0:00:09 > 0:00:14The Second World War was the ultimate conflict of the machine age.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18And this machine was its iconic symbol,
0:00:18 > 0:00:21the decisive weapon of the war on land.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26From north Africa to the Russian front, tanks ruled the battlefield.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31And if you didn't master armoured warfare, you faced annihilation.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37It's quite terrifying, really,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40because you could see these flashes of the enemy's guns
0:00:40 > 0:00:44in the distance, and you think, "Any minute, one of them is going to hit me."
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Tanks were there at the beginning of the war,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51and tanks were there at the end.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53The men who fought inside them
0:00:53 > 0:00:56had an exceptional view of the entire conflict...
0:00:57 > 0:01:01..from the fall of France, to the deserts of Africa.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04From D-Day to the final victory in Germany.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11As a young officer training in the Royal Tank Regiment,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I was indoctrinated in their exploits.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18And who could fail to have been awe-inspired by the way those men
0:01:18 > 0:01:23faced death time and time again, in these iron-clad monsters?
0:01:26 > 0:01:31When I first went in, I thought it was going to be great fun, and all that.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33But I realised it wasn't.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37There was a tank near me, I saw just blown to bits.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40A couple of my mates were in that. It was terrible.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45The bond you established in Tank,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50was not a normal relationships of friends.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54You were a partnership, it was closer than friendship.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56That crew were friends for life.
0:01:57 > 0:02:03This is the story of six remarkable men from one armoured unit,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06The 5th Royal Tank Regiment, 5 RTR.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Or to those who really knew them, the Filthy 5th.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15Their war is brought to life not only by the few surviving veterans,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19but also by previously unseen letters and diaries
0:02:19 > 0:02:24that give us a real insight of the visceral reality of tank warfare.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Each of these men has his own story.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Some were wounded, some captured and some were killed.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38A few, the lucky few, went all the way through.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Together their accounts form a unique picture of the war.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45And they weren't called the Filthy 5th for nothing.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00The Filthy 5th's odyssey began at the very beginning of the war.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Not with a bang...but a whimper.
0:03:04 > 0:03:10In June 1940, men from the 5th Tanks are stuck at Cherbourg, waiting for a ship home.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15Having been bloodied in the disastrous battle for France,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18the unit was scattered.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Its men bitter and disillusioned.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24It had, after all, only arrived a few weeks earlier.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Their mission had been straightforward enough...
0:03:32 > 0:03:35to reinforce the British expeditionary force in France,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39and halt the German onslaught across northern Europe.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45But as they approached the River Somme, in tanks that were fast
0:03:45 > 0:03:51but poorly armoured and already obsolete, the 5th Tanks
0:03:51 > 0:03:55were given the sledgehammer treatment by superior German Panzers.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06By 1940, the tank was the essential component of warfare on the ground.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Yet Britain simply didn't have what was needed.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13In the years before the war, they'd left it too late
0:04:13 > 0:04:17to start their rearmament and there was nobody for whom that failure
0:04:17 > 0:04:20was more galling than the Royal Tank Regiment.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29Pursued by the German Panzer divisions, the 5th Tanks went to pieces,
0:04:29 > 0:04:34claiming they never got any orders, let alone food.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36As they retreated along with their French allies,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39they left most of their equipment behind.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43It was a shambles on a grand scale.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52During those few weeks in France, they'd lost most of their tanks.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56They could only claim a single, knocked out German one,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00and many of the soldiers confessed they'd spent much of the time drunk.
0:05:00 > 0:05:06The 5th Tanks' first experience of the war had been an exercise in humiliation.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Corporal Harry Finlayson, 25, a regular,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16had already seen service in India.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21But commanding a tank in France was bewildering.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Couldn't believe we'd be pushed back.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27It never entered my head. I thought we'd go straight into Germany,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30was so sure about it.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33When we started getting pushed back, I couldn't believe it.
0:05:37 > 0:05:43When you think of the tanks the Germans had and the tanks we had, they were all over us.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45We didn't have a chance.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47There were Germans everywhere, like.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Harry wasn't the only one dismayed by the 5th's French farce.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07A canny 25-year-old Glaswegian, Trooper Jake Wardrop,
0:06:07 > 0:06:11provided one of the most perceptive accounts, written in a pocket diary.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18"It was all as inadequate as would have been an effort
0:06:18 > 0:06:21"to tie down a mad bull with white cotton.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24"We had a ridiculously small amount of material,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28"and an even smaller amount of organisation.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31"My own opinion of the Somme episode
0:06:31 > 0:06:33"was that it was a very silly place to be."
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Jake Waldrop was a great treasure to the 5th Tanks.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43He was no fool, he was able to assess the situation very...
0:06:46 > 0:06:48..adequately for his own satisfaction.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Hence the diaries he wrote.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Which, of course, he shouldn't have been writing.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Because if the tank was captured and the diary was in it,
0:06:56 > 0:07:01positions and the details of the unit would be available.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06But 5th Tanks had regard to those rules which...
0:07:06 > 0:07:10they liked to abide by, and not those they didn't.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Back in England, the 5th Tanks regrouped at an army base in Surrey.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Here, the old regulars were joined by new recruits,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25citizen soldiers, like 24-year-old Gerry Solomon.
0:07:26 > 0:07:33When I arrived, I felt like a fish out of water, because there were we, more or less rookies,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37as they called them, and all these other people
0:07:37 > 0:07:42had just come back from France and they were more hardened soldiers.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46They didn't sort of include you in their conversations.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51"He's a new boy, so he wouldn't understand it."
0:07:51 > 0:07:54But, eventually, I was accepted.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59And just as Trooper Solomon was settling in,
0:07:59 > 0:08:035th Tanks was told to make ready for active service abroad.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05CROWDS CHEER
0:08:07 > 0:08:12In June 1940, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14declared war on Britain.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16HE SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:08:24 > 0:08:26CROWDS CHEER
0:08:28 > 0:08:32His ambition was to conquer British-occupied Egypt
0:08:32 > 0:08:35and the strategically vital Suez Canal.
0:08:35 > 0:08:41Libya, an Italian colony, provided the launching pad for this invasion.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48By the autumn of 1940, the men of 5th Tanks were on their way
0:08:48 > 0:08:52to the Middle East to the Allied garrison, protecting Egypt.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57For some, it all seemed like an adventure.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Well, I was excited about going abroad and seeing the Middle East.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08I was regarding it as a sort of sightseeing tour, more than anything.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20On the morning of Christmas Eve, 1940, after almost two months at sea,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24the 5th Tanks gathered in the Egyptian port of Alexandria.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Far from home, each man thought of those they'd left behind.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39My mother, she was very upset because I was going.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45She said to me, "Promise me, Harry, that you'll come back."
0:09:45 > 0:09:49I said, "Yeah, I promise you, I'll come back." And she was crying.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54I told her, "No, don't worry, nobody there is going to kill me,
0:09:54 > 0:09:55"I'll come back."
0:10:04 > 0:10:08At the front, a small force of Allied troops was giving
0:10:08 > 0:10:10the Italian invaders a beating.
0:10:17 > 0:10:24For the loss of only 500, British forces had turned the tide and advanced into Libya.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27News that cheered the newly landed 5th Tanks.
0:10:29 > 0:10:35When we arrived we'd heard they had taken no end of Italian prisoners.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Everybody was very, sort of, jubilant about it all,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42because I think it was possible we weren't going to be needed.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49But if Gerry Solomon thought they might be spared the unpleasantness
0:10:49 > 0:10:52of actual fighting, they were about to think again.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00In February 1941, a battle-hardened German force
0:11:00 > 0:11:04arrived in North Africa to rescue their Italian allies.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06The Afrika Korps.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Armed with better tanks than the British, the Afrika Korps
0:11:11 > 0:11:15was led by a man who would change the dynamic of desert warfare...
0:11:17 > 0:11:19..Erwin Rommel.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Jake Wardrop described him as the bold, bad policeman.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29But he was more commonly known as the Desert Fox.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35The 5th Tanks had already encountered Rommel in France.
0:11:35 > 0:11:41But it was out here that the German general's talents found a perfect arena.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46It was, he wrote, "The only theatre where the principles
0:11:46 > 0:11:50of motorised and tank warfare could be applied to the full."
0:11:50 > 0:11:53And he had big plans for the Afrika Korps -
0:11:53 > 0:11:58to conquer British Egypt and drive onwards to the Arabian oil fields.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05On 24th March, 1941, Rommel launched an offensive.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10British headquarters had believed he wouldn't be ready for months.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16So when, on April Fools' Day, the 5th Tanks were attacked,
0:12:16 > 0:12:21they had been told by their commanders it could only be the hapless Italians.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29We'd got in this ditch and we saw some tanks coming,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32huge great tanks with big, black crosses on them.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36I said, "Bloody Germans!" We didn't have any Germans there.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40And then we see lorries coming with Germans in them.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43So I went back and reported and they wouldn't believe me.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Company commander wouldn't believe me. "There's no Germans there."
0:12:46 > 0:12:50I said, "Well, they are." The next morning, we knew they were there.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54The tanks we had against theirs was impossible.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58They knew from bitter experience
0:12:58 > 0:13:01that British tanks such as the A-13,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05which had performed so poorly in the battle for France,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09were simply no match for the German Panzers.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13So, here it is - the A-13, a tank that embodies everything
0:13:13 > 0:13:17that was worst about British inter-war armoured vehicle design.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20It was overly ambitious in its technology
0:13:20 > 0:13:24and shoddily executed in the way it was manufactured.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31But the A-13 was also a death-trap to the men of the 5th.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38Get inside one of these and you'll see how hard that was to do.
0:13:40 > 0:13:46Or, more to the point, how hard it was to get out of them in a hurry.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49And that, combined with the thin armour,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52deprived the crew inside of the sense of security
0:13:52 > 0:13:54that you might have expected them to have.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03The 5th were now facing an enemy they simply weren't prepared for.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Their poorer tanks were struck down by German shot.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12They were assailed from the skies by Stukas and Dorniers.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16The British command structure went to pieces.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20And, for some in the 5th, it was their first taste of action.
0:14:20 > 0:14:26Once you get into battle, you think, "Well, this is it. It's me or them."
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Everybody was scared. Everybody was sort of jittery and jumpy.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39When you're in a tank and you're being fired at,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41it's quite frightening.
0:14:41 > 0:14:48Because you're sure that he's going to hit you before you hit him.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I don't think I ever prayed in the desert.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58I often wondered afterwards why I didn't.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10What Gerry Solomon and the others in 5th Tank were up against again was
0:15:10 > 0:15:15the superiority of the German mark three, the Panzerkampfwagen III.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18It had several advantages over British tanks.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22It weighed nearly twice as much and most of that was armour.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24And it was more reliable.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34The mark three is very well designed from the human perspective.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39The commander, who sat in this position, had fantastic all-round visibility -
0:15:39 > 0:15:44better, in fact, than I did in the same slot on a Chieftain back on Cold War exercises in the 1980s.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47He could also talk to other members of the crew very easily.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52The gunner, for example, who sits where I am. They've got very easy eye contact and all the rest of it.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57And, if it does all go horribly wrong, they've got escape hatches there, behind me and in the hull.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00They can get out much faster than the British crew could.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07As the German Panzers overran the British lines,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11chaos and confusion spread like wildfire.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17The funny thing was I don't think I felt scared.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22I think I was more worried about my crew.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26And I was telling the driver where to go.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30And I felt disappointed because we didn't have the power
0:16:30 > 0:16:32to knock Jerry tanks out.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37In the midst of this
0:16:37 > 0:16:42was a veteran officer aged just 26.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Lieutenant Arthur Crickmay.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Arthur Crickmay understood this landscape better than most.
0:16:49 > 0:16:55Before the war, he'd been out here with his best friend, Ted, as students exploring.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Then he'd been posted ahead of 5th Tanks to another battalion
0:16:58 > 0:17:03that was already "up the blue", as the army called this wilderness.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09But he was dismayed at the failure of those in charge,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12as his letters home show so eloquently.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19"There was no information about what was happening. Rumour was rife.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22"It was April 1 and no mistake.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27"As the Daily Mail would say, 'Let us draw a merciful feel
0:17:27 > 0:17:30" 'over the next six days of muddle and confusion,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32" 'order and counter-order.'
0:17:36 > 0:17:41"My most vivid memory is one of our tanks exploding.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45"All the ammo inside must have gone up at once.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47"I've seen many tanks on fire,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51"but have never seen one go off like that before or since.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55"The next few days were among some of the most unpleasant I can remember."
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Lieutenant Arthur Crickmay understood only too well
0:18:03 > 0:18:06what happened when a shell struck a tank.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10It was the fate that befell so many of the men here.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13The projectile penetrating one side
0:18:13 > 0:18:17would lack the energy to exit through the other,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21ricocheting about inside, tearing people to pieces.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26If it struck ammunition or fuel, a fire could soon take hold.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31Smoke and flames would billow from the turret and, within 30 seconds,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35the temperature inside could match that of a furnace.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38The crew would be incinerated.
0:18:42 > 0:18:48Rommel's blue-eyed boys, as Wardrop called them, had in just over a week
0:18:48 > 0:18:49reversed British fortunes
0:18:49 > 0:18:53and regained all the territory the Italians had lost.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Rommel was good, of course he was,
0:18:57 > 0:19:02but in this attack he hardly had to be brilliant. And here's why.
0:19:02 > 0:19:08Of 5 RTR's 52 tanks, nine had been destroyed by the Germans,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10two had limped into Tobruk,
0:19:10 > 0:19:16and the rest - 41 of them - had broken down in the desert.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18How good did the Afrika Korps have to be
0:19:18 > 0:19:21when the British had tanks like that?
0:19:24 > 0:19:28We were quite aware of the specifications of the German tanks.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31All their tanks had longer barrels
0:19:31 > 0:19:34which meant higher velocity for AP rounds.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39And we never really caught up until late in the war.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Outgunned and outmanoeuvred, the 5th retreated
0:19:46 > 0:19:50to the only town in eastern Libya that Rommel hadn't taken.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Tobruk.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Bereft of their tanks, Corporal Finlayson and his crew
0:19:57 > 0:20:00were packed off to the trenches as infantry.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06We were surrounded at Tobruk at the time.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10And I was writing a letter to my wife.
0:20:10 > 0:20:16And a mate of mine was writing - one of the chaps was writing -
0:20:16 > 0:20:18a letter to his mother.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22And he said to me, "If I don't come out of this, will you post this letter for me?"
0:20:22 > 0:20:26I said, "Yeah. If I don't come out, post this letter." He said yes.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30So we wrote these letters.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32And we were in a trench.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34We sat down there in the trench writing,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38and when I had finished I turned around and looked at him.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41He was lying there dead with a bullet through his head.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47He was lying there, blood coming out of his head there, he was dead.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Oh, it was terrible.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53And he'd only half done this letter.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56I didn't know what the devil to do, whether to send it or not.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00I thought, "No, I'd better not. It wouldn't be nice." Horrible thing.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03He was writing that and died, so I thought I'd better not.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05So I didn't send it.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07I did get in touch with the mother
0:21:07 > 0:21:09and told them I was with him when he died.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15I said he didn't suffer, he was killed outright.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24After weeks of being trapped in Tobruk,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28the 5th Tanks were delivered from that hell by the Royal Navy,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31taking their chances with the dive bombers
0:21:31 > 0:21:35and leaving the port to be defended by the Australians.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39By the time they returned to the comparative sanity
0:21:39 > 0:21:44of their base outside Alexandria, it was the end of spring.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Having arrived at Christmas,
0:21:46 > 0:21:51they'd yet to experience the roasting heat of an Egyptian summer.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53Water was always an issue.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Water was rationed in the desert.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Each man got about this much to last 24 hours.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05That's if supplies got through - that was often a big if -
0:22:05 > 0:22:08and if they didn't have a leaking radiator on their tank
0:22:08 > 0:22:10that they had to pour some in.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13On their first march through the desert,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17some of the men in 5th Tanks became so desperately thirsty
0:22:17 > 0:22:20that they tore the seat cushions from their vehicles,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24left them in the desert overnight to collect dew
0:22:24 > 0:22:27and wrung them out into their mouths in the morning.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32It tasted disgusting, but what choice did they have?
0:22:34 > 0:22:37Some reprieve from the hardships of the desert
0:22:37 > 0:22:41came when the 5th were given leave in Alexandria.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46This allowed them to indulge in a little of what they fancied.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51Jake Wardrop headed to one of his favourite haunts, The Golden Bar.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55"At 9am, we hit the place.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00"And at 5am the following morning, we decided to call it a day.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04"What a time. A notable session."
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Well, Jake Wardrop survived that particular visit
0:23:11 > 0:23:13to The Golden Bar without a scrap.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17In his diary, he's rather coy about how many beatings
0:23:17 > 0:23:19he did in fact hand out.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22But we know from others there were quite a few.
0:23:22 > 0:23:28Wardrop himself said he couldn't resist tweaking the noses of those in authority.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30And soon after he'd got to Egypt,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34he was court martialled for a noisy drinking session in his tent.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Officers came to the view that
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Wardrop was one of those men best kept in the field.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Jake Wardrop was a very nice fellow.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50But he was a bit rough, if you know what I mean.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53And, according to what I'd heard,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57he was nothing but a source of trouble.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00You know, he would be lance corporal one day
0:24:00 > 0:24:05and a week or two later, he'd go out and get drunk
0:24:05 > 0:24:09and sort of smash places up and he'd be back to a trooper.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13But, of course, he was quite fearless.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21But while Jake and the boys enjoyed the drinking dives of Alexandria,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25everyone understood that in order to beat the Afrika Korps,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28the 5th and the rest of the British forces
0:24:28 > 0:24:30were going to need some new hardware.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38On 22 July, the 5th Tanks received some new American-made armour.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41The M3 Stuart - or, more commonly, the Honey.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48The old sweats cast a hard eye over this new American import, the Honey.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51And in some ways it was quite similar to the British tanks
0:24:51 > 0:24:55they were used to. Same sort of weight, about 12 tonnes,
0:24:55 > 0:24:5737mm gun also similar.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59But the really key difference
0:24:59 > 0:25:02was that the Americans used off-the-shelf technology
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and that made it much more reliable.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06The suspension - look at this -
0:25:06 > 0:25:11came from a tractor that had been built in America in the '30s.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15And the engine was from a fighter plane. It was a radial piston.
0:25:15 > 0:25:16Now, what all of that meant was
0:25:16 > 0:25:19it would keep going for far longer and far less trouble.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23And a nice side effect of the air-cooled engine,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26you didn't need water - very precious in the desert -
0:25:26 > 0:25:32and it sucked its air through the crew compartment - air conditioning.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39For the men of the 5th Tanks, the Honey was to be tested to the limit
0:25:39 > 0:25:42in one of the most visceral battles of their war so far.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Operation Crusader.
0:25:48 > 0:25:54On 18 November 1941, after four long months of preparation,
0:25:54 > 0:25:58the 5th Tanks crossed the border into Libya.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00As part of the 7th Armoured Division,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02they were in a 750-tank army,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06twice that of the Axis Forces put together.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09They also had generous air support.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Their mission was ambitious -
0:26:14 > 0:26:16to retake eastern Libya,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19relieve Tobruk, and destroy the Afrika Korps.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25To do this, they hoped to envelop the Axis Forces along the frontier
0:26:25 > 0:26:28with a great left armoured hook.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31This would bring them up close to the Tobruk garrison
0:26:31 > 0:26:33which would then break out to meet them.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36The Afrika Korps would be trapped
0:26:36 > 0:26:39between Tobruk and the Egyptian border.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Churchill signalled the importance of the battle to come.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46He said, "For the first time,
0:26:46 > 0:26:51"British and Empire troops will meet the Germans with modern weapons.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55"The battle will affect the whole course of the war.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59"The desert army may be able to write a page in history
0:26:59 > 0:27:03"that will rank with Blenheim and Waterloo.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06"All of our hearts go with you."
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Within two days of crossing the border, the 5th Tanks had
0:27:14 > 0:27:20bypassed their enemy's frontline and advanced an extraordinary 150 miles.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24When we got the Honeys,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28that was when we really started to get involved in the fighting.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31The Honey was a very manoeuvrable tank,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34it could get in places where others could not get.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40The Honey's speed and reliability helped the 5th rush ahead
0:27:40 > 0:27:44to the airfield of Sidi Rezegh near Tobruk.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47The British seized it with a surprise attack,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51but soon that success turned sour as British commanders
0:27:51 > 0:27:54decided that the tactic of rushing the Germans,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58rather like the charge of the Light Brigade, might keep working.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Balaclava charges, rushing towards the enemy, were a tactic
0:28:06 > 0:28:09frequently used by British tank regiments in the desert.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15To Jake Wardrop and his mates, that was absolute madness.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20A - because it did not work, and B - because it cost lives.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27"It was decided to give them the good old charge again.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31"Quite frankly, I was not so strong for this charging business,
0:28:31 > 0:28:33"although we continued to do it.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38"Off we went. We went storming right into these tanks, firing as we went."
0:28:43 > 0:28:47Rommel had to break out of the British encirclement or face defeat.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52Sidi Rezegh became the focus of his efforts.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54Anti-tank guns and tanks slugged it out.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04It was like a scene from the Apocalypse.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08My tank was hit.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11It immediately went up into flames.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18One of the crew scrambled out of the tank, and he was...
0:29:18 > 0:29:23What little bit of clothing he had left was still flaming.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27And, er...
0:29:27 > 0:29:31he, when we managed to get to him and tend to him,
0:29:31 > 0:29:38his skin had all rolled off, curled up and rolled off.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45We thought we'd go and look in the burnt-out tank, and we looked down
0:29:45 > 0:29:51and there was a bleached skeleton, right across the floor of the tank.
0:29:51 > 0:29:59There was just these steel-rimmed glasses on the skull.
0:29:59 > 0:30:00There.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07Gerry Solomon had received a salutary lesson
0:30:07 > 0:30:11in the limitations of the popgun, as he and the others
0:30:11 > 0:30:15started calling the 37mm cannon mounted on their Honey tanks.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17It fired one of these,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20and in order to have a decent chance of knocking out a German
0:30:20 > 0:30:24armoured vehicle, you had to get to within about 800 yards of it.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27All the time you were trying to do that, you could be under
0:30:27 > 0:30:32fire from an 88mm German gun with a range of two miles.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36It fired one of these.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47Desperate to avoid defeat, the Axis troops attacked again and again.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52It became a grim slugging match, a battle of attrition in which
0:30:52 > 0:30:56superior German guns and armour began to tell.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01As regards firepower, the Honey was inadequate against the German armour,
0:31:01 > 0:31:06which was three or four inches thick.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08The shells would just bounce off.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16By the evening of the 21st November, 5th Tanks had been
0:31:16 > 0:31:20sucked into the desperate fighting on Sidi Rezegh airfield.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23One of the commanders there, Brigadier Jock Campbell,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26took matters into his own hands.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38At the height of the battle, Brigadier Jock Campbell
0:31:38 > 0:31:43appeared through a hail of shot and shell in an open-top staff car
0:31:43 > 0:31:47and urged the 5th Tanks' Honeys to follow him forward.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51It was an act of courage bordering on madness, for which he won the VC.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56But an officer from the 5th Tanks tried to stop him,
0:31:56 > 0:31:58and Brigadier Campbell drew his revolver,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01telling the officer that the tank men had been sent there
0:32:01 > 0:32:05to die anyway, and if he got in the way he would shoot him.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14The price of this attack was heavy.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17When Harry Finlayson's tank was knocked out that night,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21he joined the list of those missing in action.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28They just put a shell on my engine and blew it up.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31That was it, we were right in the middle of the German lines,
0:32:31 > 0:32:33we couldn't do anything else.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36I stood on the top of the tank, put my hands out,
0:32:36 > 0:32:40when they came round surrounding us, I got my crew out
0:32:40 > 0:32:46and the German officer said, for you, the war is over.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54After weeks of fighting, Rommel battered his way
0:32:54 > 0:32:58out of the Allied trap, saving the Afrika Korps from destruction.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01In early December, the British relieved Tobruk
0:33:01 > 0:33:05and completed the reconquest of eastern Libya.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09The 8th Army had succeeded in two out of three aims,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12but Rommel's escape and the scale of the slaughter
0:33:12 > 0:33:17meant its soldiers were hardly in a mood to celebrate.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Arthur Crickmay had lost his best friend.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27The operation as a whole can only be described as a gigantic cock-up.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32We won in the end, but at what cost?
0:33:35 > 0:33:39Returning from the front, the men of 5 RTR lost themselves
0:33:39 > 0:33:43in the bars and brothels of Alexandria and Cairo.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Having garrisoned the country for 60 years,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52the British Army knew plenty about Egypt's brothels.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54They gave the men condoms
0:33:54 > 0:33:58and brought doctors to inspect the prostitutes for VD.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03In the 1930s, a certain lieutenant colonel, Bernard Montgomery,
0:34:03 > 0:34:04who we will meet again soon,
0:34:04 > 0:34:09had insisted on medical inspections of this kind, because he said
0:34:09 > 0:34:13his men absolutely required their horizontal refreshment.
0:34:16 > 0:34:23Horizontal R&R and heavy drinking provided short-lived catharsis
0:34:23 > 0:34:25for those in 5 RTR,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28who'd come through the meat grinder of Operation Crusader.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31For many in the 5th Tanks,
0:34:31 > 0:34:36Sidi Rezegh marked their first real taste of the bitter reality of war.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41For anyone still with the Battalion who thought the war was
0:34:41 > 0:34:44a bit of a lark, illusions had been shattered.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47They now wanted vengeance.
0:34:51 > 0:34:56Vengeance for the 5th came in early 1942 in the form
0:34:56 > 0:34:58of new tanks from Uncle Sam.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09There's nothing quite like a bit of American overkill,
0:35:09 > 0:35:11and this is a monster.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15It weighs in at 26 tonnes, and look at the height of it.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19But the most important feature was the arsenal of weapons.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22It's got the same 37mm popgun up there
0:35:22 > 0:35:24in the turret that the Honey had,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28but the key thing is that it mounts this 75mm cannon here.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32This, for the first time, allowed the British tank crews to knock
0:35:32 > 0:35:37out not just Panzers, but anti-tank guns using high explosive shells.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41It also has machine guns in the hull and on the turret.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45One British commander described its arrival in the desert
0:35:45 > 0:35:48as being like the shift from sail to steel.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57Men were moving on, too - Arthur Crickmay was sent to Burma
0:35:57 > 0:36:00and Gerry Solomon, the former grocer and one-time rookie,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03was now a corporal commanding a tank.
0:36:07 > 0:36:12Jake Wardrop, despite his longer service, was still just a driver.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17The Allied front was settled on the Gazala line.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22It stretched from Gazala on the coast to the old
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Turkish fortress of Bir Hacheim, 40-odd miles to the south.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29But this was a risky position.
0:36:29 > 0:36:36The Gazala line didn't extend all the way to the impassable sands of the Sahara.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38This open flank had been left
0:36:38 > 0:36:40to allow the British to resume
0:36:40 > 0:36:45their advance, unless the Germans went inland and used it first.
0:36:49 > 0:36:55On the afternoon of 26 May, 1942, Rommel attacked the Gazala line.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59His artillery pinned the Allied troops close to the sea, while his
0:36:59 > 0:37:04armoured divisions were sent south of the Gazala line to attack their flank.
0:37:09 > 0:37:15On the morning of 27 May, 5 RTR were told to pack up and get ready.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22"The Bosch were not far away now, and we had to keep an eye on them.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27"I got up, had a wash, shave, cleaned my teeth and slicked my hair up.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31"In fact, it used to be quite a ritual with us to get queened up,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35"as though we were going to the Plaza when we had a date with Erwin."
0:37:40 > 0:37:44Throughout the small hours, reports had been flying around that
0:37:44 > 0:37:49something very sizeable was going on to the south of the Gazala line.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54At 7.30pm, the order came through to move to battle positions.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Five minutes later, the Honeys and the new Grants lurched forward.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18In the confusion of a desert battle, your enemy could be two miles away,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22and you have to scan the horizon with the utmost attention.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25A kick of dust was a gun firing.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30A second or two later, a sound like ripping paper announced
0:38:30 > 0:38:33a high-velocity round flashing past you or overhead.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40If the light burning in its tail was red, it was British fire.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43If it was green or yellow, it was enemy.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45Registering those fleeting sights
0:38:45 > 0:38:49and sounds could make all the difference between life and death.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06The hot, dry wind, which was so unpleasant that the Arabs
0:39:06 > 0:39:10claimed it was enough to excuse murder, started to blow as well.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17British commanders had been caught by surprise.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22In the unfolding mayhem of confused close-range fights, the generals'
0:39:22 > 0:39:26habit of keeping ordinary tank crews in the dark cost them dear.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35It was very confusing, you could not get any definite information.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38They didn't want you to have information, in case
0:39:38 > 0:39:41you got captured and you gave it away.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43They kept information from you.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47They only told you what they wanted you to know.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57On the 2nd June, the 5th Tanks suffered their worst day of the war.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01Only eight Honeys and one Grant returned from battle.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06Some 51 officers and men of tank crews were dead or missing.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14The surviving officers decided to fortify their men by a method
0:40:14 > 0:40:17used since antiquity, a rum ration.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Alcohol might have numbed them temporarily,
0:40:24 > 0:40:28but the grim reality got clearer by the day.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31The Gazala line had collapsed.
0:40:35 > 0:40:41On 21 June, 1942, Tobruk's garrison of 30,000 surrendered.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47After trying to take the city for two years, Rommel was triumphant.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55The British Army was now in full retreat,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58having been out-gunned, out-manoeuvred, and out-generalled.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Those in charge called it a strategic withdrawal,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07but this was a disaster by any other name.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Just a few weeks before, the British had built up a huge
0:41:11 > 0:41:15superiority in weapons, and were poised to mount their own
0:41:15 > 0:41:18offensive, yet now they were in headlong retreat.
0:41:18 > 0:41:25How had it happened? Many soldiers had a one-word explanation, Rommel.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29It's true the conduct of his campaign had been brilliant.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32In my view, the only one in the desert war where
0:41:32 > 0:41:35he really deserved his stellar reputation.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39But the real failure was that of British military leadership.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47While Rommel basked in glory, Churchill was desperate.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52He wrote, "Defeat is one thing, disgrace is another."
0:41:56 > 0:42:005 RTR had to be rebuilt - and quickly.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03Dozens of new recruits arrived, like Bill Chorley
0:42:03 > 0:42:08and fellow conscript Bob Lay, both in their early 20s.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Bill and I were in the same tank.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15I was the operator and Bill was a gunner
0:42:15 > 0:42:20and because of the loneliness
0:42:20 > 0:42:23of the desert, your social life was
0:42:23 > 0:42:26limited to your crew every day.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28You knew everything,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31everything there was to know about each other.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37And you had a very, very good bond with them.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43"Bob Lay has been with me since I joined up.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45"We spent six weeks at base.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47"Most of the time was taken up
0:42:47 > 0:42:49"on wireless and driving courses.
0:42:49 > 0:42:54"This was our introduction to the desert. It was a rough do, there."
0:43:00 > 0:43:05By 30th June 1942, the British had fallen back to
0:43:05 > 0:43:10the only defensible line between the frontier and the Nile Delta,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14a railway halt just 60 miles from Alexandria,
0:43:14 > 0:43:15El Alamein.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22The geography of the North African coast offers very few places
0:43:22 > 0:43:24where you can make a stand.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28If you put in a blocking position on the coastal strip,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32people can simply go round on the inland side and bypass it
0:43:32 > 0:43:35and that's what Rommel did time and again.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39This is one of the few places that's different, Alamein.
0:43:39 > 0:43:40Inland, there's the
0:43:40 > 0:43:43Qattara Depression, an impassable
0:43:43 > 0:43:45area of sand dunes that Rommel
0:43:45 > 0:43:47simply couldn't get through.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50This is where the British chose to fight.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58And Churchill decided that for this battle the Desert Army needed
0:43:58 > 0:44:00a clean sweep at the top.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04His senior generals had presided over woeful failure.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07They hadn't delivered the victory he so craved
0:44:07 > 0:44:09and that Britain so needed.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14On 20th August, he made a personal appearance in the desert.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18'We felt very proud and honoured when Churchill came
0:44:18 > 0:44:21'and he was all praise for us.'
0:44:21 > 0:44:25We knew very well the job wasn't done.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27We had to go and make sure
0:44:27 > 0:44:29the enemy was out of the desert.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Churchill was joined by
0:44:33 > 0:44:36Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39The Times newspaper reported that,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41"It may well be that historians will
0:44:41 > 0:44:45"point to this date as decisive in determining the course of the war."
0:44:51 > 0:44:54The one great thing that Montgomery did
0:44:54 > 0:44:56was to ensure that
0:44:56 > 0:45:00everybody knew what the opposition was,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03what the objectives were,
0:45:03 > 0:45:07so we had a concept of what was expected of us.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11He was the type of man who would say, "You want me to beat the
0:45:11 > 0:45:13"Germans in the desert,
0:45:13 > 0:45:18"you must give me enough tanks and men to do it.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21"And they are not going to do it until you do."
0:45:21 > 0:45:22That was his attitude.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25And so it was.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28We couldn't believe the amount of stuff that was coming up there.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36Monty also had a real flair for publicity.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40He took to wearing a black RTR beret with the regimental tank badge
0:45:40 > 0:45:42next to his general's one,
0:45:42 > 0:45:48as a sort of sign of respect for men like Gerry Solomon and Bob Lay.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52As to what they made of him, that was a more complex issue.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56Many relished the change in atmosphere that his arrival brought,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00but equally, they couldn't forget that he might send them
0:46:00 > 0:46:03to their deaths and he didn't really understand tank warfare.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10But what Montgomery did understand was that Rommel could be
0:46:10 > 0:46:13relied upon to try the tactics
0:46:13 > 0:46:15he'd used so effectively before.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17And Monty had a plan.
0:46:17 > 0:46:22He would secure his inland flank south of Alamein at a ridge
0:46:22 > 0:46:24called Alam Halfa.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32During the early hours of 31st August,
0:46:32 > 0:46:34the Germans were sighted moving north.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38British intelligence had pinpointed the time
0:46:38 > 0:46:40and place of this thrust with precision.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44Alam Halfa arose
0:46:44 > 0:46:49because Rommel liked to make surprise attacks in force
0:46:49 > 0:46:52and at speed.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55We had Enigma then
0:46:55 > 0:46:58and we prepared for it.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Rommel assumed that he had a clear desert ahead
0:47:04 > 0:47:07and that he could repeat his Gazala success,
0:47:07 > 0:47:12hardly imagining that it was now his turn to waltz into an ambush.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24Waiting for him were, among others, 5 RTR.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29And we waited
0:47:29 > 0:47:32and he appeared.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36We let him come on and when he was
0:47:36 > 0:47:38in range, we let him have it.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46It was at Alam Halfa that the
0:47:46 > 0:47:50desert war reached its real turning point.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53The British brigade had been deployed along this ridge,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56slap bang in the path of a German Panzer division,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58advancing from the south.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09In a couple of hours, its integrated defence of artillery,
0:48:09 > 0:48:11anti-tank guns and the Grants of 5th Tanks,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13took apart the Panzer division.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20Rommel had tried his old trick,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23out-flanking from the inland side, and failed.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25He'd been beaten at his own game.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32One endeavoured to get as close to the enemy as possible,
0:48:32 > 0:48:34so that your gun was in range
0:48:34 > 0:48:37and could knock him out.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48The Battle Of Alam Halfa lasted just over a week.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53Alam Halfa was a significant battle
0:48:53 > 0:48:56for the 5th RTR, because we'd
0:48:56 > 0:48:59adopted new tactics
0:48:59 > 0:49:03and we'd given the Panzer division a good hiding.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11With his supply situation precarious
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and superior Allied firepower,
0:49:13 > 0:49:15Rommel fell back to regroup.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28While the Afrika Korps licked its wounds,
0:49:28 > 0:49:33British forces rehearsed every detail for the battle ahead.
0:49:33 > 0:49:375th Tanks, exhausted after two years of fighting,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40were asked whether they were still up for it.
0:49:41 > 0:49:42"A parade was called
0:49:42 > 0:49:45"and we were given the choice of going to Cairo
0:49:45 > 0:49:46"and missing the push,
0:49:46 > 0:49:49"or staying on the blue and taking part in it.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54"At the end of his speech, we were asked to step forward
0:49:54 > 0:49:55"if we wanted to stay...
0:49:56 > 0:49:59"..and the whole battalion took a pace forward."
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Having rededicated themselves to the fight,
0:50:05 > 0:50:09the 5th Tanks came back out to the Alamein position.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13Montgomery had received vital strategic intelligence from
0:50:13 > 0:50:16intercepted German communications - Ultra.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19He also had hundreds of new tanks,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21ample supplies
0:50:21 > 0:50:24and substantial RAF support.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28It was time for the 8th Army to take the offensive.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38At 1900 hours, on 23 October 1942,
0:50:38 > 0:50:44220,000 men and over 1,000 Allied tanks lined up along the front.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51The long-awaited British assault to smash Axis forces
0:50:51 > 0:50:56and then drive them out of Africa altogether was about to start.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04To achieve this, the enemy needed
0:51:04 > 0:51:06a bit of softening up.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12EXPLOSIONS
0:51:18 > 0:51:22The sky was illuminated by continuous flashes of light.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25The whole horizon was covered.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Not good for your ears. Hearing aids.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37The barrage lasted for six hours.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41It could be heard all the way to Alexandria, over 60 miles away.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53Once guns had been fired, German morale pummelled
0:51:53 > 0:51:55and minefields breached,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58it was time for Monty to let the armour loose.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04British tanks, including the 5th Tank Regiment,
0:52:04 > 0:52:06cut through the enemy lines.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12The biggest tank battle of the Desert Campaign had begun.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22We knew that this was going to be a God Almighty fight.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28I think after about a week we did start to get through.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34And I could see this monumental task that lay ahead of us.
0:52:38 > 0:52:39Losses were heavy.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44200 British tanks in the first 48 hours,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47as many as the Germans had started the battle with.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55But the 8th Army pressed on regardless.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58They had overall superiority and they knew it.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05GUNS FIRE
0:53:13 > 0:53:17It became quite apparent, very quickly,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20that they were making a run for it.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22There were tanks burning all over the place.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28And we were collecting prisoners, particularly the Italians, of course,
0:53:28 > 0:53:30cos they were left behind.
0:53:33 > 0:53:34"There were thousands
0:53:34 > 0:53:36"and thousands of prisoners.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39"If we happened to stop beside any,
0:53:39 > 0:53:41"we nipped out, pinched their watches,
0:53:41 > 0:53:43"binoculars, or anything else
0:53:43 > 0:53:45"they had and carried on."
0:53:54 > 0:53:55By the end of October,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58the situation was critical for Rommel.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01Having lost a vast quantity of his armour,
0:54:01 > 0:54:04his position was hopeless.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11On 4th November, the Afrika Korps
0:54:11 > 0:54:13began a full retreat.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18BELLS RING
0:54:18 > 0:54:21In Britain, as the news came through,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Churchill ordered the church bells to be rung.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28It was the first time that this had been allowed since Dunkirk.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35On November 13th, Tobruk was retaken.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42In mid January 1943, Tripoli fell.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Four months later, the Axis forces
0:54:48 > 0:54:50had been overwhelmed in North Africa
0:54:50 > 0:54:53and more than a quarter of a million prisoners taken.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Churchill sensed a turning point in the war.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04CHURCHILL: 'Ah, this is not the end.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08'This is not even the beginning of the end.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10'But it is, perhaps,
0:55:10 > 0:55:11'the end of the beginning.'
0:55:14 > 0:55:19Churchill added, "When any man is asked what he did in the war,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23it will be sufficient for him to say, 'I fought in the Desert Army.' "
0:55:23 > 0:55:28Well, many in 5th Tanks took that as a hint that, in future,
0:55:28 > 0:55:29others would be called upon.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34No such luck.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37As the 5th shared the Desert Army's triumph, they were
0:55:37 > 0:55:41greeted by the news that they were now to be engaged in the fight
0:55:41 > 0:55:45for Italy, piercing what Churchill called,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47"Europe's soft underbelly."
0:55:49 > 0:55:50GUN FIRES
0:55:50 > 0:55:51After the desert,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54the close-range fighting in southern Italy
0:55:54 > 0:55:56came as a strain for everyone.
0:56:01 > 0:56:02We thought we'd had enough.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04Let somebody else have a go.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09But, you see, they wanted seasoned troops
0:56:09 > 0:56:11and there weren't many seasoned troops.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17On 7th January 1944,
0:56:17 > 0:56:20the 5th returned home at last.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24They'd been away for three years and 69 days.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27Most couldn't wait to get home,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31but leave, like much else, was being rationed.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35Men who'd been fighting overseas
0:56:35 > 0:56:37for more than three years were
0:56:37 > 0:56:40then given barely two weeks' leave.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43That felt like an insult, because they knew that soldiers who'd
0:56:43 > 0:56:46been sitting back in Britain throughout that period
0:56:46 > 0:56:49got two weeks' leave every three months.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55The 5th's new home was a secret military camp in Norfolk,
0:56:55 > 0:56:56known as Shakers Wood.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Damp, grotty, and bitterly cold,
0:56:59 > 0:57:02many of the 5th's veterans felt
0:57:02 > 0:57:06they'd been dumped by an ungrateful government in the middle of nowhere.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12But they'd been recalled for a reason.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Experienced, trusted and battle-hardened, they were part of
0:57:15 > 0:57:20the famous Desert Rats, too valuable to sit out the rest of the war.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23The fighting far from over,
0:57:23 > 0:57:27who better than the 5th to spearhead a second front?
0:57:31 > 0:57:33That's the way it was.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36If you've ever witnessed a green regiment...
0:57:37 > 0:57:40..going in for the first time,
0:57:40 > 0:57:45you would understand how completely unprepared they are.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47The experience of going into battle
0:57:47 > 0:57:51is absolutely necessary to become competent.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56And so, our heroes would fight again,
0:57:56 > 0:58:00in some of the biggest battles of the Second World War.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09Next episode, the 5th face D-Day...
0:58:10 > 0:58:15..the battle for Normandy and the eventual defeat of the Nazis.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd