0:00:05 > 0:00:08It's the new football season.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Heart of Midlothian have just won their first eight matches.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17They are the best team in the country and they are top of the Scottish League.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22They were a very promising side, well on the way to winning the championship.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26They were playing for each other, they backed each other up extremely well,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29a bit like the Liverpool team Bill Shankley built.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32But this isn't 2005,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34it's 1914,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38and for some of these young Hearts players,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41this season will be their last.
0:00:41 > 0:00:47Soon they will volunteer to join a battalion of Lord Kitchener's New Army
0:00:47 > 0:00:50and head to France to fight for their country.
0:00:50 > 0:00:56It's like Paul Hartley, Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, household names,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Scottish international players, being recruited to a war today
0:01:00 > 0:01:04in somewhere like Iraq and going and facing almost certain death.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09This is the story how the men of one Scottish football club
0:01:09 > 0:01:11abandoned glory on the football field
0:01:11 > 0:01:15to pursue a different kind of glory, on a different kind of field.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24"Clouds of callous, thoughtless fools,
0:01:24 > 0:01:29"gather in their thousands to watch the awful farce of football.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32"Has the country gone stark mad?
0:01:32 > 0:01:36"Is the flag under whose folds we enjoy glorious British freedom
0:01:36 > 0:01:42"of less importance now than a league flag or some other footballing trophy?"
0:01:42 > 0:01:44The Scotsman.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51By the time the 1914-15 Scottish football season kicked off,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Britain had been at war with Germany for seven days.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01The government had sanctioned the recruitment of half a million new troops
0:02:01 > 0:02:03to strengthen the army as the crisis deepened.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09The new soldiers were volunteers.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14Conscription was viewed as something that foreigners did, not the British.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17For many people, conscription is Prussianism.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19It is to become just like your enemy,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22it is to suppress the rights of the individual
0:02:22 > 0:02:23in the name of the state.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Sport, including football, continued much as before.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33In Edinburgh, Hearts manager John McCartney had assembled a fine young team.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37McCartney believed it was important that players got on well together,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39off the field as well as on.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44He also believed implicitly that players should have a brain, not just a football brain,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48but they must also have intellectual abilities beyond football.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53He liked players who could show that their brain was engaged
0:02:53 > 0:02:57with their feet, and not just players whose brains were in their feet.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02When he signed players, he had an understanding not only that they could play football,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05but that they could mix with the men he already had at the club.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11McCartney's men had won their first eight games, the best start to a season in the club's history.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14In a period when the rules and the strategies
0:03:14 > 0:03:16of football were still evolving,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18here was a team that actually had
0:03:18 > 0:03:20some degree of sophistication.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24I mean, they were clearly a team that were capable of winning games
0:03:24 > 0:03:27through stealth as much as through strength.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32They were a team who could play, if you like, almost a pre-modern form of football.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34This was breakthrough season, I think,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37and the expectation was that Hearts
0:03:37 > 0:03:39might very well win the league.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Hearts advanced up the league table.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45The German armies advanced across the continent.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52By October, the position of the British Expeditionary Force in France was perilous.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56The image of young men dying abroad, whilst at home their compatriots
0:03:56 > 0:04:03enjoyed watching or playing football, struck many observers as deeply offensive.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07A concerted political campaign was mounted to bring a halt to the football season.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11It was supported by furious letters to the press.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15"How long has this crazy football to remain with us?
0:04:15 > 0:04:18"How long are we to permit this miserable exhibition
0:04:18 > 0:04:22"of spectacular blackguardism to sap the intellect of our young men?
0:04:22 > 0:04:27"Let us legislate for conscription without delay
0:04:27 > 0:04:30"and so put an end to this veritable curse."
0:04:33 > 0:04:39There were fears amongst a small but vocal group of people in Britain
0:04:39 > 0:04:42that in some way the youth of the country
0:04:42 > 0:04:47was having its moral health undermined by professional sport.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Football was the sport that everything focused upon.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56The critics tended to focus on idle fools watching football matches.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58"This is no time for football.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03"The nation must occupy itself with more serious business.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05"The young men who play football
0:05:05 > 0:05:08"and those who look on have better work to do.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10"They are summoned to leave their sport
0:05:10 > 0:05:14"and play their part in a greater game.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17"That game is war, for life and death."
0:05:17 > 0:05:19London Evening News.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Once the casualty returns start to build up and people understand
0:05:23 > 0:05:26that the war is not going to be over by Christmas,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31they are thinking, who is going to be left to fight for us, come next year?
0:05:31 > 0:05:35And the answer to that question is - people who are watching football matches.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39The folks who were against it would have closed the sport down,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43even schoolboys kicking a ball would have been doing something for the war effort.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48Football's response was that its clubs were bound contractually to their players.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Forcing them to enlist would be illegal
0:05:51 > 0:05:55and any player who voluntarily enlisted would be in breach of contract.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59But this cut no ice with football's opponents.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05Preparations were made to ask a question in parliament, demanding a halt to the football season.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09It was like the game of football was under bombardment.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11It was a constant heavy bombardment
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and it included in the quiet times some very, very accurate sniping.
0:06:15 > 0:06:23Letters were sent to Hearts players like Tom Gracie and Robert Mercer, accusing them of cowardice.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26As this campaign against football became more intensive
0:06:26 > 0:06:30it was the leading club in Scotland that attracted most attention.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33At that time, it was Hearts' bad luck to have the leading club.
0:06:33 > 0:06:40In another season it possibly would have been Glasgow Celtic that got all this negative attention,
0:06:40 > 0:06:45but it was the lot of Hearts Football Club to receive these letters, to receive this goading.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51As the arguments raged at home, 500 miles away,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53near the Belgian village of Gheluvelt,
0:06:53 > 0:06:59the beleaguered British expeditionary force was holding off the German armies.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Daily, the situation deteriorated.
0:07:03 > 0:07:10Meanwhile, in Glasgow, a crowd of over 30,000 attended the first Old Firm game of the season.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17And in Edinburgh, a letter writer to the Evening News,
0:07:17 > 0:07:23calling herself Soldier's Daughter, captured the darkening mood of the anti-football campaigners.
0:07:23 > 0:07:30"While Hearts continue to play football, enabled thus to pursue their peaceful play by the sacrifice
0:07:30 > 0:07:36"of the lives of thousands of their countrymen, they might adopt temporarily a nom de plume.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39"Say, the White Feathers of Midlothian."
0:07:41 > 0:07:46The white feather is the traditional symbol of cowardice.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48This was a calculated insult.
0:07:48 > 0:07:55It had a profound effect upon the players because the white feathers of Midlothian,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58the Heart of Midlothian, it's a very public and pointed dig at them.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02They weren't just interested in buying fast cars and smoking cigars,
0:08:02 > 0:08:07they were young men of substance, the kind of young men who would think about these things
0:08:07 > 0:08:10and whom a letter like that would affect.
0:08:11 > 0:08:17On Wednesday 25 November 1914, with the team top of the First Division,
0:08:17 > 0:08:2111 Hearts players volunteered for a new battalion.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25This battalion would be called the 16th Royal Scots.
0:08:25 > 0:08:31Unofficially it was McCrae's Own, after its founder Lieutenant Colonel Sir George McCrae.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38"To the young men of Edinburgh, the present crisis is one of supreme gravity.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41"Worldwide issues are trembling in the balance.
0:08:41 > 0:08:48"I appeal with confidence to the patriotism and generous enthusiasm of my fellow citizens...
0:08:48 > 0:08:51"You are strong, be willing!
0:08:51 > 0:08:56"If you will only come forward in sufficient numbers you can stop the war...
0:08:56 > 0:09:04"In the presence of the God of battles, ask of your conscience this question - dare I stand aside?
0:09:04 > 0:09:05"George McCrae."
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Sir George McCrae was Scotland's senior civil servant,
0:09:11 > 0:09:16a former Liberal MP, a retired soldier and successful businessman.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20In early November, McCrae had approached the War Office
0:09:20 > 0:09:26and requested permission to form a battalion to serve in Lord Kitchener's new army.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30He insisted that he be permitted to lead the battalion personally.
0:09:32 > 0:09:38McCrae promised to fill his battalion of 1,400 men in just seven days.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44McCrae's faith in his ability to raise such a large group of men
0:09:44 > 0:09:50stemmed from informal contact he had already made with a number of Hearts players.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55He knew that persuading men from the best team in the country to sign up
0:09:55 > 0:09:58would be an excellent recruiting tool for Lord Kitchener.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05McCrae was aware of the effects that the press campaign was having on Hearts players.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09He knew too that some were keen to volunteer,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12yet they were bound by the contracts.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16McCrae believed he could break the deadlock.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21He knows that if the Hearts players, or even if some of them, are thinking about joining up,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24these men are the star footballers of their time.
0:10:24 > 0:10:30So he approaches the players through an intermediary, and he is assured that they are prepared to enlist.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34He offers them the opportunity to join his battalion.
0:10:34 > 0:10:40At the same time he gets assurances from the War Office that if any of these men volunteer for his battalion
0:10:40 > 0:10:44they will be allowed to serve together for the duration of the war.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48They won't be taken to other units, they'll stay with their pals.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53The news caused a national sensation, and broke on the very day that parliament was being asked
0:10:53 > 0:10:56to consider stopping football for the duration of the war.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59The Hearts players had saved the game.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05In Edinburgh, 4,000 packed the Usher Hall to hear McCrae officially launch his battalion.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10"I stand before you humbly as a fellow Scot,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12"nothing more and nothing less.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17"You know I don't speak easy of crisis, but that is what confronts us.
0:11:17 > 0:11:24"I have received permission from the War Office to raise a new battalion for active service.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30"It is my intention that this unit will reflect accurately all the many classes of this famous capital
0:11:30 > 0:11:36"and that it will be characterised by such a simple spirit of excellence
0:11:36 > 0:11:42"that the rest of Lord Kitchener's army will be judged by our standing.
0:11:42 > 0:11:48"Furthermore, with the agreement of the authorities, I have undertaken to lead the battalion in the field.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54"I would not, could not, ask you to serve unless I share the danger at your side. George McCrae."
0:11:54 > 0:11:58He was joined on the platform by the Heart of Midlothian players,
0:11:58 > 0:12:03and the roar of the crowd when the Hearts players walked on to the platform
0:12:03 > 0:12:10was such that the Hearts manager later wrote that it nearly knocked him backwards off his seat.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14McCrae then said to the crowd, "I'm going down to Castle Street" -
0:12:14 > 0:12:19where the recruiting station was - "to sign on as the first volunteer. Who will come with me?"
0:12:19 > 0:12:21He walked out the door, down Lothian Road,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25and he was followed by almost every single man in the room.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31Among them were some of the players who made up the best team in the country.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Half-back Alfie Briggs,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36left-back Duncan Currie...
0:12:38 > 0:12:40..centre-forward Tom Gracie.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45And forwards Jamie Low...
0:12:47 > 0:12:49..Harry Wattie
0:12:49 > 0:12:51and Willie Wilson.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57From the reserves, Ernie Ellis,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Annan Ness,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Norman Findlay,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Jimmy Frew
0:13:03 > 0:13:04and Bobby Preston.
0:13:06 > 0:13:12Left-back Pat Crossan and fellow defender Jimmy Boyd signed up the following day.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17The Hearts players were joined by professionals from Raith Rovers,
0:13:17 > 0:13:22Falkirk, Dunfermline, East Fife, and Hibs.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28Hundreds of supporters of Hearts and of these other clubs also volunteered.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Every profession was represented.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36Artist DM Sutherland, maths teacher Peter Ross, science teacher Fraser McLean,
0:13:36 > 0:13:41printer Jimmy MacAvoy, local councillor Gerald Crawford,
0:13:41 > 0:13:46advocate Napier Armit, solicitor Herbert Warden
0:13:46 > 0:13:48and plumber John Buchan.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54As McCrae had hoped, the example of the Hearts players had encouraged
0:13:54 > 0:13:57hundreds of their supporters across the city the join them,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00and the popular enthusiasm for the new battalion
0:14:00 > 0:14:03meant that the contract issue was effectively swept aside.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13The next day, Hearts defeated Hamilton Academicals 3-1
0:14:13 > 0:14:17to maintain their lead at the top of the First Division.
0:14:23 > 0:14:30"Up at 6am. Ran 100 yards in the cold, dark, frosty mornings with towel around neck
0:14:30 > 0:14:34"to a tap, around which about 30 men are struggling to wash.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38"Dash back, make up blankets and mattress.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41"Parade. Breakfast 9am -
0:14:41 > 0:14:45kippers and 2oz of white bread, plus coffee."
0:14:45 > 0:14:47DM Sutherland.
0:14:52 > 0:14:58McCrae wanted his battalion to be characterised by, in his words, "a simple spirit of excellence".
0:14:58 > 0:15:02In order to achieve this, the training was demanding.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06McCrae put Regimental Sergeant Major Fred Muir in charge of
0:15:06 > 0:15:09turning the volunteers into a fighting battalion.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14Muir, a Musselburgh coal miner, favoured long moonlit marches
0:15:14 > 0:15:18on cold winter nights. The pace was relentless but effective.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21"I don't know how the RSM did it,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24"he drilled us and marched us and put us to bed,
0:15:24 > 0:15:30"then one morning we woke up as the finest battalion in Lord Kitchener's Army." Donald Gunn.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34But Muir's regime had an unintended affect on Hearts' league form.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39The players started playing in boots one size too big in order to make room for their blisters,
0:15:39 > 0:15:45and inoculations necessary for military service made many of the Hearts men ill.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48There were no such problems in Glasgow,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52where the players of the Old Firm had not shown the same enthusiasm
0:15:52 > 0:15:55as the players of Hearts for military service.
0:15:55 > 0:16:02The job of the Rangers secretary and the Celtic secretary was to do the best they could for their club.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07And therefore they attracted some unfavourable publicity for it,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10but you could argue that this was what they were paid for
0:16:10 > 0:16:13and it was up to them to do as well as they could.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18As Celtic, who had only one player enlisted in the army, won game after game,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Hearts players often turned up at their games with little or no sleep.
0:16:22 > 0:16:29In February, Hearts faced Rangers and found themselves four goals behind at half time.
0:16:29 > 0:16:35The Hearts players' exhaustion, and the round of vomiting in the dressing room during the interval,
0:16:35 > 0:16:41the result of a recent typhoid vaccination, combined to hand Rangers a surprise victory.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Hearts nearly snatched a point, scoring three times in the second half
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and hitting the post in the last minute.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53"No-one wants to belittle the performance of the Rangers at Tynecastle,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56"but it is an undoubted fact that military training is having
0:16:56 > 0:16:59"a certain affect on the Heart of Midlothian players.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03"While the men have lost none of their football ability,
0:17:03 > 0:17:08"and have probably gained in stamina, they have certainly lost in speed."
0:17:08 > 0:17:09Evening Times.
0:17:09 > 0:17:15By early Spring, Celtic had overtaken Hearts at the top of the First Division.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17They didn't lose their lead.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20On 24 April 1915,
0:17:20 > 0:17:25the men from Glasgow were crowned champions for the 12th time.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29"Hearts have laboured these past weeks under a dreadful handicap,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32"the like of which our friends in the West cannot imagine.
0:17:32 > 0:17:38"Between them, the two leading Glasgow clubs have sent not a single prominent player to the army.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44"There is only one football champion in Scotland, and its colours are maroon and khaki."
0:17:44 > 0:17:45Evening News.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50"Only the team's great fighting spirit saw them through the programme after Christmas.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53"They played at times so tired and sore, they could hardly stand.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59"Yet they took Celtic to the last day of the season and left Rangers floundering 11 points behind.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04"They gave their best throughout and that is all that anyone could ask.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06"Edinburgh is proud of them."
0:18:06 > 0:18:08John McCartney.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13Hearts had lost only one game and drawn one game before mobilisation.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18After mobilisation they lost three and drew six.
0:18:18 > 0:18:24The decision of so many of their players to join up had proved fatal to their title aspirations.
0:18:24 > 0:18:31They were very, very plausible as candidates to win the championship in 1914.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36They may not have done, we'll never actually know that,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39but they got a lot of good publicity for it -
0:18:39 > 0:18:42that they had been willing to sacrifice.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46They were willing to sacrifice quicker than two Glasgow clubs, no doubt of that.
0:18:46 > 0:18:53I know Hearts fans who've learned the story of McCrae's battalion
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and because of this deep, proud story,
0:18:55 > 0:19:00they feel to some extent a moral superiority to the Glasgow clubs.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02To some extent, that might be them
0:19:02 > 0:19:05casting back from the luxury of the present to the past,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09but nonetheless, Hearts lost the league and Celtic won the league.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Hearts contributed to the war effort, Celtic less so.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20As the Hearts players left Edinburgh with the rest of McCrae's battalion,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24their manager John McCartney was there to see them off.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29"There was a moment, a long moment of unexpected silence,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33"of disbelief, I think, that it had come to this.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37"I could not move. I stood quite still,
0:19:37 > 0:19:39"and then I heard the cheering start again.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43"The finest men I ever knew had gone."
0:19:43 > 0:19:44John McCartney.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52While Celtic's players prepared for the defence of their championship,
0:19:52 > 0:19:58the heart of the greatest Hearts team in history now prepared for the defence of their country.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17"The trench is not wide, but the boards are frequently loose,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20"so that if your pack makes you feel top-heavy,
0:20:20 > 0:20:26"or your boots are slippery with mud, you run a fair chance of a dip in the muddy depths below.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29"Sometimes the enemy may know of your movements,
0:20:29 > 0:20:34"but if they do not, they just keep up an intermittent fire on the off-chance of catching someone.
0:20:34 > 0:20:40"When you hear the crack of the rifle and the ping of the bullet, you cannot help ducking your head,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43"instinctively at first, but in a few minutes you get over it.
0:20:43 > 0:20:49"When you finally emerge in the first line trenches you are in another world."
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Gerald Crawford.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58After training for 12 months,
0:20:58 > 0:21:03McCrae's battalion crossed to France on the 7 January 1916.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07They were to form part of the British 34th Division.
0:21:07 > 0:21:13Three weeks later they arrived at the front-line town of Armentieres.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18By ten o'clock on the morning of January 27,
0:21:18 > 0:21:24McCrae's men were strung out along a 1?-mile-long section of the Western Front.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26And January 27, it turned out,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30was not a good day to arrive at the front line.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32This was the Kaiser's birthday.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35The Germans had prepared a celebration.
0:21:37 > 0:21:43"I got up and toddled out into the darkness to see the flashes of bursting shells over the trenches.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47"One here and there, becoming uncomfortably close to our quarters
0:21:47 > 0:21:51"and landing about our support trenches, and then a few behind us.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56"They were sending them over so thick at times that we got to the stage
0:21:56 > 0:22:00"of thinking that a shell could hardly help dropping in our midst."
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Napier Armit.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10"A dugout got the first two quite close and all our butter was spoilt with flying earth.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14"This shelling went on at intervals until 3pm when it became intense.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16"It was an awful biz.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19"You sit in the mud and hope that the next won't be near you."
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Fraser McLean.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27More than 2,000 German shells landed on the British trenches that night.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30The British responded with 4,000 of their own.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34When the exchange stopped, the machine-gun fire took over
0:22:34 > 0:22:40as each army tried to capitalise on the damage to their opponents on the other side of the field.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42The noise was deafening.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46It was a very, very violent introduction to trench life
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and they were very lucky that large numbers of men weren't killed.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53It was a brutal and jarring experience for them.
0:22:53 > 0:23:00After the shock of their welcome, life for McCrae's men in the bitterly cold early months of 1916
0:23:00 > 0:23:05settled down, but the situation remained tense and dangerous.
0:23:05 > 0:23:11The Germans kept the pressure on with steady artillery and machine-gun fire.
0:23:11 > 0:23:18"We stand to an hour before dawn and an hour after dusk. In between we keep out heads down
0:23:18 > 0:23:26"and go about our duties, which mainly consist of drying socks and rubbing anti-frostbite on our feet."
0:23:26 > 0:23:27Gerald Crawford.
0:23:27 > 0:23:33"Most of our time is spent digging holes in bits of France to fill in other bits of France.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36"Much of the country is now contained in sandbags.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40"The rest is in our boots, our pockets and all over our uniforms.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43"Yesterday we built a road up to a trench in our front line,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46"nothing very rugged, just a wooden-planked affair.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50"Today the Germans shelled it, so this evening we must start again."
0:23:50 > 0:23:52Annan Ness.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Although fighting was intermittent, casualties mounted.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Jimmy Todd, a winger from Raith Rovers,
0:24:05 > 0:24:10was hit in the chest by shrapnel and died of his injuries.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13It's funny in a sad kind of way the extent to which
0:24:13 > 0:24:17they react to the early casualties.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21The local press in Edinburgh talked about McCrae's first casualty.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25Officers from the battalion wrote to the local press in Edinburgh
0:24:25 > 0:24:28complaining that suggested there would be more.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33The muddy fields of France seem to be a lifetime away
0:24:33 > 0:24:37from the muddy fields of Tynecastle, Easter Road and Stark's Park.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46"Instead of fighting, we should take the Fritzes on at football.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50"I am certain we would do it on them." Pat Crossan.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53When they got out of the line to work off some of the strain,
0:24:53 > 0:24:58the boredom, the pressure, they'd get a football out and have a kick-about.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Not just the footballers, but the whole battalion would get footballs out
0:25:02 > 0:25:06and have competitions between the platoons and the companies.
0:25:06 > 0:25:12John McCartney and the Hearts directors wanted to send a comfort parcel to the footballers.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Annan Ness called a meeting to discuss the offer.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22"After talking the matter over carefully, we came to the conclusion
0:25:22 > 0:25:25"that the articles mentioned here are the most desired.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28"A melodeon for Crossan,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32"a few mouth organs to keep Fritz happy,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35"socks, no underwear,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38"chocolate, sweets, dried fruit,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42"toilet soap, candles, matches,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44"cigarettes, tobacco."
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Annan Ness.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50McCartney and the directors did not disappoint.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54Two weeks later, a parcel arrived for Ness and his comrades.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57It contained 240 pairs of socks,
0:25:57 > 0:26:015,000 cigarettes, 20 cases of soap
0:26:01 > 0:26:05and 100 boxes of Edinburgh rock.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10There were also 14 pairs of football boots, three balls,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13and one pump, just in case.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Ness sent his old boss a note of thanks.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20"We can smile through the grime.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24"One of the boys has just sent a parcel of dried mud home to his folks
0:26:24 > 0:26:31"with instructions on how much water to add in order to achieve the correct trench consistency.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35"Oh, we have all the wags out here, all right."
0:26:35 > 0:26:36Annan Ness.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51On the 5 May 1916,
0:26:51 > 0:26:57McCrae's men were moved 50 miles south, to the town of Albert, near the Somme.
0:26:57 > 0:27:037,000 people had lived here before the war. Now only a few remained.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10"A very interesting place, once a thriving small town,
0:27:10 > 0:27:15"now absolutely deserted save for a few haunted-looking natives
0:27:15 > 0:27:18"who resort to their caves during bombardments.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21"The principal part is a mass of crumbled ruins
0:27:21 > 0:27:25"in which bits of bedstead and other metal goods project here and there.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30"You can here the distant rumble of artillery and the chatter of machine guns at night."
0:27:30 > 0:27:31DM Sutherland.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36By the time McCrae's arrived at Albert,
0:27:36 > 0:27:41the situation on the Western Front had been deadlocked for 18 months.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46From Belgium in the north to Switzerland in the south,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49two and a half million British and French troops
0:27:49 > 0:27:52faced one and a half million German soldiers.
0:27:52 > 0:27:59The man in charge of British troops on the Western Front was another Edinburgh gentleman, Douglas Haig.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05Haig was planning an offensive at the River Somme with his French counterpart, General Joffre.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06The site of the battle
0:28:06 > 0:28:09is chosen very simply and pragmatically
0:28:09 > 0:28:12because it is where the British and French armies meet,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14so they can operate together.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19From Haig's point of view, the place to attack would have been much further north around Ypres.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Nonetheless, Haig and his deputy, Henry Rawlinson, set about
0:28:22 > 0:28:27planning a strategy with the French that would break the deadlock.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32But their task was further complicated when the Germans launched a ferocious attack
0:28:32 > 0:28:34on the French at Verdun in February 1916.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39Progressively, the French Army is drawn in to the Verdun battle
0:28:39 > 0:28:44and as it does so, its own commitment to the Battle of the Somme is reduced proportionately.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49And that means that the major part of this battle, or at least the major part of the Front,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52is to be attacked by the British rather than by the French.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56Whilst Haig and Rawlinson re-wrote their plans, McCrae's battalion
0:28:56 > 0:29:01found itself uncomfortably close to its German enemies.
0:29:01 > 0:29:07"It is 6.30am. We've had two quiet hours while the boys prepared their breakfast.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09"I can hear the picks and shovels all around.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13"Both sides are getting on with some urgent repairs.
0:29:13 > 0:29:19"The larks are singing sweetly, the cook fires smoke away and there is much loud shouting."
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Gerald Crawford.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Occasionally, the Germans would burrow under No Man's Land
0:29:25 > 0:29:28and fire rifle grenades into the British trenches.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33Alternatively, they would send shells down the hill into the British lines.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40Fraser McLean was severely injured in one of these attacks.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44As he was being carried off, another explosion ruptured his eardrums.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50The German trenches, which had been constructed over a period
0:29:50 > 0:29:54of 18 months, were much more sophisticated than the British ones.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58This posed great difficulties for an attacking force.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03The Germans had constructed...
0:30:03 > 0:30:06a fiendishly complicated, efficient
0:30:06 > 0:30:10network of entrenched defences
0:30:10 > 0:30:15protected by barbed wire entanglements so complicated
0:30:15 > 0:30:20that you just couldn't imagine them ever being moved,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26and, of course, machine guns everywhere.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39"They hold both the high ground and considerable artillery advantage
0:30:39 > 0:30:44"so that any exchange of fire inevitably leaves us worse off.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48"Our trenches are a shambles, quite untenable in places.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53"Our little slope is so exposed, the Hun machine gunners and snipers so hot,
0:30:53 > 0:30:58"that our working parties cannot set themselves to the task of repairing the damage."
0:30:58 > 0:31:00George McCrae.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21The Germans used their superior position to press home their artillery advantage.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26Whilst their gramophones played Schubert symphonies at the top of the hill,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30their shells landed on the British trenches at the bottom.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32"We got the lot.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36"Some of the shells burst, ploughing up tremendous holes.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40"Those are usually high explosive. Others burst overhead.
0:31:40 > 0:31:47"You hear them all, some seconds before they land, and the bigger ones make a noise like an express train.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51"Couple that with the noise of the firing and then multiply the result
0:31:51 > 0:31:56"by two or 50 for the number of guns and you will get an idea of the din.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01"And think of the great clouds of smoke that arise from every explosion
0:32:01 > 0:32:06"and you will get an idea of the thickness of the atmosphere."
0:32:06 > 0:32:07Herbert Warden.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15Despite the obvious disadvantages of their position,
0:32:15 > 0:32:2034th Division and McCrae's battalion were central to the offensive at the Somme.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24The British intended to mount a five-day-long artillery bombardment
0:32:24 > 0:32:29which would destroy the German trenches before the infantry attacked.
0:32:29 > 0:32:36The barrage would also destroy the barbed wire protecting the deadly machine-gun positions, leaving them
0:32:36 > 0:32:40open for the infantry to move in and capture the German trenches.
0:32:40 > 0:32:46The artillery bombardment would continue, carefully timed to provide cover for the advancing troops.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48To fit in with the artillery's timetable,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52troops were ordered to move slowly toward the German trenches.
0:32:52 > 0:32:58Haig insisted that the British could break through. His deputy, Henry Rawlinson, was less convinced.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03Henry Rawlinson realised that what was probably quite easy was to launch
0:33:03 > 0:33:08a limited attack, to be able to get into the enemy's front line trenches,
0:33:08 > 0:33:13but what was difficult was to get right through a deep position in one bound.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18Put into the context the Battle of the Somme, what that said to him was, "We proceed methodically,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21"we go no further than the artillery can support us,
0:33:21 > 0:33:27"we don't attempt to do everything at once and we consolidate each gain as we make it
0:33:27 > 0:33:32"and then bring up the guns and start afresh with the new attack."
0:33:33 > 0:33:37The strategy was confused from the outset.
0:33:37 > 0:33:44The real problem with the planning of the Somme is this contradiction between the vision of the battle
0:33:44 > 0:33:50entertained by Haig and the vision of the battle entertained by Rawlinson is never fully reconciled.
0:33:50 > 0:33:57But what had been decided was that the target for the 34th Division would be the fortified village
0:33:57 > 0:34:01of Contalmaison, deep inside the German position.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06McCrae's battalion would attack immediately to the south of the main road.
0:34:06 > 0:34:12It was a terrifying position to attack, it was all uphill through two valleys.
0:34:12 > 0:34:18The German entanglements were something like ten feet high, 15, 20 yards broad.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Machine-gun positions so numerous that you couldn't imagine
0:34:25 > 0:34:29being able to move in the open more than 20 seconds without being killed.
0:34:29 > 0:34:35German snipers knew the ground so well that they backed the machine guns up brilliantly.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39And mutually supportive lines of entrenchments that took advantage
0:34:39 > 0:34:44of every single available fold in the ground to create a series of killing fields.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55"We can't sleep, the ground won't keep still."
0:34:55 > 0:34:57Jimmy MacAvoy.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11On 24 June, the British began their great bombardment of the German trenches.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16One and a half million shells landed on the German positions.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Fire was directed at the deadly barbed wire entanglements
0:35:19 > 0:35:23in order to clear a path for the infantry assault.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29If this barbed wire was not destroyed,
0:35:29 > 0:35:33the infantry would never make it across No Man's Land.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42Tommy Miller, a medical student from Edinburgh University, led a reconnaissance party
0:35:42 > 0:35:45across No Man's Land on the night of 29 June
0:35:45 > 0:35:49to assess how much damage the bombardment was doing.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52It was an immensely dangerous mission
0:35:52 > 0:35:56which cost Miller five of his men.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00And the results of his reconnaissance were terrifying.
0:36:00 > 0:36:06"The wire showed very little signs of shelling and was not destroyed to any considerable degree whatever.
0:36:06 > 0:36:14"After a space without wire of about 10 to 13 yards, a second, heavier roll of wire was found.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17"It formed a very effective obstacle."
0:36:17 > 0:36:18Tommy Miller.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Miller handed his report to his superiors.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28If the barbed wire was still intact,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32then the German trenches were also likely to be intact.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36McCrae's battalion was about to march into a killing field
0:36:36 > 0:36:40but it was too late to stop the massive assault.
0:36:40 > 0:36:46Miller's company commander was Peter Ross, principal mathematics teacher at Broughton Higher Grade School.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50Ross was profoundly depressed by this news
0:36:50 > 0:36:54and wrote letters to the families of the young lads who had died in the wiring patrol.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59The letters are bleak, the letters are loaded with, I think,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03a pre-sentiment of his own coming death.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07"I assure you that you have my sincere and heartfelt sympathy.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11"I only wish that I could have brought them back with me,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14"but I know not what awaits myself tomorrow.
0:37:14 > 0:37:20"I put my trust in God and go to do my duty with one of the finest companies in the British Army."
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Peter Ross.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29Because of Miller's worrying report on the condition of the barbed wire,
0:37:29 > 0:37:34the senior officers of the 34th Division had been held back from the initial attack.
0:37:34 > 0:37:40A frustrated George McCrae would have to watch events unfold from his assembly trench.
0:37:40 > 0:37:46As the countdown to the attack continued, the rest of the men in the battalion
0:37:46 > 0:37:50were deafened by the ongoing bombardment. Nonetheless,
0:37:50 > 0:37:52as they contemplated going over the top,
0:37:52 > 0:37:55there was sympathy for their German enemies.
0:37:55 > 0:38:01"There is terrible artillery work going on, and Fritz must be in a terrible plight.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05"I do not think it will be long before we get home for good."
0:38:05 > 0:38:07John Buchan.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14The following morning was breathless and shimmering blue.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17A cool mist hung in the valley.
0:38:17 > 0:38:23The Hearts players, Crossan, Briggs, Wattie, Ellis and Ness
0:38:23 > 0:38:27stood together waiting to go over the top.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33A little over a year ago, they had been part of the Hearts team on top of the Scottish First Division,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36looking forward to a championship triumph.
0:38:36 > 0:38:42Now, they were part of C-Company, 16th Royal Scots, McCrae's Own.
0:38:44 > 0:38:50700 yards, or a few football pitches away, lay the German trenches,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53still guarded by barbed wire.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55At 7.25am,
0:38:55 > 0:39:01the British detonated mines they had constructed under the German trenches.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10"Stones and rocks and all sorts rained down on us.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12"The sky turned black."
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Murdy Mackay.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24At 7.34am,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27McCrae's battalion left their trenches
0:39:27 > 0:39:31and began their assault on the German lines.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42Immediately, machine gun fire tore into them.
0:39:45 > 0:39:51"It was pure hell crossing that ground, owing to their machine guns and shell fire.
0:39:51 > 0:39:57"It was awful seeing all your chums going under and not being able to do anything for them."
0:39:57 > 0:39:58Frank Scott.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04"They flung everything at us but half crowns.
0:40:04 > 0:40:10"I saw one lad put his hand in front of his face as if to shield him from the hail."
0:40:10 > 0:40:11Jimmy MacAvoy.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17Peter Ross was still alive at 8.15am,
0:40:17 > 0:40:2141 minutes after the battalion had gone over the top.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25As he organised a charge of the machine-gun position,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29he was hit in the stomach and almost cut in two.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33In terrible pain, he begged his comrades to finish him off.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Two of his men reluctantly obliged.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39One would kill himself 20 years later.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44The casualties mounted.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47As the British ranks thinned,
0:40:47 > 0:40:52German machine gunners were able to concentrate on individual targets.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56One of these was Alfie Briggs, Hearts' half-back.
0:40:56 > 0:41:03One bullet broke his right leg, another hit his left foot before ricocheting through his right arm.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Another shattered his knee.
0:41:05 > 0:41:11Finally, one glanced his forehead, knocking him unconscious.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15His team-mates, Duncan Currie,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Ernie Ellis
0:41:18 > 0:41:19and Harry Wattie
0:41:19 > 0:41:24all fell in the final desperate assault on Contalmaison.
0:41:24 > 0:41:30All across the front, the British advance was being destroyed.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33"It was just cruel, we had no chance.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37"You remember Jimmy Dodds that we used to pal about with?
0:41:37 > 0:41:43"I saw him fall beside me. We were going over together when he was hit in the chest.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45"I do not think he knew anything.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49"I crawled into a shell hole with poor Jimmy just behind me,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52"where I could see the bullets still tearing into him.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55"The bullets were like hailstones."
0:41:55 > 0:41:56Jim Miller.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01"And we started firing.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04"We just had to load and reload.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07"They went down in their hundreds.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09"We didn't have to aim,
0:42:09 > 0:42:11"we just fired into them."
0:42:11 > 0:42:14German machine gunner.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18By 10am, it was clear that Douglas Haig's wish
0:42:18 > 0:42:21for a decisive breakthrough was not going to be realised.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26The 1st of July 1916
0:42:26 > 0:42:31remains the blackest day in the history of the British Army.
0:42:31 > 0:42:38Nearly 20,000 soldiers lay dead, almost 40,000 were wounded.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42Some British battalions had been completely wiped out.
0:42:42 > 0:42:48Haig had fatally under-estimated the strength of the German entrenched positions.
0:42:48 > 0:42:53He had also over-estimated the effectiveness of the artillery barrage.
0:42:53 > 0:42:59The barbed wire had not been cut, nor had the German trenches been destroyed.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04In theory, a seven-day bombardment of the German position should have reduced all this to rubble.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06But the guns were not capable of doing that.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10The number of shells and guns isn't sufficient.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14Many of those shells happened to be duds. It is reckoned that 30%
0:43:14 > 0:43:18of the shells fired on the first day on the Somme failed to explode.
0:43:18 > 0:43:26The wire did not get cut. The troops who were obliged to advance into those killing fields had to negotiate
0:43:26 > 0:43:30the barbed wire which slowed them up and allowed German machine guns
0:43:30 > 0:43:33to fire upon little groups of men passing through the wire.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38Soldiers from McCrae's advanced further than almost any other battalion that morning,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42reaching the outskirts of Contalmaison, but their advance was beaten back.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47Whilst the 16th Royal Scots were advancing upon Contalmaison,
0:43:47 > 0:43:53trying to get as far as they possibly could, other elements of 34th Division Infantry
0:43:53 > 0:43:57had found that their advance was stopped.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02McCrae's men joined the beleaguered soldiers of other battalions
0:44:02 > 0:44:06at a tiny strongpoint less than one mile outside Contalmaison.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10It was called, appropriately enough, Scots Redoubt.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14Annan Ness, once on the fringes of the Hearts first team,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18now found himself and the remnants of the 16th Royal Scots stranded
0:44:18 > 0:44:20in the heart of the battle.
0:44:21 > 0:44:27Ness was a reserve team half-back with Heart of Midlothian in 1914.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32The curious thing about him is he was probably the least talented of all the footballers,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34but he was the man in the battalion who...
0:44:34 > 0:44:37the one footballer in the battalion
0:44:37 > 0:44:41who actually appeared to have genuine talents as a soldier.
0:44:42 > 0:44:47Ammunition, food and water were in short supply.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51Ness and the rest of the men were completely isolated.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57You have to try to imagine
0:44:57 > 0:45:01a scenario something a bit like the famous film Zulu,
0:45:01 > 0:45:05except the enemy were equipped, not with assegais, but automatic rifles.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11"It is my intention that this unit will reflect accurately
0:45:11 > 0:45:15"all the many classes of this famous capital
0:45:15 > 0:45:19"and that it will be characterised by such a simple spirit of excellence
0:45:19 > 0:45:25"that the rest of Lord Kitchener's army will be judged by our standard.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28"I have undertaken to lead the battalion in the field.
0:45:28 > 0:45:34"I would not, could not, ask you to serve unless I shared the danger at your side."
0:45:34 > 0:45:36George McCrae.
0:45:36 > 0:45:42When McCrae decided to recruit a battalion from the football players and supporters of Edinburgh,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45he promised that he would fight alongside his men.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49When at last the order arrived allowing senior officers to enter the fray,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51Sir George didn't waste any time.
0:45:51 > 0:45:57This is, I suppose, the moment that McCrae had been waiting for all his military and civilian career.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03At ten o'clock on the evening of July 1st, McCrae and a small party
0:46:03 > 0:46:07set off to find the remnants of his battalion.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11The Germans had already reoccupied most of the front line.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16When the Colonel and his small party arrived at Scots Redoubt,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20the Germans were in the process of trying to flush them out.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23They were so close that the fighting was hand to hand.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29"We had to stop the German bombers getting within throwing range.
0:46:29 > 0:46:34"The colonel was a marksman, he took his rifle, and with his servants spotting for him,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37"dropped a Fritz with every shot." Jimmy MacAvoy.
0:46:38 > 0:46:44McCrae's presence galvanised the beleaguered British soldiers and the following morning
0:46:44 > 0:46:47he was put in charge of all the forward troops in the division.
0:46:47 > 0:46:54In the chaos, the colonel made a vivid impression on a young officer from the Northumberland Fusiliers.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59"A tall, grey-haired soldier appeared out of the dug-out, minus helmet,
0:46:59 > 0:47:04"quite unperturbed by the war and the general mix-up of the troops and apparent chaos.
0:47:04 > 0:47:12"He wandered about in the lasting bombardment as if taking a stroll around his garden." Robin Neves.
0:47:12 > 0:47:18McCrae needed to be calm because the Germans were swarming around the Redoubt,
0:47:18 > 0:47:22pouring along the trenches and inflicting heavy casualties.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26By early evening on the 2nd of July,
0:47:26 > 0:47:31McCrae and his men were down to just 30 rounds of ammunition each.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37"It was hand to hand stuff at the death.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40"We had nothing but our rifle butts and bayonets."
0:47:40 > 0:47:42Jimmy MacAvoy.
0:47:42 > 0:47:48Under tremendous pressure, McCrae and his men beat off one German attack after another,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52but just as the Redoubt was about to fall, the Germans pulled back.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57McCrae had a chance to regroup and rebuild his shattered defences.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59The delay was crucial.
0:47:59 > 0:48:06Reinforcements arrived, bringing more ammunition and allowing McCrae to keep the Germans at arm's length.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10"The Fritzes were very brave.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14"They kept coming at us until we bombed them all to hell.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18"When it was over,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22"we made the prisoners bury their pals."
0:48:22 > 0:48:24John Veitch.
0:48:26 > 0:48:33McCrae's success at Scots Redoubt had allowed the British to strengthen their positions nearby.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38At 2am on the 4th July the Redoubt was relieved by fresh units.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45People were wondering exactly how come the 16th Royal Scots,
0:48:45 > 0:48:49at the time, had managed to stick together when other units had
0:48:49 > 0:48:54ceased to operate as a battalion and were just operating as small remnants here and there,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57but it's something to do with the esprit de corps,
0:48:57 > 0:49:00perhaps the sporting background the battalion had.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05I think there are similarities between sporting organisations and military organisations,
0:49:05 > 0:49:10in that they are all out there pursuing a form of glory - trophies, medals, whatever.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13But McCrae's battalion had paid a terrible price.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17DM Sutherland waited for his comrades to return from the Redoubt.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22"The first ragged ghosts were beginning to show themselves.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24"They moved quietly without speaking.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28"I saw a young sniper from the Lincolns whom I knew quite well.
0:49:28 > 0:49:33"His face was a brown chalk mask caked with blood, mud and sweat.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37"His eyes were rubbed sore, I doubt if he could blink.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40"He was dragging his rifle along behind him.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45"And just as I was thinking that at least one company was safely back, the trickle stopped.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48"I realised that it wasn't one company,
0:49:48 > 0:49:50"but all that was left of the entire battalion."
0:49:50 > 0:49:53DM Sutherland.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58Of the 814 men from McCrae's battalion who had joined the advance,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01only 178 returned.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05"I don't think our losses registered with me until the roll was called.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09"We were still in our platoons when we came out of the line and, though there were gaps,
0:50:09 > 0:50:13"we assumed that the rest of the boys were just elsewhere in the confusion.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16"I couldn't bring myself to believe they had gone."
0:50:16 > 0:50:18John Veitch.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22The 16th Royal Scots lost more than three-quarters of their strength,
0:50:22 > 0:50:26and most of those men were killed in the first hour and a half of the attack.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Among the dead were Hearts' right-back Duncan Currie
0:50:31 > 0:50:34and defender Ernie Ellis.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41So too was forward Harry Wattie.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Their bodies have never been found.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Among the wounded was defender Pat Crossan,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54who was knocked unconscious when a shell exploded just yards from him.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58Two men on either side of him were killed.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02Also among the wounded was Alfie Briggs.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07With multiple wounds in his arms and legs, he had lain half-dead for two days.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12German troops had crawled over him during their assault on the Redoubt.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16When he was eventually rescued, he was put amongst the hopeless cases in the hospital
0:51:16 > 0:51:18and once more left for dead.
0:51:18 > 0:51:25His refusal to die vindicated John McCartney's description of him as "the bravest man in my team."
0:51:25 > 0:51:27He never played for Hearts again.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Two weeks after the first day of the Battle of the Somme,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37Annan Ness organised some exercise for the battalion survivors.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40He wrote to McCartney -
0:51:40 > 0:51:44"We had a match the other evening but oh, Mr McCartney, we did miss the boys.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47"Talk about football,
0:51:47 > 0:51:49"it made the tears come to our eyes.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53"But have a good heart, guvnor, we shall soon be in Berlin.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55"My best regards to the directors and yourself."
0:51:55 > 0:51:57Annan Ness.
0:52:02 > 0:52:08Of the 11 players from the 1914 Hearts team who volunteered for McCrae's battalion,
0:52:08 > 0:52:10five did not return to Tynecastle.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16What we can't say is how great they were,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19because I suspect their greatness actually wasn't on the pitch,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23their greatness was actually to do with the context in which they played
0:52:23 > 0:52:26and the sacrifices they made around the war.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29Their greatness is actually history rather than football.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35By 18th November 1916, when bad weather brought the offensive on the Somme to a halt,
0:52:35 > 0:52:40the British had gained 12km of ground.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44Over one million British, French and German troops
0:52:44 > 0:52:46had been killed or wounded.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48These men went over the top, never flinched.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50They didn't turn round, or try and retreat,
0:52:50 > 0:52:56and the credit for any of these small gains must go the ordinary soldier, not to the high command.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00You can argue that this battle is a victory,
0:53:00 > 0:53:06and Haig himself, when he wrote his final despatch when he left the army in 1919, said,
0:53:06 > 0:53:11"You have to view the sequence of battles beginning at the Somme
0:53:11 > 0:53:14"and carrying right through to November 1918
0:53:14 > 0:53:17"as one long, continuous engagement."
0:53:17 > 0:53:21And, and that is a perfectly sensible way of looking at this battle in retrospect,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24but it was not his planning intention.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27The original McCrae's battalion,
0:53:27 > 0:53:33the battalion of sportsmen and supporters that had inspired so much admiration in November 1914,
0:53:33 > 0:53:40was effectively destroyed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Those who survived were still led by Sir George McCrae,
0:53:44 > 0:53:50but the terrible events of 1st July had taken their toll on the Colonel.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54In August 1916 Sir George was admitted to hospital.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58He was suffering from diarrhoea and a feeble pulse.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02While he was at Scots Redoubt he drank some bad water
0:54:02 > 0:54:04and over the next few weeks was quite ill,
0:54:04 > 0:54:10and it was eventually diagnosed as typhus, and he was very, very weak, and he was invalided home.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13His successor was Arthur Stevenson.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18"Sir George created a fine battalion, one of the very best, I believe.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20"He took them to France, fought at their side
0:54:20 > 0:54:24"and would have done almost anything to have stayed with them until the end,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28"but it wasn't within his power."
0:54:28 > 0:54:31"I fear it is a tale that will never be told."
0:54:31 > 0:54:32Arthur Stevenson.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37When the survivors of McCrae's battalion returned to Edinburgh,
0:54:37 > 0:54:41many found themselves strangers in their own city.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Unlike today, where images of war are broadcast back home immediately,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49in 1916 the public were still largely ignorant
0:54:49 > 0:54:51of the horrors of trench warfare.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55In the press, the list of casualties on the first day of the Somme
0:54:55 > 0:54:57was deliberately published in instalments
0:54:57 > 0:55:01so as to minimise the impact of such incredible loss of life.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11The losses could not be openly discussed. It was utterly demoralising for the country.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15The men who had endured the trenches suffered alone.
0:55:15 > 0:55:21Few could communicate, even to family, the grim reality of the Western Front.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25The levels of violence that they had seen, the things that they had experienced
0:55:25 > 0:55:28were, by our standards, pornographic in their detail
0:55:28 > 0:55:34and it simply wasn't the kind of thing you could discuss in a post-Edwardian living room.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37The idea that there would be post-traumatic stress,
0:55:37 > 0:55:43the idea that their minds might need help to get them back into the mainstream of society,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45that footballers who had witnessed something,
0:55:45 > 0:55:48way beyond anything football could ever teach them,
0:55:48 > 0:55:52the idea they had witnessed something that had damaged their minds,
0:55:52 > 0:55:54was something people weren't prepared for.
0:55:55 > 0:56:02150,000 people attended Sir George McCrae's funeral in Edinburgh in December 1928
0:56:02 > 0:56:06and it remains the biggest event of its kind in Scotland's history.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10Then, his battalion was still remembered and respected.
0:56:12 > 0:56:19But over the years, the story of Sir George and the 16th Royal Scots faded from view.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22Finally, 90 years after the battalion went over the top,
0:56:22 > 0:56:27a memorial has been dedicated to them in Contalmaison,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29thanks largely to author Jack Alexander.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38We've created a fitting, living remembrance for the battalion.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45Edinburgh is a city that lost more of its young men in the Great War
0:56:45 > 0:56:49than most British cities and it's one that remembered them the least.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52We have created a magnificent memorial to a magnificent battalion
0:56:52 > 0:56:55that should never have been forgotten in the first place.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57And at the unveiling ceremony,
0:56:57 > 0:57:02I certainly felt that there was a few ghosts in the fields behind us.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10On 16th August 1919, Heart of Midlothian defeated Queen's Park
0:57:10 > 0:57:14by three goals to one on the opening day of the new league season.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19Six weeks earlier the Treaty of Versailles had been signed,
0:57:19 > 0:57:23bringing closure to the most destructive war the world had ever seen.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28In the Hearts team that day was left-back Pat Crossan.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31Since he had signed up for McCrae's battalion,
0:57:31 > 0:57:37the Austro-Hungarian empire had collapsed, the League of Nations had been established
0:57:37 > 0:57:41and there had been a communist revolution in Russia.
0:57:41 > 0:57:47Although only half fit, Crossan had a good game, keeping the dangerous Alan Morton quiet.
0:57:47 > 0:57:53He was watched by 100 surviving volunteers from McCrae's battalion.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56Each had received complimentary season tickets.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59In the inside notes of the programme,
0:57:59 > 0:58:03John McCartney, his old manager, had written a simple tribute -
0:58:05 > 0:58:09"Voluntarily these men went forth to fight for King and Country.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13"The gloomiest hour in the nation's history found them ready
0:58:13 > 0:58:17"as pioneers in the formation of a brilliant regiment.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20"Sportsmen the world over will remember them.
0:58:20 > 0:58:25"Duty well and truly done, they are welcomed back to Tynecastle."
0:58:25 > 0:58:26John McCartney.
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