0:00:02 > 0:00:05World War I was a railway war.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08I'm going to find out
0:00:08 > 0:00:12how the railways helped to precipitate a mechanised war,
0:00:12 > 0:00:16defined how it was fought,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20conveyed millions to the trenches
0:00:20 > 0:00:23and bore witness to its end.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25I've taken to historic tracks
0:00:25 > 0:00:27to rediscover the locomotives and wagons
0:00:27 > 0:00:30of the war that supposed to end all war...
0:00:33 > 0:00:36..and to hear the stories of the gallant men and women
0:00:36 > 0:00:38who used them in life and in death.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02The war changed Britain.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06The stream of men joining Kitchener's army left many young mothers alone
0:01:08 > 0:01:10and vital industries suddenly had unfilled gaps.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Meanwhile some railwaymen who had joined up
0:01:14 > 0:01:16found themselves doing familiar work
0:01:16 > 0:01:20but in an environment that was alien and hostile.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24Today, I'll be learning
0:01:24 > 0:01:28how the war fundamentally changed British society.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30- Women wearing the trousers. - Yeah, quite.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34About the extraordinary exploits of Belgian spies.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36They used several different methods.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41- You know the pole...- Pole vaulting?- Yes, pole vaulting.
0:01:41 > 0:01:42And how the end of the war
0:01:42 > 0:01:45marked the beginning of the decline of the railways.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49In future, road transport would become more important
0:01:49 > 0:01:52than rail transport as a source of army logistics.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55I'll travel to Yorkshire to discover the role
0:01:55 > 0:01:57played by women in running the railways,
0:01:57 > 0:02:02visit Bristol to hear a first-hand account of the front line.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05I'll discover a vital war-time rail route through London
0:02:05 > 0:02:10and travel to a key junction in Belgium used by the Germans,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12ending at British headquarters in France.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25The Western Front was hungry for railwaymen.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27In 1914, the Royal Engineers
0:02:27 > 0:02:31had just under 700 railway personnel in their ranks.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37By 1917, this number had swelled to 40,000.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39This was thanks in part to the efforts
0:02:39 > 0:02:42of former railway manager Sir Eric Geddes.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43He'd shown how,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46in a war where the front line had barely shifted in three years,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50railways could efficiently keep the troops supplied.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54I always find it moving to hear first-hand accounts from the front.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Sue Jenkins' railwayman grandfather, Leonard Atkins,
0:02:57 > 0:02:59wrote a diary during the war.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06I'm travelling to the West Country to meet her
0:03:06 > 0:03:09at the station where he later became station master,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Bristol Temple Meads.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22You knew your grandfather reasonably well, what sort of a man was he?
0:03:22 > 0:03:25He was actually quite stern. He was devoted to duty.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28He wasn't really the sort to bounce his grandchildren on his knee.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31What do you think are the characteristics of Railway men?
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Well, we've had five generations of railwaymen in our family
0:03:35 > 0:03:37so I'm quite familiar with them.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41They all seem to be conscientious and methodical.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44It was this meticulous approach that allowed the Royal Engineers
0:03:44 > 0:03:47to keep the army infrastructure running smoothly,
0:03:47 > 0:03:52feeding ever more men and munitions into the ravenous war machine.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55And by 1917, the Royal Engineers were still desperate
0:03:55 > 0:03:59for skilled, young recruits, like Leonard Atkins.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04He joined the army at the age of 19 in 1917
0:04:04 > 0:04:05and he went to France
0:04:05 > 0:04:10as a member of the Number One Light Railway Operating Company of the Royal Engineers.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12So he went really
0:04:12 > 0:04:14to do the sort of work that he had learnt to do in civilian life.
0:04:14 > 0:04:15Yes, very similar.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19This, I imagine, is he, is it?
0:04:19 > 0:04:20This is him, yes.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23What sort of experience did he have at the Western Front?
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Well, he never actually talked about it but he did leave a diary
0:04:26 > 0:04:29which has been passed down in the family and which I have got here.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31A wonderful treasure.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33So does he tell us what kind of work he was involved in?
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Well, he did a variety of different tasks.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40He started out by laying sidings for a 2 foot gauge railway.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42The roll-out of narrow-gauge light rail
0:04:42 > 0:04:45was one of Sir Eric Geddes's recommendations.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48It enabled the tracks to reach all the way to the front line.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Did his work put him in danger?
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Well, he refers at one point to "...shells flying all around us.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59"We didn't know where to go but it has finished now.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01"A quiet day otherwise."
0:05:01 > 0:05:02"Otherwise"!
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Is there any evidence in the diary
0:05:04 > 0:05:06of some of the horrors he must have seen?
0:05:06 > 0:05:11Well, on 12 February 1917, he refers to "...the River Somme
0:05:11 > 0:05:12"running through the camp
0:05:12 > 0:05:16"and thousands of German bodies underneath the ice."
0:05:16 > 0:05:18That's terrible
0:05:18 > 0:05:21The railways sustained the trenches
0:05:21 > 0:05:26and in part anchored this slow, grinding war of attrition.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31In 1916, each side had attempted to break the stalemate and failed,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34partly because of problems of supply.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37By 1917, when Leonard Atkins joined up,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40neither side had gained much territory.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Do you think he has much feel for the war outside the tasks
0:05:44 > 0:05:46that he has been given to do?
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Well, he certainly heard rumours,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50he says here, "I heard this morning
0:05:50 > 0:05:53"that the cavalry chased the Germans 23 miles.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56"I really think this is the beginning of the end"
0:05:56 > 0:05:57And what date is that?
0:05:57 > 0:06:00That's on the 20th of March in 1917.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04So unfortunately he was probably about a year ahead of reality.
0:06:04 > 0:06:05Yes, I think so.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Do we get much feeling from the diary of casualties,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11of fallen comrades and so on?
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Very little, but on the 10th of April in 1917
0:06:13 > 0:06:15he says that he has heard
0:06:15 > 0:06:20his greatest friend, Jim Piller, has met with a serious accident.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23"A tractor became derailed and dragged off some wagons
0:06:23 > 0:06:27"also onto Jim's leg. It is Blighty for him."
0:06:27 > 0:06:30The railwaymen's sacrifices didn't go un-noticed
0:06:30 > 0:06:32especially by Geddes.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38On the 20th April, "Heard that a big supper was held last night
0:06:38 > 0:06:41"when Sir Eric Geddes, director of railways, said
0:06:41 > 0:06:44"that it was Number One Light Railway Operating Company
0:06:44 > 0:06:47"who had made the light railways a complete success."
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Brilliant, yes, I mean, Geddes has become one of my heroes.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54- Oh, really?- Obviously, it meant a lot to him
0:06:54 > 0:06:56to receive that sort of praise from Geddes.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58I should think they got little enough praise.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07The railwaymen who enlisted must have made good recruits,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10being fit and skilled
0:07:10 > 0:07:12but the industry that they left behind
0:07:12 > 0:07:16was almost as vital to the war effort as the army itself.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18The resulting manpower crisis
0:07:18 > 0:07:22required some cherished social taboos to be broken.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30To find out how, I'm travelling north
0:07:30 > 0:07:32to Knaresborough Station in Yorkshire
0:07:32 > 0:07:37to meet Lucy Adlington, a social historian and author.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Lucy, before World War I,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41are there many women in paid employment?
0:07:41 > 0:07:44There are surprisingly, actually.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47They're not all at home in the parlour looking fine in lace gowns.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50We've got nearly six million women gainfully employed.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52But overall how many women are there on the railway?
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Very few. We have three female porters at the start of the war,
0:07:56 > 0:07:57it's next to nothing.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01But as soon as war broke out,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04railwaymen disappeared to the Front in droves.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Nearly 100,000 joined up in the first month.
0:08:08 > 0:08:09That left a huge gap.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15# It's a long, long way to Tipperary
0:08:15 > 0:08:19# But my heart lies there... #
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Nobody thinks to look to women, they tell them to go home
0:08:23 > 0:08:25and be quiet and sit and knit.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29But by 1915, particularly after agitation by Mrs Pankhurst
0:08:29 > 0:08:33and other former suffragists, we had this idea that women need to step up
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and do their bit so instead of the three porters
0:08:36 > 0:08:39we're eventually going to have 10,000 female porters
0:08:39 > 0:08:40working on the railways.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46In transport in general, we've got coming up to 18,000 women in 1914,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50at the end of the war there are nearly 118,000 women,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52so that's a huge change.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Now what was the pinnacle of what a woman could expect to do,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57not I imagine, driving a train?
0:08:57 > 0:08:59They were definitely steered away
0:08:59 > 0:09:01from anything to do with moving trains at first.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03It was not considered suitable.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07But they take up almost every other job available. It's extraordinary.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11- Including signalling?- We do have female signal operators, yes.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17The signal box is the nerve centre of the railway network.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21And was traditionally a male domain.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25How were women received doing jobs of responsibility on the railway?
0:09:25 > 0:09:27It's mixed. Particularly at first,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30people are worried that the work is immodest for women,
0:09:30 > 0:09:31because it was very much a male preserve,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33the signal box, this is where men work,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35the railways is a man's job.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And so to see a woman in uniform, pulling levers,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40was a real shock to some people.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42They were actually in uniform, were they,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and did that consist of a jacket and trousers?
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Well, at first they didn't get uniforms
0:09:47 > 0:09:48because they were considered only
0:09:48 > 0:09:51as "temporary gentlemen", as they were called
0:09:51 > 0:09:54and so they had to make do but then they got lovely smart uniforms
0:09:54 > 0:09:55with all the insignia
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and they very much appreciated the opportunity to wear uniforms
0:09:58 > 0:10:01because not only does it give you a sense of identity and belonging,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03it gives you status and authority
0:10:03 > 0:10:07which is something women had hardly ever had before the war.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10And so they are wearing skirts, the skirt hem lines do rise
0:10:10 > 0:10:13so they've got more movement but eventually women do
0:10:13 > 0:10:17almost the unthinkable, those working in workshops, er,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19they actually start to wear britches, men's trousers
0:10:19 > 0:10:21and they wear them in the streets
0:10:21 > 0:10:25and it causes quite a furore to see women in britches.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29- Women wearing the trousers. - It's extraordinary, yes.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31While newspapers seized the opportunity
0:10:31 > 0:10:35to feature photogenic young women in fetching outfits,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38these women were doing vital work on the home front.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The numbers of female railway employees
0:10:41 > 0:10:47jumped from 13,000 in 1914 to almost 69,000 by 1918.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51So they were doing jobs on a par with men.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Were they being paid on a par?
0:10:53 > 0:10:55No. Is the very simple answer.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57It's complex because the unions
0:10:57 > 0:10:59wanted to fight for men to keep their jobs
0:10:59 > 0:11:00and their wage levels after the war.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03They didn't want women to undercut them
0:11:03 > 0:11:06but the companies don't want women to get the same wages
0:11:06 > 0:11:10and so women are paid sometimes two-thirds
0:11:10 > 0:11:13or sometimes only one-third the wage of men for the same work
0:11:13 > 0:11:17and in one case, a woman is getting a twentieth of the wage.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22This pay inequality really hurt, as by the spring of 1917,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26the cost of food had doubled in three years.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29At the end of the war, vast numbers of men come back,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33many of them wounded, looking to get their jobs back in the railways,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35so what impact does that have on women?
0:11:35 > 0:11:39They're out. That's it, and very little recognition of their work.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41There's almost, one historian has called it,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43"The Great Silence" after the war.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45We almost forget what women did.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Do you think there was a longer lasting impact,
0:11:47 > 0:11:51maybe a political impact from the fact that women had done jobs
0:11:51 > 0:11:52like railwaymen during the war?
0:11:52 > 0:11:55There is an argument that women were rewarded for their war work
0:11:55 > 0:11:56by getting the vote.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00It doesn't hold up, in as much as it was only for women over 30
0:12:00 > 0:12:03and lots of the girls on the railway were 15 to 25 years old.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08However, it does at least blow this myth that women cannot do this job
0:12:08 > 0:12:10and by the time the Second World War comes around
0:12:10 > 0:12:12and we need the women back on the railways again,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14they've already shown they can do it
0:12:14 > 0:12:16and women are ready to step up to the mark once more.
0:12:16 > 0:12:17- To do it again.- Mmm-hmm.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22While women kept the railways running at home,
0:12:22 > 0:12:27there was one very large obstacle to supplying the front line,
0:12:27 > 0:12:28London.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36The British Railway network was, and still is centred on the capital,
0:12:36 > 0:12:41with only a handful of lines going through or around the city.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45London commuters have been helped in recent years by new services
0:12:45 > 0:12:47that circumvent the capital,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50passing through Olympia or along the North London Line
0:12:50 > 0:12:55or through that tunnel that links Blackfriars and St Pancras.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Londoners living by those lines a century ago
0:12:58 > 0:13:02would have seen the British war effort trundling by
0:13:02 > 0:13:05as countless trains carrying food and munitions
0:13:05 > 0:13:07headed for the Western Front.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17To learn more, I'm meeting Professor Nick Bosanquet of Imperial College
0:13:17 > 0:13:18on the old North London Line.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Once British Forces have been committed to the continent,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26they've got to be reinforced and supplied.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29What sort of problem does that represent for the British?
0:13:29 > 0:13:30Well, it was a massive one.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Suddenly London was as big an obstacle to the British war effort
0:13:33 > 0:13:36as Paris had been to the German war effort.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40They had to find three very quiet lines.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43They had been used for a few "sunshine specials"
0:13:43 > 0:13:45down to Brighton before.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Now, suddenly, they were the main arteries of the British war effort.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52The men, the supplies, the weapons,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55they all went out through these three lines.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58Trains clattered through London,
0:13:58 > 0:14:03heading for Folkestone or Dover and on to the Front in France.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06So suddenly what we call nowadays Thameslink
0:14:06 > 0:14:09and that line through Olympia and the North London Line,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12suddenly these became vital arteries?
0:14:12 > 0:14:17Those were the places where the British war effort came together.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22At the heart of this web of supply lines
0:14:22 > 0:14:25was Willesden Junction in North-West London.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32What was the significance of this place during World War I?
0:14:32 > 0:14:36This was the centre for the British war effort.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38So why here at Willesden?
0:14:38 > 0:14:42It was where all the railways systems got together
0:14:42 > 0:14:44and there was the best linkage between all the lines
0:14:44 > 0:14:47so they could come down from the munitions areas
0:14:47 > 0:14:49in the North and the Midlands
0:14:49 > 0:14:51and then get on the North London line
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and then get through any one of the three lines down to the coast.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57So if I'd been here during World War I,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00and looked out on what are now these marshalling yards,
0:15:00 > 0:15:02what would I have seen of the British war effort?
0:15:02 > 0:15:07You would have seen hundreds of wagons being shunted and sorted
0:15:07 > 0:15:09into trains and consignments.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12The wagons would have had 60 million pairs of boots
0:15:12 > 0:15:14in the course of the war.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19Later in the war, 35,000 trucks, 22,000 aircraft,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23in fact many of the engines were made in Ladbroke Grove,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27millions of bandages and even hundreds of thousands
0:15:27 > 0:15:30of bottles and barrels of beer.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36Over 20,000 trains used these sleepy suburban lines during the war
0:15:36 > 0:15:40as munitions, armaments and finally tanks and trucks
0:15:40 > 0:15:43trundled through the capital.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45So an observant Londoner
0:15:45 > 0:15:48really would have known what was going on in the war
0:15:48 > 0:15:49just by looking at this junction.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54Yes, the thousands of people living along these lines or near these lines
0:15:54 > 0:15:56would have felt the pulse of the war effort
0:15:56 > 0:15:59by the length and number of the trains.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01They would have felt a shiver down their spines
0:16:01 > 0:16:03as they knew an offensive was coming
0:16:03 > 0:16:05when there were a lot of very heavy trains
0:16:05 > 0:16:09with guns and ammunitions going on their way out.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14This was where the increasing British war effort was most clearly visible,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17all through this one channel down to the Front.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23While the population of London could sense the rhythm of the war
0:16:23 > 0:16:27by observing the ebb and flow of train traffic through their capital,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30the enemy was making ever more use of the railways.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33Germany's overland supply lines were longer than Britain's
0:16:33 > 0:16:37and had to pass through occupied Belgium.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39I'm travelling deep into the heart of Belgium,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41behind old enemy lines
0:16:41 > 0:16:44to a strategic junction at Ottignies,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47the scene of dangerous, covert operations
0:16:47 > 0:16:48during the First world War.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Train spotters are known for their attention to detail.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57During World War I, spotting turned to spying.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02The supply of precise information about German train movements
0:17:02 > 0:17:06was invaluable to the Allies, and very dangerous for the secret agent.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Here, I hope to find out more about these brave men and women
0:17:11 > 0:17:14from historian Emmanuel Debruyne.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Emmanuel, we are evidently at a busy junction.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22So if in a place like Ottignies we saw a change in the train movements,
0:17:22 > 0:17:23some sort of build up,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27how much notice would that give to the allies of maybe an attack?
0:17:27 > 0:17:35Germans need really weeks to concentrate many divisions.
0:17:37 > 0:17:43For example, if you transport one division of more than 10,000 men,
0:17:43 > 0:17:49you will need 20 convoys on the same tracks so it takes a lot of time.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54This was the most elaborate international spy network
0:17:54 > 0:17:56that the British Government had ever organised.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00The first stage was to persuade members of the Belgian public
0:18:00 > 0:18:02to risk their lives.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Was the Belgian population willing to help
0:18:06 > 0:18:10the British and the French with this spying on the trains?
0:18:10 > 0:18:14In Belgium, especially at the beginning of the occupation,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17there was a real climate of terror,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21so yes, there was a desire to help the Allies
0:18:21 > 0:18:26but also a real fear to do that.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30And another problem was the fact that spying
0:18:30 > 0:18:36was not very well seen at the beginning of the 20th century.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40A spy was not a hero, a spy was a kind of traitor.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45For Belgians living under the occupation,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48espionage for the Allies was an opportunity
0:18:48 > 0:18:49to remain committed to the war.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54And a room in the hotel overlooking the junction
0:18:54 > 0:18:55provided the perfect lookout.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00So the old Hotel Duchene that stood here
0:19:00 > 0:19:03has a fantastic vantage point over the railway
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and spies could use these windows to observe the movements.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Yes, of course, from here you can watch the track
0:19:09 > 0:19:14and you can notice every detail of every convoy
0:19:14 > 0:19:18coming down here from Ottignies to Charleroi.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22And then would all this be written down?
0:19:22 > 0:19:24How could that be noted?
0:19:24 > 0:19:31They used some methods to write it very quickly with some abbreviations
0:19:31 > 0:19:36so that you have only a few figures and a few letters
0:19:36 > 0:19:38to note everything.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41So you can have, on a small sheet of paper,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45you can have all the traffic on one or two days
0:19:45 > 0:19:48but it means maybe 20 convoys.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52So they had to watch from the window during
0:19:52 > 0:19:54all the day and all the night.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Then things became really dangerous.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Passing the information over to the Allies
0:20:00 > 0:20:02involved crossing the border with Holland,
0:20:02 > 0:20:07which was protected by a 200km 2,000 volt electric fence
0:20:07 > 0:20:10known as "the wire of death."
0:20:10 > 0:20:13And so how would they cross this electric fence?
0:20:13 > 0:20:15It was very difficult.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17They used several different methods
0:20:17 > 0:20:23and some are today Olympic sports like, you know, the pole...
0:20:23 > 0:20:25- Pole vaulting.- Yes, pole vaulting.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Er, there was also shooting an arrow through the border
0:20:29 > 0:20:32with the report around the arrow.
0:20:32 > 0:20:38They also used some bottomless barrels.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41- They crawled through the barrels through the electric fence. - Yes, indeed.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Were the Germans successful in capturing some of these spies?
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Yes, they were generally successful
0:20:47 > 0:20:52because most of the networks had a duration, a life duration
0:20:52 > 0:20:54of only a few months.
0:20:54 > 0:21:01This network, which was called the Cologne network, was destroyed
0:21:01 > 0:21:06after maybe, more or less, one year of functioning
0:21:06 > 0:21:11and three of the main agents were condemned to death
0:21:11 > 0:21:13and executed in Brussels.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17It was a perilous business.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Up to one in three were caught
0:21:20 > 0:21:25and 234 individuals were executed for espionage.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28The information gathered at places like Ottignies
0:21:28 > 0:21:30was essential for the British High Command
0:21:30 > 0:21:33in planning the final, protracted stages of the conflict.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39I'm leaving what was occupied Belgium
0:21:39 > 0:21:44and heading for the nerve-centre of British operations in France.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49The war, which some had hoped would be over by Christmas 1914,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52in fact dragged on into 1918.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Four years in which the railways were burdened
0:21:55 > 0:21:59by massive quantities of troops and munitions and supplies
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and ploughed up by enemy gunfire.
0:22:02 > 0:22:03The question was
0:22:03 > 0:22:07whether the networks would be able to sustain a huge advance
0:22:07 > 0:22:12as the Allies and the Germans each planned their final great push
0:22:12 > 0:22:13to victory.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19British headquarters was based
0:22:19 > 0:22:22in the ancient walled town of Montreuil-sur-Mer.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26I'm meeting Professor David Stevenson deep under the citadel
0:22:26 > 0:22:30to find out about the railways' role at the end of the war.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32From 1917, our map looks different
0:22:32 > 0:22:35because we've got American forces on it,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38what impact do they have on the logistical position?
0:22:38 > 0:22:39A very considerable difference.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43The Americans were actually having to be moved south of Paris.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47If you think of the French railway system as spokes of a wheel
0:22:47 > 0:22:48radiating out from Paris,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51the Americans were actually having to cross the spokes
0:22:51 > 0:22:55and this created an enormous extra burden on the French railway system
0:22:55 > 0:22:57which was already under heavy pressure.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Why did the British choose Montreuil for their general headquarters?
0:23:00 > 0:23:01If you look at the map,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04you'll see that Montreuil is located on a railway line running up
0:23:04 > 0:23:07towards Arras and the British front line.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10All behind Montreuil you have the channel ports
0:23:10 > 0:23:11of course, of Calais and Boulogne
0:23:11 > 0:23:14where British supplies and troops were coming in.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Both sides had trunk railways running behind the Western Front
0:23:17 > 0:23:21so they could constantly shuttle reinforcements into position where attacks took place
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and hopefully halt the attacks.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27Under constant strain,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30these railways had kept both sides supplied,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33but they had also locked them in stalemate.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36With Russia's withdrawal from the conflict
0:23:36 > 0:23:38soon after the October Revolution in 1917,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Germany was free to redeploy hundreds of thousands of men
0:23:42 > 0:23:44to the Western Front.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46The aim - to break the deadlock,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49starting with Operation Michael.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52There are five major German offensives
0:23:52 > 0:23:54between March and July of 1918.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57The biggest one, which is known as Operation Michael
0:23:57 > 0:24:01took place in this area here, north of the city of Saint Quentin.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Are the Germans, who have now moved great distances in a very short period of time,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07hampered by their supply lines?
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Hampered because they are far ahead of their railways?
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Yes. The leading German positions, for example,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13here as they advance towards Amiens,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17these were 40 to 50 miles in advance of their rail heads.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Remember beyond the rail heads, how do the Germans get their supplies forward?
0:24:20 > 0:24:22All they have available are lorries,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25but they had only a tenth of the number of lorries that the Allies did,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27the roads were unsuitable,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29the lorries had steel tyres instead of rubber tyres
0:24:29 > 0:24:31and there wasn't enough petrol for them.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Beyond that the Germans had horses, but they also had too few horses.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39The Germans were running short of supplies, particularly ammunition,
0:24:39 > 0:24:44so they had to stop short of Amiens and call the offensive to a halt.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47So now the Allies are in a position to counter attack,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49where does that begin?
0:24:49 > 0:24:54The first part of the scheme was to free up the Allied railways the Germans had threatened
0:24:54 > 0:24:58and the second part was to advance on and threaten the German railways.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02This two-stage attack was a resounding success,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05but the danger was that the Allies would suffer the same fate as the Germans
0:25:05 > 0:25:09and struggle with their supply lines.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11With the Allies now advancing so fast,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14do they reach a stage where they run ahead of their rail heads?
0:25:14 > 0:25:17The Allies are much more successful in sustaining their advance,
0:25:17 > 0:25:23the Allied advance is more or less continuous from the 18th July onwards.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25The pressure is uninterrupted.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28I get the impression through much of the War that railways are king,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30lorries don't feature very much.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Does this begin to change?
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Yes, this is changing by 1918.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38The Allies had made very deliberate plans in the winter of 1917/18
0:25:38 > 0:25:40to use lorries for kind of rapid deployment
0:25:40 > 0:25:42and to get their troops very quickly
0:25:42 > 0:25:44to the areas where they were most needed.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47So lorries were extremely important in the defensive phase
0:25:47 > 0:25:52in funnelling French troops northwards to help the British against the German attacks.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54As the Allies went on the offensive,
0:25:54 > 0:25:59lorries supported their advance as they pushed the enemy back.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02By this time, lorries were far more reliable and robust
0:26:02 > 0:26:04and more available than previously
0:26:04 > 0:26:09and the road began to usurp the railway in this new mobile war.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12So we're in a situation by the autumn of 1918
0:26:12 > 0:26:15where this is not only the climax of rail transport
0:26:15 > 0:26:17in support of army logistics
0:26:17 > 0:26:19but also we're beginning to see the transition here
0:26:19 > 0:26:21towards a new situation where in future,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24road transport would become equally important
0:26:24 > 0:26:26and eventually more important than rail transport
0:26:26 > 0:26:28as the source of army logistics.
0:26:31 > 0:26:37The Allied offensives reached their zenith on 28th September 1918
0:26:37 > 0:26:41when the German railway system effectively broke down.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Facing Allied breakthrough,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46the German high command finally decided
0:26:46 > 0:26:48that the Reich must seek a ceasefire.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52After negotiations during October,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56the armistice was signed in a railway carriage,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58parked far from prying eyes in a remote glade
0:26:58 > 0:27:02north of Paris in the Compiegne forest.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06The armistice came into effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day
0:27:06 > 0:27:10of the 11th month of 1918.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13The armistice held and marked the end of the war.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23When the war began, women defied social convention by serving on the railways,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26filling the places of men like Leonard Atkins
0:27:26 > 0:27:31who, in and around the Somme, applied his civilian expertise
0:27:31 > 0:27:34to lay tracks and keep the trains running.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37In even greater danger were those Belgian agents
0:27:37 > 0:27:40who tipped off the British about enemy movements
0:27:40 > 0:27:42of soldiers and ammunition.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The reward for all of them came when late in 1918,
0:27:46 > 0:27:51well-supplied British forces surged forward towards victory.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55On my next and final war journey,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58I'll hear the stories of the railways' war heroes...
0:27:58 > 0:28:00What a privilege for the passengers
0:28:00 > 0:28:02to have two VCs working on the train. Extraordinary!
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Absolutely, but then they probably never knew.
0:28:05 > 0:28:10..encounter a historic railway wagon, used to honour the fallen...
0:28:10 > 0:28:13It's a replica of the coffin of the unknown warrior,
0:28:13 > 0:28:15whose remains were conveyed in this van.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20..and hear how the railways helped give birth to battlefield tourism.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24You've got the British Legion organising 11,000 people
0:28:24 > 0:28:28- to come for a ceremony. - I mean, that is, in itself,
0:28:28 > 0:28:29pretty much a military scale operation.