0:01:21 > 0:01:24Winter. The fourth winter in the trenches.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37The battles of yet another year had passed -
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Arras, the Nivelle Offensive, Messines, Malmaison,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Passchendaele, Cambrai -
0:01:44 > 0:01:49hopes of 1917 that had fallen and withered with the autumn leaves.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03The Western Front remained. But now it was becoming only a facade.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08Three and a half years of battle had crumbled away the living walls
0:02:08 > 0:02:11that had once lined the front from Switzerland to the sea.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21The French army could only replace a third of its monthly losses.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Its divisions were skeletons of only 6,000 men.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32The British Army in France in January 1918 was 80,000 men below its strength.
0:02:32 > 0:02:40In every country, the generals pleaded with the politicians for men, more men and ever more men.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Haig confided to his diary -
0:02:42 > 0:02:46"We have plainly told the Cabinet in writing
0:02:46 > 0:02:53"that they may lose the war if the armies are not brought up to and kept at strength."
0:02:53 > 0:02:58In the place of the armies vanished into gun smoke, there now stood
0:02:58 > 0:03:03thinned ranks of shaken survivors and recruits raw from the depots.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07Such was the Western Front of January 1918.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11EXPLOSIONS
0:03:11 > 0:03:15In the east, there was no longer a front at all.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20In September 1917, the final defeats of the Russian army.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24In October, revolution and a Communist government.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32In December, an armistice and peace talks.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35- Hindenburg wrote - - "Under our last blows,
0:03:35 > 0:03:40"the colossus not only trembled but split asunder and fell."
0:03:43 > 0:03:47After four titanic campaigns, the Eastern Front was silent.
0:03:47 > 0:03:54The peasant millions of the Russian army would march no longer as allies of the French and British.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56From now on, there was only one major front -
0:03:56 > 0:03:58the west.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Russia's fall had transformed the war.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07Germany's problem of manpower was solved, for the time being.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Now the Allies,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12not Germany, were struggling against odds.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Hindenburg rejoiced.
0:04:14 > 0:04:21"For the first time in the whole war, the Germans would have the advantage of numbers on one of their fronts.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25"We were now in a position to concentrate an immense force
0:04:25 > 0:04:31"to overwhelm the enemy's lines at some point of the Western Front."
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Every German instinct was in favour of attack.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39- Ludendorff wrote -- "The army came victoriously through 1917.
0:04:39 > 0:04:47"But it was clear that to hold the Western Front purely by defensive action could no longer be counted on.
0:04:47 > 0:04:55"The troops no longer showed their old stubbornness. They thought with horror of fresh defensive battles
0:04:55 > 0:04:58"and longed for a war of movement."
0:04:58 > 0:05:03The Germans had fought the Russians at Tannenberg and Gorlice-Tarnow...
0:05:14 > 0:05:20..the French on the Marne, in Artois, in Champagne and at Verdun.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37They'd fought the British on the Somme and at Ypres.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57They'd been skilful in attack and steadfast in defence.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02But four years of war had crumbled and shaken the German army.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06It was beginning to lose its discipline and self-confidence.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20The words "Gott mit uns" - "God with us" -
0:06:20 > 0:06:24were inscribed on the buckle of every German soldier's belt.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29Did he still believe it? Ludendorff wrote -
0:06:29 > 0:06:32"Loss through desertion was uncommonly high.
0:06:32 > 0:06:39"The number that got into neutral countries like Holland ran into tens of thousands.
0:06:39 > 0:06:46"Even more lived at home, tacitly tolerated by their fellow citizens and unmolested by the authorities."
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Only a great victory could halt the slow disintegration.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57In Ludendorff's words,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00"In the west, the army pined for the offensive."
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Week by week, Allied intelligence officers
0:07:07 > 0:07:11verified the remorseless increase of German divisions
0:07:11 > 0:07:15in France and Belgium, as crowded trains rolled in from the east.
0:07:15 > 0:07:21It was estimated that, by spring 1918, the Germans would be stronger
0:07:21 > 0:07:24than the French and British by 200,000 men.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28These were the statistics of catastrophe.
0:07:28 > 0:07:34In December 1917, the French commander in chief, General Petain,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36calculated that, in 1918,
0:07:36 > 0:07:41the Allies would face 200 German divisions in the west.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46"Germany will be able to hold her line with 100 divisions.
0:07:46 > 0:07:54"She will have another 100 available for a great spring offensive. We are on a tightrope."
0:07:54 > 0:08:00Only the Americans could fill the colossal gap in Allied ranks opened by Russia's collapse.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05In December 1917, there was only one US division in the line.
0:08:05 > 0:08:11It was hoped there would be 18 in seven months' time.
0:08:11 > 0:08:17Could the British and French - tired, thin on the ground - hold off a desperate German onslaught
0:08:17 > 0:08:19long enough for the Americans
0:08:19 > 0:08:22to tip the balance for ever against Germany?
0:08:24 > 0:08:27The Germans too asked this question.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Only time - time that none could measure -
0:08:30 > 0:08:34stood between them and the United States Army.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Hindenburg weighed the sombre chances.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43"We had a new enemy, economically the most powerful in the world -
0:08:43 > 0:08:47"an enemy possessing everything required for hostile operations,
0:08:47 > 0:08:52"reviving the hopes of all our foes and saving them from collapse,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56"while preparing mighty forces.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59"It was the United States of America,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02"and her advent was dangerously near.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06"Would she appear in time to snatch the victor's laurels from our brows?
0:09:06 > 0:09:11"That, and that only, was the decisive question."
0:09:11 > 0:09:16Time was Germany's enemy - time was her enemy because of the Americans.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21It was her enemy because her allies were on the verge of collapse.
0:09:28 > 0:09:36Time was her enemy because hunger, blockade and illness were doing their work behind the German armies.
0:09:36 > 0:09:44The pre-war death rate of German children under 15 doubled. German society was beginning to break up.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49On 24 January 1918, 250,000 workers came out on strike
0:09:49 > 0:09:52in Berlin and other towns.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Time hounded her on to a colossal gamble.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02She must have swift victory or she was finished.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07She staked every last ounce of her power on a spring offensive in France.
0:10:07 > 0:10:13Every last ounce, every last hope. Hindenburg wrote -
0:10:13 > 0:10:16"I hoped that, with our first great victories,
0:10:16 > 0:10:21"the public would rise above the seeming hopelessness of our struggle
0:10:21 > 0:10:26"and impossibility of ending the war except by submission."
0:10:26 > 0:10:32Ludendorff flung all his restless energy into planning the "Kaiserschlacht",
0:10:32 > 0:10:35the Imperial Battle that would win the war.
0:10:35 > 0:10:41The blow would fall on the British, astride the Somme on a 40-mile front.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45It would split the British from the French and sweep them into the sea.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53December, January, February, March -
0:10:53 > 0:10:58every man, every gun, every lorry, every horse that could be spared
0:10:58 > 0:11:00flooded into France and Belgium.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08From generals to privates,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12the army was trained for breakthrough and pursuit.
0:11:12 > 0:11:17"The objective of the first day must be at least the enemy's artillery.
0:11:17 > 0:11:23"There must be no rigid adherence to plans made beforehand. The fastest, not the slowest, must set the pace."
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Behind the front-line divisions,
0:11:27 > 0:11:3147 specially equipped attack divisions
0:11:31 > 0:11:36and 6,000 guns were stealthily slotted into place.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41On 10 March, Hindenburg issued the final order for Operation Michael.
0:11:41 > 0:11:48"His Majesty commands the Michael attack will take place on 21 March.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51"Break in to the first enemy position at 9.40am."
0:12:00 > 0:12:05Haste. Desperation. Supreme effort. The German soldiers
0:12:05 > 0:12:09were infused with a sense of destiny.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14"The brazen spirit of the attack, the spirit of the Prussian infantry,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17"swept through the massed troops."
0:12:17 > 0:12:23"One is amazed at the preparations being made, down to the last detail.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27"That is, after all, the source of our greatness."
0:12:27 > 0:12:30"The men were in good form.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35"Hearing them talk of the coming event as the 'Hindenburg Stakes',
0:12:35 > 0:12:41"one knew they would fight as they always did - with absolute reliability."
0:12:41 > 0:12:45"The great attack will succeed. It MUST succeed.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49"It will free Germany from hunger and suffering.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53"It will bring us victory. So, over the top and forward!"
0:12:53 > 0:12:59"This was the decisive battle - final reckoning - culminating attack.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05"The atmosphere was extraordinary, heavy with tension and excitement."
0:13:05 > 0:13:09"We are really conscious of the greatness of the hour."
0:13:15 > 0:13:20On the other side of no-man's-land, there was also desperate haste.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26The British and French trenches had been only jumping-off lines for past offensives.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Now, under threat of the German onslaught, they had to be converted,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34within weeks, to defensive systems.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Not enough men to dig trenches,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41lay out barbed wire and fill the defences.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Not enough time to rest the survivors of the battles of 1917.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Not enough time to train the scanty reinforcements.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53The French and British looked towards Germany
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and wondered how long they would be given.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02In the trenches at night, when the wind was in the right direction,
0:14:02 > 0:14:08we could hear the German transport trains rumbling up their great army from the east
0:14:08 > 0:14:12that was going to sweep us into the sea.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15We were grim. We were determined.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Behind us lay the old Somme battlefields,
0:14:19 > 0:14:23every yard soaked with British blood.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28They were determined, but they were tired - deadly tired.
0:14:28 > 0:14:35"5 March 1918. The battalion wants a rest. It had been up 42 days
0:14:35 > 0:14:40"when, last night, it was relieved and, even now, I doubt whether a rest is in sight,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45"since an order has just come in to go up tomorrow for the day and dig.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49"I leave you to imagine the state of the men's bodies and clothing
0:14:49 > 0:14:51"after so long a time almost without a wash."
0:14:54 > 0:14:59The British knew the German plan - a blow against the British Army.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03They comforted themselves with the belief -
0:15:03 > 0:15:07"If Germany attacks and fails, she will be ruined."
0:15:09 > 0:15:14The British 5th Army, holding the longest and weakest sector in Haig's line -
0:15:14 > 0:15:2112 infantry divisions to 42 miles - lay in the path of the German mass.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Behind the 5th Army was Amiens, the rail centre that linked the British and the French.
0:15:30 > 0:15:3320 March 1918 -
0:15:33 > 0:15:36a cold evening, mist forming,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40apprehension prickling along the forward defences.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Night fell.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45I couldn't sleep.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50A quietness I knew so well falls over fronts before an attack.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54The quietness was on. I fell into an uneasy sleep.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04EXPLOSIONS IN QUICK SUCCESSION
0:16:18 > 0:16:23On the stroke of 4.40am, 21 March 1918,
0:16:23 > 0:16:29the German guns fired together all along the fronts of the British 5th and 3rd Armies.
0:16:29 > 0:16:334,000 field guns, 2,600 heavy guns,
0:16:33 > 0:16:353,500 trench mortars,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38high explosive shell,
0:16:38 > 0:16:39shrapnel,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43mustard gas, phosgene gas - the bombardment
0:16:43 > 0:16:47had been orchestrated into a great symphony of destruction.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52It swept away guns, HQs, telephone exchanges, trenches.
0:16:53 > 0:16:59The amount of firepower by the enemy was so great
0:16:59 > 0:17:03that those who weren't gassed, or suffering the effects of gas,
0:17:03 > 0:17:04would be numbed
0:17:04 > 0:17:10by the shock of the continual bombardments.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17The bombardment was concentrated into only five hours.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The German gunners worked with the speed of frenzy.
0:17:21 > 0:17:27"It was like the end of the world. The gunners have their shirt sleeves rolled up. They are bathed in sweat.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30"Never have they fired faster."
0:17:31 > 0:17:35In the forward area, the British waited for the hurricane to cease -
0:17:35 > 0:17:39waited for the German battle groups to loom through the enveloping fog.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46"The moment arrived and we rushed out of our trenches. A wild exultation seized us -
0:18:46 > 0:18:50"anger, drunkenness and blood lust all rolled into one.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55"We crossed the enemy's barbed wire easily and were in his first line.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59"The wave of men seemed to dance, a row of ghosts in the white mist."
0:19:03 > 0:19:08The British in the forward area were swamped by the German advance.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23By the end of the day, the Germans had smashed gaps through the British defence into open country.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32British heavy artillery was dragged from static positions in the rear
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and hauled away westwards.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37The British front trembled,
0:19:37 > 0:19:41or crumbled, beneath the weight and force of the German tidal wave.
0:19:56 > 0:20:0422 March - disintegration and collapse. The Germans flooded through the British defence system
0:20:04 > 0:20:09all along the front of the 5th Army and on part of the front of the neighbouring 3rd Army.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Haig wrote in his diary -
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"At 8pm, Gough telephoned.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16"Parties of the enemy
0:20:16 > 0:20:19are through our reserve line.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21"I concurred on his falling back and
0:20:21 > 0:20:23"defending the line of the Somme."
0:20:31 > 0:20:34The impossible, the incredible had happened.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37The Western Front had been broken.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42As in 1914, a great army was treading the bitter road of retreat
0:20:42 > 0:20:45with an exultant pursuer at its heels.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Haste, confusion,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50rumours, orders, counter-orders,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and always the menace of German fire close behind.
0:20:59 > 0:21:06One of our staff officers rode up on his horse and said, "Men, I want you to stand firm on this hillside.
0:21:06 > 0:21:13"It's a good position. You should be all right." But the men took no notice and began to stampede.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18They said, "We've got no chance, sir. The Germans are coming with tanks."
0:21:18 > 0:21:23He started to appeal to our regiment and he said to me, at his side,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27"Men of the East Lancashire Regiment, you've got a good reputation."
0:21:27 > 0:21:30I said, "It's not much good here."
0:21:30 > 0:21:35Just at that moment, a German tank came up the hill and started firing.
0:21:35 > 0:21:41The staff officer on his horse got off his marks as quick as he could.
0:21:41 > 0:21:4523 March - the retreat went on.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Peronne fell.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56Behind the slow procession of defeat,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58the sound of German guns came ever nearer.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10"Along the road, a slow stream of traffic was moving towards Bapaume and beyond,
0:22:10 > 0:22:15"first waves of a tide which rolled westwards for days and days.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18"Here and there a battery in column of route,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22"walking wounded in twos and threes, a lorry or two.
0:22:22 > 0:22:29"A staff car carrying, with undignified speed, the dignified sign of corps HQ.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33"A column of horse transport.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37"I stood watching the unforgettable scene for ten minutes.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39"It was too sad for words."
0:22:46 > 0:22:5324 March - Bapaume fell. A gap grew between the 3rd and 5th Armies.
0:22:53 > 0:22:59The 5th Army was now only a thin screen of stumbling, exhausted troops.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02The Allies faced disaster.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13That day, Haig met Petain.
0:23:13 > 0:23:20"Petain told me that he'd directed General Fayolle, in the event of the German advance being pressed further,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23"to fall back south-westwards
0:23:23 > 0:23:25"to cover Paris.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28"It was clear to me that the effect
0:23:28 > 0:23:30"of this order must be to separate
0:23:30 > 0:23:32"the British from the French
0:23:32 > 0:23:35"and allow the enemy to penetrate between the two armies."
0:23:35 > 0:23:40To the Kaiser, this was victory. He awarded Hindenburg
0:23:40 > 0:23:44the Iron Cross with golden rays, last given to Blucher after Waterloo.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50The German press echoed the Kaiser's pride -
0:23:50 > 0:23:54"The great battle in the west is won.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59"A large part of the English army is beaten."
0:23:59 > 0:24:04But Hindenburg realised the Germans were only halfway to victory.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07"Whole sections of the English front had been utterly routed
0:24:07 > 0:24:13"and were retiring, apparently out of hand, towards Amiens.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15"If the town fell into our hands,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20"the strategic and political interests of France and Britain
0:24:20 > 0:24:23"might possibly drift apart.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25"So, forward against Amiens!"
0:24:27 > 0:24:31The Kaiserschlacht - the Imperial Battle - raged on.
0:24:31 > 0:24:37The line of gunfire crept ever nearer Amiens. Each side threw every man and gun into the struggle.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52The Allied air forces flew to the limits of endurance,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56machine-gunning and bombing the advancing Germans.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01"Only time to refill tanks and guns and re-bomb when we land from a raid.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03"Then all machines off again on the next."
0:25:18 > 0:25:23Only the airmen could scan the whole panorama of battle.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27"The country presents an extraordinary sight from above -
0:25:27 > 0:25:33"columns of dense smoke going up to 8,000ft from every town and cottage.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36"Enormous fires from burning stores and dumps.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38"Shells bursting every few yards.
0:25:38 > 0:25:45"Columns retreating along main roads and stragglers crossing fields."
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Still the retreat went on.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51"I think we were past hope or despair.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55"We regarded all events with an indifference of weariness,
0:25:55 > 0:26:00"knowing that dawn would bring another attack."
0:26:00 > 0:26:05Once again, civilian refugees left their homes and fled from the enemy.
0:26:05 > 0:26:11"On the road, the flood of refugees was tramping along amidst a cloud of powdery dust
0:26:11 > 0:26:14"that settled on every one of them.
0:26:14 > 0:26:20"The air was filled with the squeaks of carriages, the smack of whips and the jingle of cow bells."
0:26:44 > 0:26:48Haig and Petain strove to rebuild their shattered line.
0:26:48 > 0:26:55- Hindenburg realised the battle was becoming a race to Amiens. - "English reserves from the north,
0:26:55 > 0:27:01"French troops drawn from the whole of central France, were hastening to Amiens and its neighbourhood."
0:27:03 > 0:27:06More reinforcements were on their way from England.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17"Under my office window in the City,
0:27:17 > 0:27:22"there passed this morning as fine a body of men as one could wish to see.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26"They were a draft, marching to the station en route to France.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30"The wives and sweethearts of some marched with them.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36"One couldn't watch these fellows marching to face the terrors of war without an inexpressible pride."
0:27:45 > 0:27:5125 March. To the men on the crowded roads, it seemed the retreat would never end.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54In the words of a gunner,
0:27:54 > 0:27:59"We were on the move again with real dismay in our hearts."
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Officers were ordered to use their revolvers to check panic if need be.
0:28:03 > 0:28:0526 March.
0:28:05 > 0:28:11Now the armies were fighting in the wasteland of the Somme battlefield of 1916.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24On 26 March we dropped into a trench.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27It was a trench we knew of old.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32We had started to retreat on the 21st of March, 1918.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37And here we were, back in the trench we had started the attack from
0:28:37 > 0:28:40on November the 13th, 1916.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43In the shadow of catastrophe,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45the British high command
0:28:45 > 0:28:47looked to the Channel ports.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50The French looked to Paris.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52A gulf was opening
0:28:52 > 0:28:53between the Allies.
0:28:53 > 0:28:59In Doullens, in the path of the German attack, the Allied leaders gathered
0:28:59 > 0:29:02in an atmosphere of crisis.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Haig believed Petain had lost his nerve. Petain believed
0:29:06 > 0:29:10the British would be herded into the Channel.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14French Prime Minister Clemenceau was appalled at Petain's pessimism.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17But General Foch was resolute -
0:29:17 > 0:29:22"We must fight in front of Amiens. We must fight where we are now.
0:29:22 > 0:29:31"As we have not been able to stop the Germans on the Somme, we must not now retire a single inch."
0:29:31 > 0:29:35This was Haig's chance to have the pessimistic Petain overruled.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37He took it.
0:29:37 > 0:29:43"If General Foch will consent to give me his advice, I will gladly follow it."
0:29:43 > 0:29:50The conference broke up. Foch had been made supreme Allied commander in all but name.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55But the crisis of the Imperial Battle had already passed.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59The tidal wave - the rolling force of 21 March - had spent itself.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10Five days of marching and fighting without relief,
0:30:10 > 0:30:14short of water, without proper sleep,
0:30:14 > 0:30:19with the heaviest air attacks ever yet suffered by fighting troops.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23The German soldiers knew the life and death of the Fatherland were in their hands,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26but they could do no more.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34"The power of attack was exhausted.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37"Our spirits sank to zero."
0:30:39 > 0:30:43Day by day, the advance went slower, grew narrower.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Hindenburg read the signs of failure.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48"With us,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52"human nature was urgently voicing its claims.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56"We had to take breath. The infantry needed rest
0:30:56 > 0:30:58"and the artillery, ammunition.
0:30:59 > 0:31:05"We were lucky in being able to use the supplies of the beaten foe.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10"Otherwise, we should not have been able to cross the Somme."
0:31:10 > 0:31:15British canteens and supply dumps helped hinder the German advance.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19The Germans had not seen such riches for years.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24"We came across a richly furnished provision and kitting-out depot the British had abandoned.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27"We rushed for the provisions.
0:31:27 > 0:31:33"There was thick, brown beer that cooled our parched throats.
0:31:33 > 0:31:39"We were so desperate for good food that we forgot about the enemy."
0:31:39 > 0:31:42Suddenly they realised what paupers the Germans had become,
0:31:42 > 0:31:47how little the British had been injured by four years of war.
0:31:47 > 0:31:53You know that the German army and the German doctors didn't have any bandages.
0:31:53 > 0:32:00What we used was crepe paper to wind round the wounds of the soldiers.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04And one can imagine how long that lasted.
0:32:04 > 0:32:11They just dissolved as quickly as many of the greatcoats our soldiers had to wear.
0:32:11 > 0:32:17The proud German army looted British depots like peasants in a palace.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19On 28 March -
0:32:19 > 0:32:24"Today the advance of our infantry suddenly stopped near Albert.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27"Nobody could understand why. Our airmen
0:32:27 > 0:32:30"had reported no enemy between Albert and Amiens.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34"I jumped into a car with orders to find out what had caused the halt.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36"As soon as I got near Albert,
0:32:36 > 0:32:44"I began to see men dressed up in comic disguise, men in top hats,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46"men who could hardly walk.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48"The advance was held up
0:32:48 > 0:32:52"and there was no means of getting it going again for hours."
0:32:52 > 0:32:56"That our troops did not achieve all possible success
0:32:56 > 0:33:01"was due to a lack of firm control by their officers.
0:33:01 > 0:33:07"They had been checked by finding food depots, and valuable time had thus been lost."
0:33:09 > 0:33:11The Germans grew weaker.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17The Allies grew stronger.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Since 25 March, a French army of seven divisions
0:33:20 > 0:33:25had entered the line and another was marching up fast.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31"A fleet of trucks was sent to carry off the division. There could be no doubt
0:33:31 > 0:33:34"we were about to go to battle.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37"Our life was a turmoil for the next two days.
0:33:37 > 0:33:44"We were going day and night, halting, then moving on again shortly afterwards."
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Haig used the rest of the British front to bar the road to Amiens.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52By the end of March, the retreat was over.
0:33:52 > 0:33:58We got to Ham, eventually. That was the biggest town outside St Quentin.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00When we got into there, nobody knew anybody.
0:34:00 > 0:34:07There was no such thing as a battalion. We were a non-descript pile of all sorts of regiments.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Bits and pieces - anybody at all.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Sanitary people, cooks - everybody. They were all in it.
0:34:15 > 0:34:175 April.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22Disappointment in German hearts. Weariness in German bodies.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24They strove for the last time to break through.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47They failed.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50The Imperial Battle was over.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Hindenburg and Ludendorff ordered another offensive against the weakened British,
0:34:55 > 0:35:02in Flanders, where the British line ran close to the sea and Haig dared not give ground.
0:35:02 > 0:35:049 April 1918.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09Three hours of bombardment so terrible that it drove men mad.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25Then the attack - only half the number of men of 21 March,
0:35:25 > 0:35:27only half the width of front.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34CONTINUOUS GUNFIRE
0:35:39 > 0:35:43But the German storm groups struck not British defenders
0:35:43 > 0:35:47but raw Portuguese. They broke.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Once again, the Allies trod the humiliating road of defeat.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55There seemed to be nothing to stop the Germans reaching the sea.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09We reached a village called Estaires.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13When we reached it it was like the Bank of England on a busy morning,
0:36:13 > 0:36:17or Staines Bridge on a Sunday afternoon -
0:36:17 > 0:36:22hundreds of vehicles and nothing moving at all.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27One of the drivers in one of the wagons behind me was crying.
0:36:27 > 0:36:34We expected to be taken prisoner - the Germans were coming on. Their batteries were leapfrogging forward.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39Haig had very few reserves. They had been sent to the Amiens front.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44Only the British soldiers' fighting spirit could stave off catastrophe.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48Censorship reports on soldiers' letters home
0:36:48 > 0:36:53reveal the effect of the retreat on the morale of the army.
0:36:53 > 0:36:59"No-one believes we're winning. The Germans have gained more in a month than we have in 18."
0:36:59 > 0:37:07"There are a good many out here like myself - fed up and don't care a damn which side wins."
0:37:07 > 0:37:12"I'm surprised you've joined the Women's Land Army. Do you realise
0:37:12 > 0:37:15"you're helping to prolong the war?
0:37:15 > 0:37:21"We shall never get it over so long as the women keep relieving men for the army.
0:37:21 > 0:37:28"Only when there are no men left will the war finish. That's the way the lads out here look at it."
0:37:28 > 0:37:33"The men's nerves are gone and not one has any stomach for this game."
0:37:33 > 0:37:38Haig appealed to the doggedness of the British soldier.
0:37:38 > 0:37:44"There is no other course open to us but to fight it out.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48"Every position must be held to the last man.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51"There must be no retirement.
0:37:51 > 0:37:57"With our backs to the wall and believing our cause to be just,
0:37:57 > 0:38:01"each one of us must fight on to the end."
0:38:01 > 0:38:06The British fought it out. By the end of April, the Germans were again brought to a standstill.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13The greatest of all attempts since 1914
0:38:13 > 0:38:17to win the war by purely military victory had failed.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21The very size of the Imperial Battle had doomed it.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27It could not be nourished,
0:38:27 > 0:38:32despite Ludendorff's mobilisation of every horse and lorry and wagon.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37The German failure cost 350,000 out of their last reserves of men.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Men were the fuel of war.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45As the manpower of Europe became exhausted,
0:38:45 > 0:38:51the war began to burn itself out, like a forest fire starved by its own appetite.
0:38:51 > 0:38:57Only America could pour fresh fuel into the diminishing flames.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02Since 21 March, nearly 200,000 Americans had landed in France.
0:39:02 > 0:39:09Germany's chances of snatching victory dwindled with every tick of the clock.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Ludendorff was forced to stake Germany's waning power
0:39:12 > 0:39:15on another gamble.
0:39:15 > 0:39:20With desperation in his heart, Ludendorff swung his armies south.