0:00:05 > 0:00:11MUSIC: "AMAZING GRACE" by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Down the centuries of warfare
0:00:13 > 0:00:16there's been nothing anonymous about the arrival of the Scots.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20By long tradition, they have brought with them the music of the glens.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31But tradition cannot defy progress.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Even the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, resplendent on horseback,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37have had to acknowledge a less romantic mode of transport.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Likewise, not all the tunes ofglory are traditional airs.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50Amazing Grace, recorded by the regimental band in 1972,
0:00:50 > 0:00:52won them a curious battle honour.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57At the last count, it had sold 12 million copies.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02There is, however, a decidedly moreprecious golden artefact.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08One, two, three...
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Super. Thank you very much indeed.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14So revered is this relic of war,
0:01:14 > 0:01:18the French imperial eaglecaptured at the battle of Waterloo,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21that its permanent resting place for well over a century
0:01:21 > 0:01:22has been at Edinburgh Castle.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Only for the filming of this programme was it briefly returned
0:01:26 > 0:01:28to the regimentthat prised it from Napoleon.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33If you are asking me how I feel, right at the moment,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35I think "very, very proud" is the answer to it.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Not only in the fact that it was won very bravely at Waterloo
0:01:41 > 0:01:43by Sergeant Charles Ewart,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47but the fact that it was taken as our cap badge after that,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50a cap badge that has been shown through many campaigns,
0:01:50 > 0:01:56including theCrimean, Sudan and both WorldWar I and World War II.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01I think, at the moment, I'm probably the envy of all regimental members,
0:02:01 > 0:02:02present and past.
0:02:02 > 0:02:08I believe it's the first time it's been with the regiment...ever.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12It was originally, afterWaterloo, put in Edinburgh Castle
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and this is the first time it's actually been with the regiment
0:02:15 > 0:02:20and as I say, I feel very, very proud to be able to actually handle it.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25Waterloo, noon, the 18th of June,1815,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28one of the two most famous charges in British history.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Scotland'sonly cavalry regiment,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33amalgamated since 1971 with the 3rd Caribiniers,
0:02:33 > 0:02:37were then knownas the Royal Scots Greys.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The Greys were held in reserve until about 11 o'clock in the morning
0:02:43 > 0:02:45and then they were ordered forward.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52They came up the back of the rise, they crossed the lane,
0:02:52 > 0:02:57leapt at the charge over the fence and jumped straight in amongst
0:02:57 > 0:02:58the Gordon Highlanders,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01who were sheltering in the long grass down below.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04And the Gordons were totally unable to get out of the way
0:03:04 > 0:03:07and so clung to the stirrups of the Greys
0:03:07 > 0:03:12and charged into battle together screaming, "Scotland forever!"
0:03:14 > 0:03:19During this charge, not more than perhaps 70 or 100 yards,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23Sergeant Ewart came face to face with the French standard,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26the standard of the 45th Regiment. He seized it.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32He then battled to retain it, cutting down, thrusting with his sword.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36In a lovely description, he said, "A Frenchman came out with his sword,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39"I parried it and slashed him down with my sword,
0:03:39 > 0:03:46"parted his head to the teeth." One has this very personal combat.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Horses, slashing, gnashing, taking the Frenchmen as they came.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55You have the final scene of the commanding officer though,
0:03:55 > 0:03:59who'd had his wrists slashed, with the reins of his horse
0:04:00 > 0:04:02between his teeth, charging again into the French.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05Really bloody and personal.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Napoleon, as history records, was suffering from piles.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14The site of 416 horses coming at him did little to help.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17You see, the regiment was mounted on greys,
0:04:17 > 0:04:22that's why we are called Greys, and his remark later on in the day,
0:04:22 > 0:04:27after yet another charge, was, "Those terrible grey horses."
0:04:27 > 0:04:30And grey they remained, even if by World War I,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33the tradition demanded a certain artifice.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Grey horses weren't always easy to come by
0:04:36 > 0:04:41and certainly in World War One, horses were dropping like ninepins -
0:04:41 > 0:04:44disease or just being cut down by enemy action,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48and the Greys, proud as ever of their traditions,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51when they were issued with bays and blacks,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55actually the commanding officer ordered them to be dyed grey.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59And you can just imagine the powdered wigs of greys going into battle then.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05In October 1854, wickedly outnumbered,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09the Royal Scots Greys were in another humdinger of a fight, in the Crimea.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13They were among the initial 300 horsemen of the Heavy Brigade,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17who charged 3,000 Russian cavalry and, within eight minutes,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19began to force them to retreat.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24Various people say that this was one of the most fiercely fought
0:05:24 > 0:05:29and successful cavalry on cavalry engagements that ever was.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34So close had the Russians got to the home lines
0:05:34 > 0:05:38that you can see that the butcher took up his sword,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42charged onto the nearest mount and sallied forth.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44The sad thing about it was the story has it that,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49when he got back after the battle, in which he had fought well
0:05:49 > 0:05:50and two VCs had been won,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53that he was actually charged for leaving his post.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55But there you have it.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Injustice was shortly to be compounded by debacle,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01for waiting further back, in the Valley of Death,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03were the 600, the Light Brigade.
0:06:03 > 0:06:09The commander of the Light Brigade, General Cardigan,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13said he hadn't been given orders to go, so he wouldn't.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17And they sat there and they watched this amazing feat of arms
0:06:17 > 0:06:20by the Heavy Brigade, who had broken every rule in the book
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and still managed to put the enemy to fight,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26and they weren't allowed to join in.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Som by that stage, they were pretty pissed-off bunnies.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33'Disaster or not, the story of the charge is traditionally retold
0:06:33 > 0:06:36'on the anniversary of Balaclava.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39'The 13th/18th Royal Hussars very sensibly leave it
0:06:39 > 0:06:40'to Major Willie Peter.'
0:06:40 > 0:06:44And from up here, Lord Raglan looked down
0:06:44 > 0:06:48and saw the enemy taking the forces away.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Or taking the guns away.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56And he thought, "Here's a chance. I will now capture the guns, because
0:06:56 > 0:07:00that is a sign of victory and I will deploy the Light Brigade to do it.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Now, those of you who have played Space Invaders know that at the time
0:07:05 > 0:07:07when you press the button on the Space Invader machine,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11something happens on the screen, immediately.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15You try playing Space Invaders when there's a two-minute gap
0:07:15 > 0:07:18between you pressing the button and it happening on screen
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and the game is still played at the same speed.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24That's what it's like being a general, with no radios,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28sitting on the top of a hill, about a mile to two miles away
0:07:28 > 0:07:29from your forces.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34Everything you send has to be sent by runner or galloper or aide de corps
0:07:34 > 0:07:37down to pass on that information.
0:07:37 > 0:07:43Also try and remember that, prior to about 1890,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46there was no such thing as smokeless ammunition,
0:07:46 > 0:07:50so the pall of smoke that hung over a battlefield was incredible.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53It was as though you had chucked 500 smoke grenades
0:07:53 > 0:07:56and that's why everybody wore bright uniforms,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59that's why the infantry had huge colours, six foot by six foot,
0:07:59 > 0:08:04so that during a battle, people could see who their friends were
0:08:04 > 0:08:05and where their forces were.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09That's the difficulties that Raglan had to cope with.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14So he sent an order, and I'm going to read it to you so you can understand,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17in the light of what he believed to be happening.
0:08:17 > 0:08:18He said,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22"Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front.
0:08:22 > 0:08:28"Follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31"Troop horse artillery may accompany
0:08:31 > 0:08:34"and the French cavalry are on your left."
0:08:34 > 0:08:37He gave the message to a guy called Nolan,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40who was a 15th Hussar and as keen as mustard.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46Nolan went lickety split, straight down the hill to the bottom,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49went across to the Light Brigade.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53When he got to the Light Brigade, he met the commander of the cavalry,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Lord Lucan, and the commander of the Light Brigade, Lord Cardigan.
0:08:59 > 0:09:06He handed the message to Lord Lucan, who looked up the valley,
0:09:06 > 0:09:11and the only guns he could see was this mass at this far end here.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13He couldn't see the redoubts,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17so he turned to Nolan and, in rather a crisp voice, said,
0:09:18 > 0:09:19"Where are the guns?!"
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Whereupon, Nolan flung his arm over his shoulder and, in rather
0:09:23 > 0:09:27an arrogant manner, said, "There, my lord, there are your guns!"
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Lucan looked down the valley, saw the guns, and went, "Christ!", probably.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33LAUGHTER
0:09:34 > 0:09:38Anyway, he then told Cardigan, who commanded the Light Brigade,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42that this was the time for Cardigan to go for it.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Cardigan gulped, said - or is reputed to have said -
0:09:47 > 0:09:51"Here go the last of the Brudenells", the family name of the Cardigans.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56So they set off down the valley - towards the wrong guns.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59At this point, Nolan realised that there had been a cock up,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01because he'd been at the top with Raglan
0:10:01 > 0:10:05and his arrogant little remark hadn't made much sense.
0:10:05 > 0:10:11So he trundles up to the front to tell Cardigan, "Ahem...wrong valley."
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Anyway, just as he gets there, he's about the first casualty
0:10:14 > 0:10:17of the Light Brigade and gets his head blown off.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Cardigan thinks he's an incredibly rude and arrogant young man
0:10:20 > 0:10:23for trying to get in front of him - after all it is HIS charge -
0:10:23 > 0:10:27and he also thinks he's a bit of a wimp, because as the shell
0:10:27 > 0:10:31tore his head off, he started to scream in rather a feminine manner.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36The Charge of the Light Brigade was to inspire epic literature,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39most of it romantic nonsense.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Hundreds of men were simply blasted to pieces by the Russian guns
0:10:43 > 0:10:45and it ignored discipline so irrational and harsh
0:10:46 > 0:10:49that loyalty, in the circumstances, was miraculous.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Behind Cardigan, leading the 8th Royal Irish Hussars,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55came one Colonel Frederick Shewell.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59134 years later, he has a remarkably frank descendent,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Lieutenant Anthony Shewell, serving in the same regiment.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07Colonel Shewell is my great, great, great, great uncle Frederick.
0:11:07 > 0:11:13He was a strict disciplinarian and by no means popular with his men.
0:11:13 > 0:11:20He was, on the morning of the charge, referred to as "the old woman"
0:11:20 > 0:11:23by his men, as he came to join them.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26As he arrived, he found a number of the men smoking.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30About four or five of them were smoking little pipes
0:11:30 > 0:11:35with swords drawn and in the face of the enemy.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40He considered this to be very taboo and gave them a severe reprimand.
0:11:40 > 0:11:46Lord Paget, who was smoking a fine cigar a little way down the line,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49was in two minds as to whether he should put out his cigar
0:11:49 > 0:11:52or to continue smoking it.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57He elected to continue smoking his, despite Shewell's reprimands
0:11:57 > 0:12:01and, in fact, smoked it till the end of the charge, some 20 minutes later.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06A few moments later, Shewell rode back down the line and came across
0:12:06 > 0:12:11some three or so men smoking yet again, despite his order.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16He, this time, had them arrested and that involved the removal of all
0:12:16 > 0:12:22of their arms and, consequently, they rode into the charge unarmed.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Two of them were killed and the third one he had flogged the following day.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Even if you escaped the Russians or the floggings, there was still
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Scutari, where,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36for all the ministrations of Florence Nightingale,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39four times as many men died from disease as enemy action.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41'In just about every war prior'
0:12:41 > 0:12:45to the Second World War, more people died of disease
0:12:45 > 0:12:52than died in action. And whereas in the jungle, it's malaria,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55in the Crimean campaign, it was cholera.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Cholera is otherwise known as rice water fever
0:13:01 > 0:13:06and it's not the bottom falling out of your world,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09it's the world falling out of your bottom.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10LAUGHTER
0:13:10 > 0:13:13You basically shit yourself to death...
0:13:13 > 0:13:15LAUGHTER
0:13:15 > 0:13:20..and you can do it in about five hours, if you put your mind to it.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22LAUGHTER
0:13:22 > 0:13:24There were spivs in those days.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Many men were sentenced to death by provisioners back home
0:13:27 > 0:13:30who sent out meat, some of it 23 years old,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33that could have walked to the Crimea.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37What you do is you take some pork, bung it in a barrel,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41put some heavy brine - salt and water - on it, and leave it.
0:13:41 > 0:13:4623 years later, it tends to have gone past its sell by date...
0:13:46 > 0:13:48LAUGHTER
0:13:48 > 0:13:53and if you then store it under the point where the horses are kept
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and by the time it's had 55 buckets of horse urine over the top,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00it tends to acquire a somewhat aromatic flavour.
0:14:01 > 0:14:02LAUGHTER
0:14:03 > 0:14:06If you were a regiment, you would be issued with two or three cows
0:14:06 > 0:14:10per day, if you were lucky, and the cows in the Crimea weren't much good.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14The officers had the fillet steak and guys in the guard room got the hoof.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15LAUGHTER
0:14:15 > 0:14:22Clothing. Quartermaster had no clothes, whatsoever.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24What you arrived with, you fought with,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and if your large pack had been left in the ship - tough.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Sergeant Mitchell, of the 13th Light Dragoons,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35had his first change of socks three months after arriving in the Crimea
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and that was only because he found a dead body the right size,
0:14:38 > 0:14:39to remove them from.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43If there's one tradition happily abandoned,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46it is the glorification of the indefensible.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49If the lecture is tinged with contempt, it is because
0:14:49 > 0:14:52these were the only men from the speaker's regiment to survive
0:14:52 > 0:14:56the Charge of the Light Brigade. Just 21, out of more than 100.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00Now, what I'm trying to say is that
0:15:01 > 0:15:04it WAS a complete cock up.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10The guys then of the 13th Light Dragoons or the Light Brigade
0:15:10 > 0:15:13or any of the regiments that took part in that campaign
0:15:13 > 0:15:17were no different or no braver than the guys who climbed out of
0:15:17 > 0:15:20the trenches in the Somme and got mown down by German machine guns.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23They were no braver and no different from the members
0:15:23 > 0:15:29of the 13th/18th Hussars, who on June 6th, 1944, sailed in a tank
0:15:29 > 0:15:34with bits of canvas strapped to it, from 4,000 yards out
0:15:34 > 0:15:37against hostile fire and landed in Normandy.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42And they are no different from your run-of-the-mill infantryman
0:15:42 > 0:15:46in a brick of four, toddling around Crossmaglen or Londonderry.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54We will be celebrating, over the course of the next week, Balaclava.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57It's our regimental day and we think a great deal of it.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03It perhaps was not the best thing we've ever done,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07but it was probably the most glorious. Thank you very much.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10APPLAUSE
0:16:10 > 0:16:12REVEILLE PLAYS
0:16:12 > 0:16:17Nonetheless, 135 years on, the human courage of that action
0:16:17 > 0:16:18is commemorated daily.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Lord Cardigan's old regiment, unlike any other in the British Army,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26mounts its night picket at the unlikely time of 9.50pm.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Why do we do this at ten to ten, Evans, whilst the rest of the army
0:16:45 > 0:16:46does it at ten o'clock?
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Lord Cardigan, colonel of the 11th Hussars, died at ten to ten, sir.
0:16:50 > 0:16:51Good, well done.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57'Even the dandyism of Cardigan's day is scrupulously preserved.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59'The calf-clinging trews were his idea.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03'It was his regiment and he dressed them how he damned well pleased.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07'They were known as the Cherrypickers, or the Cherrybims -
0:17:07 > 0:17:09'Cardigan's fresh-faced boys.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13'Inevitably, behind their backs, this was corrupted to Cherrybums.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19ARTILLERY AND GUNFIRE
0:17:19 > 0:17:22'This veneration of the past, by soldiers training day and night
0:17:23 > 0:17:25on computerised warfare is, of course,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27the very definition of tradition.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The anomaly is that the man who led the Charge of the Light Brigade,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33an unmitigated disaster,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35still dominates the heirlooms of his regiment's mess.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37He wasn't even a popular man.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40He had purchased his commission for £48,000.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Ronald is remembered, too.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Ronald was Cardigan's horse at the charge.
0:17:45 > 0:17:52He survived, unlike more than 450 of the 673 men behind him.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Even the advent of the First World War
0:17:59 > 0:18:01couldn't shake faith in the horse.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03In the safety of their studios,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07contemporary cartoonists invented a new sport - tank sticking.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Occasionally, wildly courageous cavalry actions
0:18:10 > 0:18:12seemed to confirm the view.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16As late as August 1918, horsemen of the Inniskillin Ragoons
0:18:16 > 0:18:19attacked a German troop train and took 300 prisoners.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26And with only hours of World War I to go,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30the 16th/5th Lancers silenced a German machine gun post.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33It was to be the last lance attack in British military history
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and these were the weapons they used.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Interestingly enough, as you would appreciate,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43as they were used in battle, the pennants were bloodied
0:18:43 > 0:18:48and tradition dictated that they should never be cleaned.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51And some ten years ago, I think, there was cleaning lady
0:18:51 > 0:18:53who over-zealously took the pennants off,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56cleaned them and they are now cleaner than they should be.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59- Trying to get the blood out? - She certainly was, yes.
0:19:00 > 0:19:01But they are absolutely original
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and normally live in the regimental headquarters.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13Even these days, when the general comes to visit
0:19:13 > 0:19:1755 Scorpion reconnaissance vehicles remain in the background
0:19:17 > 0:19:20while they greet him like true men at arms.
0:19:24 > 0:19:30150 years ago, this was how a 16th Lancer dressed for battle.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37Today's ceremonially-crimped pennants date from 1864
0:19:37 > 0:19:39and a ferocious engagement in India.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Their famous charge that day, at the obscure Punjabi village of Aliwal,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49is what they are celebrating here.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Being outnumbered definitely scores points.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02That day, there were 10,000 British troops against 40,000 Sikhs.
0:20:02 > 0:20:08It was an extremely violent and bloody battle, Lancer battle,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12and as a result of which, when they came back out of the battle
0:20:12 > 0:20:15at the end of it, their pennants were heavily encrusted in blood
0:20:15 > 0:20:19and looked like they were crimped and, as a result, by tradition,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23the 16th Lancer pennants have 16 crimps in them,
0:20:23 > 0:20:25which remains to this day.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31There is no escaping, no intention of escaping,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35the influences of the past. Tanks, like horses, have names,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38though grooming them is mildly easier.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41It's traditional that the cavalryman names his mount.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Until 1938, of course, we named all the horses.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Since then, we've named our tanks. And a side effect of this is that,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50if a tank crew are going to spend reasonably long periods of time
0:20:50 > 0:20:53together they are going to build up a certain relationship
0:20:53 > 0:20:56with it even if it is just a hunk of metal, and so giving it a name
0:20:56 > 0:20:58adds individuality to a tank.
0:20:58 > 0:21:04Nothing equivocal about the 17th/21st Lancers.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07The motto said it all, "Death or Glory".
0:21:07 > 0:21:10The cavalrymen of old had little alternative,
0:21:10 > 0:21:11but it does require a horse.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15As little as 15 years ago,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19one was seriously expected to have a horse before a car.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21If you could afford both, you were jolly lucky,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25but most people had a horse of sorts,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28whether it was a polo pony or a hunting beast.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31But most people did have a horse before they had a car.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35But nowadays, we find that our needs are slightly different from what
0:21:35 > 0:21:41they were before and that one does move around a lot more and the need
0:21:41 > 0:21:44for a car is perhaps greater than the need for a horse
0:21:44 > 0:21:46as younger people would see it, anyway, these days.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50The second thing is that somebody always told me that every officer
0:21:50 > 0:21:53should know fear and there is nothing more fearful
0:21:53 > 0:21:57or frightful than a horse for producing that fear.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02It is willy nilly until tamed andcontrolled,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06a very dangerous animal, and I think it's a good thing
0:22:06 > 0:22:10for officers to know that, to feel that they are not quite so secure
0:22:10 > 0:22:14in life as they feel they might be, perhaps, in the saddle at the time.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Fairly old-fashioned views,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19but, I think, two quite important and relevant ones today.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24Banishing fear won this man, Sergeant Wooden, the Victoria Cross
0:22:24 > 0:22:27for rescuing a 17th/21st Lancer officer
0:22:27 > 0:22:28at the Charge of the Light Brigade.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32A curious story, since Wooden was a German mercenary and the VC
0:22:32 > 0:22:35wasn't instituted until two years later.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38However, several were awarded retrospectively.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40One to a man who had assisted Wooden.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Wooden insisted he got one, too, and did, to become the only German
0:22:45 > 0:22:49to win the Victoria Cross and the only man ever to ask for one
0:22:49 > 0:22:50and get it.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58In the literal sense, the Royal Artillery headquarters in Woolwich
0:22:58 > 0:23:00is the home of the Victoria Cross.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04The medals are actually cut from the cascabel, the ball at the back
0:23:04 > 0:23:08of this cannon captured from the Russians at Sebastopol.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12The supreme award for valour was instituted by Prince Albert
0:23:12 > 0:23:16and being the uxorious husband he was he was never in two minds
0:23:16 > 0:23:18about whom to name it after.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Only yards away at Woolwich stand the Nery gun,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27its scars an inspiration to the Royal Horse Artillery.
0:23:31 > 0:23:38Every year at 4.00am on 1 September, L Battery rolls out a 13 pounder.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45It is to salute the men who, at dawn that day in 1914,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47fought an incomparable action.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51The opening month of the First World War
0:23:51 > 0:23:53saw the British in full retreat from Mons.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58They had been so hopelessly outnumbered - a 70,000 expeditionary
0:23:58 > 0:24:03force against 160,000 Germans, that the Kaiser dismissed them
0:24:03 > 0:24:05as "a contemptible little army".
0:24:05 > 0:24:09He had another think coming 80 miles down the road.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Exhausted after a week, the Royal Horse Artillery
0:24:13 > 0:24:15encamped in fog at the town of Nery.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18They believed the French to be on the ridge in front of them.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21A single German ranging shot disabused them.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25They were virtually surrounded, so they stood and fought.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31Guard...halt!
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Right turn! Stand at ease!
0:24:35 > 0:24:36Stand easy.
0:24:36 > 0:24:4075 years later, these are the young heirs to the battle honours
0:24:40 > 0:24:43won by their predecessors in L Battery.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Take post.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Kneeling numbers, up.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54An epic battle was about to start.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56The Germans held the high ground and all the aces,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59except a premium on courage.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03For it was here, with their colleagues dead or wounded,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06that L Battery were to halt the headlong German advance,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08just 40 miles from Paris.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12During that initial bombardment, which fell mostly on the battery,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14most of the casualties occurred.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18150 of the battery's 250 or so horses were blown to pieces,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21in their traces, still in their gun teams, still hooked in.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27The battlefield was carnage. Total and utter carnage.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29The battery captain, Captain Bradbury,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31cried, "Come on, who's for the guns?!"
0:25:31 > 0:25:35And he led the remaining men and the officers to the three guns.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39One of them lasted but a few minutes, the second not a lot longer
0:25:39 > 0:25:44and that left only F sub-section, commanded now by Captain Bradbury,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46who was acting as layer, with Sergeant Nelson,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50the gun number one, acting as range setter.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54He found the range to the 12 German guns at 725 yards.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56The ammunition had to be brought up over 20 yards
0:25:56 > 0:25:58from the ammunition limber in the rear.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03That 20 yards was death-swept space, covered by German machine guns,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07as well as their exploding high-explosive shells.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10During the action, Sergeant Nelson was very severely wounded
0:26:10 > 0:26:11in the side.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Shortly after, he was wounded,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Battery Sergeant-Major Dorrell arrived.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Captain Bradbury ordered Sergeant Nelson to withdraw,
0:26:20 > 0:26:21to seek medical attention.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Sergeant Nelson refused, because as he pointed out,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27he couldn't move anyway and the gun was short of ammo.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30So Battery Sergeant-Major Dorrell relieved Captain Bradbury
0:26:30 > 0:26:34of his duties as layer and the brave captain ran to get more ammunition.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38As he did so, he fell, mortally wounded, both legs severed.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Despite these crippling wounds, he continued to command the gun,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45directing its fire against the German artillery,
0:26:45 > 0:26:46until he was again wounded.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49He was to die later that morning.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55Steadily, F sub-section began to destroy the German guns,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57until with its last remaining rounds,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00the German artillery was finally silenced.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02'Three quarters of a century later,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06'a single shot at dawn commemorates that action.'
0:27:08 > 0:27:09Number six, load.
0:27:12 > 0:27:13Number six, fire!
0:27:26 > 0:27:30For their valour, Captain Bradbury, Battery Sergeant-Major Dorrell
0:27:30 > 0:27:33and Sergeant Nelson were awarded the Victoria Cross.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36A further three recommendations were made that morning.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41'L Battery owns the VCs won that day. No potentate could buy them.'
0:27:41 > 0:27:47These are the real VCs. It's not very often we get them out of the bank,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50but the odd special occasion, such as today.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53And those are the genuine ones.
0:27:53 > 0:27:59Our history alive today and that is what we have to live up to.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03I know it's a hard act to follow,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06but those really are what we live for.