0:00:16 > 0:00:19MUSIC: "I Only Want To Be With You" by Dusty Springfield
0:00:19 > 0:00:21For British soldiers, military service in Germany
0:00:21 > 0:00:26did not finish with the end of the Second World War.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28# I don't know what it is That makes me love you so
0:00:28 > 0:00:32# I only know I never want to let you go... #
0:00:32 > 0:00:34In the decades to come, they would be asked to forge
0:00:34 > 0:00:38a new kind of relationship with the German people.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42# It happens to be true
0:00:42 > 0:00:45# I only want to be with you... #
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Here, they would create a new, permanent home
0:00:50 > 0:00:54in a corner of Germany known as the Rhineland.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56A "bubble" of home comforts in a foreign land.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59MUSIC: "Auf Dich Nur Wart Ich Immerzu" by Dusty Springfield
0:00:59 > 0:01:02# Dass komische Gefuhl wenn wir uns wieder sehen... #
0:01:02 > 0:01:04The whole of the British Army of the Rhine
0:01:04 > 0:01:07was a very strange set up, in a way.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10It was a British archipelago in the middle of a German sea.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Many were joined by their wives and children,
0:01:15 > 0:01:17who would grow up there.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20In many ways, looking back now, when you're there as a child,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23you think, "This is normality." Of course, it was far from it.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27It was a very peculiar existence, but at the same time, huge fun.
0:01:27 > 0:01:28We had an enormous amount of fun.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34And some young Brits would find romance with German girls.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36It was love at first sight.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39I never encountered anything like that, to be honest.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44But it was also a dangerous mission.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47The British Army of the Rhine was our first line of defence
0:01:47 > 0:01:49in the Cold War.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53While the threat of nuclear weapons loomed large over Europe,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56these soldiers were on the front line.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02As a Troop Leader, my life expectancy,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04if the Russians came over, was about eight hours.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06You can't think about that,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09so you think about something else and say, "Life is normal,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12"have another gin and tonic, let's get on with life."
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Now, after 70 years of active service,
0:02:16 > 0:02:20the Government is finally preparing to bring British troops home.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23This film tells their story.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27# Auf dich nur wart ich immer zu. #
0:02:28 > 0:02:30NEWSREEL: These are blocks of communal flats,
0:02:30 > 0:02:34such as may be seen in Hamburg, Hanover and Brunswick.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37The Army usually takes over complete section of a town,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40turns out the inhabitants into alternative accommodation elsewhere,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42and moves in.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Since the end of the Second World War,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51the Rhineland has been the unofficial home of the British Army.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53MUSIC: "Yeh, Yeh" by Georgie Fame
0:02:53 > 0:02:56# Baby, gehen wir aus? #
0:02:56 > 0:02:59If you became a professional soldier in Britain,
0:02:59 > 0:03:01from 1945 onwards,
0:03:01 > 0:03:02you knew the chances were
0:03:02 > 0:03:05you would probably spend half your service life in Germany.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08# Ich sag', "Yeh, yeh"
0:03:08 > 0:03:12# That's what I say I say, "Yeh, yeh"... #
0:03:12 > 0:03:16With 50,000 troops stationed in Germany at any time,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19at bases such as Rheindahlen, British soldiers would have to adapt
0:03:19 > 0:03:22to living and training there.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26I arrived in Germany as a young subaltern.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30It was quite a pleasant, very clean town, called Mulheim,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33on the Ruhr.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36The nearest bigger town would be Dusseldorf.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40I remember the very first publication I was given,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43once I got off the plane,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48was a little book, called, I think, "Bill & Jock Come To Germany".
0:03:48 > 0:03:51It had all sorts of interesting phrases.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55I suppose THE phrase in German was,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57"Noch ein Bier, bitte."
0:03:57 > 0:04:01I don't know, I can count a reasonable number...
0:04:01 > 0:04:06Eins, zwei, drei, vier, funf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, sehn, etcetera.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11The first phrase of German you learn as a soldier...
0:04:11 > 0:04:15in my day, is, "Ein Bier...
0:04:15 > 0:04:16"noch ein Bier...
0:04:16 > 0:04:19"und er bezahlt."
0:04:19 > 0:04:23That means, "One beer, another beer...he pays."
0:04:23 > 0:04:28MUSIC: "Wishin' And Hopin'" by Dusty Springfield
0:04:28 > 0:04:31MUSIC: "Warten und Hoffen" by Dusty Springfield
0:04:31 > 0:04:34# Tag aus und Tag ein
0:04:34 > 0:04:38# Denn einmal ist jeder allein... #
0:04:38 > 0:04:42These soldiers would live in bases that were deliberately cut off
0:04:42 > 0:04:45from the local German population.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Here, the Army created a cocoon of Britishness.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52# Warten und hoffen und traumen... #
0:04:52 > 0:04:55The whole of the British Army of the Rhine was a very strange set up,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57in a way.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02These little islands were essentially English,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04although the architecture was entirely German.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07They would have English names - of Wellington Avenue
0:05:07 > 0:05:10or Balaclava Close, or something like that.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14We have two cinemas here...
0:05:14 > 0:05:16a theatre...
0:05:16 > 0:05:19a very good cultural centre,
0:05:19 > 0:05:20with a library...
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Everything would be inside or around the camp,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27so you'd have your medical centre,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29you'd have your NAAFI, you'd have your cinema.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33It was like a little England.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37You could go to the NAAFI and buy very familiar products,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40you would listen to your British Forces Radio
0:05:40 > 0:05:42and hear familiar programmes.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47So that was part of the reinforcing, I suppose, of the Britishness,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50but also that you're all in this together, I think.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57British troops had taken over these bases from the German army.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01The vast majority of the barracks were very similar.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Most had been built in the late 1930s for the Wehrmacht,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and I remember well, you could see the racks
0:06:07 > 0:06:10where all the Mauser rifles had been stacked.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13These had been updated, modernised, and so forth,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16but they were essentially the same.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20There were these large barrack blocks with tiled roofs,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22all at regular spaces,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25and broad avenues in all directions.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Deployment of the British Army in Germany
0:06:30 > 0:06:34started in the final days of the Second World War.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48They first arrived as part of the Allied invasion force
0:06:48 > 0:06:51that swept through Northwest Europe
0:06:51 > 0:06:56until the Nazi regime surrendered on 8th May, 1945.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05From April/May onwards of 1945,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07what you had was the British Army
0:07:07 > 0:07:10essentially stopping where they were
0:07:10 > 0:07:12in large areas of Northern Germany.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16They were part of the great victory, so this was an army that had won.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22The country was divided into four sectors,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24each controlled by one of the wartime Allies -
0:07:24 > 0:07:26the Soviet Union,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28the United States,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31France and Britain.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38I don't think there was much love lost
0:07:38 > 0:07:41between the British and Germans, generally.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44This had been a very hard-fought conflict,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47and if you consider also that, in the British Zone,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49there were things uncovered,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52such as the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen
0:07:52 > 0:07:57that really set the tone for that relationship, quite frankly.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02But the British Army of the Rhine now had a vital new role,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06helping rebuild a country devastated by the war.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22NEWSREEL: Our Military Government - that is, your husbands and sons,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26have to prod the Germans into putting their house in order.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Why?
0:08:28 > 0:08:32We cannot live next to a disease-ridden neighbour.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36And we must prevent not only starvation and epidemics,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39but also diseases of the mind.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41New brands of fascism.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44I guess for the next year or two,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47the big concern for this army of occupation
0:08:47 > 0:08:50was resurgence of German fascism.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53I suppose you would call it a "policing" role.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56They were there to keep the lid on this defeated population...
0:08:56 > 0:09:00deal with all that had to happen about reconstructing
0:09:00 > 0:09:03order and judicial process...
0:09:03 > 0:09:06dealing with prisoners of war and repatriation, and so on...
0:09:06 > 0:09:09all that activity going on for those first couple of years.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12NEWSREEL: That's why we can't wash our hands of the Germans -
0:09:12 > 0:09:14because...
0:09:14 > 0:09:17we can't afford to let that new life flow
0:09:17 > 0:09:19in any direction it wants.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Left, right, left, right, left!
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Platoon, turn left!
0:09:26 > 0:09:29And British soldiers found their role as policemen
0:09:29 > 0:09:32gave them privileges and power.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39In those first years,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42after the British people had endured a pretty miserable time
0:09:42 > 0:09:44through World War II,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48to serve in Germany was almost to be in paradise.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51There, you found yourself in a country where the Germans were very
0:09:51 > 0:09:55conscious they'd been beaten and the British and Americans had won.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00They were terrified of the Russians.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03They were prepared to do almost anything for British people.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06You could get servants for three-and-sixpence.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11You could buy anything, including a woman, for two cigarettes.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Almost anything in this whole, admittedly devastated, country.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19But soon, British troops would have to contend
0:10:19 > 0:10:20with a serious new threat.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Then, as the late 1940s came,
0:10:27 > 0:10:33suddenly it became clear that Stalin's Soviet Union
0:10:33 > 0:10:38had displaced Hitler's Germany as a threat to the West.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50In June, 1948, this tension dramatically escalated
0:10:50 > 0:10:53between East and West.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55After the war, Berlin had been divided
0:10:55 > 0:10:57between the four wartime Allies.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01British soldiers had to travel through the Russian sector
0:11:01 > 0:11:03to get to the capital.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07But the Soviets closed the motorway and railroad,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11which linked West Germany to the city, isolating Berlin.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18NEWSREEL: Tension in Germany mounts daily.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21With the British, American and French occupation forces in Berlin
0:11:21 > 0:11:25dependent for supplies on the link of the hitherto-free corridor,
0:11:25 > 0:11:26their position is a difficult one.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29The peace treads a lonely road.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36The Rhine Army would now be part of an ambitious plan
0:11:36 > 0:11:38to re-supply Berlin by air.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Everything you could think of -
0:11:55 > 0:11:57coal, salt, oil,
0:11:57 > 0:11:58was being brought in
0:11:58 > 0:12:02to keep a population of about three million people
0:12:02 > 0:12:03provided with the basics of life.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06So we were flying in aircraft.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11I think they were landing in Tempelhof every three minutes.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16The best memory of all was of the candy bomber.
0:12:16 > 0:12:17This was an American pilot
0:12:17 > 0:12:21who was flying in very low, as they had to, noticed all these children
0:12:21 > 0:12:25waving at him, and he had some candy in his aircraft.
0:12:25 > 0:12:26Pulled the window back,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29dropped it out and watched the kiddies scrambling for it.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32The Berliners never forgot that.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41The Rhine Army flew supplies into Berlin for almost a year,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44until the Soviets finally relented and lifted the blockade.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49But this new division between East and West would intensify
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and become known as the "Cold War".
0:12:58 > 0:13:04By the end of 1949, the Soviet Union had begun testing nuclear weapons.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08This threatened the balance of power in Europe
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and placed the Rhine Army in a precarious position.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18The leaders of the West, both the politicians and the generals,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21they find themselves having to think,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25not, "We've got an army here in Germany to hold down the Germans,"
0:13:25 > 0:13:28but, "We've got an army here in Germany
0:13:28 > 0:13:31"that we may need to defend the Germans,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34"and furthermore, to defend the vital interests of the West, in Europe,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38"that Germany may be about to become the new battleground
0:13:38 > 0:13:41"of a new hot war." Never mind the Cold War,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43the danger of a hot war seemed very real.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46This is the dark shadow
0:13:46 > 0:13:50that falls on Germany in the late 1940s/early 1950s
0:13:50 > 0:13:53and which remains there for decades to come.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06The Army now began seriously to prepare for a Third World War.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Across the Rhineland, British tanks and armoured divisions
0:14:11 > 0:14:14trained to repel a Soviet invasion.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20But if you served in tanks,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23tanks, almost inevitably, meant it was either going to be
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Salisbury Plain, or it was going to be Germany.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Professional soldiers hugely value their training areas
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and the opportunity to fire live ammunition, and so on.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Nobody wants them doing that down in Hampshire or Wiltshire.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38It was getting more and more difficult to find ranges
0:14:38 > 0:14:41on which you could fire live ammunition.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Here was Germany, a defeated country.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47The Germans wouldn't argue - you could shell almost anything.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50It was horrifying, the amount of damage we caused
0:14:50 > 0:14:51to some of the little villages.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55They're lovely, old medieval villages with cobbled streets.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58If you took a squadron of tanks through one of those,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01A, the roads weren't wide enough, so you'd smack the buildings,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03but, B, you brought all the cobblestones up,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and they must have hated us.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13I remember one exercise where, in fact, in those days,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16they used to have blank cartridges fired from the tank guns.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Unfortunately, one group
0:15:20 > 0:15:22suddenly spotted "enemy" at the far end of the high street,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26and they fired their tank gun, which they never should have done,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28in the high street,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30and it shattered all of the plate-glass windows
0:15:30 > 0:15:32of the supermarkets on either side.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34These German women came out,
0:15:34 > 0:15:35absolutely in a fury,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38with their handbags, wanting to attack the tanks.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42But, despite complaints from German civilians,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45the Rhine Army were here to stay.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52And through the 1950s, these soldiers were joined by their wives
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and children as the bases were expanded.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58MUSIC: "Wooden Heart" by Elvis Presley
0:15:58 > 0:16:01# Muss i' denn, muss i' denn
0:16:01 > 0:16:04# Zum Stadtele hinaus
0:16:04 > 0:16:07# Stadtele hinaus
0:16:07 > 0:16:12# Und du, mein Schatz Bleibst hier... #
0:16:12 > 0:16:15June Grace was one of many young wives who arrived in Germany
0:16:15 > 0:16:19to live with her Army husband.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22When I first arrived,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25which was in November, 1957,
0:16:25 > 0:16:31it was exciting, because I went out originally as a new bride.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39Then I became a mum, very soon afterwards.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42So everything was exciting and new.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51The British Army had a meticulous plan to provide everything
0:16:51 > 0:16:54women like June Grace needed.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58I was taken to this flat, which was on the fifth floor.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01It was...
0:17:01 > 0:17:04completely furnished from top to bottom,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08down to the dishcloth and the bulbs,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12and anything I needed, I just had to go to the barrack stores
0:17:12 > 0:17:13and it would be replaced.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Every British Army base had barracks stores
0:17:17 > 0:17:22which held an array of special Army-issue goods.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Key household items, from furniture to cutlery,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27were allocated to families.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30# Cos I don't have a wooden heart. #
0:17:35 > 0:17:39In the '50s, when servicemen's wives accompanied their husbands,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41I think they often thought it was a good deal.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44The housing was good.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47I think Britain was still under rationing,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50so, being in Germany, you could probably get more things
0:17:50 > 0:17:52than you could get at home.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54There was medical care,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56a social life.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01On these bases, Army wives would build friendships
0:18:01 > 0:18:03with other families stationed there.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07MUSIC: "Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand" by The Beatles
0:18:09 > 0:18:13In the summer we had a little garden, so I'd be out there
0:18:13 > 0:18:15doing a little bit of gardening,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19taking the children to the kindergarten...
0:18:19 > 0:18:22so I then had a couple of hours to myself.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24So I probably went to the NAAFI.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Or meet a friend, and we'd have a quick coffee
0:18:27 > 0:18:29in either her house or my house.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32# Schon wie ein Diamant
0:18:32 > 0:18:35# Ich will mit dir gehen... #
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Like everyone in the British Army, the women had their own role.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43They were to be loyal wives and mothers.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48They was little opportunity for a career beyond the base.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55At that time, a woman's role...
0:18:55 > 0:18:57more to be where the husband was,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00with the children.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Therefore, they weren't so much career-minded.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10What you can do, as a serviceman's wife,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13is what's available to you on-base.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16There would be meeting at coffee mornings,
0:19:16 > 0:19:17meeting at lunches...
0:19:17 > 0:19:20maybe there would be a travel club.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24So wives would be organised into taking trips
0:19:24 > 0:19:26to visit local beauty spots
0:19:26 > 0:19:28or to go to local shopping centres.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Very much, feminised activities.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34If you want to do something quite different,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36that will be very difficult for you.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Each British military centre boasted its own NAAFI,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44an Army shopping and recreational facility, selling goods
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and services to soldiers and their families.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51NEWSREEL: Our cameraman went round this district, and also filmed
0:19:51 > 0:19:52the Army-type high street,
0:19:52 > 0:19:56where modest shops are being built for the soldiers' families.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Quite a lot of shopping is done in NAAFI canteens.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04You could buy your cigarettes and your liquors there...
0:20:04 > 0:20:07with a controlled ration.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09You could go in there at any time of the day and night
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and get something to eat and drink.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Fish and chips. A bun. Chocolates.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22The NAAFI was fantastic.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26There were three different shops in the one building.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28There was the grocery side.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32In the middle was where you'd buy
0:20:32 > 0:20:35things like your radios and televisions...
0:20:35 > 0:20:38not that there was much television in those days,
0:20:38 > 0:20:39but things like that.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Then, the other was clothing.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47To shop on the base, soldiers and their families had to use their own
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Army-issue currency, known as "BAFS."
0:20:53 > 0:20:56The soldiers came in, they got paid in what we called "BAFS",
0:20:56 > 0:21:00which was British Forces money, like Monopoly money...
0:21:00 > 0:21:04which was to stop us from spending too much money in the German market,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06because, when we bought within the camp,
0:21:06 > 0:21:08everything was paid for with Monopoly money.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14And everyone on the camp could tune into British Forces Radio.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17FORCES RADIO: Earlier on, we thought Hamburg was in for one
0:21:17 > 0:21:20of those bright but sunless days. However, an hour or so ago,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22the sun did manage to break through the clouds...
0:21:22 > 0:21:25Since the end of the war, the Army had broadcast news
0:21:25 > 0:21:30and music to all military personnel serving in Germany.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34RADIO: ...By calling the home and family of Sapper G Scott,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38who is serving out here in BAOR 15.
0:21:38 > 0:21:39Hello, Mum...
0:21:39 > 0:21:42British Forces Radio was broadcast from its HQ in Cologne.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47It was organised and run by British soldiers
0:21:47 > 0:21:48who had a passion for broadcasting.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54On bases across Germany, tens of thousands of troops
0:21:54 > 0:21:58and their families could tune in for a reassuring reminder of home.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Forces Radio was the way they brought their little bit
0:22:06 > 0:22:07of British culture,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10and all those nice, friendly British voices over the airwaves.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14You don't always have to be listening to ugly, harsh
0:22:14 > 0:22:16German voices on your radio.
0:22:16 > 0:22:17You've got your own little world.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20I think Forces Radio was more important
0:22:20 > 0:22:22than the BBC Overseas Service.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24RADIO: And for three years,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27the starlings were attacked with a series of frightening devices.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30- Stuffed owls. - Wriggling rubber snakes.
0:22:30 > 0:22:31High-frequency sound beams.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Little round things that went, "Knick, knick, knick".
0:22:34 > 0:22:37We were able to broadcast The Goon Show,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Hancock's Half Hour.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43People stayed in in the evenings to listen to those two programmes.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47At the same time, we were able to cover a lot of sport in the UK,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and we covered a lot of sport on the continent, as well...
0:22:50 > 0:22:51be it the Monte Carlo Rally,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54whether it was European Championship football,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56whether it was Grand Prix.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58The British Army organised a network of sports
0:22:58 > 0:23:02for soldiers to compete in.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06It was a key part of the experience, and it was here that future
0:23:06 > 0:23:09BBC commentator Barry Davies began his career.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13They wanted somebody to collate information
0:23:13 > 0:23:18about the various matches between the various Army units...
0:23:18 > 0:23:20in the Services League, as it were.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25I said, "OK. I'll go down to Cologne to do that."
0:23:28 > 0:23:31I can remember as though it was yesterday, going into the mess
0:23:31 > 0:23:35one Friday evening, and there was a captain there from the REME.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40He said to me, "I gather you're on BFN on Sunday."
0:23:40 > 0:23:44I said, "No, not exactly. I'm going down there to gather information
0:23:44 > 0:23:50"on results and bits of stories I could find..."
0:23:50 > 0:23:52He said, "That's not what they've just said.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54"They've said, 'Joining us on Sunday
0:23:54 > 0:23:58" 'will be Second Lieutenant Barry Davies'."
0:23:58 > 0:24:02So, almost by accident, Barry Davies started his commentating career,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05reporting on his first football match for British Forces Radio.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10The overall Commanding Officer...
0:24:10 > 0:24:13said to me when my time in Germany came to an end,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15"Go out and give it a go,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18"otherwise every time you look at that fella, David Coleman,
0:24:18 > 0:24:20"you'll say, that could have been me."
0:24:20 > 0:24:23I'll leave it to the public to decide if I was ever David Coleman.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25HE LAUGHS
0:24:25 > 0:24:28- RADIO COMMENTARY:- Is Gascoigne going to have a crack? He is, you know.
0:24:28 > 0:24:29Oh, I say!
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Brilliant!
0:24:31 > 0:24:32CHEERING
0:24:32 > 0:24:36That... is Schoolboys' Own stuff!
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Forces Radio would also launch the careers
0:24:43 > 0:24:46of two household names of British broadcasting.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Jean Metcalfe and Cliff Michelmore
0:24:50 > 0:24:53presented Two-Way Family Favourites,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56the most popular show on Forces Radio.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00This programme was set up to allow soldiers and their families
0:25:00 > 0:25:02back home in Britain
0:25:02 > 0:25:04to request songs for each other.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08What it meant was, for the families back home,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11it was a chance at 12 noon till, I think, 1.30,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15to hear the music and the requests from their loved ones in Germany,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17and the same thing, the other way.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20RADIO: We're now in this London studio, by our studio clock.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23This is the allotted time for our weekly rendezvous with
0:25:23 > 0:25:25the people who are away in Germany.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28For a large part of its history, the history of Rhine Army,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Germany still seemed relatively a long way away.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Nowadays, it seems like next door,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37but it was still somewhere quite remote and exotic.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40RADIO: We go to Scotland to make two of these dedications.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43First to 42, East Claremont Street, Edinburgh...
0:25:43 > 0:25:47Yes, it's love to you Mum, Dad, sister and brother,
0:25:47 > 0:25:48from Douglas.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51At its height, I believe the BBC reckon
0:25:51 > 0:25:53that something like 20 million people
0:25:53 > 0:25:56in the United Kingdom listened to this amazing programme.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58In Germany, we're told by the Bundespost,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00it was around seven million.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05And by the mid-1950s, the BBC began broadcasting
0:26:05 > 0:26:08a television version of the show...
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Well, I wonder if you'd like to say something to the folks at home.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14I'm sure they'd be very surprised to see you on television.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Yes, I'd love to. Hi, Mum, Dad and Arlene.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Never thought I'd ever have the chance to ever speak to you on TV.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24I wish you all well. I'm keeping very fine myself. Be home soon.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27- See you then.- There's only one more thing I'd like to ask you.
0:26:27 > 0:26:28That's if you'd like us to play
0:26:28 > 0:26:30a piece of music for your people back home?
0:26:30 > 0:26:34There is one piece. A selection from...
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Annie, Get Your Gun, please, if possible?
0:26:36 > 0:26:39I'm sure there's something in Annie, Get Your Gun we could get for you...
0:26:39 > 0:26:42# Anything you can do I can do better
0:26:42 > 0:26:45# I can do anything better than you
0:26:45 > 0:26:48- # No, you can't - Yes, I can... #
0:26:48 > 0:26:52But in this period, Forces Radio and the BBC had strict guidelines
0:26:52 > 0:26:56about who soldiers could request songs for.
0:26:56 > 0:26:57- # ..No, you're not!- Yes, I am
0:26:57 > 0:26:59- # No, you're not!- Yes, I am
0:26:59 > 0:27:02- # No, you're not!- Yes I am, Yes I am! #
0:27:02 > 0:27:05You couldn't have a request, initially, for anyone else
0:27:05 > 0:27:09other than mothers and sisters... and people like that.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11I think fiancees were excluded.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Certainly, girlfriends were excluded. You couldn't have a request.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22Despite this pettiness, Forces Radio kept the soldiers' spirits up,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25as they faced a daily grind of patrolling and training.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Attention!
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Pay attention, I want to say a few words on discipline.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36The whole base of discipline in the Army is drill.
0:27:36 > 0:27:42Drill fosters in you team spirit, alertness,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45pride in your unit and pride in yourself...
0:27:45 > 0:27:49You were got out of bed at six o'clock.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51The whistle would be blown in the corridor.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53It would echo over the whole area.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Get out of bed, everybody down to the washroom,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58wash, shower, change, get yourself into uniform.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Down to the kitchen. Breakfast.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Out, back to your room, check that you were in tidy condition...
0:28:05 > 0:28:07your hair was all right, your teeth were clean.
0:28:07 > 0:28:08Shaved.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Down, eight o'clock, on the parade.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13RSM came down three times a week.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Other than that, the Commanding Officer was there.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21Now, this brings me onto a point of personal cleanliness.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24At home, everything has been done for you by your family...
0:28:24 > 0:28:27for most things. But now, you've got to stand on your own two feet.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Late for a parade, or you hadn't shaved in the morning...
0:28:32 > 0:28:35your punishment was what they called "scrub the Autobahn."
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Half the Autobahn, or a quarter of the Autobahn.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40The "Autobahn" was the corridor.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43And the scrubbing was done with a toothbrush.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46So you had a mug of water, bit of soap and a toothbrush,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50and you worked your way along your section of corridor
0:28:50 > 0:28:51you'd been given to scrub.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54When you did it, you had to wait till the officer came along,
0:28:54 > 0:28:56had a look and said yes, it was good or no,
0:28:56 > 0:28:58he wasn't satisfied - do it again.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07For all the monotony of life on the bases,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11the majority of British soldiers rarely ventured beyond the gates,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13and into the local German towns.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20A British soldier is so well looked after within his camp...
0:29:20 > 0:29:22he didn't want to go outside.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24He couldn't speak the language.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28It was a strange place. So he stayed in.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32And he missed a lot of opportunities of going out, meeting local people.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35MUSIC: Petula Clark: "Geh In Die Stadt"
0:29:41 > 0:29:43But those who did leave the base
0:29:43 > 0:29:46began to socialise with the German population.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49We had no difficulties with the local people, at all.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51When you go into a bar, and they start talking to you,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55they're trying to learn English, we're trying to learn German.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57You'd end up, they'd be speaking English to us,
0:29:57 > 0:29:59cos they want to speak English.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01They'd buy you a round, we'd get them a round,
0:30:01 > 0:30:05and so the night went on. And the night was then rather nice!
0:30:05 > 0:30:09# Downtown - soviel' Gesichter, oh
0:30:09 > 0:30:14# Downtown - soviele Lichter, oh
0:30:14 > 0:30:16# Downtown...
0:30:21 > 0:30:24# Downtown... #
0:30:24 > 0:30:27For many British soldiers, their first trip off-base
0:30:27 > 0:30:30was to visit the local Bierkellers,
0:30:30 > 0:30:34where they found the German beer a lot stronger than back home.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40When you first come over here, you think, "This beer is nothing!"
0:30:40 > 0:30:42and you drink six or seven of these small glasses,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45which is about four, three pints.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Only three pints, mind.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50The next thing you know, your head started spinning.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54And the chap behind the bar - "You new in Germany?" "Yeah."
0:30:54 > 0:30:56"Don't have any more."
0:31:01 > 0:31:04Not advice that was always heeded.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Binge drinking became part of the British soldiers'
0:31:07 > 0:31:09experience of life in Germany.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Their drunken antics often threatened the good relations
0:31:12 > 0:31:14between the Army and the locals.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Of course, many problems and crime, and so forth,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24were very much linked to this alcohol consumption,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28and in many German towns, bars were put out of bounds
0:31:28 > 0:31:32to British soldiers, purely because of the trouble that was caused.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36When they've had a few drinks, the reserve goes away.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39And somebody says, "Bloody Englishmen".
0:31:39 > 0:31:42The other one looks around and says, "Bloody Boxhead".
0:31:42 > 0:31:45They got that name with their square-headed haircuts.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47And the trouble starts.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Many drunken rows centred on
0:31:52 > 0:31:57attempts by soldiers to pick up local girls.
0:32:01 > 0:32:07When you went down the town, you went into the pubs, the discos.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11We were the centre of attraction, because Germany had nothing.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16Their work was... there, but the pay was poor.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19I don't know what they were earning, but I know I went down
0:32:19 > 0:32:21into the disco, and sat there one evening, and had two girls,
0:32:21 > 0:32:24one on each side, buying them drinks all night.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29The local boys were mad because we got the girls.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31Afterwards, when we went outside, they were quite nasty.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33"You come down here with your bloody money.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36"You're pinching our girlfriends," etcetera.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41In spite of their reputation for hard drinking,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45by the late 1950s, British soldiers were forging alliances with Germans
0:32:45 > 0:32:47as many married local girls.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53Marriage between British soldiers and German women... accelerated.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57I think one has to remember, in the immediate postwar era,
0:32:57 > 0:32:59life in Germany was terrible,
0:32:59 > 0:33:01with the destruction from the bombing
0:33:01 > 0:33:03and the lack of opportunities.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07So, for many German women, even though cold, rationed England
0:33:07 > 0:33:08was pretty ghastly,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11it still seemed to offer a great opportunity.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Corporal Ken Adams was at the wedding of a British soldier
0:33:16 > 0:33:20and a German girl when he first met his future wife.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25"Coffee and cake?" Nice. Living room door went open...
0:33:25 > 0:33:27she came in.
0:33:27 > 0:33:28HE LAUGHS
0:33:28 > 0:33:31MUSIC: "Mein Madchen" by The Temptations
0:33:38 > 0:33:42It was love at first sight.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44You don't think about it, really.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46I was busy working.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Of course, my first marriage, divorce.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52Working all the time, having a child to support.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57You don't think of this.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59So it came like a bomb.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04At first, communication between the two was difficult.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09Dita was shy, and Ken spoke only a few words of German.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12Of course, I was very shy. I didn't talk.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14I didn't want to talk in English.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17So, of course, my mum helped me.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21My sister's, at the time, boyfriend,
0:34:21 > 0:34:23he spoke a little bit of German,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26and my sister spoke a little bit of English,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28so we went on all right.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31And when we went out to a restaurant,
0:34:31 > 0:34:36very often, I had a little piece of paper with me.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41I wrote down my questions and he wrote, in English...
0:34:41 > 0:34:42all in English.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45But I was frightened to say it.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47- It was horrible! - SHE LAUGHS
0:34:50 > 0:34:54Although most people accepted that Dita and Ken wanted to marry,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57her father was not happy about her being with a British soldier.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02Her father was a very strict person.
0:35:02 > 0:35:07He didn't like it, although he never, never complained to me about it.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10He never made any...
0:35:10 > 0:35:12any restrictions, whatsoever. He just didn't like it.
0:35:12 > 0:35:18A second daughter being with an English soldier.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22He said to my wife, "Can't you find a German boyfriend?"
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Right. Of course, she'd just been divorced from a German.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28So she says, "I've already had one."
0:35:28 > 0:35:31And that was the answer to that.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Through the 1960s, relations between British soldiers
0:35:38 > 0:35:41and German civilians were warming up,
0:35:41 > 0:35:46but the political mood between East and West was becoming colder.
0:35:46 > 0:35:52The building of the Berlin Wall had set the tone for this era.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00The Wall was a hideous sight to see.
0:36:00 > 0:36:01I flew over it in 1980,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05with the Army Air Corps, to have a look at it, and it looked
0:36:05 > 0:36:08like somebody had scored the earth.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16It did seem enormously symbolically important
0:36:16 > 0:36:19that here were the Russians saying, "We're not going to talk,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22"We're going to continue to confront you
0:36:22 > 0:36:24"across a frontier of barbed wire,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27"minefields and machine guns and watchtowers."
0:36:27 > 0:36:30This is not the conduct
0:36:30 > 0:36:34of an enemy who might be thinking of making friends.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37This is the conduct of an enemy who believes
0:36:37 > 0:36:40that we are going to remain enemies for a very long time.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46British forces in West Berlin
0:36:46 > 0:36:47became even more isolated.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50Only the railroad and the motorway
0:36:50 > 0:36:53linked the capital with the Army in West Germany.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55When driving to Berlin,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58British soldiers had to observe a strict protocol
0:36:58 > 0:37:01as they were watched all the way by Warsaw Pact forces.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05It was strange to think that you were still in Germany
0:37:05 > 0:37:10but to get to it, you had to go through East Germany, shall we say,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Russian-controlled East Communist Germany.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16You drove into the checkpoint,
0:37:16 > 0:37:19checked, ID card, straight through.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Once you were in the corridor, you couldn't stop.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26You were not allowed to communicate with anybody.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29If you broke down, you stayed in the vehicle.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33The Volpos came along, the East German police,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37came up to you and started sort of banging and rattling.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41You just had a little card with Russian and German writing on it,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44put it up against the window, and it said,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48"I am a British soldier on duty. Please bring your senior officer."
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Secondly, when you left one end of the corridor,
0:37:51 > 0:37:56they radioed through to the other end with your registration number
0:37:56 > 0:37:57and your time of departure
0:37:57 > 0:38:02and you were given, I believe it was one-and-a-half hours for the trip
0:38:02 > 0:38:05and if in one-and-a-half hours you hadn't appeared at the other end,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07then they came looking for you.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11While the vast majority of British soldiers
0:38:11 > 0:38:13were stationed in the Rhineland,
0:38:13 > 0:38:17there was a small but significant military force in West Berlin.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22The presence of the Allies in West Berlin was a symbolic presence,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26so the Warsaw Pact knew,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28"If we harm West Berlin,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31"we harm the Americans, the British and the French."
0:38:35 > 0:38:38David McAllister is the current Prime Minister
0:38:38 > 0:38:41of the German region of Lower Saxony.
0:38:41 > 0:38:42He grew up in West Berlin,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46where his German mother and British father worked for the Army.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48I grew up in West Berlin.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51My father worked for Tels Group.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Tels Group were responsible
0:38:53 > 0:38:56for the telecommunications for the British forces.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01But much like the Army bases in the Rhineland,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04West Berlin felt like a bubble of Britishness.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08I had a wonderful childhood in West Berlin
0:39:08 > 0:39:12until we moved away when I was 11 years old.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18The British were in Charlottenburg and Spandau,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21in these two parts in West Berlin.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23We lived near the Olympic Stadium.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27And even though we were living in the middle of West Berlin,
0:39:27 > 0:39:28in the middle of Germany,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31it was more or less a very British life.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35I remember British kindergarten, British school,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37British military hospital.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41We went to the Presbyterian church service.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47Because it was surrounded by Soviet forces,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Berlin was a precarious place to be during the Cold War.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53Good evening, my fellow citizens.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56This government, as promised,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59has maintained the closest surveillance
0:39:59 > 0:40:03of the Soviet military build-up on the island of Cuba.
0:40:05 > 0:40:11In 1962, the Soviet Union dispatched nuclear missiles to Cuba,
0:40:11 > 0:40:13a move that would leave Berlin in the firing line
0:40:13 > 0:40:15if a nuclear escalation resulted.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22I was actually on the train going into Berlin when I was met
0:40:22 > 0:40:25and my colleague said, "Have you heard the news?"
0:40:25 > 0:40:28"No, I've been travelling since 5am."
0:40:28 > 0:40:30And he said, "Well, Kennedy and Khrushchev are having
0:40:30 > 0:40:32"a great debate at the UN,
0:40:32 > 0:40:35"and we think that if it isn't resolved,
0:40:35 > 0:40:37"then Berlin's future is in the balance."
0:40:37 > 0:40:40So, welcome to Berlin, you may not be getting out of it again.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Down in the zone in Cologne, my wife -
0:40:42 > 0:40:44and we had three small children -
0:40:44 > 0:40:46was contacted by the Families' Officer
0:40:46 > 0:40:48to pack a suitcase and be prepared to be evacuated.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55This crisis saw the first use of the term
0:40:55 > 0:40:57"mutually assured destruction"...
0:40:59 > 0:41:02..and it would change the strategy of the Rhine Army.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Outnumbered five to one by communist forces,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15it was estimated the British Army would only be able to withstand
0:41:15 > 0:41:18an attack for 48 hours before having to capitulate.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The strategy of the allied armies at that stage,
0:41:25 > 0:41:28was to accept the fact that they would never be able
0:41:28 > 0:41:31to hold back a major Warsaw Pact invasion.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36And so all of our training really was to fight a delaying action,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39during which time either the threat of nuclear weapons,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43or, in the worst-case scenario, the use of nuclear weapons,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46would stop a Soviet takeover of Western Europe.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51And British soldiers were expected to fight
0:41:51 > 0:41:55until the Western allies launched their own nuclear weapons.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Soldiers have an old joke - they say, in a desperate situation,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04"Well, it's time for a futile sacrifice."
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Well, the thinking soldiers in the Rhine Army always knew
0:42:07 > 0:42:10that they were going to be the futile sacrifice.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14The thought was so appalling that you didn't think about it.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18One's been since told that, as a troop leader,
0:42:18 > 0:42:22my life expectancy, if the Russians came over, was about eight hours.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24And you don't think about that. You can't.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26So you think about something else and say life is normal
0:42:26 > 0:42:29have another gin and tonic, let's get on with life.
0:42:31 > 0:42:36In 1968, BBC television followed the 17th 21st Lancers
0:42:36 > 0:42:38as they trained for war.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42The film featured a young Christopher Marriott,
0:42:42 > 0:42:44who commanded a squadron of tanks.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55One joins the army, I suppose, because one has certain beliefs -
0:42:55 > 0:42:58they might sound rather outdated - about the free world.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Um, yes, one's prepared to fight for them.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03- FIRE!- Firing now!
0:43:07 > 0:43:09One was very conscious going up and down the border
0:43:09 > 0:43:12doing border patrols -
0:43:12 > 0:43:15normally in the winter when it was bitterly cold -
0:43:15 > 0:43:19it brought it home to one in a big way, seeing the actual border,
0:43:19 > 0:43:23seeing the towers, the watch towers,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26um, people looking at you, you looking at them.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Now, beyond the vehicle track,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33they've got all sorts of obnoxious fortifications such as -
0:43:33 > 0:43:37the tower you see immediately in front of you,
0:43:37 > 0:43:39which is invariably occupied,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42and if you look through your binoculars you'll see two chaps
0:43:42 > 0:43:44looking at you through the windows.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48We were vastly outnumbered, vastly outnumbered,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51and in hindsight, if they had come across,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53we probably could have slowed them down
0:43:53 > 0:43:55for three or four days, unless we had gone nuclear.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59And that was our whole training, actually - tactical nuclear weapons.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01Trying to corral them into an area
0:44:01 > 0:44:05and then...drop something on them that went off with a very big bang.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10MUSIC: "Tin Soldier" by The Small Faces
0:44:10 > 0:44:14# I am a little tin soldier
0:44:14 > 0:44:18# That wants to jump into your fire... #
0:44:19 > 0:44:21Through the 1960s,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24while the soldiers of the Rhine Army prepared for the unthinkable,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27life on the British bases carried on as normal
0:44:27 > 0:44:30for the thousands of children who lived there.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37This generation of young people grew up embracing the military lifestyle.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42In many ways, looking back now - and when you are there as a child -
0:44:42 > 0:44:45you think it is normality. It was far from it.
0:44:45 > 0:44:46It was a very peculiar existence.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51But at the same time huge fun. We had an enormous amount of fun.
0:44:51 > 0:44:52But what I remember is
0:44:52 > 0:44:54it's like living in a normal village or town -
0:44:54 > 0:44:56you've got your friends and your parents
0:44:56 > 0:44:58and school and shops...
0:44:58 > 0:45:01But the big difference was that there was only one job going on.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04Every single job was in the army.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10But with so many children living on British bases,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13it was the army who were responsible for their education.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19The teachers were actually civilians who were
0:45:19 > 0:45:22contracted by the British Families Education Service - the BFES.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26And they would provide education in English schools
0:45:26 > 0:45:29for British Army kids.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32And those people were specialists
0:45:32 > 0:45:34in providing a curriculum to children
0:45:34 > 0:45:38who were being continuously uprooted from one school to another.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41I think I went to six schools by the age of nine.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48I remember very well going to school in Hohne called Montgomery School.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52It was basically a state primary school.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54And funnily enough, what I remember of it
0:45:54 > 0:45:55is the building and the playing -
0:45:55 > 0:45:57all the normal things you do at primary school -
0:45:57 > 0:46:00but I can't remember a single friend. Interestingly.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03Because it was such a transient population.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06A big population, but there was always movement.
0:46:06 > 0:46:07So you really never knew
0:46:07 > 0:46:10if your friend was going to be there next week.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16MUSIC: "Das Waren Die Tage" by Mary Hopkins
0:46:18 > 0:46:21For us, in and around a military base in northern Germany,
0:46:21 > 0:46:26there was so much debris from World War II,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and we'd go off exploring on our bikes and find a field
0:46:29 > 0:46:32full of derelict American tanks
0:46:32 > 0:46:35waiting for a scrap merchant to take them away.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40And I also remember there was a fairly high level of risk.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44We were in an area that had had an enormous war fought over it.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47And there was therefore quite a lot of unexploded stuff
0:46:47 > 0:46:50still lying around in the '60s.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52And one of my brothers,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56certainly with our family and a little bit broader than that,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59acquired, at the ripe old age of eight or nine,
0:46:59 > 0:47:01a bit of a reputation as a boy who'd bring back
0:47:01 > 0:47:03something he'd found near the golf course
0:47:03 > 0:47:05which turned out to be, say, a German hand grenade,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09and there'd be a panic as they got the bomb disposal people in.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14But even by the late 1960s,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17old wartime prejudices among British Army families remained.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23There was some wasteland between where we lived
0:47:23 > 0:47:26and some German civilian housing,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29and being children, we wanted to get on our bicycles
0:47:29 > 0:47:32and cycle over the wasteland and enjoy ourselves,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36and we would start to make friends with German children of our own age.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40But our parents were uncomfortable about that.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43They didn't necessarily, back in those days,
0:47:43 > 0:47:47like us... mingling with German children.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51And definitely my parents, at least, my mother, would wave for us
0:47:51 > 0:47:54to come back in. They didn't like us playing with German children.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59LOUD EXPLOSION
0:48:01 > 0:48:05MUSIC: "Strange Brew" by Cream
0:48:05 > 0:48:11In the 1970s, a new threat to life with the Rhine Army emerged.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15The troubles in Northern Ireland
0:48:15 > 0:48:19would bring changes for those on British Army bases in Germany.
0:48:19 > 0:48:24# Strange brew Killing what's inside of you... #
0:48:24 > 0:48:30In the 1970s, when Northern Ireland became a major, indeed THE major
0:48:30 > 0:48:33commitment of the British Army, virtually every soldier
0:48:33 > 0:48:36of every specialisation, including artillery and engineers,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39could expect to find himself doing his stints
0:48:39 > 0:48:41on the streets of Belfast or Derry.
0:48:41 > 0:48:47A peculiar new cycle evolved, where you'd have units based in Germany,
0:48:47 > 0:48:52training in Germany, then one morning they all climb into planes,
0:48:52 > 0:48:54wave goodbye to the family.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56And the families are left for months on end,
0:48:56 > 0:48:59out there on the German bases
0:48:59 > 0:49:03whereas the units move on to Northern Ireland
0:49:03 > 0:49:06where at times, especially in the 1970s,
0:49:06 > 0:49:11they had a very tough, and sometimes very hairy time.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16With British troops deployed in Northern Ireland
0:49:16 > 0:49:17for up to six months at a time,
0:49:17 > 0:49:22many army wives back in the Rhineland grew lonely and depressed.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32In 1975, a lot of servicemen from Germany
0:49:32 > 0:49:35were rotating through Northern Ireland.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37It was a very trying, traumatic time.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41The girls, who could be 19, 20, didn't necessarily speak any German,
0:49:41 > 0:49:42they had small children,
0:49:42 > 0:49:47and from what one gathers, they were getting terribly depressed.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50And this isn't a good thing, if the husband over in Northern Ireland,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54where it's not very nice, begins to worry about his wife in Germany.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00This was an age before satellite television,
0:50:00 > 0:50:03so the army decided that, to improve morale,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06they would set up their own TV service.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11In 1975, popular British television shows were for the first time
0:50:11 > 0:50:14transmitted to army bases in the Rhineland.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20ANNOUNCER: Seven o'clock on September the 18th, 1975,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22an historic moment for us in BFBS
0:50:22 > 0:50:25as we open up our first television service.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30And it went out in September 1975, and I can remember there was
0:50:30 > 0:50:34a newspaper headline for that Christmas week
0:50:34 > 0:50:37which said the number of drink-driving offences
0:50:37 > 0:50:42had dropped almost to zero because the serviceman, or his family,
0:50:42 > 0:50:43were at home watching television.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47But the introduction of television
0:50:47 > 0:50:51couldn't distract from escalating troubles in Northern Ireland.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53EXPLOSION ECHOES
0:50:53 > 0:51:00In 1978, the IRA detonated a bomb at the barracks at Rheindahlen.
0:51:00 > 0:51:05It was the first of several attacks on the British army in Germany.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10REPORTER: If this attack had succeeded, it could have affected
0:51:10 > 0:51:11a lot more than the British families.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15It's possible the Provisional IRA, if they were responsible,
0:51:15 > 0:51:19have decided to internationalise the Northern Ireland conflict.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21If so, it's a disturbing thought.
0:51:21 > 0:51:26At the time, the IRA was attacking service families.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28Servicemen were being targeted.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33Service families were issued with extended mirrors,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37with torches affixed, that you would put underneath the car,
0:51:37 > 0:51:39so you could look underneath the car
0:51:39 > 0:51:42to see if there was an explosive device fitted to it.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46British military bases in Germany could be a very soft target
0:51:46 > 0:51:48for the IRA at that time.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50- Morning!- All right, sir.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55Into the 1980s,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58the resources of the British Army were stretched
0:51:58 > 0:51:59between fighting the IRA,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02and holding the line against Warsaw Pact forces.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07And the bases in the Rhineland began to show signs of this strain.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11All those bases and barracks in Germany
0:52:11 > 0:52:16which had seemed so cosy and comfortable in the 1940s and '50s,
0:52:16 > 0:52:21by the '70s and afterwards, they were beginning to fall to pieces.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23They were starting to leak.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26And British governments were incredibly parsimonious
0:52:26 > 0:52:29about paying for repairs paying for standards.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33I remember a general saying to me,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36every time I visit a barracks in which our men are living,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39I feel ashamed that we're making men live in these conditions.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Even now, the Rhine Army still had the task
0:52:46 > 0:52:48of holding off a Soviet-led invasion.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53Do you know what's so unrealistic about this? Seriously.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55They get the whole battalion on the square -
0:52:55 > 0:52:56if the Russians were coming -
0:52:56 > 0:52:59they get the battalion on the square in two hours,
0:52:59 > 0:53:01and the Russians bomb the square and we're all dead!
0:53:01 > 0:53:04Because they know what we do! It's great, isn't it?
0:53:07 > 0:53:10The defence strategy of the Rhine Army in Germany,
0:53:10 > 0:53:14which had been in place for decades, was slowly unravelling.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19We didn't really have a snowball's chance in hell
0:53:19 > 0:53:20of stopping the Soviet Union
0:53:20 > 0:53:25if it really did intend to capture a large chunk of West Germany
0:53:25 > 0:53:28and other parts of Western Europe in those days.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35The disadvantages were first that an awful lot of personnel
0:53:35 > 0:53:38that comprised the force that would do the fighting
0:53:38 > 0:53:39were actually somewhere else.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41They were in Northern Ireland.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43The second issue that we had was
0:53:43 > 0:53:46that an awful lot of our equipment back then
0:53:46 > 0:53:49was not fit for purpose - it was old, it was beaten up,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52it didn't take kindly to being left idle
0:53:52 > 0:53:55when we were in Northern Ireland.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01As the Rhine Army felt the strain of these commitments,
0:54:01 > 0:54:04on the bases, the wives were also struggling.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07This generation of women
0:54:07 > 0:54:11were less prepared to accept their traditional role
0:54:11 > 0:54:13of wives and mothers.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18When the British Army was first in Germany, social expectations
0:54:18 > 0:54:22for wives were quite different from how they were later and are now.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25Women who perhaps had had careers,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29wanted something for themselves that was separate from military life.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33And it's very hard for people to have that.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37Then, wives would be very much trapped on base.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40I just feel like it's an existence. I'm not living,
0:54:40 > 0:54:45it's just existing. And he's going on exercise a week after it's born.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48- Can't they stop him going? - They said no.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53- So I said, "That's it then. I'm going."- Are you going?
0:54:53 > 0:54:55To Bradford. I said
0:54:55 > 0:54:59I just feel like somebody who's locked away in an attic.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Yeah, I felt like that.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04No-one would know if I was dead or alive.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10While the Rhine Army seemed to be at a crossroads,
0:55:10 > 0:55:14across the border, the Soviet Union was in crisis.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18In November, 1989, a dramatic turn of events was unfolding.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22So an extraordinary night of euphoria in Berlin.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26Within hours of East Germany's decision to let its people go
0:55:26 > 0:55:27by opening the border to the West,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30the city erupted in a frenzy of celebration.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34# Freedom for you and me
0:55:34 > 0:55:37# Freedom for the world
0:55:37 > 0:55:42# I said, freedom for you and me
0:55:42 > 0:55:44# Freedom for the world... #
0:55:44 > 0:55:47REPORTER: People scrambled playfully, up and down
0:55:47 > 0:55:50on the Berlin Wall itself - something they used to be shot for.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52The fall of the Berlin Wall,
0:55:52 > 0:55:54and the collapse of the Soviet Union,
0:55:54 > 0:55:58ended the military threat which had loomed large over the Rhine Army
0:55:58 > 0:55:59for the previous 50 years.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Well, the threat if World War III had always been referred to,
0:56:08 > 0:56:12in typically British humour, as "the next fixture".
0:56:12 > 0:56:16And suddenly they realised there wasn't going to be a next fixture.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19Having held the frontline for decades,
0:56:19 > 0:56:24the Rhine Army's job as a defence force was now over.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28The need to defend Germany against the Soviets
0:56:28 > 0:56:30had provided a case for a big army.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34Once that threat had gone, the case for a big army was gone.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38And this caused a problem for the British government.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41The end of the Cold War completely changed
0:56:41 > 0:56:44the position of the British Army in the Rhine.
0:56:44 > 0:56:50And it's posed huge difficulties for the defence policy ever since
0:56:50 > 0:56:52because the Germans no longer felt
0:56:52 > 0:56:55they needed defending by the British.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00They no longer needed to have Tornadoes flying at nought-feet
0:57:00 > 0:57:04over their houses shaking all the tiles off.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07They no longer needed to put up with huge tank ranges.
0:57:07 > 0:57:13They got pretty restive about the large British presence
0:57:13 > 0:57:17and they started to think it would be nice if we went home.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20But an agreement was reached with the German government
0:57:20 > 0:57:24which allowed the British Army to stay in the Rhineland.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26They continue to train there.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30And the bases became a transit point for fighting wars overseas.
0:57:35 > 0:57:36In the last year,
0:57:36 > 0:57:40British troops have begun to be pulled out of Germany,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43with the aim of a full withdrawal by 2020.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48MUSIC: "Das Waren Die Tage" by Mary Hopkins
0:57:48 > 0:57:51From an army of occupation,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54to our first line of defence in the Cold War,
0:57:54 > 0:57:59this era of active service in Germany is coming to an end.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03It seems beyond the imagination of a younger generation
0:58:03 > 0:58:06to visualise this great army in Germany
0:58:06 > 0:58:08which had been there since the Second World War.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11It's an astonishingly long period of time in peacetime
0:58:11 > 0:58:15for any army to have been positioned in a friendly country.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21And so finally, after almost 70 years in Germany,
0:58:21 > 0:58:24the British Army are coming home.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28# La la la la la la la
0:58:28 > 0:58:36# La la la la la la... #
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd