11,530 --> 00:32:13,370
POPPING

628
00:32:13,370 --> 00:32:15,870
The sooner you got the shirt back
again, the heat of the body

629
00:32:15,870 --> 00:32:17,780
hatched the eggs that you'd missed.

630
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,780
And we was just as lousy
the next day.

631
00:32:24,530 --> 00:32:27,990
Each man prepared his own breakfast.

632
00:32:27,990 --> 00:32:31,740
Bread and jam was about
16 men to a loaf of bread.

633
00:32:33,490 --> 00:32:35,780
There'd be a little bit of bacon
which would suffice

634
00:32:35,780 --> 00:32:37,910
for half a dozen men.

635
00:32:37,910 --> 00:32:41,320
You'd put your rasher of bacon
in your mess tin lid,

636
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,910
put a few more sticks on your fire
and you would fry your bacon.

637
00:32:45,910 --> 00:32:48,910
And then soak up the fat
with a piece of biscuit

638
00:32:48,910 --> 00:32:51,030
and then there you are
with the breakfast.

639
00:32:51,030 --> 00:32:53,700
Dinner time was mostly
bully beef cut up and stewed,

640
00:32:53,700 --> 00:32:56,740
along with all sorts
of vegetables from tins.

641
00:32:56,740 --> 00:33:00,070
Magonoghie's tinned stew was
mixed up with the bully beef.

642
00:33:00,070 --> 00:33:03,490
I've gone into French dugouts
and eaten biscuits

643
00:33:03,490 --> 00:33:06,070
which had been left by the troops
two years previously,

644
00:33:06,070 --> 00:33:10,490
and tasted the green mould in them,
but it didn't do me any harm.

645
00:33:10,490 --> 00:33:13,910
This was how it was. Anything's
good, you know, when you're hungry.

646
00:33:13,910 --> 00:33:16,240
And you were always hungry.
HE LAUGHS

647
00:33:17,660 --> 00:33:20,370
But any given moment,
we could expect to be shelled.

648
00:33:20,370 --> 00:33:22,490
SHELL WHIZZES AND BANGS

649
00:33:22,490 --> 00:33:24,910
You had very little protection
against that.

650
00:33:24,910 --> 00:33:28,660
One would hear a mild pop
as the gun fired five miles away.

651
00:33:30,990 --> 00:33:33,740
And in the five or six seconds
it took to come,

652
00:33:33,740 --> 00:33:36,910
you can pass through quite a number
of psychological changes.

653
00:33:42,950 --> 00:33:45,620
I can't remember anything more
nerve-racking

654
00:33:45,620 --> 00:33:49,620
than the continuous shelling,
without stop, went on day and night.

655
00:33:49,620 --> 00:33:53,030
But we were always told that you
never heard the shell that hit you

656
00:33:53,030 --> 00:33:55,990
because most of them
travelled faster than sound.

657
00:33:55,990 --> 00:34:00,240
But you could literally feel your
heart pounding against the ground.

658
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,780
The emotional strain
was absolutely terrific.

659
00:34:02,780 --> 00:34:05,070
Although a shell might burst
50 yards away,

660
00:34:05,070 --> 00:34:07,820
you might find a fragment
of jagged iron,

661
00:34:07,820 --> 00:34:09,910
really red hot
and weighing half a pound,

662
00:34:09,910 --> 00:34:12,120
arriving in your trench.

663
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,780
You see people blown to little bits.

664
00:34:14,780 --> 00:34:17,070
I've actually had to put a man
in a sandbag.

665
00:34:17,070 --> 00:34:19,280
Every now and again,
there would be a great roar

666
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:21,320
like an aeroplane
coming in to land...

667
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:22,660
LOUD BANG

668
00:34:22,660 --> 00:34:25,160
..and in a fifth of a second,
your resolution would break

669
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,120
and you'd throw yourself down
into the mud

670
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,240
and the other ones
would laugh at you.

671
00:34:29,240 --> 00:34:32,160
The shrapnel shell would burst
in the air and spray bullets

672
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:33,660
on the troops below.

673
00:34:35,530 --> 00:34:36,990
As if they were from a shotgun.

674
00:34:38,950 --> 00:34:42,490
The bullets came down,
whistling like all the hobs of hell.

675
00:34:46,370 --> 00:34:49,240
Another one of the annoyances
we had was the Germans

676
00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:50,740
were very active with mining.

677
00:34:52,870 --> 00:34:54,820
We crouched down underneath
the front parapet

678
00:34:54,820 --> 00:34:56,410
to dodge the debris falling,

679
00:34:56,410 --> 00:35:00,200
and I got the men to open up
rapid fire to prevent the Germans

680
00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,700
from getting into that crater
where they could bomb us.

681
00:35:03,700 --> 00:35:06,700
If the front line gets damaged,
it's got to be repaired.

682
00:35:06,700 --> 00:35:08,320
Well,
the people who are in the line,

683
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,070
they've got to get on with it.

684
00:35:10,070 --> 00:35:14,530
I had in my mind that we expected
big gunfire to light amongst

685
00:35:14,530 --> 00:35:17,870
all us cavalry and absolutely
swipe us off the face of the Earth.

686
00:35:21,700 --> 00:35:23,780
I shouted, "Gallop!" like that.

687
00:35:23,780 --> 00:35:25,990
They dropped 'em all at once,
the horses.

688
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:29,620
Oh, a heck of a mess.

689
00:35:29,620 --> 00:35:32,620
The horses were laying down,
with their intestines hanging out,

690
00:35:32,620 --> 00:35:35,660
and men with matter hanging out
of theirs.

691
00:35:35,660 --> 00:35:38,200
"And that, boys," they said,
"the bloody Germans!"

692
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,160
To lose a horse was
like losing a friend.

693
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,910
The Brigadier turned
to our captain and he says,

694
00:35:43,910 --> 00:35:45,910
"See that the boy has
two or three days' rest.

695
00:35:45,910 --> 00:35:47,490
"When a boy likes an animal
like that,

696
00:35:47,490 --> 00:35:50,030
"there's not a lot wrong with him."

697
00:35:50,030 --> 00:35:52,530
Over the whole of the front line,
there was a smell.

698
00:35:52,530 --> 00:35:54,910
It wasn't a complicated smell,

699
00:35:54,910 --> 00:35:57,820
it was the smell
of decaying corpses.

700
00:35:57,820 --> 00:36:00,030
Nasty, sickly smell.

701
00:36:00,030 --> 00:36:01,660
You never forgot that smell.

702
00:36:01,660 --> 00:36:04,280
FLIES BUZZ

703
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:05,910
It was the smell of death.

704
00:36:05,910 --> 00:36:10,120
If you've ever smelt a dead mouse,
it was like that, but hundreds

705
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,030
and hundreds of times worse.

706
00:36:13,910 --> 00:36:15,450
It seemed to cling to everything.

707
00:36:15,450 --> 00:36:19,160
When you was having your food,
you could taste it.

708
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:24,070
The awful stench and bits of
human bodies laying about,

709
00:36:24,070 --> 00:36:26,820
it became an everyday thing.

710
00:36:26,820 --> 00:36:29,910
We thought, well, it'll be you
too next, what does it matter?

711
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:36,240
Wherever there was a grave
or a body, there were rats.

712
00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:37,490
They were all big fat ones

713
00:36:37,490 --> 00:36:40,200
and we knew where they got
the fat from.

714
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:45,450
Unpleasant animals, because of
the filtration into the graves.

715
00:36:45,620 --> 00:36:48,820
They used to feed on the dead
and come in the dugouts,

716
00:36:48,820 --> 00:36:50,530
pick up scraps in there.

717
00:36:50,530 --> 00:36:52,450
I woke up in the bottom
of the trench

718
00:36:52,450 --> 00:36:54,990
and felt something warm on my face.

719
00:36:54,990 --> 00:36:57,950
And a little heart
going bang, bang, bang.

720
00:36:57,950 --> 00:37:00,450
The devil scratched my face
with the claws of his hind feet

721
00:37:00,450 --> 00:37:01,780
as he took off.

722
00:37:01,780 --> 00:37:04,070
We used to try and shoot them,
hit them, kill them,

723
00:37:04,070 --> 00:37:05,530
chase them, do anything.

724
00:37:05,530 --> 00:37:07,160
GUNSHOTS AND BANGING, RATS SQUEAK

725
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:09,200
Then you've got gas.

726
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,370
We saw this green cloud
coming towards us.

727
00:37:12,370 --> 00:37:14,450
Just rolling slowly
along the ground.

728
00:37:14,450 --> 00:37:16,030
They'd shout "gas"...
MEN SHOUT

729
00:37:16,030 --> 00:37:18,240
..and you had to take your mask out
and stick it on

730
00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:19,740
in two, three seconds.

731
00:37:19,740 --> 00:37:24,070
Yes, it was phosgene gas,
later on there was mustard gas.

732
00:37:24,070 --> 00:37:25,950
That was very effective.

733
00:37:25,950 --> 00:37:29,160
I never saw a slightly gassed man.

734
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,240
If you couldn't get your gas mask,
you were to pee on your handkerchief

735
00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:34,570
and stuff this round
your nose and mouth.

736
00:37:34,570 --> 00:37:37,070
I don't mind admitting that
I didn't think much of the

737
00:37:37,070 --> 00:37:40,070
urinating on the handkerchief,
so I went into one of

738
00:37:40,070 --> 00:37:43,660
the trench's latrines
and I stuck my head in a bucket.

739
00:37:43,660 --> 00:37:45,820
But I'll tell you, I couldn't
hold my breath any more,

740
00:37:45,820 --> 00:37:48,910
came up, took a good breath of air,
down again.

741
00:37:48,910 --> 00:37:51,030
We were very soon
enveloped in this thick,

742
00:37:51,030 --> 00:37:52,780
yellow, filthy cloud.

743
00:37:52,780 --> 00:37:56,070
The more we tried to get rid
of the sting in our eyes,

744
00:37:56,070 --> 00:37:57,780
the worse it got.

745
00:37:59,870 --> 00:38:02,030
And I thought deeply
of what the effect of blindness

746
00:38:02,030 --> 00:38:03,740
was going to be.

747
00:38:03,740 --> 00:38:07,780
The extraction of clotted blood
and the injection of saline

748
00:38:07,780 --> 00:38:09,870
could alleviate a lot
of the trouble.

749
00:38:09,870 --> 00:38:12,910
And as I was gassed myself,
I can speak from experience.

750
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,950
In the winter time,
as the weather deteriorated,

751
00:38:17,950 --> 00:38:21,070
so the trenches got
more and more sodden with water

752
00:38:21,070 --> 00:38:23,450
until they just became ditches.

753
00:38:23,450 --> 00:38:26,120
The water was swirling
about our feet and rising higher

754
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:29,570
and higher
until it reached our chests.

755
00:38:29,570 --> 00:38:32,530
Our difficulty was frostbite.

756
00:38:32,530 --> 00:38:36,280
Our gumboots filled with water,
and in the mornings we could not

757
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,030
split them off because
they were frozen to our feet.

758
00:38:40,030 --> 00:38:42,200
When you're talking
about trench feet,

759
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:43,740
you're talking about gangrene.

760
00:38:43,740 --> 00:38:48,160
Send him straight down the line,
hack the legs off.

761
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:50,070
Give us a hand with that, will you?

762
00:38:50,070 --> 00:38:54,160
When the water had soaked into the
earth, the floors of the trenches

763
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:59,200
were just paved with liquid mud,
and that became like glue.

764
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:03,240
It was a curious
sucking kind of mud.

765
00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:05,740
Very disgusting indeed,
very tenacious.

766
00:39:05,740 --> 00:39:07,450
It stuck to you.

767
00:39:07,450 --> 00:39:11,070
If one had to go
to the rear for rations,

768
00:39:11,070 --> 00:39:13,450
well, that was just
a nightmare journey.

769
00:39:13,450 --> 00:39:15,280
Slithering about.

770
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,570
When it was pouring with rain
and on slippery duck boards,

771
00:39:18,570 --> 00:39:20,990
the language was really edifying.

772
00:39:20,990 --> 00:39:23,870
You heard words that
you never dream existed.

773
00:39:23,870 --> 00:39:27,070
And if you slipped off the duck
boards, you just sank into the mud

774
00:39:27,070 --> 00:39:30,240
of decomposed bodies
of humans and mules,

775
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:32,660
and that was the end of you.

776
00:39:32,660 --> 00:39:35,910
The boy, he was in the middle
of this huge sea of mud, struggling,

777
00:39:35,910 --> 00:39:37,490
and we couldn't do a thing.

778
00:39:37,490 --> 00:39:39,120
There was no hope of getting to him.

779
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:41,910
The look on the lad's face,
and he was a mere boy,

780
00:39:41,910 --> 00:39:43,910
was really pathetic.
COUGHING AND SPLUTTERING

781
00:39:43,910 --> 00:39:47,570
I've seen men sinking into the mud
and dying in the slime.

782
00:39:47,570 --> 00:39:50,160
I think it absolutely
finished me off.

783
00:39:51,740 --> 00:39:54,280
It was supposed to be quiet and
then you might get

784
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:57,160
some drunken German saying, "I'm
going to give them hell today,"

785
00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:58,870
and opened up with all
his batteries

786
00:39:58,870 --> 00:40:00,950
and catch hundreds of people
in the line-up.

787
00:40:00,950 --> 00:40:04,370
And that was what they called
holding the line.

788
00:40:04,370 --> 00:40:08,240
We were in conditions that isolated
us completely from civilisation.

789
00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:12,620
We got so generate,
so isolated living in this mud.

790
00:40:12,620 --> 00:40:16,320
And you could sympathise
with how a rabbit must feel

791
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,620
because we were hunted by mankind,
just the same as a rabbit.

792
00:40:19,620 --> 00:40:22,160
You knew your lives were in
one another's hands

793
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:24,660
and it united you very closely
and you didn't let anything

794
00:40:24,660 --> 00:40:26,780
interfere with that.

795
00:40:26,780 --> 00:40:29,120
You knew what was going
on within your vision.

796
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,070
Beyond that, you hadn't got a clue.
HARMONICA PLAYS

797
00:40:32,070 --> 00:40:35,820
You didn't care how the war
was going, whether we were winning.

798
00:40:35,820 --> 00:40:37,780
You weren't bothered
with that at all.

799
00:40:37,780 --> 00:40:40,910
You lived like tramps,
you didn't polish any buttons,

800
00:40:40,910 --> 00:40:44,570
you wore any uniformed bits
that you liked and nobody worried.

801
00:40:44,570 --> 00:40:47,740
All they were concerned
with was that you were fit to fight.

802
00:40:47,740 --> 00:40:49,870
If nothing's happening,
you chat about life,

803
00:40:49,870 --> 00:40:52,030
where he came from
and you came from.

804
00:40:52,030 --> 00:40:53,410
Everything was friendly.

805
00:40:53,410 --> 00:40:55,530
There was a terrific lot
of kindness in a way,

806
00:40:55,530 --> 00:40:57,070
to each person.

807
00:40:57,070 --> 00:40:59,990
When the war was not very active,
it was really rather fun

808
00:40:59,990 --> 00:41:01,570
to be in the front line.

809
00:41:01,570 --> 00:41:05,120
It was not very dangerous,
the sort of outdoor camping holiday

810
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:09,950
with the boys, with a slight spice
of danger to make it interesting.

811
00:41:09,950 --> 00:41:13,570
We used to raid the trenches
and get a prisoner if possible.

812
00:41:13,570 --> 00:41:17,320
And a typical trench raid
would be perhaps eight in passing.

813
00:41:18,870 --> 00:41:21,070
If you was going to make a raid,
somebody would cut

814
00:41:21,070 --> 00:41:23,280
a passage through the wire
at night-time.

815
00:41:26,030 --> 00:41:28,160
The only way to do it
was silently...

816
00:41:30,490 --> 00:41:32,740
..to rush it,
and that was the arrangement.

817
00:41:32,740 --> 00:41:35,070
We would bomb and bayonet
the Germans coming out

818
00:41:35,070 --> 00:41:37,660
on their hands and knees
out the dugout, we'd smack them

819
00:41:37,660 --> 00:41:40,200
over the head and throw
in a couple of bombs.

820
00:41:44,700 --> 00:41:47,200
And there were three ways
of getting rid of him.

821
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:50,370
One was to knife him,
garrotte him or to bayonet him.

822
00:41:50,370 --> 00:41:53,530
Quietest was the quick wrap
around the throat

823
00:41:53,530 --> 00:41:54,990
and knife into the back.

824
00:41:59,070 --> 00:42:01,320
I threw a revolver
at poor little Rudolph,

825
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:02,620
he was only about 18.

826
00:42:02,620 --> 00:42:04,370
I hit him in the face with it.

827
00:42:04,370 --> 00:42:06,820
He screamed and came back at me,
and that's when I got him.

828
00:42:06,820 --> 00:42:09,410
Got him with a Very pistol.

829
00:42:09,410 --> 00:42:11,200
Well done, chaps! Good raid!

830
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,820
I always had a full flask
and I gave him a drink.

831
00:42:13,820 --> 00:42:15,780
I felt very sorry for him.

832
00:42:15,780 --> 00:42:18,910
He said, "Danke schoen,
das ist gut," and died.

833
00:42:26,570 --> 00:42:29,910
And it was a very successful raid,
they got two prisoners, I think,

834
00:42:29,910 --> 00:42:32,200
which was all they all wanted.

835
00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:35,030
By the way, the men
who were captured on the trench raid

836
00:42:35,030 --> 00:42:40,120
were the first Germans I saw
on the Western Front.

837
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:43,280
A lot of the German troops,
they were very good, very friendly.

838
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:47,160
In fact, some of those Bavarians
were dammed good, decent people.

839
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,410
The snipers would fire
but not hit anybody,

840
00:42:49,410 --> 00:42:50,660
know what I mean?

841
00:42:52,490 --> 00:42:54,870
They put up a sign - "Gott mit uns."

842
00:42:54,870 --> 00:42:56,620
God is with us.

843
00:42:56,620 --> 00:42:59,700
And we put a sign up in English -
"We've got mittens too!"

844
00:42:59,700 --> 00:43:02,280
We don't know if the Germans
enjoyed that joke or not.

845
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:05,450
There was a wounded German,
he was a Wartenberger, I think.

846
00:43:05,450 --> 00:43:07,700
We did what we could for him,
we gave him a bit of food

847
00:43:07,700 --> 00:43:11,410
and that sort of thing, and
he was cursing the Prussians.

848
00:43:11,410 --> 00:43:15,660
The Saxons were in front of us
and they gave us the warning

849
00:43:15,660 --> 00:43:19,240
that there were going
to be relieved by the Prussians.

850
00:43:19,240 --> 00:43:22,160
And they said to us,
"Give them hell."

851
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,450
They hated the Prussians.

852
00:43:24,450 --> 00:43:26,370
The Prussians were cruel bastards.

853
00:43:28,780 --> 00:43:30,620
Hurry up! This way.
Schnell, schnell!

854
00:43:30,620 --> 00:43:32,990
Watch yourself. Come along!

855
00:43:32,990 --> 00:43:35,070
The Bavarians or the Saxonians,

856
00:43:35,070 --> 00:43:37,370
they were the more civilised
of the Germans.

857
00:43:37,370 --> 00:43:39,120
Part English, if anything.

858
00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:45,280
After a four-day spell
in the front line,

859
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:49,070
we were relieved and we had to
march back to the billets

860
00:43:49,070 --> 00:43:51,410
a few miles behind the lines.

861
00:43:51,410 --> 00:43:54,870
We were going for
a supposed one-week's rest.

862
00:43:54,870 --> 00:43:56,910
Everybody was dead whacked.

863
00:43:56,910 --> 00:43:58,780
We were all pretty knocked up.

864
00:43:58,780 --> 00:44:01,070
We extricated ourselves from the mud

865
00:44:01,070 --> 00:44:04,120
to what was, somewhat ironically,
called rest.

866
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,700
In the front line itself,
you didn't criticise people

867
00:44:07,700 --> 00:44:10,450
and if you had a chap
who was a bit dicky,

868
00:44:10,450 --> 00:44:12,820
you would keep an eye on him,
just like in a family.

869
00:44:12,820 --> 00:44:15,410
But when you got out of the line,
you'd want nothing to do

870
00:44:15,410 --> 00:44:16,950
with those people at all.

871
00:44:16,950 --> 00:44:19,070
I mean, you can't call
it comradeship exactly,

872
00:44:19,070 --> 00:44:20,620
it was the way you did it.

873
00:44:20,620 --> 00:44:23,370
Come and get your mail!
Welcome back!

874
00:44:23,370 --> 00:44:27,160
The thing which always struck me
as being absolutely stupid

875
00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:31,620
was the next morning,
every man had to be spick and span,

876
00:44:31,620 --> 00:44:33,280
not a trace of mud on him.

877
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:38,780
You'd brush off clothes or dry
them off the best way you could

878
00:44:38,780 --> 00:44:40,280
and clean your boots.

879
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:43,030
In other words, smarten yourself up.

880
00:44:43,030 --> 00:44:45,950
THEY PLAY
It's A Long Way To Tipperary

881
00:44:55,820 --> 00:44:58,280
The men would always appear
the same -

882
00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:02,030
cheerful and, in the circumstances,
happy as they could be,

883
00:45:02,030 --> 00:45:04,030
making the best of everything.

884
00:45:04,030 --> 00:45:06,620
You know, in true British fashion.

885
00:45:07,780 --> 00:45:11,990
What? The Cockney wit was prevalent
and we were all lads together,

886
00:45:11,990 --> 00:45:15,200
you know, we didn't care about it.

887
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:19,370
We'd make a fuss about nothing,
the little things that didn't matter

888
00:45:19,370 --> 00:45:22,620
really, because it was something
to fill the time in.

889
00:45:22,620 --> 00:45:25,280
We used to have to make
our own amusements.

890
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:26,490
Bloody bastard!

891
00:45:26,490 --> 00:45:28,320
You laughed at the slightest things.

892
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:31,490
I think probably it was the
general tension of the atmosphere

893
00:45:31,490 --> 00:45:33,570
that used to make us like that,
you know?

894
00:45:35,740 --> 00:45:39,320
My mother sent me a parcel
with a plum pudding, of all things,

895
00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:41,870
and had no thought of
not being able to cook it,

896
00:45:41,870 --> 00:45:43,530
so we used it as a rugby ball.

897
00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:48,200
We had this regimental sports day.

898
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:50,740
And I won't say
I was the only sober one,

899
00:45:50,740 --> 00:45:53,870
but most of them were merry
about it.

900
00:45:58,410 --> 00:46:00,410
MEN LAUGH AND SHOUT

901
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:04,700
I mean, you took part in everything
because you had to fill

902
00:46:04,700 --> 00:46:07,160
your time in, you know.

903
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,120
Otherwise all you did
was sit about and smoke.

904
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:11,070
CHILDREN LAUGH

905
00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:16,820
The only time we saw the artillery
was when we was out of rest.

906
00:46:16,820 --> 00:46:18,570
Fire!

907
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:23,660
They would be, say,
two miles behind the line.

908
00:46:25,410 --> 00:46:27,660
Fire!

909
00:46:27,660 --> 00:46:30,530
We wanted to neutralise enemy
batteries, so we were registering

910
00:46:30,530 --> 00:46:32,240
our batteries on his.
Fire!

911
00:46:34,740 --> 00:46:36,660
We used to know the line
and elevation

912
00:46:36,660 --> 00:46:38,530
because it was done by aircraft.

913
00:46:40,870 --> 00:46:44,030
It was pretty ghastly, but the idea
was to kill as many German gunners

914
00:46:44,030 --> 00:46:45,240
as you could.

915
00:46:45,240 --> 00:46:46,450
Ready!

916
00:46:48,490 --> 00:46:50,030
Fire!

917
00:46:56,660 --> 00:46:59,740
There was no motorised transport
for guns.

918
00:46:59,740 --> 00:47:02,320
The guns used to be
brought up by horses.

919
00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:03,950
Eight horses to each gun team.

920
00:47:03,950 --> 00:47:05,620
Four horses to each wagon team.

921
00:47:05,620 --> 00:47:07,240
About 60 horses.

922
00:47:08,820 --> 00:47:11,780
The gunners made a filthy noise,
jingling and jingling

923
00:47:11,780 --> 00:47:13,700
and the horses making
noises both ends.

924
00:47:13,700 --> 00:47:15,780
And it was always
of great concern for those of us

925
00:47:15,780 --> 00:47:17,490
who were going into battle.

926
00:47:17,490 --> 00:47:20,120
Heave!
MEN GRUNT, HORSES BRAY

927
00:47:21,700 --> 00:47:23,200
Heave!

928
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:30,530
Each company officer
paid his own company.

929
00:47:30,530 --> 00:47:34,070
Now, it was generally the
first morning after we were out

930
00:47:34,070 --> 00:47:36,870
of the line, you got five francs.

931
00:47:36,870 --> 00:47:39,660
A franc was worth 10p,
so 50p was your pay

932
00:47:39,660 --> 00:47:41,990
for a fortnight, 50p.

933
00:47:41,990 --> 00:47:44,910
Now, that's a week
of riotous living.

934
00:47:44,910 --> 00:47:48,370
Every town of any size at all
had a brothel

935
00:47:48,370 --> 00:47:51,990
and that was where most
of these boys learned a little bit

936
00:47:51,990 --> 00:47:55,410
more about life than they would ever
have done in normal civil life.

937
00:47:55,410 --> 00:47:58,280
So although they were young
in years, it wasn't long

938
00:47:58,280 --> 00:48:00,990
before they were quite worldly men.

939
00:48:00,990 --> 00:48:03,410
One of the lads said,
"Let's go and have a look

940
00:48:03,410 --> 00:48:05,990
"in the White Star.
It's like a pub."

941
00:48:05,990 --> 00:48:08,700
I'd led a very sheltered life.

942
00:48:08,700 --> 00:48:12,530
And they were beautiful girls
with just a piece of lace on,

943
00:48:12,530 --> 00:48:16,820
and, oh, my word, I'd never seen
anything like it before!

944
00:48:16,820 --> 00:48:20,120
There was I, a young lad, knowing
nothing about this, and off we go,

945
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:23,370
and these men were
going up to see the girls.

946
00:48:23,370 --> 00:48:25,660
I was very keen. I said
to one of these fellas,

947
00:48:25,660 --> 00:48:27,320
"I've only got a sixpence."

948
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:29,990
He said, "That's no good,
it's a shilling."

949
00:48:29,990 --> 00:48:32,820
That was my first experience
of a brothel.

950
00:48:32,820 --> 00:48:35,910
Anyway, we looked in there
for a couple of minutes,

951
00:48:35,910 --> 00:48:38,870
when four or five naked girls
came running down the corridor.

952
00:48:38,870 --> 00:48:41,030
We turned tail and ran!

953
00:48:41,030 --> 00:48:43,160
It was an eye-opener to me.

954
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:45,740
There she stood, great, big woman,

955
00:48:45,740 --> 00:48:48,240
with this little cane in her hand
and she belted my backside

956
00:48:48,240 --> 00:48:49,740
as if I was a little schoolboy.

957
00:48:49,740 --> 00:48:51,990
Pelted Sergeant this
and pelted Sergeant the other,

958
00:48:51,990 --> 00:48:53,740
thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!

959
00:48:53,740 --> 00:48:56,070
HE LAUGHS

960
00:48:56,070 --> 00:48:57,530
Oh, gambling?

961
00:48:57,530 --> 00:48:59,280
People were gambling all day long.

962
00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:01,910
The Canadians and the Australians
used a gamble terrific

963
00:49:01,910 --> 00:49:03,280
amounts of money.

964
00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:04,950
More money than any of us seen.

965
00:49:08,370 --> 00:49:10,570
The beer was very thin indeed.

966
00:49:10,570 --> 00:49:15,160
It was one and nine stuff -
one pint, nine piddles.

967
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:18,320
Friday was always the issue day
for cigarettes

968
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:21,240
and the cigarettes were
Three Witches,

969
00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:24,870
which soon became
Three Bitches or Red Hue Tsars.

970
00:49:24,870 --> 00:49:29,120
I think they were made
from stable returns.

971
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:32,910
But generally, in good-sized
villages, you could get Woodbines

972
00:49:32,910 --> 00:49:38,160
and Player's, and they were far
preferable to the issue cigarettes.

973
00:49:39,240 --> 00:49:42,030
Of course, we were always
bartering with the Frenchmen.

974
00:49:42,030 --> 00:49:43,910
We used to barter some of our
under-clothing

975
00:49:43,910 --> 00:49:46,030
and get a loaf of bread with it.

976
00:49:46,030 --> 00:49:49,780
We used to swap our British
cigarettes for their French wine.

977
00:49:49,780 --> 00:49:53,200
It could be just as tiring out
of the line as in the line

978
00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:54,910
and it was sometimes worse.

979
00:49:54,910 --> 00:49:56,950
If you were chosen for fatigue,

980
00:49:56,950 --> 00:49:59,990
you'd have to go
on the working party.

981
00:49:59,990 --> 00:50:04,200
You collected stores from a big dump
three or four miles back.

982
00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:06,780
Enormous bundles of sandbags,

983
00:50:06,780 --> 00:50:10,370
many made-up duck boards
and, worst of all, barbed wire.

984
00:50:11,700 --> 00:50:13,320
It was always hard work.

985
00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:16,950
You were a bonny labouring boy
more than you were a fighter.

986
00:50:16,950 --> 00:50:19,910
All the chaps were very tired,
but it made no difference.

987
00:50:19,910 --> 00:50:21,910
And they were mentally tired out.

988
00:50:21,910 --> 00:50:24,030
They'd just come out of a
trench tour for a rest

989
00:50:24,030 --> 00:50:26,450
and this was
the kind of rest they were getting.

990
00:50:27,950 --> 00:50:32,160
You would be carrying stuff
up on a light railway.

991
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:36,200
Yes, they laid a narrow gauge,
light railway track.

992
00:50:36,200 --> 00:50:39,950
It was the simplest of things,
just platforms on wheels,

993
00:50:39,950 --> 00:50:42,200
driven by light locomotives.

994
00:50:50,370 --> 00:50:52,490
Light railways were always
a blooming nuisance

995
00:50:52,490 --> 00:50:55,450
because they were always
coming off the track.

996
00:50:55,450 --> 00:50:59,320
And they lost control of this truck
going down a slight incline

997
00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:01,570
and it would barge
into the one in front,

998
00:51:01,570 --> 00:51:05,910
which scattered the duck boards
all over the place.

999
00:51:05,910 --> 00:51:09,410
We used to take our mess tins
up to the engine driver

1000
00:51:09,410 --> 00:51:12,620
and get some boiling water
for our brew-up of tea.

1001
00:51:15,700 --> 00:51:17,200
And another.

1002
00:51:19,570 --> 00:51:23,990
The Germans could see the steam
and smoke from the steam engine.

1003
00:51:23,990 --> 00:51:26,740
So then it was mostly petrol engines

1004
00:51:26,740 --> 00:51:29,200
which used to run up
to the trenches.

1005
00:51:32,030 --> 00:51:35,030
The light railway only went
as far as the communication trench,

1006
00:51:35,030 --> 00:51:37,740
and then we had to push the thing
along by hand.

1007
00:51:41,780 --> 00:51:43,910
Somebody came along and said,
"This is it, we're going

1008
00:51:43,910 --> 00:51:45,530
"to be home by Christmas!

1009
00:51:45,530 --> 00:51:47,280
"We'll just go down the road

1010
00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:49,620
"and look in a field there,
you'll see."

1011
00:51:49,620 --> 00:51:51,950
Wouldn't tell us why.
Anyway, we went down.

1012
00:51:51,950 --> 00:51:55,320
They were on the roadside covered
with tarpaulin sheets.

1013
00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:59,120
You could see nothing
except a square outline.

1014
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:02,070
And then the officer said, "These
are supposed to be hush-hush."

1015
00:52:02,070 --> 00:52:05,070
When we asked what it was,
the simple reply was "tanks".

1016
00:52:05,070 --> 00:52:09,030
Knowing the shortage of water,
we naturally assumed water tanks

1017
00:52:09,030 --> 00:52:11,240
and thought that we were
getting reserve supplies.

1018
00:52:11,240 --> 00:52:13,740
It was one of the best-kept secrets.

1019
00:52:13,740 --> 00:52:16,030
We were delighted because
these wonderful machines

1020
00:52:16,030 --> 00:52:17,410
were going to win the war.

1021
00:52:18,950 --> 00:52:20,990
Soon everybody would be home again.

1022
00:52:20,990 --> 00:52:23,030
Of course, it didn't
happen like that.

1023
00:52:25,780 --> 00:52:30,030
We were taken out of the line
and had intensive training.

1024
00:52:30,030 --> 00:52:34,320
Plunge the bayonet into the sack,
shout like hell.

1025
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:37,910
It was to get used to plunging
them into somebody's body.

1026
00:52:37,910 --> 00:52:40,570
Then we fired our rifles
on the rifle range.

1027
00:52:48,030 --> 00:52:50,410
Firing rifle grenades
is a specialist job.

1028
00:52:52,570 --> 00:52:54,160
But they were clumsy.

1029
00:52:55,410 --> 00:52:57,160
I didn't like them much.

1030
00:52:58,820 --> 00:53:03,030
Forced marching, marching without
a rest and also a frontal attack,

1031
00:53:03,030 --> 00:53:05,370
right flank attack,
left flank attack,

1032
00:53:05,370 --> 00:53:07,700
both flanks attack,
night attack,

1033
00:53:07,700 --> 00:53:10,160
and we wondered what the devil
all this training was for.

1034
00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:13,160
BAGPIPES PLAY

1035
00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:16,370
The corps commander said that
he had just received instructions

1036
00:53:16,370 --> 00:53:20,410
to go ahead with an operation
to break through the German lines.

1037
00:53:22,490 --> 00:53:25,240
Suddenly we were called to parade
with full marching order,

1038
00:53:25,240 --> 00:53:28,030
and we had to go back up the front,
and we'd only been out of the line

1039
00:53:28,030 --> 00:53:29,530
a couple of days.

1040
00:53:29,530 --> 00:53:33,320
We could see streams of supplies,
mostly ammunition columns,

1041
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:35,700
going up toward the front.

1042
00:53:35,700 --> 00:53:38,120
We didn't have a lot of notice,
but we knew it was going

1043
00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:39,490
to be a big advance.

1044
00:53:53,870 --> 00:53:55,490
So batteries pushed forward,

1045
00:53:55,490 --> 00:53:57,620
forward positions filled up
with ammunition.

1046
00:53:57,620 --> 00:54:00,280
Let's get these ladders up.

1047
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:04,280
As the great push drew nearer,
the line livened up. It began to get

1048
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:06,950
much more dangerous
and not nearly so much fun.

1049
00:54:06,950 --> 00:54:09,700
And we learnt that
a bayonet charge was to be made

1050
00:54:09,700 --> 00:54:12,950
on German machine gunners.

1051
00:54:12,950 --> 00:54:15,870
"I wish it to be impressed
on all ranks, the importance

1052
00:54:15,870 --> 00:54:18,570
"of the operations
about to commence.

1053
00:54:18,570 --> 00:54:21,320
"The Germans are now outnumbered
and outgunned

1054
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:23,660
"and will soon go
to pieces if every man goes

1055
00:54:23,660 --> 00:54:25,740
"into the fight
determined to get through

1056
00:54:25,740 --> 00:54:27,740
"whatever the local difficulties
may be.

1057
00:54:27,740 --> 00:54:30,780
"I am confident that the brigade
will distinguish itself in this,

1058
00:54:30,780 --> 00:54:32,320
"its first battle.

1059
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:35,910
"Let every man remember
that all England is watching him."

1060
00:54:35,910 --> 00:54:39,620
We marched all through the night,
and it got so bad that officers

1061
00:54:39,620 --> 00:54:43,370
at the side were pushing men back
into line who were straggling out,

1062
00:54:43,370 --> 00:54:46,950
and your legs just seemed
to go automatically forward.

1063
00:54:46,950 --> 00:54:49,410
I had a feeling that we were
walking in our sleep.

1064
00:54:49,410 --> 00:54:51,240
More men were brought into the line,

1065
00:54:51,240 --> 00:54:54,240
regiments were crowded up
closer together.

1066
00:54:54,240 --> 00:54:58,320
We were filling up the trenches,
packed in like sardines.

1067
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:02,370
Our captain was a splendid man.
He would never bark an order at you,

1068
00:55:02,370 --> 00:55:04,910
he would give an order
in a conversational way.

1069
00:55:04,910 --> 00:55:06,990
"We don't know exactly
how far this trench is,

1070
00:55:06,990 --> 00:55:09,990
"but between 200 and 300 yards.

1071
00:55:09,990 --> 00:55:13,160
"I will go over with the first wave
and you will be in the second wave.

1072
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:16,530
"And as soon as the curtain fire
starts, we'll move.

1073
00:55:16,530 --> 00:55:19,070
"Now, go along and tell
your men to be ready."

1074
00:55:19,070 --> 00:55:21,820
And this is the
sort of order we got.

1075
00:55:21,820 --> 00:55:24,870
I had two assorted companies,
both ignorant of what their conduct

1076
00:55:24,870 --> 00:55:26,700
would be when they got into action.

1077
00:55:26,700 --> 00:55:29,620
So Captain Neville thought it
might be helpful if he could furnish

1078
00:55:29,620 --> 00:55:32,200
each platoon with a football
and allow them to kick it forward

1079
00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:33,660
and follow it.

1080
00:55:33,660 --> 00:55:35,990
I think myself that it did help
them enormously,

1081
00:55:35,990 --> 00:55:37,910
it took their minds off it.

1082
00:55:37,910 --> 00:55:41,280
We had an extra bandolier
of ammunition around our necks,

1083
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:43,820
and if you didn't have a shovel,
you had a pick.

1084
00:55:43,820 --> 00:55:46,910
We got in the trenches
and we waited for zero hour.

1085
00:55:46,910 --> 00:55:49,780
All the watches were synchronised.

1086
00:55:49,780 --> 00:55:52,070
I was what's called
a first bayonet man,

1087
00:55:52,070 --> 00:55:54,370
which meant that I carried
the rifle with the bayonet

1088
00:55:54,370 --> 00:55:55,950
in the attacking position,

1089
00:55:55,950 --> 00:55:58,200
and the rest of the men
carried bags of bombs.

1090
00:56:00,740 --> 00:56:03,450
And we were warned to be ready
to advance at any moment.

1091
00:56:03,450 --> 00:56:06,530
"Any moment" was quite a long time
coming and, of course, that added

1092
00:56:06,530 --> 00:56:08,570
to the tension that we were feeling.

1093
00:56:10,740 --> 00:56:14,160
My platoon had been told
to go out and test the fire.

1094
00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:17,070
We had to get out
and walk towards the enemy.

1095
00:56:17,070 --> 00:56:21,700
We went about 200 yards
and then they called us back again.

1096
00:56:21,700 --> 00:56:25,620
There was to be no preliminary
bombardment the days beforehand,

1097
00:56:25,620 --> 00:56:29,530
there was only one short, sharp
barrage just before the battle.

1098
00:56:31,660 --> 00:56:34,370
You've got to have
the artillery preparation

1099
00:56:34,370 --> 00:56:36,070
to smash their wire down.

1100
00:56:36,070 --> 00:56:37,370
Fire!

1101
00:56:37,370 --> 00:56:41,620
I ordered fire on possible enemy
assembly and forming-up positions.

1102
00:56:41,620 --> 00:56:46,030
The bombardment started
and the ground shook.

1103
00:56:47,910 --> 00:56:52,370
And we could see the hundreds
and hundreds of gun flashes.

1104
00:56:53,450 --> 00:56:55,120
Ready, fire!

1105
00:57:04,450 --> 00:57:08,370
As soon as the bombardment started,
the German retaliation came.

1106
00:57:12,240 --> 00:57:14,530
For four hours, we had to sit
there and take everything

1107
00:57:14,530 --> 00:57:16,240
they slung at us.

1108
00:57:17,660 --> 00:57:20,530
And first of all,
a large number of tanks went in.

1109
00:57:20,530 --> 00:57:23,700
We could hear them
rumbling and rattling.

1110
00:57:23,700 --> 00:57:26,450
320 tanks crawling along.

1111
00:57:26,450 --> 00:57:29,410
We waited for the signal
to move off.

1112
00:57:29,410 --> 00:57:34,120
Already, everybody was anxious
to go, but we waited and waited.

1113
00:57:36,240 --> 00:57:38,530
We got no sleep at all that night,
owing to the noise

1114
00:57:38,530 --> 00:57:43,200
of our artillery barrage, which was
continuous, the whole time.

1115
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:45,780
We was asked to hand over
any personal belongings

1116
00:57:45,780 --> 00:57:49,070
to our company officer,
such as photographs and letters

1117
00:57:49,070 --> 00:57:51,870
that we valued.

1118
00:57:51,870 --> 00:57:55,030
I heard soft voices talking to one
another quietly,

1119
00:57:55,030 --> 00:57:57,990
and I wondered - how many are going
to live to see the sun rise?

1120
00:57:57,990 --> 00:58:00,870
In a man's pay book, there was
provision for making a valid will

1121
00:58:00,870 --> 00:58:03,490
if they were going into action
for the first time.

1122
00:58:03,490 --> 00:58:05,740
I didn't bother with it,
I had nothing to leave anybody.

1123
00:58:05,740 --> 00:58:07,530
HE LAUGHS

1124
00:58:07,530 --> 00:58:10,490
The fellow next to you,
he was your best friend.

1125
00:58:10,490 --> 00:58:13,030
You perhaps didn't know him
the day before.

1126
00:58:13,030 --> 00:58:15,120
And then an hour to go,
they were the longest

1127
00:58:15,120 --> 00:58:17,820
and the shortest hours in life.

1128
00:58:17,820 --> 00:58:20,240
We had unlimited time for thinking,

1129
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:23,450
and I know I found myself thinking
much more deeply

1130
00:58:23,450 --> 00:58:26,200
than I had ever thought before.

1131
00:58:26,200 --> 00:58:28,240
Some people might be incapable
of thinking,

1132
00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:30,570
they might have regarded
the situation as being such

1133
00:58:30,570 --> 00:58:32,280
that they were incapable of thought.

1134
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:34,240
I don't think
there was any feeling of fear,

1135
00:58:34,240 --> 00:58:36,570
it was just
that we were doing a job

1136
00:58:36,570 --> 00:58:38,820
and if it came, it came.

1137
00:58:38,820 --> 00:58:43,450
We realised that, sooner or later,
we were going to get the chop.

1138
00:58:43,450 --> 00:58:45,820
You were either going to be killed
or wounded.

1139
00:58:45,820 --> 00:58:48,990
I was not in the least frightened
being killed,

1140
00:58:48,990 --> 00:58:52,780
but I was terrified
lest I should lose an arm or a leg.

1141
00:58:52,780 --> 00:58:55,950
Waiting for an hour for an attack
is not a very pleasant thing.

1142
00:58:55,950 --> 00:59:00,200
We sort of chatted away, trying
to keep the spirits up, you see.

1143
00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:03,950
We told dirty stories
and made crude remarks.

1144
00:59:03,950 --> 00:59:06,820
We had 1,000 guns massed
on a mile front behind us.

1145
00:59:06,820 --> 00:59:09,070
Well, you can imagine all
this stuff coming over you,

1146
00:59:09,070 --> 00:59:11,200
we had the German stuff
coming the other way.

1147
00:59:11,200 --> 00:59:14,950
The noise rose to a crescendo
such as I'd never heard before.

1148
00:59:14,950 --> 00:59:17,120
You wouldn't hear a word.

1149
00:59:17,120 --> 00:59:21,370
The shells were passing over you
probably three foot, four foot.

1150
00:59:21,370 --> 00:59:25,160
And the air, it was an inferno,
and your line was another inferno.

1151
00:59:25,160 --> 00:59:27,490
Reason was completely blasted
out of it.

1152
00:59:27,490 --> 00:59:30,870
The bombardment created a sort
of hysterical feeling.

1153
00:59:30,870 --> 00:59:33,200
All of a sudden,
one of our fellas started crying,

1154
00:59:33,200 --> 00:59:36,160
really screaming and crying.
The officer in charge telling

1155
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:39,950
the Sergeant, "Find that man
and shoot him, shoot him!"

1156
00:59:39,950 --> 00:59:42,410
It's difficult to explain
the reaction of a man

1157
00:59:42,410 --> 00:59:45,030
when he is in a big bombardment.

1158
00:59:45,030 --> 00:59:48,620
He thought that this man's screaming
and crying would be a danger

1159
00:59:48,620 --> 00:59:50,530
to the rest of the men.

1160
00:59:50,530 --> 00:59:52,910
As soon as it was light,
we were given a ration of rum,

1161
00:59:52,910 --> 00:59:55,280
any amount of it,
as much as you can drink.

1162
00:59:55,280 --> 00:59:57,570
And we got the order
to fix bayonets.

1163
00:59:57,570 --> 00:59:59,490
Fix bayonets! Fix bayonets!

1164
00:59:59,490 --> 01:00:01,280
Bayonets fixed!

1165
01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:05,320
It was a beautiful day, the way
it dawned after a rainy night.

1166
01:00:05,320 --> 01:00:06,820
A beautiful day.

1167
01:00:06,820 --> 01:00:10,910
Five minutes to go, I remember those
lads standing there, dead silent,

1168
01:00:10,910 --> 01:00:12,490
couldn't make a noise.

1169
01:00:12,490 --> 01:00:15,280
I was more frightened sitting,
waiting to start.

1170
01:00:15,280 --> 01:00:18,070
I was very frightened then,
very frightened indeed.

1171
01:00:18,070 --> 01:00:21,660
And an officer shouted along the
line, "Is everybody ready?"

1172
01:00:21,660 --> 01:00:24,620
And I called out, "I can't get my
bayonet on my rifle, sir."

1173
01:00:24,620 --> 01:00:27,030
And he said,
"Damn you, mate, hurry up."

1174
01:00:27,030 --> 01:00:29,200
I sent back a message
to brigade headquarters

1175
01:00:29,200 --> 01:00:30,780
to say we were all ready.

1176
01:00:30,780 --> 01:00:33,070
But unfortunately
a slight mistake occurred.

1177
01:00:33,070 --> 01:00:36,120
The first thing they knew
was a terrific tremor on the ground.

1178
01:00:36,120 --> 01:00:39,120
We blew a mine, which should
have been under the German trenches

1179
01:00:39,120 --> 01:00:40,660
but it wasn't.

1180
01:00:44,280 --> 01:00:46,820
It was in no-man's-land, and
that gave the Germans five minutes

1181
01:00:46,820 --> 01:00:48,990
to occupy the crater,
which they did.

1182
01:00:51,910 --> 01:00:55,530
Sergeant Moore, he was standing
behind the trench with a revolver

1183
01:00:55,530 --> 01:00:58,700
in his hand and he said, "Any boy
goes back, I shoot them."

1184
01:00:58,700 --> 01:01:02,070
So that if we didn't go one way,
we wouldn't go the other.

1185
01:01:02,070 --> 01:01:04,570
There wasn't a reluctance
to go over the top,

1186
01:01:04,570 --> 01:01:06,120
not with people I were with.

1187
01:01:06,120 --> 01:01:07,740
Fire!

1188
01:01:09,530 --> 01:01:10,950
Fire!

1189
01:01:10,950 --> 01:01:14,070
They put a curtain of shells
over you and you advanced.

1190
01:01:15,370 --> 01:01:17,280
That was the theory, I think.

1191
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:19,160
Fire! Fire!

1192
01:01:19,160 --> 01:01:21,910
I realised this was
the moment of the assault.

1193
01:01:21,910 --> 01:01:23,740
And then zero hour.

1194
01:01:23,740 --> 01:01:26,780
Somebody shouted, "There they go!"
BAGPIPES PLAY

1195
01:01:26,780 --> 01:01:29,450
To the left were the
London Scottish, running forward.

1196
01:01:29,450 --> 01:01:31,870
I gave the order of "up the ladders,
over the top".

1197
01:01:31,870 --> 01:01:34,200
WHISTLE BLOWS

1198
01:01:35,370 --> 01:01:38,280
And after this, you lived
in a world of noise,

1199
01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:40,200
simply noise for hours.

1200
01:01:43,780 --> 01:01:46,490
As soon as you get over the top,
fear has left you.

1201
01:01:46,490 --> 01:01:49,450
You didn't run, there was
no shouting nor cheering,

1202
01:01:49,450 --> 01:01:51,490
everybody was deadly quiet.

1203
01:01:51,490 --> 01:01:54,660
Just as I stepped into
no-man's-land, somebody was shot

1204
01:01:54,660 --> 01:01:57,870
through the head
and his skull was splintered.

1205
01:01:57,870 --> 01:02:00,570
It wasn't a good send-off,
I can assure you.

1206
01:02:00,570 --> 01:02:05,780
The barrage proceeded into the
enemy lines in steps of 100 yards

1207
01:02:06,490 --> 01:02:07,870
at a time.

1208
01:02:07,870 --> 01:02:10,410
Fire!

1209
01:02:10,410 --> 01:02:13,320
The line of British troops, fixed
bayonets, walking quite steadily

1210
01:02:13,320 --> 01:02:15,160
behind the barrage.

1211
01:02:15,160 --> 01:02:16,990
It is a sight I shall never forget.

1212
01:02:16,990 --> 01:02:20,120
To start with, we'd had
the odd machinegun firing,

1213
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:23,740
but remarkably little, and it seemed
almost too good to be true.

1214
01:02:23,740 --> 01:02:27,820
We then realised the Germans
had been containing their fire

1215
01:02:27,820 --> 01:02:30,780
until they saw
how far the attack was developing.

1216
01:02:30,780 --> 01:02:34,490
Unknown to us, there was
10 to 20 German machine guns.

1217
01:02:34,490 --> 01:02:36,870
Then all hell broke loose.

1218
01:02:36,870 --> 01:02:39,990
And, my God, he really
opened up and he let us have it.

1219
01:02:39,990 --> 01:02:41,700
It just swept us.

1220
01:02:41,700 --> 01:02:43,660
MACHINE-GUNFIRE

1221
01:02:43,660 --> 01:02:45,740
MEN SHOUT

1222
01:02:47,660 --> 01:02:49,490
Keep moving, laddie!

1223
01:02:54,410 --> 01:02:57,240
MEN SCREAM AND SHOUT

1224
01:02:59,200 --> 01:03:02,530
Machinegun bullets came
at us like hailstones.

1225
01:03:02,530 --> 01:03:05,620
I didn't realise that it was
swish, swish with bullets.

1226
01:03:05,620 --> 01:03:08,490
I looked round and people were
dropping all round you.

1227
01:03:08,490 --> 01:03:11,780
I mean, they just faded away
on either side of you.

1228
01:03:11,780 --> 01:03:15,410
And I thought, what are
they shooting at me for?

1229
01:03:15,410 --> 01:03:19,200
I hadn't gone more than a few yards
before I was shot in the thigh.

1230
01:03:19,200 --> 01:03:21,700
There was a captain alongside me
with his revolver out

1231
01:03:21,700 --> 01:03:23,490
and, all of a sudden, he dropped.

1232
01:03:23,490 --> 01:03:25,740
And then another chap,
he was hit in the leg,

1233
01:03:25,740 --> 01:03:30,620
but he continued with great bounds,
hopping on one leg.

1234
01:03:30,620 --> 01:03:33,780
When the bullets hit the tank,
the metal flakes were whirling

1235
01:03:33,780 --> 01:03:36,120
around like razor blades
inside the tank.

1236
01:03:36,120 --> 01:03:38,780
You could see men dropping,
but you didn't take any notice.

1237
01:03:38,780 --> 01:03:40,990
If you didn't get hit,
you just carried on.

1238
01:03:40,990 --> 01:03:43,570
I suddenly found myself with
a terrible pain in my left hand

1239
01:03:43,570 --> 01:03:46,700
as if someone had caned me,
and I found a big hole in it.

1240
01:03:46,700 --> 01:03:50,200
A man was running across the front
of me and he was shot to the body

1241
01:03:50,200 --> 01:03:54,870
because the contents of his wallet
were flung out forward of me.

1242
01:03:54,870 --> 01:03:57,280
I felt a terrific bang
on my right arm

1243
01:03:57,280 --> 01:04:00,240
and the blood started running
off the end of my hand.

1244
01:04:00,240 --> 01:04:02,780
I just didn't think that this
German machinegun would

1245
01:04:02,780 --> 01:04:05,070
trouble to even fire at me,
but the next thing I felt

1246
01:04:05,070 --> 01:04:08,910
a shock of quite a number of bullets
hitting the right side of my body.

1247
01:04:08,910 --> 01:04:12,740
A hare crossed my path
with eyes bulging in fear,

1248
01:04:12,740 --> 01:04:16,200
but I felt that it couldn't have
been half as frightened as I was.

1249
01:04:16,200 --> 01:04:18,740
You could see your mates
going down right and left,

1250
01:04:18,740 --> 01:04:21,450
and you were face-to-face
with the stark realisation

1251
01:04:21,450 --> 01:04:23,070
that this was the end of it.

1252
01:04:23,070 --> 01:04:26,280
The two in front of me went down
wounded in the head and chest.

1253
01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:28,990
Those bloody bullets got me
in the leg and blew a great big hole

1254
01:04:28,990 --> 01:04:32,070
in the back. It didn't hurt.

1255
01:04:32,070 --> 01:04:34,370
Life was very, very hazardous indeed

1256
01:04:34,370 --> 01:04:36,620
and we proceeded in this fashion,
some getting hit

1257
01:04:36,620 --> 01:04:38,120
and others carrying along.

1258
01:04:38,120 --> 01:04:40,280
You hadn't got time
to deliberate upon things.

1259
01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:42,950
Machinegun bullets might be
coming over, but they weren't

1260
01:04:42,950 --> 01:04:45,740
hitting you and you just go on.

1261
01:04:45,740 --> 01:04:48,910
They say your past comes up when you
think you're going to die,

1262
01:04:48,910 --> 01:04:51,660
but I hadn't got very much
past at 19.

1263
01:04:51,660 --> 01:04:53,990
And when I saw these bullets
coming along,

1264
01:04:53,990 --> 01:04:56,490
all I thought was -
am I going to live?

1265
01:04:56,490 --> 01:04:58,620
Of course, if the thing hits
you fair and square

1266
01:04:58,620 --> 01:05:01,240
and you die immediately,
you don't feel anything at all,

1267
01:05:01,240 --> 01:05:03,200
nothing to it.

1268
01:05:03,200 --> 01:05:05,990
First wave were all
absolutely wiped out.

1269
01:05:05,990 --> 01:05:07,950
Everybody was either
killed or wounded.

1270
01:05:07,950 --> 01:05:10,450
There were so many dead laying
about, it was hard to avoid

1271
01:05:10,450 --> 01:05:11,950
treading on them.

1272
01:05:11,950 --> 01:05:14,620
I was trying to step over them
and the sergeant behind me said,

1273
01:05:14,620 --> 01:05:16,570
"Go on, you mustn't take
any notice of that,

1274
01:05:16,570 --> 01:05:18,320
"you keep going."

1275
01:05:18,320 --> 01:05:21,030
And we were literally
walking over the dead bodies

1276
01:05:21,030 --> 01:05:22,490
of our comrades.

1277
01:05:22,490 --> 01:05:25,820
The carnage is just indescribable.

1278
01:05:25,820 --> 01:05:28,990
I had in my path about 2,000 dead,
British and German.

1279
01:05:28,990 --> 01:05:32,700
An attempt to clear any dead man
from our path was impossible

1280
01:05:32,700 --> 01:05:36,530
because of the shelling
and we ploughed over the lot.

1281
01:05:36,530 --> 01:05:39,700
Any shell bursting within a few
yards of the tank

1282
01:05:39,700 --> 01:05:42,120
seemed to lift it up in the air

1283
01:05:42,120 --> 01:05:45,910
and you felt a tremendous
back pressure.

1284
01:05:45,910 --> 01:05:48,570
The noise of battle when you're out
in the middle of it

1285
01:05:48,570 --> 01:05:52,160
is so terrific that you don't
hear any individual shots even.

1286
01:05:52,160 --> 01:05:55,120
And we had to stop in front
of the German wire.

1287
01:05:55,120 --> 01:05:57,950
It was quite impossible to advance
any further because of the

1288
01:05:57,950 --> 01:06:00,620
barbed wire and the machinegun
posts, which were about

1289
01:06:00,620 --> 01:06:02,120
50 yards further on.

1290
01:06:02,120 --> 01:06:04,370
The wire in front of us
was quite uncut,

1291
01:06:04,370 --> 01:06:06,370
despite the intense bombardment.

1292
01:06:06,370 --> 01:06:08,370
You couldn't see anything
but this wire,

1293
01:06:08,370 --> 01:06:10,660
it seemed to be acres
and acres of it.

1294
01:06:10,660 --> 01:06:13,320
It was just black with rust.

1295
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:15,870
I don't think a rabbit
could have got through it.

1296
01:06:15,870 --> 01:06:18,990
Then our own artillery started
dropping shells amongst us.

1297
01:06:22,370 --> 01:06:24,240
SCREAMING

1298
01:06:25,370 --> 01:06:27,740
Obviously they hadn't got
their range or they didn't know

1299
01:06:27,740 --> 01:06:29,820
where we were.

1300
01:06:29,820 --> 01:06:33,240
I heard the first
shrapnel shell burst above my head.

1301
01:06:33,240 --> 01:06:35,870
There was a terrific whiz,
that was the disappearance

1302
01:06:35,870 --> 01:06:37,780
of my steel helmet.

1303
01:06:37,780 --> 01:06:39,700
I never found it again.

1304
01:06:39,700 --> 01:06:42,990
I got a bit off the cheek of
my backside, a piece in my hip,

1305
01:06:42,990 --> 01:06:46,320
a piece in my leg,
then a piece right through my leg.

1306
01:06:46,320 --> 01:06:48,950
The fellow to my left took
the full blast of the shell

1307
01:06:48,950 --> 01:06:51,410
and had half his head blown away.

1308
01:06:51,410 --> 01:06:54,570
Bullets were catching us and
shrapnel was coming down overhead

1309
01:06:54,570 --> 01:06:57,780
and we had all the
German artillery banging away at us

1310
01:06:57,780 --> 01:06:59,700
and our own artillery going over.

1311
01:06:59,700 --> 01:07:01,620
The shells were exploding
all round you

1312
01:07:01,620 --> 01:07:04,280
and it was a real good old battle
and it got hold of you, sort of.

1313
01:07:04,280 --> 01:07:07,030
BAGPIPES PLAY

1314
01:07:07,030 --> 01:07:11,120
One had no sanity at all
because the inferno was so blasting

1315
01:07:11,120 --> 01:07:13,410
that you had no time to think.

1316
01:07:13,410 --> 01:07:18,660
That din, that numbing din seemed
to stop one doing the things

1317
01:07:18,660 --> 01:07:22,160
that one would normally do, no
matter how well-intentioned one was.

1318
01:07:23,740 --> 01:07:25,370
You don't look, you see.

1319
01:07:25,370 --> 01:07:27,030
You don't hear, you listen.

1320
01:07:27,030 --> 01:07:29,240
You taste the top of your mouth,
your nose is filled

1321
01:07:29,240 --> 01:07:31,200
with fumes and death.

1322
01:07:31,200 --> 01:07:34,530
The veneer of civilisation
has dropped away.

1323
01:07:34,530 --> 01:07:37,990
I was literally blown about 12 or 14
yards and all that I could hear

1324
01:07:37,990 --> 01:07:40,740
was the cries and screams
from the survivors,

1325
01:07:40,740 --> 01:07:43,410
sometimes in two,
sometimes in three parts.

1326
01:07:43,410 --> 01:07:45,990
Legs, arms all strewn
all over the place

1327
01:07:45,990 --> 01:07:48,740
and that arid smell of explosion.

1328
01:07:48,740 --> 01:07:53,570
Well, all my romantic ideas
of war completely vanished.

1329
01:07:53,570 --> 01:07:56,740
A shell had hit this man,
it knocked off his left arm,

1330
01:07:56,740 --> 01:07:58,490
knocked off his left leg,

1331
01:07:58,490 --> 01:08:00,870
his left eye was hanging
on his cheek

1332
01:08:00,870 --> 01:08:03,370
and he's calling out for Nanny.

1333
01:08:03,370 --> 01:08:05,490
His bleeding eye was
hanging on, pulsing.

1334
01:08:06,990 --> 01:08:08,820
So I shot him.

1335
01:08:08,820 --> 01:08:11,570
I had to, I had to shoot him.

1336
01:08:11,570 --> 01:08:15,780
He'd have died in any case
and it put him out of his misery.

1337
01:08:15,780 --> 01:08:17,410
HE SOBS: It hurt me.

1338
01:08:19,820 --> 01:08:21,740
I knew there was no hope
of getting any orders

1339
01:08:21,740 --> 01:08:23,870
because there was
nobody to give any.

1340
01:08:23,870 --> 01:08:27,450
All officers was killed
and wounded, and most of the NCOs.

1341
01:08:27,450 --> 01:08:29,240
I jumped into this big shell hole.

1342
01:08:29,240 --> 01:08:32,160
You dropped down anywhere,
shell holes, anywhere at all

1343
01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:35,450
just to take cover
until the barrage lifted.

1344
01:08:35,450 --> 01:08:38,490
I'm not one of those heroes who want
to take the German army on my own,

1345
01:08:38,490 --> 01:08:40,990
so I went to work
and I got down behind the lip

1346
01:08:40,990 --> 01:08:43,120
of a big shell hole.

1347
01:08:43,120 --> 01:08:46,160
Fortunately, I was able
to drop into a shell hole.

1348
01:08:46,160 --> 01:08:48,870
Used to call them shell hole
droppers, they would drop down

1349
01:08:48,870 --> 01:08:50,530
into a shell hole

1350
01:08:50,530 --> 01:08:53,530
because of the barrage
and seeing a few men killed.

1351
01:08:53,530 --> 01:08:55,820
It's a pity they didn't all drop
into shell holes.

1352
01:08:55,820 --> 01:08:58,120
Before the barrage lifted,
they were dead.

1353
01:08:58,120 --> 01:08:59,660
SCREAMING

1354
01:08:59,660 --> 01:09:02,780
And the bullets were hitting the
back of the shell hole where I was.

1355
01:09:02,780 --> 01:09:04,240
It was raining bullets.

1356
01:09:04,240 --> 01:09:05,990
I don't know how I got missed.

1357
01:09:05,990 --> 01:09:09,530
From behind the lip of this shell
hole, the dirt was spraying down

1358
01:09:09,530 --> 01:09:11,280
the back of my neck.

1359
01:09:11,280 --> 01:09:13,990
There were three chaps in the
shell hole and one of them said,

1360
01:09:13,990 --> 01:09:15,950
"They're firing
into a bloody shell hole."

1361
01:09:15,950 --> 01:09:18,870
We looked round to see the bullets
go right through his head.

1362
01:09:18,870 --> 01:09:20,370
So that was the end of that.

1363
01:09:20,370 --> 01:09:23,910
A sergeant came down into the
shell hole on top of us

1364
01:09:23,910 --> 01:09:25,820
and he was dead, he got it
through the neck.

1365
01:09:25,820 --> 01:09:28,660
Anyway, he had a lovely pair of
field glasses round his neck

1366
01:09:28,660 --> 01:09:31,370
and I nabbed them. Because things
were so scarce,

1367
01:09:31,370 --> 01:09:34,320
if there was anything like that,
you'd collar it.

1368
01:09:34,320 --> 01:09:38,530
Jerry slapped shell after shell
into us until one shell penetrated

1369
01:09:38,530 --> 01:09:40,450
the forward part of the tank.

1370
01:09:40,450 --> 01:09:42,820
What happened then,
I cannot tell you but I believe

1371
01:09:42,820 --> 01:09:44,700
there was an explosion.

1372
01:09:44,700 --> 01:09:47,740
These were fully trained soldiers,
we always had the rifles loaded,

1373
01:09:47,740 --> 01:09:50,240
but we stuck in the
extra five rounds to make it

1374
01:09:50,240 --> 01:09:52,120
a ten for rapid-fire.

1375
01:09:52,120 --> 01:09:55,370
The Germans got up in their
own trenches and fired at us.

1376
01:09:55,370 --> 01:09:59,240
In my opinion, they were very brave,
very brave men indeed.

1377
01:09:59,240 --> 01:10:02,870
There was a German standing up
on his parapet and flinging bombs.

1378
01:10:02,870 --> 01:10:04,820
So I shot him.

1379
01:10:04,820 --> 01:10:07,870
They officer gave us orders,
"Open immediate rapid-fire."

1380
01:10:07,870 --> 01:10:11,780
We all opened up as fast as we could
go and continually fired.

1381
01:10:11,780 --> 01:10:14,120
It was a real mad minute,
I'll tell you.

1382
01:10:14,120 --> 01:10:16,410
They stood up and I was picking
the Germans off

1383
01:10:16,410 --> 01:10:18,660
because I was a sniper.

1384
01:10:18,660 --> 01:10:21,530
I was trying to pick a shot
and something hit me

1385
01:10:21,530 --> 01:10:24,120
between the eyes
like a sledgehammer.

1386
01:10:24,120 --> 01:10:25,910
I dissolved into unconsciousness

1387
01:10:25,910 --> 01:10:28,700
with no pain, but with
millions of golden stars

1388
01:10:28,700 --> 01:10:30,820
in a dark blue heaven.

1389
01:10:30,820 --> 01:10:32,950
After I'd used up a whole lot
of bullets,

1390
01:10:32,950 --> 01:10:35,490
I got down,
I says, "You have a go, Bill."

1391
01:10:35,490 --> 01:10:39,070
He didn't even fire a shot,
he was killed immediately.

1392
01:10:39,070 --> 01:10:40,780
That's how things were.

1393
01:10:40,780 --> 01:10:43,410
You felt aggrieved,
it was a pal of yours.

1394
01:10:43,410 --> 01:10:48,160
But you took it casually because I
suppose you become battle hardened.

1395
01:10:48,160 --> 01:10:51,320
We kept up rapid-fire there
as long as our rifles would work.

1396
01:10:51,320 --> 01:10:53,120
They got too hot to fire any more.

1397
01:10:53,120 --> 01:10:55,570
Fat was pouring out
the woodwork of the rifles,

1398
01:10:55,570 --> 01:10:57,740
the muzzles were
beginning to extend.

1399
01:10:57,740 --> 01:11:00,450
Then we got an order
from the captain, we must make

1400
01:11:00,450 --> 01:11:04,780
a barricade of the dead,
the German dead and our own dead.

1401
01:11:04,780 --> 01:11:08,160
My captain, at that time, was
anxious to go on and keep it up,

1402
01:11:08,160 --> 01:11:10,570
but I'm afraid he died.

1403
01:11:10,570 --> 01:11:12,700
I had three men loading up
these rifles with me

1404
01:11:12,700 --> 01:11:14,320
and I peppered the whole line.

1405
01:11:14,320 --> 01:11:18,450
And judging by the shouts and
screams, I took a very good toll.

1406
01:11:18,450 --> 01:11:21,990
There was machinegun spraying
on the lip of our shell hole.

1407
01:11:21,990 --> 01:11:24,240
I waited until
the belt of that gun had fired

1408
01:11:24,240 --> 01:11:26,660
and immediately carried on
the advance.

1409
01:11:26,660 --> 01:11:30,030
The sergeant said, "Follow me."

1410
01:11:30,030 --> 01:11:31,990
I managed to crawl under the wire -

1411
01:11:31,990 --> 01:11:34,740
a lot of us got through in
that way - and gathered together

1412
01:11:34,740 --> 01:11:37,070
on the German side of the wire.

1413
01:11:37,070 --> 01:11:39,990
All the shells screamed
over our heads onto the German posts

1414
01:11:39,990 --> 01:11:41,490
and then suddenly stopped.

1415
01:11:41,490 --> 01:11:43,780
"Come on, lads, give them hell,"
and we just got up

1416
01:11:43,780 --> 01:11:45,740
and rushed forward.

1417
01:11:45,740 --> 01:11:48,490
In the bayonet charge,
the majority of us always

1418
01:11:48,490 --> 01:11:51,660
had a round up the spout,
besides the magazine.

1419
01:11:51,660 --> 01:11:54,410
There was a feeling of exultation
that with a rifle, bayonet

1420
01:11:54,410 --> 01:11:57,160
and a couple of Mills bombs in your
pocket, we were going to be able

1421
01:11:57,160 --> 01:11:59,910
to get stuck into the bastards
that had been killing our mates.

1422
01:11:59,910 --> 01:12:02,410
And we went like hell,
straight into the Germans.

1423
01:12:03,490 --> 01:12:06,370
SCREAMING AND RAPID GUNFIRE

1424
01:12:10,870 --> 01:12:13,660
And we fired at anything that moved.

1425
01:12:13,660 --> 01:12:15,780
I dropped down on my knees
and the sergeant fired

1426
01:12:15,780 --> 01:12:18,820
over my shoulder and hit the German.

1427
01:12:18,820 --> 01:12:20,950
He was on the ground but
still firing, so he went up

1428
01:12:20,950 --> 01:12:22,200
and killed him.

1429
01:12:22,200 --> 01:12:24,660
There was only one method
of bayonet fighting, that is to

1430
01:12:24,660 --> 01:12:26,950
shove your bayonet
in as hard as you could.

1431
01:12:26,950 --> 01:12:29,490
There was this German
on the floor of the trench,

1432
01:12:29,490 --> 01:12:31,030
and the poor bugger was dead scared.

1433
01:12:31,030 --> 01:12:33,570
So one of them wondered
whether to stick him or shoot him,

1434
01:12:33,570 --> 01:12:35,910
the German jumped out away
to my left, another one

1435
01:12:35,910 --> 01:12:38,570
on the right, so I pinned
this German down, then shot

1436
01:12:38,570 --> 01:12:41,990
the German on the left,
worked my bolt, put another one

1437
01:12:41,990 --> 01:12:44,990
up the spout, and shot the German
who was running away on the right.

1438
01:12:44,990 --> 01:12:47,700
Quite a number of Germans
came in a rush and we shot them,

1439
01:12:47,700 --> 01:12:49,280
one by one.

1440
01:12:49,280 --> 01:12:50,910
We probably killed the lot.

1441
01:12:50,910 --> 01:12:55,320
Some chap said, "Poor old Dick got
it," and I looked around and saw him

1442
01:12:55,320 --> 01:12:57,660
lying with the top of his head off.

1443
01:12:57,660 --> 01:13:00,950
On their right flank came a German
with a canister on his back,

1444
01:13:00,950 --> 01:13:03,530
squirting this
liquid fire out of the hose.

1445
01:13:03,530 --> 01:13:06,490
I looked towards jets of flame
coming across the trench.

1446
01:13:06,490 --> 01:13:08,200
We'd never heard of flame-throwers.

1447
01:13:08,200 --> 01:13:09,990
Burnt 23 of our chaps to death.

1448
01:13:09,990 --> 01:13:12,530
I plonked one into his chest,
but it didn't stop him,

1449
01:13:12,530 --> 01:13:15,240
he must have had an
armour-plated waistcoat on.

1450
01:13:15,240 --> 01:13:18,200
I got a bang in the arm
and found I was bleeding.

1451
01:13:18,200 --> 01:13:20,410
But I could bomb
pretty well with my left arm

1452
01:13:20,410 --> 01:13:22,410
as I could with my right.

1453
01:13:22,410 --> 01:13:24,990
Somebody threw a Mills bomb,
and it burst behind him,

1454
01:13:24,990 --> 01:13:27,320
and he wasn't armour-plated
behind him, he went down.

1455
01:13:27,320 --> 01:13:29,780
One German came
running out of this trench,

1456
01:13:29,780 --> 01:13:32,620
screaming his head off,
he nearly knocked me over.

1457
01:13:32,620 --> 01:13:35,240
Three Germans came out
with their hands up,

1458
01:13:35,240 --> 01:13:37,490
and they were young chaps
about our own age,

1459
01:13:37,490 --> 01:13:39,570
about 19 or 20.

1460
01:13:39,570 --> 01:13:42,820
If Jerries came up with their
hands up, we just waved them on,

1461
01:13:42,820 --> 01:13:45,620
we didn't fire at them, obviously.

1462
01:13:45,620 --> 01:13:48,240
Prisoners were a nuisance!

1463
01:13:48,240 --> 01:13:50,410
We were shooing them back,
you know, get rid of them.

1464
01:13:50,410 --> 01:13:54,320
The only Germans we were really
fighting were the machine gunners.

1465
01:13:54,320 --> 01:13:56,570
They were firing belt
after belt after us,

1466
01:13:56,570 --> 01:13:58,200
and they never stopped firing.

1467
01:13:58,200 --> 01:14:01,160
The bloody cartridge cases
were piled up in a heap.

1468
01:14:01,160 --> 01:14:03,660
They'd got all their
best men on machine guns,

1469
01:14:03,660 --> 01:14:05,160
and they fought to the death.

1470
01:14:05,160 --> 01:14:08,120
The cog opened, and there
was three Jerries there in front

1471
01:14:08,120 --> 01:14:10,240
of the machinegun,
and of course the bloody gun

1472
01:14:10,240 --> 01:14:14,570
was pointing at me, and I just swung
the Lewis gun, I opened fire first.

1473
01:14:15,740 --> 01:14:17,450
It was split-second stuff.

1474
01:14:17,450 --> 01:14:19,990
Thankfully, I moved on.

1475
01:14:19,990 --> 01:14:22,820
As the war progressed,
it was inevitable that we developed

1476
01:14:22,820 --> 01:14:25,700
the animal characteristic
of killing.

1477
01:14:25,700 --> 01:14:27,780
Well, we've got some
young Lincolnshire lads,

1478
01:14:27,780 --> 01:14:29,160
you know, the 18-year-olds.

1479
01:14:29,160 --> 01:14:31,370
The machine gunners
were putting their hands up -

1480
01:14:31,370 --> 01:14:33,280
it didn't make any difference.

1481
01:14:33,280 --> 01:14:34,530
They were killed.

1482
01:14:36,280 --> 01:14:38,780
And I'm afraid there was
a little bit of slaughter going on,

1483
01:14:38,780 --> 01:14:41,320
until we got in some sort of order.

1484
01:14:41,320 --> 01:14:45,320
Everybody was screaming,
laying down, moaning and groaning,

1485
01:14:45,320 --> 01:14:48,570
and eventually there was silence.

1486
01:14:48,570 --> 01:14:51,070
I found a German officer
with his lung hanging out.

1487
01:14:51,070 --> 01:14:53,410
He was still alive,
but he wasn't conscious.

1488
01:14:53,410 --> 01:14:57,660
You could see his lung was expanding
and contracting as he was breathing.

1489
01:14:57,660 --> 01:15:00,570
It was the nearest I ever came
to shooting a man point-blank,

1490
01:15:00,570 --> 01:15:02,950
but we had to go on.

1491
01:15:02,950 --> 01:15:05,490
One dead German leaning
against a shell wall,

1492
01:15:05,490 --> 01:15:08,450
he was a handsome bloke,
he reminded me of my father.

1493
01:15:08,450 --> 01:15:13,160
A shell had dissected him nicely,
it had taken the whole of the front

1494
01:15:13,160 --> 01:15:17,160
of his chest down to his stomach,
neatly cut aside.

1495
01:15:17,160 --> 01:15:20,200
What a fantastic exhibition
of anatomy.

1496
01:15:22,410 --> 01:15:25,370
The real shooting was over
in about ten minutes.

1497
01:15:25,370 --> 01:15:29,320
There was about 100 of us coming
out, instead of 600 who'd gone over,

1498
01:15:29,320 --> 01:15:31,280
and a band came to meet us.

1499
01:15:31,280 --> 01:15:33,160
It was a wonderful feeling.

1500
01:15:33,160 --> 01:15:34,660
"I've been in a battle!

1501
01:15:34,660 --> 01:15:37,990
"And I'm so very proud about it."

1502
01:15:37,990 --> 01:15:39,490
Hang on.

1503
01:15:41,740 --> 01:15:43,370
You got it? Yeah.

1504
01:15:43,370 --> 01:15:45,660
And if you'd anybody
wounded or killed...

1505
01:15:45,660 --> 01:15:47,410
FLIES BUZZ

1506
01:15:47,410 --> 01:15:51,280
..if you didn't get them out
straight away, they went down

1507
01:15:51,280 --> 01:15:54,530
in the soil and disappeared,
it was so bad.

1508
01:15:54,530 --> 01:15:56,030
That's it.

1509
01:15:57,620 --> 01:16:02,200
Well, you had to ascertain
whether a man was alive or not.

1510
01:16:02,200 --> 01:16:07,450
If he was dead, then he
was no trouble - medically.

1511
01:16:10,620 --> 01:16:12,320
Keep him level.

1512
01:16:13,570 --> 01:16:15,280
Give me some room!

1513
01:16:15,280 --> 01:16:18,280
I felt some pain, I suppose
about an hour later.

1514
01:16:18,280 --> 01:16:22,200
I'd got these thigh boots on,
and the bullet had gone in sideways,

1515
01:16:22,200 --> 01:16:25,780
all the way down the leg, in, out,
in, out, and hit the ankle bone

1516
01:16:25,780 --> 01:16:27,280
and turned upside down.

1517
01:16:29,240 --> 01:16:31,740
Oh, God!

1518
01:16:31,740 --> 01:16:33,030
Jesus!

1519
01:16:34,780 --> 01:16:38,160
The Sergeant Major brought me
a dixie of hot tea,

1520
01:16:38,160 --> 01:16:41,870
which was just what I needed,
it went down beautifully.

1521
01:16:41,870 --> 01:16:44,990
And casualties started coming back,
walking casualties,

1522
01:16:44,990 --> 01:16:48,530
men with their arms smashed up,
legs trawling, and they got back

1523
01:16:48,530 --> 01:16:51,160
to different dressing stations
the best way they could.

1524
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:53,870
The walking wounded, they were
coming down in droves.

1525
01:16:53,870 --> 01:16:56,870
Some were holding one another,
and some were walking on their own,

1526
01:16:56,870 --> 01:16:59,530
a light wound in the hand or arm,
but some were hobbling along,

1527
01:16:59,530 --> 01:17:01,410
and some were looking
quite cheerful as

1528
01:17:01,410 --> 01:17:03,530
they'd been free of something.

1529
01:17:03,530 --> 01:17:04,780
Hello, Mum!

1530
01:17:06,280 --> 01:17:08,660
My officer had said,
"Are you all right, Kane?"

1531
01:17:08,660 --> 01:17:11,120
And I said, "Oh, yes,
sir, I can still walk."

1532
01:17:11,120 --> 01:17:14,530
And he said, "But you've been hit
in the back of the head."

1533
01:17:14,530 --> 01:17:17,490
And he handed me
quite a dose of rum.

1534
01:17:19,660 --> 01:17:24,700
The worst cases were those
who were shot through the chest.

1535
01:17:24,700 --> 01:17:27,990
Well, the difficulty of breathing,
you see, you only had

1536
01:17:27,990 --> 01:17:31,490
field dressings,
which every man carried.

1537
01:17:31,490 --> 01:17:33,370
Yeah, we'll have a better look
at it.

1538
01:17:33,370 --> 01:17:34,950
Who's waiting, boys?

1539
01:17:34,950 --> 01:17:37,570
You got a bottle of iodine
and they'd tip it in the hole.

1540
01:17:37,570 --> 01:17:40,320
Oh, the pain was terrific.

1541
01:17:40,320 --> 01:17:41,820
Well done.

1542
01:17:44,620 --> 01:17:47,530
How about that for luck, chum?
Shot right through it.

1543
01:17:50,740 --> 01:17:54,950
I was not in very good shape at all,
and I was getting somewhere near

1544
01:17:54,950 --> 01:17:58,240
the end of my tether, I don't think
I could go on much longer.

1545
01:17:58,240 --> 01:18:02,660
Every soldier, I suppose,
had this breaking strain.

1546
01:18:05,950 --> 01:18:08,280
The medics will be waiting for you.

1547
01:18:08,280 --> 01:18:10,780
Well done, lads, well done.

1548
01:18:10,780 --> 01:18:12,620
That's it.

1549
01:18:12,620 --> 01:18:17,410
We had some remarkable doctors
who worked day and night

1550
01:18:17,410 --> 01:18:22,200
in various stations on the British
front, looking after the wounded.

1551
01:18:23,740 --> 01:18:25,200
Nice cup of Rosie Lee.

1552
01:18:25,200 --> 01:18:26,910
You all right, Jack?

1553
01:18:26,910 --> 01:18:30,740
They seemed never to need any sleep,
so what they hadn't got in numbers

1554
01:18:30,740 --> 01:18:32,780
they made up in effort.

1555
01:18:32,780 --> 01:18:34,620
We need a shell dressing.

1556
01:18:36,820 --> 01:18:40,660
Both my officers, all my sergeants
and three quarters of my men

1557
01:18:40,660 --> 01:18:43,030
were killed or wounded.

1558
01:18:43,030 --> 01:18:46,910
Their ranks were made up with lads
of 18 from England

1559
01:18:46,910 --> 01:18:49,070
who'd been pushed out of factories.

1560
01:18:49,070 --> 01:18:50,780
Easy, that's it.

1561
01:18:51,990 --> 01:18:53,530
BIRDS SQUAWK

1562
01:18:53,530 --> 01:18:55,660
Bloody birds! Get out of it!

1563
01:18:55,660 --> 01:18:57,070
Go on!

1564
01:18:58,240 --> 01:19:02,370
My mob were helping
the battalion to bury these...

1565
01:19:02,370 --> 01:19:06,280
..only little kids, they were,
17 or 18 years of age.

1566
01:19:06,280 --> 01:19:09,200
In sure and certain hope
of the resurrection to eternal life

1567
01:19:09,200 --> 01:19:10,990
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1568
01:19:16,030 --> 01:19:18,620
A lot of those kids,
it was their first action,

1569
01:19:18,620 --> 01:19:20,950
and they never knew any more.

1570
01:19:20,950 --> 01:19:23,990
So we'd wrapped them up in blankets,
dug a little shallow grave

1571
01:19:23,990 --> 01:19:25,280
and put them in there.

1572
01:19:28,490 --> 01:19:31,660
I was putting a dressing on
a German, and he was very shaky

1573
01:19:31,660 --> 01:19:34,410
and fearful of what we were
going to do to him.

1574
01:19:34,410 --> 01:19:36,530
But they were more
frightened than we were.

1575
01:19:36,530 --> 01:19:38,870
And we were frightened,
I don't mind telling you!

1576
01:19:38,870 --> 01:19:41,950
Mostly, they were just boys,
as we were.

1577
01:19:41,950 --> 01:19:44,950
They seemed glad to be captured,
they were out of it.

1578
01:19:44,950 --> 01:19:46,280
Is this yours?

1579
01:19:46,280 --> 01:19:48,370
Mein.
This is his. Ah, it's yours.

1580
01:19:48,370 --> 01:19:50,490
Put it in your pocket.

1581
01:19:50,490 --> 01:19:52,950
There was a little German fella,
I gave him a cigarette,

1582
01:19:52,950 --> 01:19:56,200
and he was terrified,
and I was very, very sorry for him,

1583
01:19:56,200 --> 01:19:58,570
really, you know.
He was only about 16.

1584
01:19:58,570 --> 01:20:01,240
And we had a chinwag,
and I just took his pocket watch,

1585
01:20:01,240 --> 01:20:02,910
you know, it was a normal thing.

1586
01:20:02,910 --> 01:20:04,530
We used to rob them, you see?

1587
01:20:04,530 --> 01:20:05,870
Right, let's go.

1588
01:20:06,990 --> 01:20:10,780
Yes, they were underfed,
and they were in very poor shape.

1589
01:20:10,780 --> 01:20:12,240
Come on, come on now, lads.

1590
01:20:12,240 --> 01:20:13,620
Pick him up. Come on!

1591
01:20:13,620 --> 01:20:16,530
And funnily enough, five or six
German prisoners came along,

1592
01:20:16,530 --> 01:20:19,700
and they helped carry me,
and I got another six watches,

1593
01:20:19,700 --> 01:20:22,660
because I robbed these fellas
who helped me down.

1594
01:20:22,660 --> 01:20:26,910
Every time we captured prisoners,
a number of German prisoners

1595
01:20:26,910 --> 01:20:29,450
would immediately
take up stretcher duty.

1596
01:20:29,450 --> 01:20:32,570
Now, I'm sure the Geneva Convention
never required them to do that.

1597
01:20:32,570 --> 01:20:34,030
There you go, lads.

1598
01:20:34,030 --> 01:20:35,740
I've got him. Steady.

1599
01:20:37,120 --> 01:20:38,490
You're all right, chum.

1600
01:20:38,490 --> 01:20:40,120
That's it. Keep going.

1601
01:20:40,120 --> 01:20:43,160
I took about
a dozen prisoners back with me,

1602
01:20:43,160 --> 01:20:45,740
they were all unarmed
and I just had my old gun.

1603
01:20:45,740 --> 01:20:48,950
In some cases, there were
a whole lot of Germans without even

1604
01:20:48,950 --> 01:20:51,240
a Tommy with them.

1605
01:20:51,240 --> 01:20:56,530
Oh, they were really cowed,
they were, yes, very subdued.

1606
01:20:59,200 --> 01:21:04,160
I slept next to a German man
who'd been wounded in the arm,

1607
01:21:04,160 --> 01:21:08,950
and to my amazement he started
talking to me in English.

1608
01:21:08,950 --> 01:21:11,200
And he said he'd been
a waiter at the Savoy.

1609
01:21:14,990 --> 01:21:18,820
I mean, I don't think the average
British soldier ever had

1610
01:21:18,820 --> 01:21:22,070
any deep feelings regarding revenge
against the German.

1611
01:21:22,070 --> 01:21:23,950
He admired him and respected him.

1612
01:21:25,030 --> 01:21:26,570
Go on, show him.

1613
01:21:26,570 --> 01:21:29,120
As the war went on,
I felt as much sympathy for them

1614
01:21:29,120 --> 01:21:31,160
as I did for myself.

1615
01:21:31,160 --> 01:21:33,740
The German I always thought
was a good fighter.

1616
01:21:33,740 --> 01:21:36,700
I'd sooner have him on my side
than on the opposite side.

1617
01:21:36,700 --> 01:21:39,660
I think some of the Germans thought
we ought to have been fighting

1618
01:21:39,660 --> 01:21:43,490
with them against the French
and the Russians, but none of them

1619
01:21:43,490 --> 01:21:45,370
thought we ought to be
fighting each other.

1620
01:21:45,370 --> 01:21:46,740
Keep on moving forward!

1621
01:21:46,740 --> 01:21:51,120
You see, the German
had been an unknown horde

1622
01:21:51,120 --> 01:21:53,740
with their coal-scuttle helmets,
and then we met them.

1623
01:21:53,740 --> 01:21:56,570
Well, the German soldier,
he was a very nice fellow as a rule.

1624
01:21:56,570 --> 01:21:58,950
You know, I think he was
really a barber or a shopkeeper

1625
01:21:58,950 --> 01:22:02,240
or something, and, the same as us,
he was stuck in uniform.

1626
01:22:02,240 --> 01:22:05,490
You're too tall.
Get you next time, Jerry!

1627
01:22:05,490 --> 01:22:08,200
We got on very well together,
actually, and they used to

1628
01:22:08,200 --> 01:22:09,450
mix in with us.

1629
01:22:09,450 --> 01:22:11,370
Want your hat back?

1630
01:22:11,370 --> 01:22:13,240
Here, give it him back!

1631
01:22:13,240 --> 01:22:16,120
They were decent,
sort of family people

1632
01:22:16,120 --> 01:22:19,200
and thought a great deal
of their children.

1633
01:22:20,950 --> 01:22:24,320
They didn't seem to bear
any malice against us.

1634
01:22:24,320 --> 01:22:26,820
They'd had to do what
they were told, like us.

1635
01:22:28,530 --> 01:22:30,820
Go on, go on tracking...

1636
01:22:30,820 --> 01:22:33,700
I couldn't speak German,
but some could, and the Germans,

1637
01:22:33,700 --> 01:22:35,450
some of them could speak English.

1638
01:22:35,450 --> 01:22:37,490
Anyhow, we could
understand each other.

1639
01:22:37,490 --> 01:22:40,410
The general agreement
when we were talking to Germans

1640
01:22:40,410 --> 01:22:44,820
was how useless war was
and why did it have to happen.

1641
01:22:47,780 --> 01:22:50,160
When you're passing bodies
all day long,

1642
01:22:50,160 --> 01:22:53,570
it's bound to have an effect
on whoever it is, isn't it?

1643
01:22:53,570 --> 01:22:55,620
This big fat German
was lying in a street...

1644
01:22:55,620 --> 01:22:56,910
FLIES BUZZ

1645
01:22:56,910 --> 01:22:59,320
..you know, his stomach
was all gassed up,

1646
01:22:59,320 --> 01:23:02,160
his intestines
lying out on his belly.

1647
01:23:02,160 --> 01:23:04,990
And somebody had stuck
a pipe in his mouth!

1648
01:23:04,990 --> 01:23:08,070
Yeah, we all told him to get up!
HE CHUCKLES

1649
01:23:09,620 --> 01:23:13,620
German troops were very brave
and very stubborn.

1650
01:23:13,620 --> 01:23:16,990
The Germans fought rearguard actions
almost back to the Rhine,

1651
01:23:16,990 --> 01:23:21,030
and regiment after regiment
was smashed up and cut about.

1652
01:23:21,030 --> 01:23:24,570
We had an idea that they were
beginning to crack.

1653
01:23:26,700 --> 01:23:29,450
I would say that they were,
if anything, rather despondent.

1654
01:23:29,450 --> 01:23:31,280
They knew they had lost the war.

1655
01:23:31,280 --> 01:23:35,200
We, as front-line soldiers,
knew they were giving up.

1656
01:23:35,200 --> 01:23:39,700
Quite frankly, the Germans
were fed up with the whole thing.

1657
01:23:39,700 --> 01:23:43,660
And, gradually, that is how
the war itself came to an end.

1658
01:23:43,660 --> 01:23:46,820
I got the impression that most
of the German soldiers

1659
01:23:46,820 --> 01:23:50,950
couldn't care less who won
as long as the war finished.

1660
01:23:50,950 --> 01:23:53,370
Of course, that's what everybody
was thinking about then -

1661
01:23:53,370 --> 01:23:55,320
we'd had enough.

1662
01:23:55,320 --> 01:23:58,870
And after a time,
perhaps nobody cared.

1663
01:23:58,870 --> 01:24:00,780
All right, boys, here it comes.

1664
01:24:00,780 --> 01:24:02,240
We're in the pictures!

1665
01:24:03,570 --> 01:24:06,160
There was a fella in
the war called Rumour,

1666
01:24:06,160 --> 01:24:09,280
he knows everything, you see,
and Mr Rumour told us

1667
01:24:09,280 --> 01:24:12,620
that the Germans were also
negotiating for an Armistice.

1668
01:24:12,620 --> 01:24:14,780
There was a huge poster,

1669
01:24:14,780 --> 01:24:19,620
"All hostilities will cease
on the Western Front at 11 o'clock

1670
01:24:19,620 --> 01:24:22,820
"on the 11th of November 1918."

1671
01:24:22,820 --> 01:24:25,200
So we said to each other,
"What day is it?"

1672
01:24:25,200 --> 01:24:29,570
And somebody discovered
it was November the 11th!

1673
01:24:29,570 --> 01:24:32,990
And then we had to shine our boots,
clean our buttons,

1674
01:24:32,990 --> 01:24:35,570
we knew the war was over then,
and we were quite confident

1675
01:24:35,570 --> 01:24:38,030
that we would be
there when it ended.

1676
01:24:38,030 --> 01:24:42,450
This proclamation was read out,
stating that the hostilities

1677
01:24:42,450 --> 01:24:46,070
would cease from 11 that morning,
and actually there wasn't

1678
01:24:46,070 --> 01:24:49,410
a cheer of any kind
raised when that was read out.

1679
01:24:49,410 --> 01:24:53,700
At 11 o'clock, the noise
of the gunfire just rolled away,

1680
01:24:53,700 --> 01:24:55,990
like a peal of thunder,
in the distance.

1681
01:24:55,990 --> 01:24:59,370
SHELLFIRE AND GUNFIRE FADES OUT

1682
01:25:04,070 --> 01:25:07,200
BIRDSONG, SOLDIERS CHATTER

1683
01:25:08,280 --> 01:25:09,990
Never heard it being quiet.

1684
01:25:09,990 --> 01:25:12,950
Now it was dead silent.

1685
01:25:12,950 --> 01:25:15,870
You were so dazed that you could
stand up straight and not be shot.

1686
01:25:15,870 --> 01:25:17,570
It was eerie.

1687
01:25:19,450 --> 01:25:22,070
There was a feeling
of relief and gladness,

1688
01:25:22,070 --> 01:25:24,820
I suppose, but no celebration.

1689
01:25:24,820 --> 01:25:27,740
The staff officer
shut his watch up and said,

1690
01:25:27,740 --> 01:25:30,530
"I wonder what we're
all going to do next."

1691
01:25:30,530 --> 01:25:34,070
There was no demonstration
of any kind, nobody said a word,

1692
01:25:34,070 --> 01:25:36,740
everybody just slumped away.

1693
01:25:36,740 --> 01:25:39,370
The only way we could
have celebrated as regards

1694
01:25:39,370 --> 01:25:42,780
to a liquid
would have been tea, that's all.

1695
01:25:42,780 --> 01:25:45,320
It was one of
the flattest moments of our lives.

1696
01:25:45,320 --> 01:25:47,820
We just couldn't comprehend it.

1697
01:25:49,530 --> 01:25:51,780
We had that sort of feeling
as though we'd been kicked

1698
01:25:51,780 --> 01:25:53,160
out of a job.

1699
01:25:53,160 --> 01:25:56,530
For some of us, it was practically
the only life we'd known.

1700
01:25:56,530 --> 01:25:58,870
What was one going to do next?

1701
01:25:58,870 --> 01:26:01,030
It was just like
being made redundant.

1702
01:26:01,030 --> 01:26:04,120
That was very much
the feeling of everyone.

1703
01:26:04,120 --> 01:26:07,280
We were thoroughly upset,
we'd all got no work to go to.

1704
01:26:07,280 --> 01:26:09,410
"I don't want to go back."

1705
01:26:09,410 --> 01:26:14,660
There was no cheering, no singing -
we were drained of all emotion.

1706
01:26:14,660 --> 01:26:19,320
We were too far gone,
too exhausted to enjoy it.

1707
01:26:19,320 --> 01:26:23,490
All things come to an end,
and even a drama can go on too long.

1708
01:26:23,490 --> 01:26:26,780
It didn't end with a whimper,
but something very much like one.

1709
01:26:43,120 --> 01:26:46,660
I was very happy to leave.
I'd had enough, you know?

1710
01:26:46,660 --> 01:26:50,280
After a time, it begins
to wear on one, you know?

1711
01:26:50,280 --> 01:26:53,200
"Thank goodness the bloody thing
is over," that was all.

1712
01:26:53,200 --> 01:26:55,370
But so far as I was concerned,
I was out of it,

1713
01:26:55,370 --> 01:26:57,490
and now the next step in life.

1714
01:26:57,490 --> 01:27:00,620
The first thing we did was
write home, say we were all right,

1715
01:27:00,620 --> 01:27:02,990
making sure we got the date
on the envelope right.

1716
01:27:02,990 --> 01:27:05,740
To someone like myself,
who was interested in nature,

1717
01:27:05,740 --> 01:27:08,570
after the horrors that man had
made of the battlefront,

1718
01:27:08,570 --> 01:27:12,620
I was immensely delighted to find
shell holes in which I picked

1719
01:27:12,620 --> 01:27:16,700
lilies of the valley and larkspur,
and I pursued Camberwell Beauties

1720
01:27:16,700 --> 01:27:20,410
and swallowtail butterflies
along the banks of the Aisne river.

1721
01:27:20,410 --> 01:27:22,370
We went to Boulogne.

1722
01:27:22,370 --> 01:27:24,410
By the way, we came
home with full pack,

1723
01:27:24,410 --> 01:27:27,120
the only thing we left
behind was the bullets,

1724
01:27:27,120 --> 01:27:28,990
we had to discard those.

1725
01:27:28,990 --> 01:27:30,870
But we still kept our rifle.

1726
01:27:30,870 --> 01:27:35,820
We went over to Folkestone,
and there were long trestle tables

1727
01:27:35,820 --> 01:27:39,370
with very kind ladies,
and they gave you a sausage roll

1728
01:27:39,370 --> 01:27:44,030
or a bun and a cup of tea,
and that was very welcome.

1729
01:27:44,030 --> 01:27:48,160
We entrained to Victoria,
and there we broke up.

1730
01:27:48,160 --> 01:27:51,240
We went to the barracks,
and we just dumped rifles,

1731
01:27:51,240 --> 01:27:53,950
bayonets and everything,
and there were a lot of suits

1732
01:27:53,950 --> 01:27:56,450
on display, hats, shoes.

1733
01:27:56,450 --> 01:27:59,030
You could tell her which one
you wanted, style and colour,

1734
01:27:59,030 --> 01:28:00,450
and they measured you.

1735
01:28:01,990 --> 01:28:05,240
I was horrified by what I saw
when I came back here

1736
01:28:05,240 --> 01:28:07,320
and when one tried to get a job.

1737
01:28:07,320 --> 01:28:09,490
There was mass unemployment,
and I thought,

1738
01:28:09,490 --> 01:28:11,240
"This isn't much of a life."

1739
01:28:11,240 --> 01:28:13,370
It was a most difficult thing
to realise you're of

1740
01:28:13,370 --> 01:28:14,780
no commercial value.

1741
01:28:14,780 --> 01:28:17,240
It was a shame, the way
ex-servicemen were treated.

1742
01:28:17,240 --> 01:28:18,620
You weren't wanted.

1743
01:28:18,620 --> 01:28:22,030
Some places said,
"No ex-servicemen need apply,"

1744
01:28:22,030 --> 01:28:24,740
and that was the sort of attitude
you were up against.

1745
01:28:24,740 --> 01:28:29,160
One of my pals was killed, and when
I went home, the very first thing

1746
01:28:29,160 --> 01:28:31,570
that I did was
go to his mother, who,

1747
01:28:31,570 --> 01:28:33,910
if she'd had a frying pan,
she'd have hit me.

1748
01:28:33,910 --> 01:28:36,280
Her son had been killed
and I'd come back alive.

1749
01:28:36,280 --> 01:28:38,200
She was very bitter.

1750
01:28:38,200 --> 01:28:41,370
The first night I came home,
I got into my old bed,

1751
01:28:41,370 --> 01:28:44,780
the first bed I'd laid
in since I joined the Army.

1752
01:28:44,780 --> 01:28:47,120
When mother brought my cup
of tea up in the morning,

1753
01:28:47,120 --> 01:28:49,200
she found me fast asleep
on the floor.

1754
01:28:49,200 --> 01:28:51,160
People never talked about the war.

1755
01:28:51,160 --> 01:28:54,240
It was a thing that had
no conversational value at all.

1756
01:28:54,240 --> 01:28:57,030
Most people were
absolutely disinterested.

1757
01:28:57,030 --> 01:28:59,370
When I got home,
my father and my mother

1758
01:28:59,370 --> 01:29:01,950
didn't seem in the least
interested in what had happened,

1759
01:29:01,950 --> 01:29:03,990
they hadn't any conception
of what it was like.

1760
01:29:03,990 --> 01:29:05,280
SOLDIER WHISTLES TUNE

1761
01:29:05,280 --> 01:29:07,620
And there was no reason
why any one of us millions

1762
01:29:07,620 --> 01:29:09,740
should have been favoured
with a thank you very much

1763
01:29:09,740 --> 01:29:13,990
for having got a little bit muddy
and out of touch with good manners.

1764
01:29:13,990 --> 01:29:16,320
And on occasions when
I did talk about it,

1765
01:29:16,320 --> 01:29:20,070
my father would argue points of fact
that he couldn't possibly have known

1766
01:29:20,070 --> 01:29:22,070
about because he wasn't there.

1767
01:29:22,070 --> 01:29:24,950
Every soldier I've spoken
to experienced the same thing.

1768
01:29:24,950 --> 01:29:27,910
We were a race apart
from the civilians,

1769
01:29:27,910 --> 01:29:29,910
and you could speak
to your comrades,

1770
01:29:29,910 --> 01:29:32,660
and they understood,
but the civilians,

1771
01:29:32,660 --> 01:29:34,700
it was just a waste of time.

1772
01:29:34,700 --> 01:29:38,490
However nice and sympathetic
they were, attempts of

1773
01:29:38,490 --> 01:29:42,910
well-meaning people to sympathise
reflected the fact that they

1774
01:29:42,910 --> 01:29:45,070
didn't really understand at all.

1775
01:29:45,070 --> 01:29:48,990
I think the magnitude
was just beyond their comprehension,

1776
01:29:48,990 --> 01:29:53,200
they didn't understand that people
that you'd known and played football

1777
01:29:53,200 --> 01:29:55,870
with were just killed beside you.

1778
01:29:55,870 --> 01:29:59,450
My friend who enlisted with me,
and he just lay there like a sack

1779
01:29:59,450 --> 01:30:04,120
of rags until he went black,
before anybody troubled to bury him.

1780
01:30:04,120 --> 01:30:06,990
They knew that people came back
covered with mud and lice,

1781
01:30:06,990 --> 01:30:10,240
but they'd no idea of the strain
of sitting in a trench

1782
01:30:10,240 --> 01:30:13,620
and waiting for something
to drop on one's head.

1783
01:30:13,620 --> 01:30:16,280
You couldn't convey
the awful state of things,

1784
01:30:16,280 --> 01:30:19,780
the way you lived like animals
and behaved like animals.

1785
01:30:19,780 --> 01:30:24,910
People didn't seem to realise
what a terrible thing war was.

1786
01:30:24,910 --> 01:30:29,410
I think they felt that the war
was one continual cavalry charge.

1787
01:30:29,410 --> 01:30:32,320
They hadn't any conception -
how could they?

1788
01:30:32,320 --> 01:30:34,570
Well, it started off
in a reasonable manner,

1789
01:30:34,570 --> 01:30:37,320
it was people fighting
on horseback with swords,

1790
01:30:37,320 --> 01:30:39,660
but it developed
into something ghastly.

1791
01:30:39,660 --> 01:30:43,030
People don't realise the
potential of military equipment.

1792
01:30:43,030 --> 01:30:45,780
A man's life wasn't worth
anything at the end of the war.

1793
01:30:45,780 --> 01:30:48,120
We were none of us heroes,
you know - we didn't

1794
01:30:48,120 --> 01:30:51,160
like this business of
being killed at all.

1795
01:30:51,160 --> 01:30:53,070
When we were talking
amongst ourselves,

1796
01:30:53,070 --> 01:30:56,320
we used to say, "Christ, they won't
have any more wars like this."

1797
01:30:56,320 --> 01:30:58,030
How did we endure it?

1798
01:30:58,030 --> 01:31:00,990
The answer must be partly
the fear of fear,

1799
01:31:00,990 --> 01:31:03,280
the fear of being found afraid.

1800
01:31:03,280 --> 01:31:05,990
Another is belief in human beings,
your colleague,

1801
01:31:05,990 --> 01:31:08,660
and there's no letting people down.

1802
01:31:08,660 --> 01:31:12,870
There may be right on both sides,
but I think war is horrible.

1803
01:31:12,870 --> 01:31:15,820
Everything should be done
to avoid war.

1804
01:31:15,820 --> 01:31:18,780
I still can't see
the justification for it.

1805
01:31:18,780 --> 01:31:21,160
It was all really rather horrible.

1806
01:31:21,160 --> 01:31:23,780
I think history will decide,
in the end,

1807
01:31:23,780 --> 01:31:25,950
that it was not worthwhile.

1808
01:31:28,450 --> 01:31:32,320
The only thing that really did annoy
me was when I went back to work,

1809
01:31:32,320 --> 01:31:35,530
after I'd got demobilised,
I went down the stores,

1810
01:31:35,530 --> 01:31:38,660
and the bloke behind the counter
was a bloke who I knew.

1811
01:31:38,660 --> 01:31:40,780
He said, "Where have you been?

1812
01:31:40,780 --> 01:31:42,490
"On nights?"

1813
01:32:42,370 --> 01:32:46,490
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Parlez vous

1814
01:32:46,490 --> 01:32:50,740
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Parlez vous?

1815
01:32:50,740 --> 01:32:54,570
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres
She hasn't been kissed in 40 years

1816
01:32:54,570 --> 01:32:58,870
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1817
01:32:58,870 --> 01:33:07,320
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Parlez vous

1818
01:33:07,320 --> 01:33:11,320
# Our top kick in Armentieres
broke the spell of 40 years

1819
01:33:11,320 --> 01:33:14,280
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1820
01:33:15,870 --> 01:33:23,950
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Parlez vous

1821
01:33:23,950 --> 01:33:28,120
# You didn't have to know her long
to know the reason men go wrong

1822
01:33:28,120 --> 01:33:31,030
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1823
01:33:32,740 --> 01:33:40,370
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Parlez vous

1824
01:33:40,370 --> 01:33:42,450
# She's the hardest working girl
in town

1825
01:33:42,450 --> 01:33:44,620
# She makes her living upside down

1826
01:33:44,620 --> 01:33:46,820
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1827
01:33:53,120 --> 01:33:55,030
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1828
01:33:55,030 --> 01:33:56,870
# Parlez vous

1829
01:33:56,870 --> 01:33:59,370
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1830
01:33:59,370 --> 01:34:00,990
# Parlez vous

1831
01:34:00,990 --> 01:34:02,240
# She sold her kisses

1832
01:34:02,240 --> 01:34:03,370
# For ten francs each

1833
01:34:03,370 --> 01:34:04,450
# Soft and juicy

1834
01:34:04,450 --> 01:34:05,740
# As sweet as a peach

1835
01:34:05,740 --> 01:34:08,160
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1836
01:34:09,700 --> 01:34:11,910
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1837
01:34:11,910 --> 01:34:13,530
# Parlez vous

1838
01:34:13,530 --> 01:34:15,870
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1839
01:34:15,870 --> 01:34:17,530
# Parlez vous

1840
01:34:17,530 --> 01:34:19,570
# Madame, you've got a daughter fair

1841
01:34:19,570 --> 01:34:21,530
# To wash the soldiers' underwear

1842
01:34:21,530 --> 01:34:24,490
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1843
01:34:26,450 --> 01:34:28,780
# I didn't care what came of me

1844
01:34:28,780 --> 01:34:29,870
# Parlez vous

1845
01:34:29,870 --> 01:34:32,370
# I didn't care what came of me

1846
01:34:32,370 --> 01:34:33,870
# Parlez vous

1847
01:34:33,870 --> 01:34:35,990
# I didn't care what came of me

1848
01:34:35,990 --> 01:34:38,280
# So I went and joined the infantry

1849
01:34:38,280 --> 01:34:40,950
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1850
01:35:15,570 --> 01:35:17,870
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1851
01:35:17,870 --> 01:35:19,240
# Parlez vous

1852
01:35:19,240 --> 01:35:21,740
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1853
01:35:21,740 --> 01:35:23,490
# Parlez vous

1854
01:35:23,490 --> 01:35:25,280
# Went in her bed, she sure was fun

1855
01:35:25,280 --> 01:35:26,530
# Working her arse

1856
01:35:26,530 --> 01:35:27,820
# Like a Maxim gun

1857
01:35:27,820 --> 01:35:31,120
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1858
01:35:32,160 --> 01:35:34,320
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1859
01:35:34,320 --> 01:35:35,870
# Parlez vous

1860
01:35:35,870 --> 01:35:38,370
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1861
01:35:38,370 --> 01:35:39,780
# Parlez vous

1862
01:35:39,780 --> 01:35:41,620
# I had more fun than I could tell

1863
01:35:41,620 --> 01:35:43,660
# Beneath the sheets with
Mademoiselle

1864
01:35:43,660 --> 01:35:46,620
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1865
01:35:48,570 --> 01:35:56,410
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
parlez vous

1866
01:35:56,410 --> 01:35:58,530
# She did a wink and cried,
"Oui, oui!

1867
01:35:58,530 --> 01:36:00,780
# "Let's see what you can do
with me"

1868
01:36:00,780 --> 01:36:03,660
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1869
01:36:04,870 --> 01:36:07,160
# They say they mechanised the war

1870
01:36:07,160 --> 01:36:08,780
# Parlez vous

1871
01:36:08,780 --> 01:36:11,200
# They say they mechanised the war

1872
01:36:11,200 --> 01:36:12,740
# Parlez vous

1873
01:36:12,740 --> 01:36:15,030
# They say they mechanised the war

1874
01:36:15,030 --> 01:36:17,200
# So what the hell
are we marching for?

1875
01:36:17,200 --> 01:36:20,200
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1876
01:36:37,740 --> 01:36:40,780
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1877
01:36:40,780 --> 01:36:41,870
# Parlez vous

1878
01:36:41,870 --> 01:36:44,620
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1879
01:36:44,620 --> 01:36:46,070
# Parlez vous

1880
01:36:46,070 --> 01:36:48,160
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1881
01:36:48,160 --> 01:36:50,120
# She hasn't been kissed for 40
years

1882
01:36:50,120 --> 01:36:52,700
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1883
01:36:54,160 --> 01:36:56,910
# The officers get all the steak

1884
01:36:56,910 --> 01:36:58,030
# Parlez vous

1885
01:36:58,030 --> 01:37:01,120
# The officers get all the steak

1886
01:37:01,120 --> 01:37:02,370
# Parlez vous

1887
01:37:02,370 --> 01:37:04,490
# The officers get all the steak

1888
01:37:04,490 --> 01:37:06,410
# And all we get is a belly ache

1889
01:37:06,410 --> 01:37:09,450
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1890
01:37:10,620 --> 01:37:11,990
# You might forget

1891
01:37:11,990 --> 01:37:14,240
# The gas and shells, parlez vous

1892
01:37:14,240 --> 01:37:15,870
# You might forget

1893
01:37:15,870 --> 01:37:18,450
# The gas and shells, parlez vous

1894
01:37:18,450 --> 01:37:19,570
# You might forget

1895
01:37:19,570 --> 01:37:20,780
# The groans and yells

1896
01:37:20,780 --> 01:37:21,910
# But you never forget

1897
01:37:21,910 --> 01:37:23,280
# The mademoiselles

1898
01:37:23,280 --> 01:37:25,740
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1899
01:37:43,950 --> 01:37:46,620
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1900
01:37:46,620 --> 01:37:47,660
# Parlez vous

1901
01:37:47,660 --> 01:37:50,410
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1902
01:37:50,410 --> 01:37:51,530
# Parlez vous

1903
01:37:51,530 --> 01:37:53,370
# Many and many a married man

1904
01:37:53,370 --> 01:37:55,660
# Wants to go back to France again

1905
01:37:55,660 --> 01:37:58,820
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1906
01:38:00,160 --> 01:38:03,120
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1907
01:38:03,120 --> 01:38:04,160
# Parlez vous

1908
01:38:04,160 --> 01:38:06,950
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1909
01:38:06,950 --> 01:38:08,120
# Parlez vous

1910
01:38:08,120 --> 01:38:10,530
# Just blow your nose
and dry your tears

1911
01:38:10,530 --> 01:38:12,530
# We'll all be back
in a few short years

1912
01:38:12,530 --> 01:38:15,410
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1913
01:38:16,870 --> 01:38:19,410
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1914
01:38:19,410 --> 01:38:20,530
# Parlez vous

1915
01:38:20,530 --> 01:38:23,120
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1916
01:38:23,120 --> 01:38:24,280
# Parlez vous

1917
01:38:24,280 --> 01:38:26,700
# I fell in love with her at sight

1918
01:38:26,700 --> 01:38:28,740
# Wet myself for half the night

1919
01:38:28,740 --> 01:38:31,490
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1920
01:38:33,200 --> 01:38:41,030
# Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
parlez vous

1921
01:38:41,030 --> 01:38:43,120
# You might forget
the gas and shell

1922
01:38:43,120 --> 01:38:45,030
# You never forget the mademoiselles

1923
01:38:45,030 --> 01:38:47,990
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous

1924
01:38:49,450 --> 01:38:51,200
# You might forget the gas and shell

1925
01:38:51,200 --> 01:38:53,490
# But you'll never forget
the mademoiselles

1926
01:38:53,490 --> 01:38:55,070
# Hinky dinky, parlez vous. #