:00:00. > :00:00.Centenary, in partnership with the Imperial War museums, more than 1000
:00:00. > :00:16.stories will be told over the next two years. We have a selection from
:00:17. > :00:21.the Western front in Belgium. We are just outside Mons in Belgium. This
:00:22. > :00:26.military cemetery was the focal point of the commemoration ceremony
:00:27. > :00:31.to mark the beginning of World War I. It was chosen because both Allied
:00:32. > :00:36.and German soldiers were buried here. We will see how the war
:00:37. > :00:41.affected not only the soldiers who fought and died on the Western front
:00:42. > :00:46.but also their communities back at home. The BBC and the Imperial War
:00:47. > :00:50.Museum have unearthed more than 1000 stories which connect the places of
:00:51. > :00:56.today with the events of 100 years ago. Here is a taste of what is
:00:57. > :01:00.coming up. Over the course of former years, millions would be mown down
:01:01. > :01:04.by gunfire, billions of shots would be taken. It was a dubious honour,
:01:05. > :01:09.one which no soldier might have chosen, but someone somewhere had
:01:10. > :01:15.fired the first shot in battle of World War I.
:01:16. > :01:18.The names of five brothers on one memorial are a stark reminder of the
:01:19. > :01:24.horrifying impact of the First World War. They were not always welcome
:01:25. > :01:27.but for the authorities, the mathematics was simple.
:01:28. > :01:31.If women could do men's jobs, more men could go to war.
:01:32. > :01:35.As they were handing over their horses or edition, they were
:01:36. > :01:40.terribly emotional. There was a farmer who was patting his horse and
:01:41. > :01:44.feeding its sugar before he was sent off and they never saw them again.
:01:45. > :01:47.It is one of the greatest and the worse things of the war.
:01:48. > :01:51.You could join up with your friends and family but they would all die
:01:52. > :02:03.together, so the impact on communities was absolutely
:02:04. > :02:07.atrocious. Many of the soldiers buried here
:02:08. > :02:12.fell in the first days of the war, towards the end of August, 1914.
:02:13. > :02:17.When Ernest Thomas left for war that month, he had no idea of the
:02:18. > :02:22.historic role he would play. As a cavalryman, he trained to fight with
:02:23. > :02:26.a sword and a lance. In fact, the command came to open fire and his
:02:27. > :02:36.was the very first shot in that long and costly war. Sarah Smith has his
:02:37. > :02:39.story. Over the course of four years,
:02:40. > :02:46.millions would be mown down by gunfire, billions of shots would be
:02:47. > :02:50.taken. It was a dubious honour, one which no soldier might have chosen,
:02:51. > :02:58.but someone somewhere had fired the first shot in battle of World War
:02:59. > :03:03.I. That man, it emerged, was Sergeant Ernest Thomas from
:03:04. > :03:07.Brighton, pictured here with his family on wartime leave. In his
:03:08. > :03:13.account, he says he was pretty quick and agile and he just jumped to it.
:03:14. > :03:17.He saw a German on a horse and took aim and fired. Originally a drummer
:03:18. > :03:22.in the Royal Irish Dragoon guards, his debt of four Belgium with the
:03:23. > :03:28.British expeditionary forces in August, 1914. `` he set off for
:03:29. > :03:33.Belgium. As part of a reconnaissance mission, they came across a German
:03:34. > :03:38.soldiers. After what started as a sword fight, he was given the order
:03:39. > :03:43.to fire. Whether the officer he hit was killed or wounded has never been
:03:44. > :03:46.established. At the time, the sergeant would have had little idea
:03:47. > :03:51.of the significance of that shot. Writing at the time, he said it had
:03:52. > :03:55.felt like `` writing later, he said it had felt like a training
:03:56. > :03:59.exercise. His great`grandson now has the sword that the sergeant would
:04:00. > :04:05.have taken into battle. The rifle has been lost. When he was in Mons,
:04:06. > :04:10.it would have been a continuation of that training. When the shot rang
:04:11. > :04:12.out and the subsequent bullets were pinging across their ears,
:04:13. > :04:18.everything became very real at that point. From the first shot to the
:04:19. > :04:23.last, Sergeant Thomas would survive the war. He was demobbed six years
:04:24. > :04:29.later and went on to wear a different uniform. This is Sergeant
:04:30. > :04:33.Thomas dressed for his new role as commissionaire of the Duke of York
:04:34. > :04:37.cinema in Brighton. His job was to keep the queues in order and decide
:04:38. > :04:42.who came through the doors. His uniform was decorated with his war
:04:43. > :04:46.medals. It was during these years he wrote about firing that first shot.
:04:47. > :04:50.It felt like an ordinary action in peace time manoeuvres, he said,
:04:51. > :04:55.until the bullets started whizzing around my head. The next day, the
:04:56. > :05:01.Battle of Mons would begin, bringing thousands of casualties. There was
:05:02. > :05:09.no doubt by then that war was under way.
:05:10. > :05:14.One of the most moving aspects of the six invariant cemetery is the
:05:15. > :05:18.way that British and German soldiers were buried together. `` of this
:05:19. > :05:24.military cemetery. In some cases, they were buried side`by`side. A
:05:25. > :05:30.whole generation of young men were lost in the war. At Barnard County
:05:31. > :05:36.`` Barnard Castle in County Durham, one family in particular suffered
:05:37. > :05:41.terribly. During the First World War, thousands of men left the
:05:42. > :05:46.north`east, never to return. This is the story of one remarkable family.
:05:47. > :05:50.Six brothers bought up in this part of Barbara Castle went off to war.
:05:51. > :05:54.At the time, her mother said `` their mother said if she had more
:05:55. > :05:58.sons, she would have sent them as well gladly. From the outset, they
:05:59. > :06:03.would have looked at it as a big adventure, a chance to escape from
:06:04. > :06:06.this monotonous lifestyle they were living here. Would happen next for
:06:07. > :06:11.their mother and her husband must have been unbearable. In 1916, the
:06:12. > :06:15.news came through that Robert Smith had been killed. Four of the other
:06:16. > :06:21.siblings have this picture taken of them before they left for the front
:06:22. > :06:27.line. George was the second to die. Frederick in 1917. John died a few
:06:28. > :06:31.months later. Less than a few months before the end of the war, it was
:06:32. > :06:35.confirmed Alfred had been killed. Robert Smith had lost five sons and
:06:36. > :06:39.just wonder made out in France. Appeals were made to bring Wilfred
:06:40. > :06:43.home. A letter from the local vicar 's wife was written to the Queen and
:06:44. > :06:48.a response came through, which was published in the Teesdale Mercury.
:06:49. > :06:54.This would have been the original article from 1918. Local and other
:06:55. > :06:57.notes. I am commanded by the Queen to thank you for your letter of the
:06:58. > :07:01.16th instant and to request you to be good enough to convey to Mr and
:07:02. > :07:05.Mrs Smith of Bridge Gate Barnett Castle, an expression of Her Majesty
:07:06. > :07:09.but is deep sympathy with them in the sad losses they have sustained
:07:10. > :07:13.by the death of their five sons. Teesdale is probably one of the most
:07:14. > :07:19.listened committees I have worked in and in 1919, people rallied around.
:07:20. > :07:23.There have been countless opportunities for people to do that
:07:24. > :07:26.today and Teesdale is still a very united community. The Queen
:07:27. > :07:31.forwarded the letter to the War office. Wilfred was sent home. Meet
:07:32. > :07:44.his daughter and granddaughter who would walk with me to go to school
:07:45. > :07:48.and come back or go to work or go to the pictures. That is how I would
:07:49. > :07:52.like to remember dad. They all went to the war and all of them were
:07:53. > :07:56.killed apart from my grandad but if he had not been pardoned, I suppose
:07:57. > :08:00.you never know, he might have been next. And if it was not for the
:08:01. > :08:05.people of the town and the local vicar and that, we certainly would
:08:06. > :08:09.not be here today, would we? We have been unable to find any other
:08:10. > :08:12.letters written by the Queen. Historians say the royal family
:08:13. > :08:16.would not have wanted any intervention is written in black and
:08:17. > :08:21.white. Wilfred's family laid the first brief here when it was
:08:22. > :08:27.unveiled in 1993. The names of five brothers on one memorial highlight
:08:28. > :08:32.the start impact of the First World War.
:08:33. > :08:35.100 years ago, the vast majority of women stayed at home or went into
:08:36. > :08:40.domestic service. But when their menfolk went off to war, they had to
:08:41. > :08:44.fill the jobs left behind. From agriculture to admissions work to
:08:45. > :08:48.the emergency services, many women found they started completely new
:08:49. > :08:54.lives as part of the war effort. Sarah Smith has been looking at
:08:55. > :08:57.women in work in wartime. In training for jobs which just months
:08:58. > :09:01.earlier they could never have imagined, while in Dartford, they
:09:02. > :09:06.prepared for firefighting and rescue, in the fields of Kent, city
:09:07. > :09:10.girls struggled to get used to strange equipment. But it would not
:09:11. > :09:15.take long before they would more than prove their worth. They were
:09:16. > :09:19.not always welcome but for the authorities, the mathematics was
:09:20. > :09:26.simple. If women could do men's jobs, more men could go to war. The
:09:27. > :09:30.women faced great antagonism. The farmers believed women were
:09:31. > :09:35.incapable of doing work on the land. And they faced antagonism from the
:09:36. > :09:38.agricultural workers because wives, who felt that the women were
:09:39. > :09:47.actually sending them into the trenches. Today, this place deals
:09:48. > :09:53.mostly with cargoes of grain and materials for recycling, during the
:09:54. > :09:57.war, a workforce of women cleaned uniforms, gas masks and weapons here
:09:58. > :10:04.to ship back to the front. Among those having their photographs taken
:10:05. > :10:11.among piles of munitions boxes, two sisters. Maud and Kitty Dowling. It
:10:12. > :10:16.must have been rather a horrible job to be honest because in uniforms etc
:10:17. > :10:22.they would have been covered in mud, blood and God knows what. The state
:10:23. > :10:26.of the equipment they had to clean and repair gave them an insight into
:10:27. > :10:30.the horrors of the front but they were banned from any sort of
:10:31. > :10:35.communication with those fighting. In theory, at least. They use to
:10:36. > :10:50.stitch little notes into the pockets of the uniforms. Good luck, Tommy,
:10:51. > :10:53.come home safe! At Dover docks, women took over the unloading of
:10:54. > :11:00.crucial supplies. Women like birther Eleonora, who rose to chief section
:11:01. > :11:04.leader. She did something different, something new, and like so many
:11:05. > :11:09.women who took on this traditionally male roles, I think personally that
:11:10. > :11:14.what they did must certainly have been very influential with regards
:11:15. > :11:20.to gaining women the vote and things like that. In 1918, a minority of
:11:21. > :11:24.women would get the vote but most found their new status was short
:11:25. > :11:29.lived. There was a tremendous amount of gratitude towards the women and
:11:30. > :11:32.there were feeling is that it was the women who had certainly played
:11:33. > :11:37.their part in helping to win the war, which was absolutely accurate,
:11:38. > :11:40.but then as soon as the war ended, there was a campaign that was
:11:41. > :11:43.started that women should go back to their pre` rolls and that they had
:11:44. > :11:49.been let out of the cage for the duration. When needed, they had
:11:50. > :11:56.adapted to new working lives. Adapting back would be much more
:11:57. > :11:59.difficult. During the rush to volunteer for
:12:00. > :12:04.military service, many men joined up with a group of friends or a group
:12:05. > :12:15.of co`workers, and they were absorbed into what became known as
:12:16. > :12:25.the Powells battalions. `` pals. We trace the Grimsby chums.
:12:26. > :12:30.When war was declared Britain and the Heather Small army. The calls
:12:31. > :12:40.for 100,000 men to join up. It was the birth of the Pals battalions. He
:12:41. > :12:45.promised that if you joined up together, you would serve together.
:12:46. > :12:51.The people who worked alongside each other on the docks in rims be joined
:12:52. > :12:56.up together. Charlie had been doing voluntary work. It was a tragic
:12:57. > :13:00.thing that obviously he was such a good leader that all his youngsters
:13:01. > :13:05.joined up with him. This rare footage shows the men of
:13:06. > :13:10.the 10th that `` 10th battalion of the Lincolnshire regiment. They
:13:11. > :13:15.trained initially on the block spree estate, using makeshift uniforms.
:13:16. > :13:18.They will invest it in having a challenge and doing their bit.
:13:19. > :13:24.Though one had a clue what they were getting into. Richard's uncle was in
:13:25. > :13:29.his early 20s and became a captain. He still has his will, we can end of
:13:30. > :13:35.the `` Britain in the last hours before leaving to France in
:13:36. > :13:38.January, 1916. We are going through terrible strife and I hope to be the
:13:39. > :13:42.`` one of the fortunate ones that have returned. If I don't return,
:13:43. > :13:49.you will know I tried to do my duties as a man. Over the next six
:13:50. > :13:54.months they experienced real life in the trenches. Charles wrote in
:13:55. > :13:58.June, so much rain in the trenches and everything so wet. If I give
:13:59. > :14:03.satisfaction and pull out all right I hope to have a company which is my
:14:04. > :14:08.ambition. It was to be his last letter. The allies plan to break
:14:09. > :14:14.through enemy lines near the River Somme. The days are bombarded the
:14:15. > :14:18.Germans with artillery fire. On July one, 7:30am, they were among a line
:14:19. > :14:28.of infantrymen who went over the top. But the deep German trenches
:14:29. > :14:34.has been largely untouched. The German machine gunners came out of
:14:35. > :14:41.the dugouts. Troops like the grins `` Grimsby charms were an easy
:14:42. > :14:43.target. Leading your men across and encouraging them to their own deaths
:14:44. > :14:48.must have been an horrific situation. When they were
:14:49. > :14:52.machine`guns, they were lying their wounded in the mud and filth, you
:14:53. > :14:58.must have wondered, what have I done? About 840 Chums went over the
:14:59. > :15:04.top that day and around half were killed or injured. But Peter Steele
:15:05. > :15:09.has in the past spoken to some of those who survived. They said things
:15:10. > :15:12.like, well, we just did it because you didn't want to let your mates
:15:13. > :15:17.down. They were going over the top and you wanted to be with them.
:15:18. > :15:22.Charles is remembered with his fellow soldiers in Grimsby minster.
:15:23. > :15:30.They joined up together and were killed together. It wiped out a
:15:31. > :15:33.whole echelon of society. In a small place like Grimsby, it must have
:15:34. > :15:39.been absolutely devastating that all the young men of that generation
:15:40. > :15:44.worldwide down. `` were wiped out. That experiment wasn't repeated. The
:15:45. > :15:51.suffering in such tight communities was too much to bear.
:15:52. > :15:53.Most of you will know the story of Warhorse which highlighted the
:15:54. > :16:00.plight of animals in the frontline. We want to tell you about another
:16:01. > :16:03.horse, commandeered by the army from a village in Shropshire. The whole
:16:04. > :16:10.village said an emotional goodbye. We have the story of Beauty.
:16:11. > :16:17.Like memories, the black and white Foti of this horse is fading. Beauty
:16:18. > :16:23.was snapped in this village in Shropshire, a moment in time before
:16:24. > :16:29.the gunfire began. It's a story that has been handed down to Ann Lewis
:16:30. > :16:36.who lives there. Beauty used to deliver the groceries. He went
:16:37. > :16:43.around, a big circle. Then the First World War intervened. The beginning
:16:44. > :16:48.`` the beginning of August, 1914, they had about 20,000 horses and
:16:49. > :16:52.they needed more. There were calls coming up to volunteer horses, in
:16:53. > :16:54.the same way as men. But if horses weren't brought forward they could
:16:55. > :17:03.requisition them. Historians believed the film Warhorse captures
:17:04. > :17:07.the emotional heartbreak around the country, as horses were offered up
:17:08. > :17:11.or commandeered around the country. I swear we will be together again!
:17:12. > :17:16.Wherever you are, I will find you and bring you home at smack you do
:17:17. > :17:20.get these images and recollections `` recollections of people as they
:17:21. > :17:25.hand their horses over. There was a farmer standing there, patting his
:17:26. > :17:29.horses, feeding the sugar because he didn't know if he would see them
:17:30. > :17:35.again and mostly they didn't. Beauty was also taken to war. There wasn't
:17:36. > :17:40.a dry eye when Beauty went on the train to war. They were taken to
:17:41. > :17:44.remount depot is to make sure they were free of disease and get them
:17:45. > :17:47.trained up, because they would encounter things they would have
:17:48. > :17:52.never seen before. Gunfire, helping to in charge, learning life in the
:17:53. > :17:56.army, the same way human recruits would have to do.
:17:57. > :18:03.The impact was felt at home and the outbreak of the war `` and at the
:18:04. > :18:07.outbreak of the ball 800,000 horses would used on the LAN. The bigger
:18:08. > :18:10.breaks stayed behind to keep the home front ticking over but as food
:18:11. > :18:15.shortages increased more help was needed. The women's land Army was
:18:16. > :18:18.formed in 1915 to help on the land. But they still didn't think that was
:18:19. > :18:23.enough, so mechanisation does seem to speed up tractors and of course
:18:24. > :18:27.war brings about technological advances and that would be on the
:18:28. > :18:30.home front as well. We can only imagine what the atmosphere must
:18:31. > :18:34.have been like the Dave Beauty went to war. Men, women and children
:18:35. > :18:42.coming along to give the horse on final pat. It was goodbye because
:18:43. > :18:46.Beauty didn't survive the war. She was one of 1.2 million horses
:18:47. > :18:52.commandeered the Army. Just 65,000 made it home. Ann Lewis's father
:18:53. > :18:59.served. He didn't talk very much because I think he had a grim time
:19:00. > :19:04.in the wall. To see his horses being damaged and killed as well, I think
:19:05. > :19:11.it was not a nice time. I once said to him, why didn't you go to the
:19:12. > :19:17.Armistice service in minster Lee? He said, I don't have to go to the war
:19:18. > :19:21.memorial to remember the war. We can only guess at what Beauty in deal
:19:22. > :19:32.with us at least now, 100 years on, the story of Mr Li's warhorse has
:19:33. > :19:37.come home. `` in 1914, one kernel from Sussex
:19:38. > :19:42.decided to raise his own battalion of local men to go to war. ``
:19:43. > :19:46.colonel. Thousands joined up and they were keen to train and fight
:19:47. > :19:50.together but their decision had devastating consequences for the
:19:51. > :20:01.towns and villages they left behind. Sarah Smith has that story.
:20:02. > :20:05.This castle, rebuilt from ruin by a colonel who hosted fabulous parties
:20:06. > :20:11.here. But in 1914, his attention turned to war. He was a hero of the
:20:12. > :20:20.Boardwalk, was put up for a Victoria Cross. `` Bor War. He joined
:20:21. > :20:29.Parliament in 1900 and doesn't do a lot but it seems in 1914 war breaks
:20:30. > :20:33.out and he becomes very active. This would be his legacy. He called on
:20:34. > :20:36.the men of Sussex to sign up for a south downs battalion. Within two
:20:37. > :20:41.days, more than 1000 had volunteered. Farm workers,
:20:42. > :20:46.railwaymen, sports teams all joined up together. Peter the sheep allowed
:20:47. > :20:56.to roam the castle became their mascot and they became known as the
:20:57. > :21:00.lambs. The general feeling was it was jolly. Everybody said it would
:21:01. > :21:05.be over before Christmas. I think that was the general feeling. 3000
:21:06. > :21:09.men from Sussex joined Lowther's Lambs, enough not for the single
:21:10. > :21:16.intended battalion but for three. One of them this football star,
:21:17. > :21:22.another a railway worker, Frank Richards. We were a lot more
:21:23. > :21:25.community minded and of course the interest in joining up to go to
:21:26. > :21:29.fight with your pals, with the people you knew, to workmates, made
:21:30. > :21:34.it a lot more secure perhaps for many of them. Two years they
:21:35. > :21:38.trained. But as plans were put into place for what would become the
:21:39. > :21:43.war's most infamous slaughter, they were sent to France. The Lowther's
:21:44. > :21:46.Lambs were to be given their own mission, meant as a diversionary
:21:47. > :21:51.tactic for what was to come. They were sent over the top, the day
:21:52. > :21:58.before the Battle of the Somme was due to begin. The tactic didn't
:21:59. > :22:02.work. All these men climbed out of their trenches and went through
:22:03. > :22:06.these designated lanes to get to the German trenches. But of course
:22:07. > :22:12.because of the shellfire, it's all jumbled up and they couldn't get
:22:13. > :22:19.through the wire. So the German machine gunners just said, thank you
:22:20. > :22:28.very much and knocked them all down. 365 men were killed or reported
:22:29. > :22:31.missing. 1000 more were injured. Nelson Carter was shot dead after
:22:32. > :22:36.time and again going to no`man's`land to rescue injured
:22:37. > :22:41.comrades. He was awarded the Victoria is cross. Another lost a
:22:42. > :22:45.leg. Frank Richards went missing, his body never found. It became
:22:46. > :22:52.known as the day Sussex died. `` Victoria Cross. It was a very hard
:22:53. > :22:59.day, especially for the towns and villages across the south coast of
:23:00. > :23:02.Sussex. There wasn't hardly a town or village where a family didn't
:23:03. > :23:06.lose somebody. It's one of the greatest things and one of the worst
:23:07. > :23:11.things of the war, the fact you can join up with your friends and
:23:12. > :23:16.Powles, with family members, but it meant they are all dying together.
:23:17. > :23:23.`` pals. The survivors would go on to the Battle of the Somme and then
:23:24. > :23:28.Passchendaele. Only a handful would ever come home.
:23:29. > :23:32.Sarah Smith with the story of Lowther's Lambs, ending today's
:23:33. > :23:40.programme. If you want to know more, you can go to our website below.
:23:41. > :24:13.From the military cemetery in Belgium, goodbye.
:24:14. > :24:20.For most of us this weekend is a bank holiday weekend. It's not
:24:21. > :24:21.looking bad. Especially Saturday and Sunday, where