0:00:06 > 0:00:09At 5.15 on the morning of 15th September
0:00:09 > 0:00:11a hundred years ago,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14German troops, right here along the Western Front,
0:00:14 > 0:00:19heard a strange mechanical noise emerging from the smoke-filled haze.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Suddenly, an iron giant appeared from the gloom,
0:00:23 > 0:00:28crawling closer to the German position, flattening barbed wire.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Machinegun bullets appeared to bounce off its metallic plating.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34HE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:00:34 > 0:00:36"The devil is coming," a German shouted.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40Another yelled, "There's a crocodile crawling into our lines."
0:00:41 > 0:00:43"Panic spread like an electric current,"
0:00:43 > 0:00:48reported a German infantryman, as word passed along the trenches.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53The enemy had come face-to-face with Britain's secret weapon - the tank.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Crammed inside was a crew of eight,
0:01:00 > 0:01:05including rookie lieutenant 20-year-old George Macpherson.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08In pitch-black, suffocating conditions,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11George and his crew ploughed ill-prepared towards the enemy.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14What are we going to do?
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Just in front of George was tank C22,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19commanded by his best friend, Basil Henriques.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Fire!
0:01:22 > 0:01:24Only one of them would return home.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Thousands of soldiers from both sides lost their lives
0:01:30 > 0:01:32in this landmark battle,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34but it was a military milestone
0:01:34 > 0:01:38that would change the face of armed warfare for ever.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41The story of pioneering men like George and Basil,
0:01:41 > 0:01:46who crewed the Great War tanks, is one of inspiration, courage,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48and in the face of disaster,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50a belief they could help win the war.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06A hundred years ago, in the summer of 1916,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10the fields behind me would have been unrecognisable.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Beneath the smoke, dust and flies that hovered by day
0:02:13 > 0:02:17and the crackling sound of gunfire by night
0:02:17 > 0:02:18lay a devastated landscape.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22For two years,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25the Germans had been advancing across Europe at pace.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28But here in northern France, it became stalemate.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34A 430-mile network of trenches cutting across Belgium and France
0:02:34 > 0:02:37stopped both sides from making any gains.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Known now as the Battle of the Somme,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43the losses are hard to comprehend.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47On the first day alone, over 20,000 men were killed.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51The Allies looked for a new plan of attack.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Well, the First World War, you've got to remember,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59it's Germany invades France and Belgium,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03we have the problem of pushing that army back out of occupied territory.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08We're getting the casualties as the Germans have dug in
0:03:08 > 0:03:11to the best ground they've captured and are holding.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14We've got to come up with a new way of fighting this war.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17Something with tracks
0:03:17 > 0:03:19that can crush down the barbed wire,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22put the men inside with armour plate to protect them,
0:03:22 > 0:03:24give it some sort of firepower, and with any luck,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27that will be what answers the problem.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35Whilst engineers struggled with designs for a new armoured vehicle,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38young men across the country were signing up to the war effort.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40TRAIN WHISTLE TOOTS
0:03:44 > 0:03:48- That was taken on our wedding day, George.- She's lovely.
0:03:48 > 0:03:54George Macpherson and Basil Henriques met on 15th October 1915.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58- Have you got a girlfriend, George? - No.- No?
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Both had joined the Royal East Kent Regiment,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02or Buffs as they were known.
0:04:03 > 0:04:0519 when he joined the Army,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09George had been a talented sportsman at Winchester College.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12He had a deep faith and a passion for football.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16No chance, Georgie boy.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Shortly after joining up, Basil married his sweetheart, Rose.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22He was six years older than George
0:04:22 > 0:04:24and was a youth worker in the East End of London.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Like George, Basil had also studied at Winchester College.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34He later went on to graduate from Oxford University.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38In his diary, Basil wrote about the time he and George first met.
0:04:38 > 0:04:39GEORGE LAUGHS
0:04:39 > 0:04:41"We at once became friends.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43"George had one of the simplest and profound faiths
0:04:43 > 0:04:45"I have ever come across.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48"Never doubting, his religion uplifted him
0:04:48 > 0:04:50"so he was full of loving charity."
0:04:50 > 0:04:52What are we playing for this time?
0:04:52 > 0:04:54"Tall, with an almost girlish complexion,
0:04:54 > 0:04:56"and pure light blue eyes,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59"he was typical of the flower of England's youth."
0:04:59 > 0:05:02- Are you going to try and beat me this time, George?- We'll see.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07On 13th April 1916,
0:05:07 > 0:05:12George and Basil were summoned to London for a top-secret meeting.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16"George and I were sent for by the commanding officer.
0:05:16 > 0:05:17"Our interview was short."
0:05:17 > 0:05:20- Can either of you drive a motor car? - No, sir.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23"The Colonel was very vague as to the mission
0:05:23 > 0:05:24"on which we might be sent."
0:05:24 > 0:05:27- BOTH:- No, sir. - You can learn.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31"He told us he'd selected us two out of all the officers in command,
0:05:31 > 0:05:32"he looked us up and down
0:05:32 > 0:05:36"and emphasised the utmost secrecy of what we were going to do."
0:05:36 > 0:05:38- Thank you, sir.- Thank you, sir.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40"We left him more mystified than ever."
0:05:43 > 0:05:47They didn't know it then, but that short interview was all it took
0:05:47 > 0:05:48for them to be recruited
0:05:48 > 0:05:51into a special unit of the Machine Gun Corps.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Basil and George would be commanders
0:05:53 > 0:05:56in what was to become the first-ever Tank Regiment.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The War Office looks for people who are the right sort, as ever,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05but the unit that forms together is a real hotch-potch.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08One guy described them as a band of brigands,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10so a really peculiar mix of guys come together
0:06:10 > 0:06:12to serve on those first tanks.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16RUMBLING
0:06:16 > 0:06:18George! There's the tank.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23"No first-born child has ever been welcomed
0:06:23 > 0:06:27"with quite so much excitement as we welcomed Mother -
0:06:27 > 0:06:29"the first tank.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35"And no mother has ever enjoyed playing with her child as we did."
0:06:36 > 0:06:38This is the stealth bomber of its day.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42This is something very new, very cutting edge.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44So, they're very eager, and that rippling effect,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47you can hear it in all the different diaries and the letters that exist,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49this amazement,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52"This is what we're actually going to be going to war in."
0:06:52 > 0:06:54"There were four men on the guns, two on the gears,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56"the driver and the officer.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01"We were a team of eight in a very cramped space."
0:07:02 > 0:07:06One of the most vivid descriptions comes from Captain D Hickey,
0:07:06 > 0:07:07who was a member of the Tank Corps.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10In his memoirs, he writes...
0:07:10 > 0:07:13"The door to our tank was horizontal,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16"so the only way to get in was to lever oneself on one's stomach.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19"It was like getting into the witch's oven
0:07:19 > 0:07:21"of Grimms' fairy tale."
0:07:21 > 0:07:25But you have to remember, these were the very primitive designs,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29and the comfort of the crewmen wasn't really a consideration.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34After only a few weeks of training,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Basil and George prepared to set off to France.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42"Neither of us had the least idea
0:07:42 > 0:07:44"what the Somme battlefield looked like.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47"We pictured ourselves slowly wending our way to Berlin
0:07:47 > 0:07:52"over beautiful parkland such as we were now practising on."
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Everyone's very confident in one sense,
0:07:55 > 0:07:56but underneath it all, afterwards,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00they realise how unprepared, how they haven't had enough training,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02how they're not quite ready
0:08:02 > 0:08:05in the way that they should have been when they look back.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07"We had no training with the infantry,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10"and the infantry had never heard of us.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12"It was one huge game.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16"Little did we know how much time we wasted."
0:08:25 > 0:08:28On 14th September 1916,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Basil and George arrived in an area nicknamed by the troops
0:08:32 > 0:08:34as Chimpanzee Valley.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Their mission was to capture a major German defensive position
0:08:38 > 0:08:39east of the town of Albert.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42..Come from over that way, and then looking...
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Retired soldier and military historian Richard Porter
0:08:45 > 0:08:50has spent years researching the battles that took place here.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54- Probably would have been around here, would it?- Yeah, just about.
0:08:54 > 0:08:55So if we kind of...
0:08:55 > 0:08:58You know, if we stand here and then we look at this
0:08:58 > 0:09:00and then we start to look in that direction,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03it was one of the assembly areas for the tanks.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05It was really a place to refuel.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09It was a stopping point before they went into action the following day.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15What would it have been like for them here in this holding position?
0:09:15 > 0:09:18It would have been unusual, it would have been alien to them.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21They would have been celebrities whilst they were down here.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23The infantry that are here, they've never seen a tank before.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25They would be approaching,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27they'd come up to the tank and ask them questions about the tank,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29literally, "What is this?"
0:09:38 > 0:09:42As the sun set over the Somme on 14th September,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46200,000 soldiers slowly crept into place,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48ready for the first-ever tank attack.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50GUN AND ARTILLERY FIRE
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Basil and George would each be responsible for a crew of seven men
0:09:54 > 0:09:57and their cutting-edge machines.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02"The night before zero day was a fearful ordeal.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04"We were both terrifically excited,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06"but the feeling of utter nervousness
0:10:06 > 0:10:08"and physical exhaustion was uppermost."
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Diaries of other soldiers reflect similar fears.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19"Mostly in shell holes, we awaited zero hour.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21"Very little was said.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24"We were all just busy with our own thoughts.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29"Seconds seemed minutes, and minutes seemed hours during this wait."
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"Up until this time, my nerves had not been troubling me.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37"But now I began to experience the sort of feeling
0:10:37 > 0:10:39"just before tooth extraction,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43"a sort of not afraid, but I hope it won't hurt, sensation."
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Right, lads, all ready.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48Focus.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Start the engines.
0:10:50 > 0:10:51Trap one, trap two.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Two, one.
0:10:54 > 0:10:55ENGINE RUMBLES
0:10:55 > 0:10:59- Full speed, both traps. - On my command.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04So, where are we up here, Richard?
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- This is the Quadrilateral.- OK.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09It was really... a defensive position
0:11:09 > 0:11:11from the Germans' perspective.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14It was a redoubt, as sometimes we call them.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16It's a fortress, it's a bastion within the German lines.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20The Germans have specifically placed this location here,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23these trenches here, so they could have a good view down
0:11:23 > 0:11:25on any attacking force coming towards them.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31- OK, start the engines. - Crank her up, lads.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36- Engine caught, sir. - Forward 100 yards.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46In the early hours of the morning,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Basil and George's tanks set off towards their rendezvous point
0:11:49 > 0:11:51at Wedge Wood just behind me here.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59The tank crew, they just want their opportunity for their glory.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02They want to get out there, they want to prove themselves,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and they want to prove the tank's worth, basically.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09But almost immediately, George's tank had mechanical problems.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Engine trouble, sir.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13- What's the problem?- Not sure, sir.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16The tank ground to a halt.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Quite a number of the tanks don't even cross the start line
0:12:21 > 0:12:23to do the initial advance,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26because they either get stuck, they can't find the right position,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29restart the engine, all sorts of troubles are going on.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Whilst mechanics tried to fix George's tank,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Basil reluctantly pressed on ahead.
0:12:35 > 0:12:36Left!
0:12:36 > 0:12:38"I went on alone.
0:12:38 > 0:12:39"I minded this awfully,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42"for George and I had become such devoted friends
0:12:42 > 0:12:44"that we did not care what we did together.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48"His serene nature and quiet sense of humour had meant much to me,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50"and I would have liked to have him near
0:12:50 > 0:12:52"for the greatest of adventures."
0:12:52 > 0:12:53Ten degrees to the left.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56When you get to that situation, entering the battlefield,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00it's the crew around you that hold it all together.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03It's that unity, it's that getting forward,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05wanting to reach the objective together,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07and it gives each other strength.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Without that, it's very difficult.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15As Basil's tank roared towards the front line,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18infantry got their first-ever view of Britain's secret weapon.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23"Eventually, we saw the hum of machinery coming up behind us."
0:13:23 > 0:13:24Here, look, boys.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27"And saw through the mist great toad-like things
0:13:27 > 0:13:29"with caterpillar tracks."
0:13:29 > 0:13:31What the hell's that?
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Everyone's kind of looking at them
0:13:34 > 0:13:37almost like the knights charging forward into battle,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40and the infantry are going to follow on behind.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42There was a huge expectation
0:13:42 > 0:13:46that they've got to be able to assist their brothers in arms,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50get onto that target without getting held up on wire
0:13:50 > 0:13:52and without getting massacred.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59"I saw, for the first time, tanks, or as we called them, caterpillars.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01"Somehow, the feeling of what these would do to the Jerry
0:14:01 > 0:14:04"lightened the desperate feeling I had at heart."
0:14:07 > 0:14:08At six o'clock that morning,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Basil's tank advanced, opening fire on the enemy.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Prepare to fire.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16For a short time, it dominated the field,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19allowing the British military to advance with it.
0:14:19 > 0:14:20Fire!
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Ten degrees north.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26- Firing!- Fire.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28The Germans can see these tanks coming towards them,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31and they're thinking, "What is this?"
0:14:31 > 0:14:32HE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:14:32 > 0:14:35On day one, there's accounts of German soldiers in awe,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37standing there with their mouths open,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39just seeing this thing coming towards them.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41But the British soldiers were doing fairly similar.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43HE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:14:43 > 0:14:45All of a sudden, after that brief pause,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49the Germans put down a full raft, basically, upon the tanks.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52- Incoming. - ARTILLERY FIRE
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Right, right, right, right.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55To protect his crew,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Basil ordered for the front flaps on the tank to be closed,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02leaving a small periscope as their only means of seeing out.
0:15:02 > 0:15:03MACHINEGUN FIRE
0:15:03 > 0:15:05You've got large shards of metal
0:15:05 > 0:15:08literally ripping through the tanks and taking out the crew inside
0:15:08 > 0:15:12and, in some instances, destroying the tank itself.
0:15:12 > 0:15:13Reverse!
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Hold, hold.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20So after what might have appeared to be an initial successful advance,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23that success started to slow down?
0:15:23 > 0:15:25It does start to break down. The attack does start to break down.
0:15:30 > 0:15:31Fire.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33It would have been terrible.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35You can just imagine the bullets
0:15:35 > 0:15:38that would have been ricocheting off the side of the armour plating.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42The noise inside would have been horrendous. Absolutely deafening.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44The crews themselves couldn't even talk to each other.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46INDISTINCT SHOUTING
0:15:46 > 0:15:50"Bullets hitting the tank sound like sledgehammers in your ear.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53"They knock off tiny pieces of red-hot metal."
0:15:53 > 0:15:54BULLETS RICOCHET
0:15:54 > 0:15:56"These fly off and cut you about.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59"The worst thing was that the bullets began coming in
0:15:59 > 0:16:01"through the gaps in the armour plate
0:16:01 > 0:16:03"and ricocheted around the tank."
0:16:04 > 0:16:06The visibility looking outside the tank,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08the observation looking outside the tank,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10you could hardly see a thing.
0:16:10 > 0:16:11"The air over our heads
0:16:11 > 0:16:14"was suddenly filled with the sowing and sighing,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18"whining and screaming of thousands of shells of all calibres,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20"making it impossible to hear anything."
0:16:20 > 0:16:22- ARTILLERY FIRE - Fire! Hold, hold.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Left, left, left, left, left.
0:16:27 > 0:16:28WHISTLE BLOWS
0:16:28 > 0:16:30"It was a yell that my crowd went over the top.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36"The yells were soon death screams."
0:16:40 > 0:16:42"The Germans poured shells on us.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46"The flashes of the bursting shells were all round me."
0:16:49 > 0:16:51"I cannot describe what it felt like."
0:16:53 > 0:16:55"The nearest approach of a picture I can give
0:16:55 > 0:16:58"is it was like standing at the centre of the flame
0:16:58 > 0:16:59"of a gigantic primus stove."
0:17:03 > 0:17:05In the midst of the battlefield carnage,
0:17:05 > 0:17:10the crews inside the tanks were continuing to find design flaws.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14With the doors closed, it was almost pitch-black in here,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17apart from a single dim electric bulb.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The first models were equipped with supposedly bulletproof glass prisms
0:17:21 > 0:17:24which fitted in these slots here to help see out.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27But often, these shattered when hit by machinegun fire.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30And that's exactly what happened to Basil.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33INDISTINCT SHOUTING
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Shattered glass hit him in the face.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38I'm blind, I'm blind!
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Bullets were penetrating the tank. BULLETS RICOCHET
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Basil's driver got hit.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45GUNSHOT
0:17:45 > 0:17:46And so did his gunner.
0:17:46 > 0:17:47GUNSHOT
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Back down, sir.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54The technology they had staked their lives on was failing.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59And the Germans were firing armour-piercing bullets.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02GUNFIRE
0:18:02 > 0:18:04We need to get out of here.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07In a tank riddled with holes, and with a heavily injured crew,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Basil had no choice but to turn back.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12Retreat, retreat.
0:18:12 > 0:18:13Turn!
0:18:13 > 0:18:16"How we got back I shall never understand."
0:18:16 > 0:18:17Forward 200 yards.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20"We dodged shells from artillery.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23"It was like hell in a rough sea made of shell holes.
0:18:24 > 0:18:25"I hate to think of it all."
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Richard's just noticed, in the corner of his eye here,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41some shells...
0:18:41 > 0:18:44- Yeah.- ..just sitting here at the edge of the field.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Yep. They're from a German 77mm field gun.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50- These are from the Battle of the Somme?- Yeah.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52These are the same artillery shells
0:18:52 > 0:18:56that would have been fired onto the tanks as they advanced, as well.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59- These have probably, what, just been dug out of these fields?- Yeah.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01As the farmers have been ploughing the fields,
0:19:01 > 0:19:02they put them at the side,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05and then the bomb disposal come along and pick them up.
0:19:07 > 0:19:08Still to this day,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11around 40 tonnes per year are found on the battlefield.
0:19:11 > 0:19:1440 tonnes. Just on the Somme battlefield.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18For the whole Western Front, it's around 500 tonnes.
0:19:18 > 0:19:19Wow.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27Under constant fire, Basil finally managed to guide his wounded crew
0:19:27 > 0:19:29to the relative safety of the British base.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37In amongst the thousands of soldiers that were heading out to battle,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40he spotted a familiar face.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45"I met George, who had finally got his tank to go."
0:19:45 > 0:19:50With his engine patched up, George had been ordered into battle.
0:19:50 > 0:19:51Good luck.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54"He looked aghast at my bloodstained face,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58"and then, with a smile, got into his tank and went off."
0:20:04 > 0:20:07By the time George arrived at the front line,
0:20:07 > 0:20:08it had already been six hours
0:20:08 > 0:20:10since the enemy had been taken by surprise,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and six hours makes a big difference in war.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- Forward 100 yards.- Taking fire!
0:20:15 > 0:20:18German artillery was relentlessly pounding the battlefield,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22and George's inexperience was becoming clear to his crew.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25"Our tank commander was Second Lieutenant Macpherson,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27"a fine and likeable young fellow,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31"but he, like all of us, had never been in an actual battlefield
0:20:31 > 0:20:32"or in action before."
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Sir... Sir, what are we doing?
0:20:34 > 0:20:37"The briefing and instructions regarding objectives
0:20:37 > 0:20:39"were quite inadequate."
0:20:39 > 0:20:42- What are we going to do? Sir! - GUNFIRE
0:20:42 > 0:20:45"We came up against machinegun fire.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48"I counted 40 holes in the other tank."
0:20:50 > 0:20:53As they made their way through no-man's-land,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56first-hand accounts describe crews having little option
0:20:56 > 0:20:59but to drive over the dead and dying.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04"That day, I saw sights which were passing strange to a man of peace.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09"I saw their madness bayonet each other without mercy.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14"I saw men torn to fragments.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17"Worse than any sight,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21"I heard agonised cries and shrieks of men in mortal pain.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25"Cries of those tortured men I'll never forget.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29"They are with me always."
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Low on fuel and under a bombardment of fire,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37George was ordered to retreat.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52So, where are we here, Richard?
0:21:52 > 0:21:56This is Delville Wood, and it's now a commemorative site.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58It's very typical of the type of woods
0:21:58 > 0:22:02that you would have had around in this area.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05- George and Basil fighting in their tanks about two miles away?- Yes.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10But there were other tanks being used in battles in woods like this.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Yes. The woods themselves were just totally shattered,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16they were just totally devastated.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19So, what we see here now is very different.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22- We're walking through... - A trench line.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24This is an original First World War trench line.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26This is what remains of that trench line.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29It's still estimated now
0:22:29 > 0:22:32that there's around 5,000 soldiers in here.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35- In the woods here now? - In the woods here now, yeah.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Soldiers that had been buried alive
0:22:37 > 0:22:41or potentially killed by small arms ammunition.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43It's kind of like a living cemetery.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47It's very peaceful and tranquil now, but, you know, of that period than,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50absolute, utter death and destruction.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Unlike those who died in the woods,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00George's crew managed to make it off the battlefield.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05But after the retreat, George was seriously wounded.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09How this happened is unclear.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14After the war, the Brigadier in charge of George's unit
0:23:14 > 0:23:16wrote that one of his tank commanders
0:23:16 > 0:23:18had turned his gun on himself.
0:23:18 > 0:23:19Sir's been shot.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22"I heard another officer report that he shot himself
0:23:22 > 0:23:28"and left a paper on which he wrote, 'My God, I have been a coward.'
0:23:28 > 0:23:32"I concealed this to save his parents unnecessary grief.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35"Poor old chap. He was only a schoolboy."
0:23:36 > 0:23:40The Brigadier's account has never been verified.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43The telegram sent to George's parents
0:23:43 > 0:23:46simply states that he "died of wounds".
0:23:50 > 0:23:52However he was injured,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55we know George was taken to the casualty clearing station
0:23:55 > 0:23:58just outside the village of Meaulte,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01a place known to the soldiers as Grove Town.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Tragically, within four hours of arriving here,
0:24:04 > 0:24:05he died.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12The clearing station later became a cemetery
0:24:12 > 0:24:14for some of those who died at the Somme.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Here it is.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Final resting place of Lieutenant George Macpherson.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Machine Gun Corps. Died 15th September 1916.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41It was three months before Basil found out
0:24:41 > 0:24:43that his best friend had died.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46- Sit down, Lieutenant. - Thank you, sir.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48"They listened to my experiences
0:24:48 > 0:24:51"and only then did they tell me about George."
0:24:51 > 0:24:53George Macpherson?
0:24:53 > 0:24:55"I had not yet forged for myself
0:24:55 > 0:24:58"that curious steel plate armour which, as the war advanced,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02"seemed to grow round one's heart so that one scarcely felt the pain.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07"The parting death of a loved one
0:25:07 > 0:25:10"has never hurt so much since the war.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16"The plate has remained round the heart.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19"I think it perhaps has made me less sympathetic.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23"But it also made the sorrow of life more tolerable.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29"I only know George was a great hero off the battlefield
0:25:29 > 0:25:32"and I'm sure he must have been on it."
0:25:38 > 0:25:39After the war,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Basil went on to transform the lives of hundreds of Jewish children,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46setting up boys' clubs in the East End of London.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48..The Duke was met by Sir Basil Henriques...
0:25:48 > 0:25:50He was knighted in 1955,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53but the war had changed Basil forever.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55At the Tank Museum in Dorset,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59the smallest item on display tells a big story.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03This ring came to the Tank Museum in the 1960s,
0:26:03 > 0:26:08and was donated by Rose Henriques after Basil passed away.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13It's actually formed of a piece of glass
0:26:13 > 0:26:18that shattered in Henriques' face during the attack on 15th September.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Henriques decided to save this piece of glass in his face
0:26:21 > 0:26:25and later had it mounted on a ring, which he gave to his wife.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30- So, that is the piece of glass... - Yeah.- ..from that tank?- Yes.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32It's just the fact that, you know,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34this happened to him on the battlefield,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37which he then made into a sort of more happy memory
0:26:37 > 0:26:39by making it into a ring for his wife.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45By the end of the First World War,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48the Allies had produced nearly 6,000 tanks.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Sacrifices were high,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54but the experience gained from the first tank battles
0:26:54 > 0:26:58proved invaluable in saving the lives of those that followed.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Really, it's one great big experiment
0:27:04 > 0:27:06that we, fortunately, learned a lot of lessons from,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09but it's at the cost of some of the men
0:27:09 > 0:27:11and some of the crews on the day.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15You look at the photographs of how young they are doing all this,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18you know, what tremendous pressures.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21That is an amazing achievement that we must respect them for.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26George Macpherson was 21 when he died at the Somme.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Sir Basil Henriques lived until 1961.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36He was 71 when he died.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41"The nervous strain in this first battle of the tanks,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44"for officers and crew alike, was ghastly.
0:27:47 > 0:27:48"Of my company,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52"one officer went mad and shot his engine to make it go faster.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57"Another shot himself.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59"He thought he had failed to do as well as ought.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06"If only we had some kind of training with the infantry.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10"If only there had been proper practice over ground.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14"What a marvellous story might this battle have been."