0:00:21 > 0:00:25Think of the First World War and you think of trenches.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31There was mobility elsewhere, in the East and Africa,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35but the war on the Western Front was bogged down.
0:00:35 > 0:00:41The challenge on both sides was to find new ideas, new weapons,
0:00:41 > 0:00:43new spirit among the men.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Only then could they break out - and win.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29In September 1914,
0:01:29 > 0:01:34the Allies had stopped the German drive into France at the Marne.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The Germans pulled back to high ground and dug in.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41The Allies followed suit.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51The result, 500 miles of trench and fortification,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53stretching from the Channel to Switzerland,
0:01:53 > 0:01:59allowing ground to be held with fewer men, freeing troops for other fronts.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Breaking the deadlock meant taking the offensive
0:02:02 > 0:02:06but it was much easier to defend trenches than attack them.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16For all their blood and mud and horror, trenches saved lives.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21They were places of fear and bad smells,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24where walls might be shored up with limbs and corpses,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29but they were the safest places to be in a battlefield swept by machine-gun fire,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31devastated by shelling.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34The greater danger came when you left them.
0:02:42 > 0:02:48The popular image of First World War soldiers is lions led by donkeys
0:02:48 > 0:02:52but the generals knew that battles couldn't be won from behind a trench wall.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Sooner or later, the men would have to go over the top,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57and that meant heavy casualties.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The generals weren't so much callous as realistic.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09And there were more good generals than bad.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13Rather than sitting out the war in chateaux miles behind the lines,
0:03:13 > 0:03:1971 German generals were killed in action, 55 French, 78 British.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The generals' response to the deadlock was to challenge it.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31To find dynamic ways to beat it.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42In 1916, both sides looked for a place to break through,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46where an attack could be concentrated and supplied.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50The Germans thought they'd found it at Verdun.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58A town and mighty fortress on a salient -
0:03:58 > 0:04:02a tongue of France sticking out into the German lines.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Verdun looked secure,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11with its huge walls,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15its giant circle of 19 forts, with their outer ring of defences.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22But the French had now downgraded Verdun's status,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25removing many of its guns to needier sites.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32For the French garrison, it was becoming known as a cushy sector.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39We have almost nothing to worry about.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43We often play cards and sometimes we have to drop them
0:04:43 > 0:04:46and pick up our rifles. But it's usually a false alarm.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49So we go back to our suits and our cards,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51our minds completely on the game again.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02But parliamentary deputy Emile Driant, now a frontline colonel,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05realised how vulnerable Verdun really was.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10He warned the French government.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13We are doing everything, day and night,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15to make our front line inviolable,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18but there is one thing about which we can do nothing -
0:05:18 > 0:05:21the shortage of hands.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24If our front line is broken by a massive attack,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26our second line won't hold.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30Lack of workers, and also barbed wire.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34But Driant was ignored.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40On Monday 21st February 1916,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43a clear, still winter's day,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46over 100,000 German soldiers drew breath,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48and prepared to go over the top.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58They had surprise on their side.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Above them, they had air superiority.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07No Allied planes had spotted their preparations.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Behind them, their own German artillery opened fire.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19And in front of them, in the French lines,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Corporal Marc Stephane could hardly believe what was happening.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28We were swept by a storm, a hurricane, a tempest,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32growing ever stronger, with hail like cobblestones,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35with the destructive force of an express train.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38And we're underneath it, do you follow?
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Underneath it.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47The Germans fired a million shells that day.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54When a shell bursts a few metres away, there's a terrible jolt,
0:06:54 > 0:07:00and then an indescribable chaos of smoke, earth, stones, of branches,
0:07:00 > 0:07:05and too often - alas! - of limbs, flesh, a rain of blood.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11By three o'clock in the afternoon,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13the section of the wood which we occupied and which,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16in the morning, was completely covered with bushes,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19looked like the timber yard of a saw mill.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22A little later, I'd lost most of my men.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30The Germans were evolving new solutions to the problems of attack.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33They delegated command forward to the men at the sharp end,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36training them to advance in small groups,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40zigzagging and crouching, equipped with fearsome new weapons -
0:07:40 > 0:07:43light mortars, grenades, flame-throwers.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49They called these units "storm troopers".
0:07:55 > 0:07:58We moved forward from our position.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01That's where I saw the most refined weapon of modern technology
0:08:01 > 0:08:04or human bestiality.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05There was a spurt of flame...
0:08:05 > 0:08:07HUGE EXPLOSION
0:08:07 > 0:08:11..which flooded the attacking enemy with burning oil.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Verdun was one of the defining battles of the 20th century.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Among the attacking Germans was a young Lieutenant Paulus
0:08:24 > 0:08:26who, as a general in the Second World War,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29would command the siege of Stalingrad.
0:08:33 > 0:08:3725-year-old Charles de Gaulle was also there,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41France's future leader, wounded and captured defending Verdun.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53On the second day of the attack, at his HQ,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Colonel Driant received absolution from his chaplain
0:08:57 > 0:08:59and wrote a note to his wife.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03The hour is near. I feel very calm.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07In our wood, the front trenches will be taken in a few minutes,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11my poor battalions spared until now.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16He sent a message to his divisional commander.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19We shall hold out against the Boche,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22although their bombardment is infernal.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Driant ordered a retreat out of the woods.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Then one of his men was hit.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41As Driant started to dress the wound, he too was shot.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47I clearly saw the colonel throw up his arms and shout, "Oh, my God!"
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Then he half-turned and collapsed.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52When I could get over to him, there was no sign of life.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Blood was flowing from a head wound and from his mouth.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58He had the colour of a dead man.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Three days later, the Germans captured Douaumont,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Verdun's key fort.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Germany was jubilant.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Church bells rang out, a national holiday was declared.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25In France, Driant's heroic sacrifice
0:10:25 > 0:10:29helped spark the flame of national defiance.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31Verdun was to be held at any cost.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38The survival of France herself was at stake.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49"They shall not pass," declared General Philippe Petain,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Verdun's new commander.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54He rotated his troops.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Three quarters of the French army at one time or another defended Verdun,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01a national effort that ensured whole units
0:11:01 > 0:11:03were not totally destroyed in the battle.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Petain was genuinely concerned for the lives of his men.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15A quarter of a century later,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18he led country into surrender and collaboration with Hitler
0:11:18 > 0:11:20rather than repeat the blood bath of Verdun.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Route Nationale 93.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38An ordinary French road, but it saved its country's life.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Night and day, supplies for Verdun rolled along the Voie Sacree,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49the Sacred Way, as well as by rail.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Events on another front also helped the French at Verdun.
0:12:08 > 0:12:14At the end of 1915, the Allies - Britain, France, Italy and Russia -
0:12:14 > 0:12:19had agreed a plan for 1916, to pull Germany in different directions.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Now the deal paid off.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26A successful Russian offensive forced Germany
0:12:26 > 0:12:29to switch troops from France to the Eastern Front.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33From June, the initiative at Verdun passed to the French.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50And Germany's technical advantages were short-lived.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Throughout the war, new ideas were quickly picked up by the other side.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09All our inventions seem to turn like evil spirits against us,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11like a monster destroying itself.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Amid these terrible scenes of destruction,
0:13:16 > 0:13:21the idea of ever returning home seems indescribably glorious.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Please look after yourself and our home,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27your soul and your body and all that is mine.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Franz Marc was killed later that day.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Finally, on 24th October 1916,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45the French recaptured Fort Douaumont.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Verdun was saved.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52At last the time has come,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and we set off to conquer the enemy positions.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57They don't offer any resistance.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59And the few men who are still alive
0:13:59 > 0:14:01come out of their holes crying "Kamarad".
0:14:14 > 0:14:17The battlefield of Verdun has a different atmosphere
0:14:17 > 0:14:19from any other I was ever on.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Its horrors are also greater.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30But there's a feeling of intense satisfaction.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33It was at Verdun that the French people found themselves again,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36and emerged from the clouds which have hung over them
0:14:36 > 0:14:39since their defeat by the Germans in 1870.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43France had learned a string of lessons at Verdun,
0:14:43 > 0:14:47about artillery, new weapons, logistics and manpower.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53But at a cost of over a third of a million casualties.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59German casualties were nearly as high,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03but Germany, fighting alone in the West and with weak allies on other fronts,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06could not endure losses on this scale.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10She would not launch another major offensive on the Western Front
0:15:10 > 0:15:12until 1918.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41One can look for miles and see no human beings.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46But in those miles of country lurk, it seems, thousands of men,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50planning against each other perpetually some new device of death.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Never showing themselves,
0:15:52 > 0:15:57they launch at each other bullet, bomb, aerial torpedo and shell.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04Unlike previous wars, the fighting on the Western Front was unceasing.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Somewhere down the line, there was always a gun firing, a man falling.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16But for the troops of both sides,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20life was not always unrelenting warfare.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29During 1916, the average British soldier spent 100 days at the front.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34For the remainder, he was in reserve, on work detail, resting or on leave.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41And over the 500-mile front, some sectors were easier than others.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Even busy ones had their lulls.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49One day, British General Lord Edward Gleichen visited the front line.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52When going round the trenches,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55I asked a man whether he had had any shots at the Germans.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59He responded that there was an elderly gentleman with a bald head
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and long beard who often showed over the parapet.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04"Well, why didn't you shoot him?"
0:17:04 > 0:17:06"Shoot him?" said the man.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10"Why, Lord bless you, sir, 'e's never done me no harm."
0:17:10 > 0:17:13A shocking example of "live and let live".
0:17:15 > 0:17:19"Live and let live" was a pervasive phenomenon on both sides,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21of accommodation with the enemy.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27It arose because, in quiet times and in quiet lines,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31men were learning to adapt to war, and to adapt war to them.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37We sometimes got out of the trench into the tall grass behind,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39which the sun had dried,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and enjoyed a warm indolence with a book.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Not infantry training, I think.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50The war seemed to have forgotten us in that placid sector.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00FRENCH SONG PLAYS
0:18:33 > 0:18:36I'm with officers and sergeants who are great fun.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38There's lots of schnapps and wine.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40And every day, we get so drunk,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43we forget whether we are at war or in civvy street.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55In my unit,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57there was a piano actually in the trench in the front line
0:18:57 > 0:18:59and we had many a good sing-song.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16CHEERING
0:19:28 > 0:19:34I feel great. I have never lived so well and probably never will again.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36I have just joined our sports club.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39This evening, someone got a football.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Now we can play football, racing, long jump.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47Chocolate is the prize, donated by our platoon commander.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Life in this sector is gloriously lazy,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03weather is perfect,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05the enemy most peaceful.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08And there's little to do but lie on one's back and smoke,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11or write imaginative letters back home.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19It would be child's play to shell the road behind the enemy's trenches
0:20:19 > 0:20:22crowded as it was with ration wagons and water carts,
0:20:22 > 0:20:24into a bloodstained wilderness.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27But on the whole there is silence.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31After all, if you prevent your enemy from getting HIS rations,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35his remedy is simple. He will prevent YOU from drawing yours.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56We often see the smoke of the Germans' meal-time fires
0:20:56 > 0:20:58ascending in blue-grey spirals.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02It is only common courtesy not to interrupt each other's meals
0:21:02 > 0:21:05with intermittent missiles of hate.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22One day, while our infantry was cooking,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24there was a shout from the enemy trench.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Could he come and eat too? He was invited over.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31The Frenchman came and ate and made himself comfortable.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35And from then on, whenever the Frenchman noticed food was ready
0:21:35 > 0:21:39in the German trenches, he came and joined in.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Sometimes an officer tried to stir his men into a little action.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47How about posting a sniper?
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Or lobbing over a grenade?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54We received the following message, tied to a stone,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56from German trenches opposite.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59"We're going to send a 40-pounder."
0:21:59 > 0:22:02"We've been ordered to do this but we don't want to."
0:22:02 > 0:22:04"It'll come this evening
0:22:04 > 0:22:06"and we'll blow a whistle first to warn you
0:22:06 > 0:22:09"so that you'll have time to take cover."
0:22:09 > 0:22:11All happened as they said it would.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28The sniper is a very necessary person.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32He serves to remind us that we are at war.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Wherever a head, or anything resembling a head, shows itself,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37he fires.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Were it not for his enthusiasm,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43both sides would be sitting upon their respective parapets
0:22:43 > 0:22:46regarding each other with frank curiosity,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and that would never do.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55British directive, March 1916.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58With trench warfare, there is an insidious tendency
0:22:58 > 0:23:01to lapse into a passive and lethargic attitude
0:23:01 > 0:23:05against which officers of all ranks have to be on their guard.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07And the fostering of the offensive spirit
0:23:07 > 0:23:09calls for incessant attention.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19"Live and let live" was dependent on the sector and troops manning it.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22The Germans didn't like facing the Highland Regiments.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25The British couldn't get along with Prussians.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28But some of the other Germans were fine.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33The soldier Mike gave us some useful hints.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36"It's the Saxons that's across the road," he said,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38pointing to the enemy lines which were very silent.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41"They're quiet fellas, the Saxons.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43"They don't want to fight any more than we do
0:23:43 > 0:23:46"so there's a kind of understanding between us.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50"Don't fire at us and we'll not fire at you."
0:23:56 > 0:24:01"Live and let live" did not occur where elite regiments were operating.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05They had their own ideas about getting at the enemy.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Rare footage of a daylight raid by South African troops.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16The idea was to dominate no-man's-land,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20to say to the enemy "It's not no-man's-land, it's ours."
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Raids broke up trench routines,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38brought intelligence from prisoners, encouraged aggression.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42This, British high command thought, was the cure for "live and let live".
0:24:50 > 0:24:52Training sessions were organised
0:24:52 > 0:24:54using elaborate models of the target area.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05Raiding became compulsory for all regiments. Laggards were rooted out.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Higher ranks appeared in our midst,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12chief of all, the brigadier general,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15followed by an almost equally menacing staff captain.
0:25:15 > 0:25:21"What was my name? I had not been round the company's wire? Why not?"
0:25:21 > 0:25:22I was to go.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Reports of daring raids were duly submitted.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33But some at HQ, like Brigadier General Crozier, smelt a rat.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37It became increasingly difficult as time went on
0:25:37 > 0:25:40to obtain correct reports from officers' patrols.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44It was my habit to order samples of German wire
0:25:44 > 0:25:45to be cut and brought back.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Thus one would know that the German line HAD been visited.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53At least one squad of reluctant raiders had an answer to that.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57They found a large coil of German barbed wire in no-man's-land
0:25:57 > 0:26:01and just snipped bits off, sending them in with bogus reports.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04That went on every night.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08And the old man never knew we had a coil of Jerry wire on our side.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20Many, though, entered the spirit, proudly displaying their trophies.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25Raiding and shelling helped put the war back into gaps between battles.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28One night, in May 1916,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Siegfried Sassoon joined a raiding party into no-man's-land.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38The raiders vanished into the darkness on all fours.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40I crawled out after them.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Shells started to fire.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44News came back,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48"O'Brien says it's a wash-out. They can't get through the wire."
0:26:50 > 0:26:54A bomb burst, then a concentration of angry flashes.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Wounded men were crawling back,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59among them a grey-haired lance corporal who'd had
0:26:59 > 0:27:01one of his feet almost blown off.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04"Thank God. I've been waiting 18 months for it
0:27:04 > 0:27:06"and now I can go home."
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Sassoon's raid was launched from these trenches.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19The objective - this ridge.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23But it all went badly wrong.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28I went to look for O'Brien, groping my way along the edge of a crater.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Bullets hit the water near me.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33There, I discovered him.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37He moaned. He'd been hit several times.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41The stretcher-bearer bent over him, then straightened.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44In a surprising gesture, he took off his helmet.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49O'Brien had been one of the best men in our company.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Shelling was the biggest killer of the war.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18"Live and let live" continued on and off,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22but the loss of comrades made it increasingly difficult to sustain.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Speaking for my companions and myself,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53I can categorically state that we were in no mood
0:28:53 > 0:28:56for any joviality with Jerry.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59We hated his guts.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03We were bent on his destruction at each and every opportunity.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Our greatest wish was to be granted an enemy target
0:29:06 > 0:29:09worthy of our Vickers machine gun.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35We were under shellfire for eight hours.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37It was like a dream.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Some of the men looked quite insane after the charge.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48As we entered German trenches,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51a great number came out, asking for mercy.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54Needless to say, they were shot right off.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00The Royal Scots took about 300 prisoners
0:30:00 > 0:30:03and immediately shot the whole lot.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11There were many cases on both sides of prisoners being killed after surrender.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Such atrocities fuelled hatred further.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20But many prisoners were captured.
0:30:22 > 0:30:27They provided excellent opportunities for propaganda.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32British newsreel film of German PoWs
0:30:32 > 0:30:34was used to convince audiences back home
0:30:34 > 0:30:37that Britain was gaining the upper hand.
0:30:40 > 0:30:41By the end of the war
0:30:41 > 0:30:44there were nearly nine million prisoners in total
0:30:44 > 0:30:47and captivity was not their only hardship.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51It's already been two years since you were here last
0:30:51 > 0:30:55and Mother Nature needs to fulfil her urges again.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59As you can't come and see me, I'm forced to go looking elsewhere.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01Don't think I'm joking. I'm serious.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03I don't care what you think of me
0:31:03 > 0:31:07but you can't expect me to waste my youth like this.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09After all, I'm not made of wood.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13And what a person needs, a person must get.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16Please don't be cross with me, will you?
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Your ever-loving Thelma.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Your sweet children send you lots of love.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29Another German wife was careful to reassure her absent husband.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32We've got a real slut in our house
0:31:32 > 0:31:35who's always got someone new with her.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38That bitch isn't good enough for such a decent man.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41The poor thing fights at the front
0:31:41 > 0:31:43while she swans off to the cinema and the pub
0:31:43 > 0:31:45with the other fellas back home.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49Dearest man, please don't think evil thoughts,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53because there are also good women who are faithful to their men.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Letters from home were the soldiers' lifeline.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10German troops were offered these beguiling colour postcards
0:32:10 > 0:32:13to reassure loved ones that they were comfortable, happy and safe.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22But news from the front was rarely so cosy.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27A German factory worker, learning that her husband had been killed,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29wrote to her boss to resign.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34My beloved husband worked here for years,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37and I did the same work, with his tools.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39And I was proud that, while he was fighting at the front,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42I could represent him here
0:32:42 > 0:32:45It was not always pleasant in the factory,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47but my husband's letters gave me courage.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52And so, until his death, the job was sacrosanct to me.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54That's why I can't do it any more.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05More and more women in Germany, France and Britain were making munitions.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11Many men were contemptuous of women's abilities to do their jobs,
0:33:11 > 0:33:13and fearful that if they managed it,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16the women might not clear off afterwards.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Jeannie Riley wrote to her husband at the front about her new job.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27We were told that the amount of work we do in three weeks
0:33:27 > 0:33:29would've taken the men three years.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33and, Jamie, the men are getting quite mad at us.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36One woman I work with, well, she lost her finger in a machine
0:33:36 > 0:33:39in the works, but she's a tough one.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41When she came back from the Western Infirmary,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44she carried on like nothing had happened!
0:33:44 > 0:33:48I have to get up at 4.30 every morning.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51So I'll have YOU up at the same time when you come home...
0:33:51 > 0:33:54if God spares you.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Jeannie's husband Jamie did come safely home.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03The most important battle Jeannie Riley and her colleagues
0:34:03 > 0:34:06were working towards in 1916, was the Somme.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12It's now a byword for wholesale suffering and slaughter,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16but its architect, General Sir Henry Rawlinson, conceived it
0:34:16 > 0:34:18as an offensive with limited objectives,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21more dependent on guns than manpower.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29With plenty of guns and ammunition,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31we ought to be able to avoid the heavy losses
0:34:31 > 0:34:36which the infantry have always suffered on previous occasions.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39The French were due to play the lead role,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43but with Verdun dragging on, the British bore the brunt.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47And there was intense political pressure to deliver a victory.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54General Sir Douglas Haig was the British Army's commander-in-chief.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58He turned Rawlinson's plan into a major offensive.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06When the British guns opened up on the Somme on 24th June 1916,
0:35:06 > 0:35:10the windows rattled in London, 160 miles away.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23But, after seven days of bombardment,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26the British artillery had neither silenced the German guns
0:35:26 > 0:35:28nor destroyed their defences.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35A sergeant of the Tyneside Irish went over the top on 1st July,
0:35:35 > 0:35:38with lines of men on either side of him.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43I heard the patter-patter of machine guns in the distance.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45By the time I'd gone another ten yards,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48there seemed to be only a few men left around me.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52By the time I'd gone another 20 yards, I seemed to be on my own.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55Then I was hit myself.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Farmers around the Somme still gather a harvest of iron
0:36:05 > 0:36:08for the French army to collect and defuse.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12In this war, what happened in the factory
0:36:12 > 0:36:16directly affected the outcome on the battlefield.
0:36:16 > 0:36:1930% of British shells fired on the Somme were duds -
0:36:19 > 0:36:22a drastic failure of quality control.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26But the key factor was that there weren't enough heavy guns
0:36:26 > 0:36:28and British artillery wasn't much good.
0:36:38 > 0:36:39On that terrible first day,
0:36:39 > 0:36:43it became clear that the French knew what they were doing
0:36:43 > 0:36:44and the British did not.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01The French artillery, in THEIR attacks,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05did not shoot the ground to bits before they moved over it.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09A short, intense bombardment, followed by a rush of men
0:37:09 > 0:37:12gave them the position clean and intact.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15We would shoot our ground into a quagmire
0:37:15 > 0:37:17and then send troops slowly forward over it
0:37:17 > 0:37:22and expect them to provide their own cover from the enemy's retaliation.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34On 1st July, the French gained all their objectives
0:37:34 > 0:37:37at a cost of a few thousand men.
0:37:37 > 0:37:44Britain achieved virtually nothing, with casualties of 57,470.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50It was the heaviest loss suffered in a single day by the British Army
0:37:50 > 0:37:52in its entire history.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59There had been a host of lessons for both sides since 1914,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02and the British became avid learners.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12How to lay down shellfire over the heads of advancing men,
0:38:12 > 0:38:14how to locate enemy guns,
0:38:14 > 0:38:18using flash-spotting, sound ranging and trigonometry,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20and how to knock them out.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30Better shells, better fuses, better guns and better gunners.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34While the Germans came to rely more on skilled infantrymen,
0:38:34 > 0:38:36often acting on their initiative,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39the British concentrated on fighting a technical war.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51It was all too late for the Somme.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Haig must bear the responsibility for not stopping the slaughter
0:38:56 > 0:38:58when the breakthrough failed.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05The battle petered out in November 1916,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08with around half a million casualties on each side.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27Cambrai, in northern France.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30On 20th November 1917,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34the site of the first major use of tanks in the world.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Here, the British Army would put what they had learnt into practice.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Britain's invention of the tank
0:39:49 > 0:39:51cracked a key First World War problem -
0:39:51 > 0:39:54how to combine fire power and movement.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Tanks needed dry, hard ground.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05They'd got it at Cambrai.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10The attack was led by a general, from the front.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17A lithe figure strode up, pipe aglow, ash stick under his arm.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20Unexpected, it was General Elles.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24"I'm going over in this tank," he announced, tapping "Hilda".
0:40:25 > 0:40:30I swung the door open and he squeezed through inside.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42The artillery now knew not to chew up the ground ahead.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46A short, sharp bombardment,
0:40:46 > 0:40:51and then over 300 tanks rolled into the first light.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56Just before 6.30am, the barrage commenced and we started off.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Our first bump came fairly soon.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04We climbed a bank, crashed through a hedge
0:41:04 > 0:41:07and came down heavily on the other side.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09We were thrown about like so many peanuts
0:41:09 > 0:41:12and we had to clutch on to whatever we could.
0:41:22 > 0:41:28The tanks, looking like giant toads, became visible against the skyline.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30Some of the leading tanks carried huge bundles
0:41:30 > 0:41:33of tightly-bound brushwood, which they dropped into
0:41:33 > 0:41:35the wide German trenches, then crossed over them.
0:41:39 > 0:41:44It was broad daylight as we crossed no-man's-land and the German front line.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48I saw very few wounded coming back and a few German prisoners.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55The enemy wire had been dragged about like old curtains.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58The tanks appeared to have busted through.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04The tanks, still experimental, were part of one of the most
0:42:04 > 0:42:08sophisticated, innovative plans of the war.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12The aim was to break through German lines with minimal loss of life.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20The artillery would use their new skills and technology
0:42:20 > 0:42:24to locate and target the German batteries before the battle.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30The tanks would punch a hole in German lines,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33with the infantry tucked up close for mutual protection,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36while the cavalry pushed through.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Secrecy was crucial.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52Screens were erected to hide movements.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Telltale tracks were covered with mud.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02The question ever uppermost in all our minds was,
0:43:02 > 0:43:04"Does the Hun suspect anything?"
0:43:04 > 0:43:06It was most exciting.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17About 9am, retreating infantrymen gave us an account
0:43:17 > 0:43:19of swarms of tanks,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22so many that it was absolutely impossible to stop them.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28A little later, the tank monsters came creeping
0:43:28 > 0:43:30to the ridge south of the village.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33Not one of us had seen such a beast before.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44Then, a dramatic indication that real progress had been made.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51For the first time,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54we saw the magnificent spectacle of our field artillery
0:43:54 > 0:43:56limbering up and going forward.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04First at a trot, then at a gallop,
0:44:04 > 0:44:05battery after battery,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09to take up new positions on the captured German front line.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21The Germans were caught on the hop,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23then pushed back five miles -
0:44:23 > 0:44:28a greater allied advance than any achievement on the Somme or Flanders.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35It was a long, hard day,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37but the sight of all the ground that had been taken
0:44:37 > 0:44:40with so little bloodshed was real a tonic.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Troops seemed very pleased with our tanks,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46so pleased we had many drinks with them.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50It's astonishing how much whisky the British Army carries into battle.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59On 21st November, church bells rang out across Britain,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02just as they had done in Germany for Verdun.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07And, again, the celebrations were a little hasty.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13The British had not achieved all their objectives.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Some villages near Cambrai remained in German hands,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18including Flesquieres.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21The Highlanders in this sector had been ordered
0:45:21 > 0:45:23to keep well away from the newfangled tanks
0:45:23 > 0:45:28so they couldn't help them by knocking out machine-gun nests and artillery.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Lurking near Flesquieres
0:45:33 > 0:45:37was one of the few German batteries trained against tanks.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43A tank emerged from the village.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47Distance - 275 metres! Fire!
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Damn! Too far!
0:45:49 > 0:45:51Fire!
0:45:51 > 0:45:55Very close. Aim a little to the right! Fire!
0:45:55 > 0:45:56Hit! A hit!
0:45:58 > 0:46:03Oh, lord. A column of fire was bursting out of the monster.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06Two of our men ran to the tank and when they returned,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10they described the half-burned bodies of the crew.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Inside the tanks, the crews wrestled with the world's latest technology
0:46:16 > 0:46:17under fire.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21Just at this critical moment,
0:46:21 > 0:46:25the auto-vac supplying petrol to the engine failed.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27The engine spluttered and stopped.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29We were now a stationary target.
0:46:31 > 0:46:36In the sudden silence, we could hear the thud-thud of falling shells
0:46:36 > 0:46:40and metal and earth striking the sides of the tank.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42The atmosphere IN the tank was foul.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49With tense faces, the crew watched the imperturbable second-driver
0:46:49 > 0:46:52as he coolly and methodically put the auto-vac right,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56ignoring all the proffered advice to give it a good hard knock.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08The Germans knocked out 32 tanks at Flesquieres.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19More were crippled by storm troopers
0:47:19 > 0:47:22in the narrow streets of Fontaine-Notre-Dame.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29There was horrible slaughter in Fontaine, and I,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33who had spent three weeks before the battle thinking out possibilities,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36had never tackled the subject of village fighting.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41I could've kicked myself again and again for this lack of foresight
0:47:41 > 0:47:44but it never occurred to me that our infantry commanders
0:47:44 > 0:47:47would thrust tanks into such places.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52The Germans also had the bright idea
0:47:52 > 0:47:54of mounting anti-aircraft guns on lorries
0:47:54 > 0:47:58and attacking the tanks with armour-piercing shells.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01Nine tanks roll towards us.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04The captain orders "Steady, men. Wait for it."
0:48:04 > 0:48:07When the enemy is less than 100 metres away,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10the command rings out, "rapid fire!"
0:48:10 > 0:48:15The first tank rears upwards, those following halt.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18One direct hit after another.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30Within a week, the Germans launched a massive counterattack,
0:48:30 > 0:48:34with storm troopers supported by aircraft.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39Within ten days they'd recovered all their lost ground.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46Yet Cambrai was crucial for the British.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48They'd gained valuable experience with the tanks
0:48:48 > 0:48:51and cracked their artillery problems.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55Vital lessons were learned about teamwork on the battlefield.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58The big challenge for both sides now
0:48:58 > 0:49:02was how to consolidate the successful breakthrough.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05The master of that would win the war.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35In the next episode of The First World War,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37British and German Navies clash at Jutland,
0:49:37 > 0:49:41the dark world of spies and saboteurs,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43and America is pushed into the war.