0:00:05 > 0:00:08Rare film from June 1919
0:00:08 > 0:00:10showing the last of the Swansea Battalion
0:00:10 > 0:00:13returning home to a hero's welcome.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Six months have passed since the men saw combat.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20The memories they bring back will last them a lifetime.
0:00:20 > 0:00:27This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Britain had been at war for 4 years, 14 weeks and 2 days.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Swansea, like just about every community in Wales,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37had had its share of suffering and loss -
0:00:37 > 0:00:413,000 men lay dead on the battlefields,
0:00:41 > 0:00:466,000 more would forever bear the scars of conflict.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Women in their hundreds had been working in hazardous,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53often life-threatening industries.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57And the children from here would grow up in a world from now on
0:00:57 > 0:01:00where old certainties had been shaken to the core.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04Swansea would never be the same again.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36During the early 1900s, Swansea was a town of contrasts.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Sitting on the edge of a majestic bay,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42it had held ambitions to become a spa resort.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47But its copper, coal and tinplate production had turned it into
0:01:47 > 0:01:50one of the most heavily polluted areas in Britain.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55By 1914, the town's industrial wealth had provided
0:01:55 > 0:01:58new transport links, affordable housing
0:01:58 > 0:02:00and a new art gallery and library.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Here's an edition of the South Wales Daily Post
0:02:07 > 0:02:10dated Monday August 3rd 1914,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12the day before war was declared.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17It's a snapshot of Swansea life on the eve of war.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21You could buy a house in Swansea, brand-new, for £350,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24set sail for North Devon on a paddle steamer,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28young women could get jobs as typists,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the story of Eliza Doolittle,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35was showing at the Grand Theatre.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37But here's one that I really like.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41At the top of the lost and found - "lost on Thursday,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43"a set of false teeth on the sands.
0:02:43 > 0:02:49"Finder rewarded on returning to 34 Marine Street, Swansea."
0:02:52 > 0:02:56But the very next day, war was declared on Germany.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The nation was gripped by patriotic zeal.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Men in particular were expected to do their bit for King and country.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09And how they were needed.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15When Britain entered the war, the Army was massively outnumbered
0:03:15 > 0:03:17with fewer than a million men,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21while Germany had around 4.5 million.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24The race was on to drum up extra manpower,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27led by the formidable Field Marshal Lord Kitchener.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Kitchener's recruiting campaign would build
0:03:31 > 0:03:35the biggest volunteer army Britain had ever seen.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39His message was direct - your country needs you.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43For the most part,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Wales was caught up in the tide of support for the war,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50and in Swansea, recruitment stalls and parades sprang up across town.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56By the 11th of September 1914, 8,000 young men from Swansea
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and the surrounding area had rallied to the colours.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06The new recruits could be sent to units in the Army, the Navy,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Artillery or Medical Corps, many with no connection with Swansea.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Volunteers could be separated from their friends,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16but thanks to the enthusiasm of the town's mayor,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19they would soon have another option.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Eager to respond to Kitchener's appeal,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25the mayor spearheaded a campaign to form a town battalion.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29It would be known as the Swansea Pals.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33The chaps who joined the battalion, obviously they were local lads,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36many had been to school together, they had worked together,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40they played sport together, and they drank in the same pubs and clubs.
0:04:40 > 0:04:41I think the feeling was
0:04:41 > 0:04:44that they had an affinity with each other, and the town,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46that would stand them in good stead at the front.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Was that deliberate? Did they say, "These mates will join up together"?
0:04:50 > 0:04:53I think it was. With the Pals battalion, you knew that there was
0:04:53 > 0:04:55an undertaking that you would in fact serve with your pals.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57It would be an adventure, you know.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Every hope the war would be short lived, the danger mightn't be
0:05:00 > 0:05:03too great, but the downside was they might well die together.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06It's a military experiment. Did it work?
0:05:06 > 0:05:10I think what wasn't realised was that where a particular battalion
0:05:10 > 0:05:12took heavy losses in one engagement,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15the effect on the local community was huge.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17And I don't think that had been foreseen.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30In the confusion of battle, there was one clear theme -
0:05:30 > 0:05:33the bravery of the Welsh solders,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36much of it unrecorded, unrecognised.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40But here's the action of one man who was recognised,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43the first Welsh winner of the Victoria Cross
0:05:43 > 0:05:44in the First World War.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50William Charles Fuller had lived in Swansea since boyhood.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54He'd served in the Boer War and so, as an experienced soldier,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59he was recalled to the colours in 1914.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Just six weeks into the war, Fuller risked his life
0:06:03 > 0:06:07in a bid to save his commanding officer, Captain Mark Haggard.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Under heavy enemy fire, Fuller carried the mortally wounded Haggard
0:06:11 > 0:06:13away from the heat of battle,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16an act of heroism that won him
0:06:16 > 0:06:19the very highest military award for valour.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22100 years later,
0:06:22 > 0:06:27Fuller's daughter remembers the man who was the hero of her family.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31So, Muriel, William Charles Fuller VC, your dad.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33- Yes.- What was he like?
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Wonderful. He spoiled us rotten.
0:06:36 > 0:06:37THEY CHUCKLE
0:06:37 > 0:06:42So, here they are. What a collection.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46And that one, the Victoria Cross, for valour.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50- Well, they don't hand those out for nothing, do they?- They do not.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Well, if you saw the box that it was in,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55it was absolutely tattered,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57and I went to the jeweller's and I said,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00"Can you get me a nice box to put my father's medals on,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04"because they're not doing him justice in this tatty box he's got."
0:07:04 > 0:07:09- He didn't talk about the day it was won?- No, he didn't talk about it.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12If he didn't talk to you, did he have a special friend
0:07:12 > 0:07:15- he could talk to? - Yes, this major that used to come.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19And they would go over old times and we used to take him
0:07:19 > 0:07:22a cup of coffee, or whatever, but we'd leave them to talk on their own.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24But he was a lovely man.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27What was your dad like after he'd had these chats?
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Oh, as if he'd had... His life was renewed.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32And this watch...
0:07:32 > 0:07:34The watch was presented to my father
0:07:34 > 0:07:37by the widow of Captain Haggard.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40And there's a tale at the other end of the chain as well, isn't there?
0:07:40 > 0:07:44That bullet was taken from my father when he was wounded,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48- and he had it put on the watch. - That's a German bullet?- Yes.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Of course it is. That's the bullet that came out of his shoulder.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56- Not on VC day, this is later in the First World War?- No, later.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01I was very proud of my father. Very proud. Well, we all were.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07William Fuller lived to the ripe old age of 90.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Many weren't so lucky.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15The steady flow of casualties from the front
0:08:15 > 0:08:18soon overwhelmed Welsh hospitals.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Country houses and stately homes were urgently needed
0:08:22 > 0:08:27to be used by the military to care for sick and wounded soldiers.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32In well-heeled Sketty, wealthy spinster Miss Dulcie Vivian
0:08:32 > 0:08:34not only offered up her smart mansion,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38she even paid for its conversion into a Red Cross hospital.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Parc Wern has been converted once more.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Today, it's luxury apartments.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45The bricks and mortar may have changed,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47but here's one thing that remains.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51It's an autograph book, and it's full of messages of gratitude
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and poems by soldiers,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57and it was presented to Nurse Conabeer, who worked here.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Here's one of the poems.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01When war is proclaimed and danger is nigh
0:09:01 > 0:09:04God and the soldier is everyone's cry
0:09:04 > 0:09:07But when war is over and all things are sighted
0:09:07 > 0:09:11God is forgotten and the soldier is slighted.
0:09:11 > 0:09:17Private W Lewis, 14th Welsh Regiment, 24th October 1916.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19And what did they all want?
0:09:19 > 0:09:22"We want peace."
0:09:29 > 0:09:31But peace was a long way off
0:09:31 > 0:09:35and with a gap left by a generation of men fighting abroad,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38it fell to the women to keep wartime Britain going.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Many ditched their domestic duties
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and embraced the roles traditionally held by men.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Large numbers of Swansea women answered the call to work
0:09:49 > 0:09:51at Nobel's Explosives factory.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55That's Alfred Nobel, as in Nobel Peace Prize.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58The factory lay hidden deep in sand dunes
0:09:58 > 0:10:0215 miles west of Swansea in what is now Pembrey Country Park.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07The ammunition factory was built in 1914
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and would soon become one of the largest in Britain.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Within a year, 70% of its workforce were women.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17The scene today - a tourist attraction.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21100 years ago, under my feet, women in their hundreds,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24these munition-ettes, were doing incredibly dangerous work
0:10:24 > 0:10:26in their bunkers and sheds.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29In fact, some of the structures remain just over here.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Wartime munitions work was so secret
0:10:45 > 0:10:48that records of life in a place like this are very rare.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Fortunately, Gabrielle West,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54a police officer who worked in Pembrey, kept a diary.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59She wrote, "The girls who work here are full of life and cheerful,
0:10:59 > 0:11:01"with a good many characters among them."
0:11:01 > 0:11:04She also paints a vivid picture of the conditions
0:11:04 > 0:11:06the munition-ettes faced at work.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10"Making TNT produced an evil, sickly, choky smell
0:11:10 > 0:11:13"that makes you cough and until you feel sick.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17"There could be 16 or 18 casualties every night,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19"women overcome by fumes."
0:11:24 > 0:11:29Munitions work was one of the most dangerous jobs on the Home Front.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33The women handled chemicals that turned their skin yellow,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35earning them the nickname "canary girls".
0:11:35 > 0:11:38The poisonous fumes discoloured their hair
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and stripped their teeth of enamel.
0:11:41 > 0:11:42And yet, despite the risks,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46one factor made sure the women would return day after day...
0:11:47 > 0:11:50In a word, money. Lots of it.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54Here at Pembrey, women were getting paid as much as men.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58In fact, because they were doing piecework, they often earned more.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Now, that was a first.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06But in truth, it was poor reward for the dangers they faced.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09One fateful day, a huge explosion
0:12:09 > 0:12:12took the lives of six factory workers,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15including two teenage girls from Swansea.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19The town came to a standstill as the funeral procession
0:12:19 > 0:12:21moved through the streets.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24The coffins were draped in the Union flag
0:12:24 > 0:12:27and flanked by uniformed munition-ettes,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31giving the funeral an almost military flavour.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36The women of Swansea couldn't control safety in the factories,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40but they could try to control safety on the streets.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43This time, the threat wasn't stockpiles of explosives.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49No, it was the loose morals of giddy young women.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53# Hello, hello
0:12:53 > 0:12:55# Who's your lady friend? #
0:12:55 > 0:12:59It was believed that women of a certain class needed to be
0:12:59 > 0:13:03saved from themselves, lest their behaviour undermined society
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and threatened the war effort.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Women patrols were formed to rescue soldiers home on leave
0:13:09 > 0:13:13from women of evil reputation.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Across town in Oxford Street,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18it was said that soldiers couldn't walk the pavements
0:13:18 > 0:13:21without the unwanted attention of young women.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24At the heart of the scandal were the docks.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27A certain Rev F Sparrow thundered,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29"Evidently we are living in the midst
0:13:29 > 0:13:32"of shameless degradation and gross immorality.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36"The docks have become a cesspool of wickedness,
0:13:36 > 0:13:42"and the orgies of lust are revolting in their lewd vulgarity."
0:13:46 > 0:13:49The moral emergency that gripped Swansea
0:13:49 > 0:13:51was a symptom of extraordinary times.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56Over the water in Belgium, civilians overrun by the Kaiser's army
0:13:56 > 0:13:59were facing a very real emergency,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and the people of South Wales weren't slow in coming to their aid.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12In October 1914, in the dead of night,
0:14:12 > 0:14:1749 Belgian refugees arrived here at Swansea station,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19exhausted, unannounced.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23It had taken them more than two days to travel here from Ostend.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26The oldest in the party was nearly 80,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28the youngest just five weeks old.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32The group found a warm welcome
0:14:32 > 0:14:35among a small community of skilled Belgian metalworkers
0:14:35 > 0:14:37already living in Swansea.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42By 1916, almost 800 Belgian refugees had been received into the town.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48But such niceties didn't extend to Germans living there.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Carl Oscar Roth was born in Dresden, Germany,
0:14:50 > 0:14:55but was brought up here in Swansea, had lived here since he was a boy.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58By 1911 he was living here, in Carnglas Road,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01with his wife and four children in a house called Dresden,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06which he quickly changed at the outbreak of war to Preston.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09No-one was fooled about the family's German origins.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14Roth was soon rounded up as a potentially dangerous enemy alien
0:15:14 > 0:15:17and sent to Knockaloe Interment Camp on the Isle of Man,
0:15:17 > 0:15:22along with more than 20,000 other German civilian prisoners of war.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Roth wasn't released until 1919,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28almost a year after the war had ended.
0:15:28 > 0:15:29- Nice to see you.- Thank you.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32His granddaughter Ynis Richardson
0:15:32 > 0:15:35knows how much the whole family felt the blow.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38I think it was the speed that surprised everybody,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40how quickly they were taken away.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43They had originally gone to Alexandra Palace,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47and there are photos of camp beds out in Alexandra Palace.
0:15:47 > 0:15:48By the beginning of September,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52all the prisoners who were going were in the Isle of Man.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55And that left your grandmother and four children here?
0:15:55 > 0:16:00My mother was 15, her youngest brother was two.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03What happened to them after Oscar was taken away?
0:16:03 > 0:16:07My mother told me afterwards that they were harassed,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and they had white feathers through the door, abusive letters.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12What other things might have come through the door
0:16:12 > 0:16:14my mother wouldn't have mentioned.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17My mother's next younger brother was in school,
0:16:17 > 0:16:21and he ran away to sea and joined the merchant navy,
0:16:21 > 0:16:25where he stayed through the war and into the '20s and '30s.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Why did he leave school?
0:16:27 > 0:16:30They knew his father was German and he just got bullied, literally,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32and teased and whatever, so he ran away.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35What did it feel like when you went to the Isle of Man and saw it all?
0:16:35 > 0:16:39I took some photos of the site, which is now just a farm,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and there is no evidence anything had ever happened there except,
0:16:42 > 0:16:46right at the end of the lane was a sign that said Knockaloe
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and 20,000 prisoners were here 1914.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52- Can you understand why it happened? - Well, it was fear.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54It was a different sort of war
0:16:54 > 0:16:57and they didn't know what was going to happen to them and their children.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Paranoia focused on the real,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03or imagined, threat of the German enemy.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06That threat was kept in check throughout the war
0:17:06 > 0:17:08by the Defence of the Realm Act,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12or DORA. It gave the State unprecedented control
0:17:12 > 0:17:16over the lives of its people, in all manner of ways.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20The Act made it illegal to buy a pair of binoculars,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24hail a taxi by whistling or even buy a round of drinks in a pub.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Here in Swansea, it was even illegal in some parts of town to sketch.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33Records show one man was detained for drawing in the castle grounds,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35just up the road in Oystermouth,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39another for lighting a fire on a hillside, a prank that saw him
0:17:39 > 0:17:42arrested on suspicion of signalling to the enemy.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49As well as thwarting potential spies, DORA aimed to mobilise
0:17:49 > 0:17:53the whole country behind the war effort, including its food supply.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56At the start of the war, food hoarding
0:17:56 > 0:17:58and panic buying were commonplace.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02It didn't last, and Swansea soon learned to tighten its belt
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and accept that with war came a certain lack of choice.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11But as the fighting wore on,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13attacks by German U-boats on merchants ships
0:18:13 > 0:18:17delivering essential supplies to Britain were increasing.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24The effects were frightening.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Britain came within six weeks of running out of wheat.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34Queues outside bakers, butchers and grocers were commonplace.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Rationing was introduced and soon butter, sugar,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40eggs and tea were all restricted.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Restaurants and cafes even had meatless days
0:18:43 > 0:18:46in order to make limited supplies go further.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Barren land was turned over to vegetable production,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53sports grounds too.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Even Swansea Town's pitch was at risk of being dug up,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00a fate suffered by half the country's football grounds.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03But the Swans kicked off the 1914 season as normal
0:19:03 > 0:19:05and within a few months, they were playing
0:19:05 > 0:19:08one of the most glorious games in the club's history.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Today, the Liberty Stadium is the Swans' field of dreams,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17but a century ago, their home was what once stood here,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20their beloved Vetch Field.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24On 9th January 1915, 16,000 people are here to witness
0:19:24 > 0:19:26one of THE shocks in cup history -
0:19:26 > 0:19:31Swansea beating league champions Blackburn Rovers 1-0.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33But any euphoria was short lived.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37Soon, professional football was struggling, as players
0:19:37 > 0:19:41enlisted in greater numbers and the public mood shifted.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45It was now seen as disrespectful for men to play sport
0:19:45 > 0:19:48while others fought in the trenches.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Once more, women filled the gap.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55The munition-ettes from Swansea's national shell factory were
0:19:55 > 0:19:58one of Britain's most successful female teams and drew big crowds.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Fearing this popularity threatened the men's game,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06the FA banned women's football in the early 1920s.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10In contrast to the football club, the town's rugby club,
0:20:10 > 0:20:12the successful All Whites,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16cancelled all games at the outbreak of war.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21The fighting took an extremely heavy toll on rugby.
0:20:21 > 0:20:27By 1915, over 90% of rugby union players in Britain had enlisted.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34In Swansea, 24 of the club's players were killed while on active service.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41In the absence of regular sport, wartime entertainment
0:20:41 > 0:20:45came in the form of musical theatres and music halls.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49Moving film, then very much a novelty, found a home in
0:20:49 > 0:20:55Wales's first purpose-built picture house, Swansea's Carlton Cinema.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Today, it's a bookshop, but in the early autumn of 1916, this is where
0:20:59 > 0:21:04they came for the most important cinematic release of the war.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13The Battle Of The Somme was a silent documentary
0:21:13 > 0:21:16and propaganda film that captured startling footage
0:21:16 > 0:21:21from the first days of the Somme offensive in July 1916.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27The scenes were at times graphic.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32While some in Swansea called for the film to be banned,
0:21:32 > 0:21:37for most, watching became an almost moral obligation.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40They were desperate to see for themselves
0:21:40 > 0:21:42what conditions were like at the front.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45For one week in September 1916,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49their wish came true and the film played to packed houses.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51For the first time, the people of Swansea saw
0:21:51 > 0:21:55what their love ones were going through on the Western Front.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04The Battle of the Somme dragged on for 20 weeks
0:22:04 > 0:22:08and claimed the lives of more than 100,000 British soldiers.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12For the men of the Swansea Battalion,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14it was their first major combat,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16but in their attempt to capture Mametz Wood,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20an area on the Somme nearly a mile wide
0:22:20 > 0:22:24and over a mile deep, it would also be their last.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Nearly 400 of the Swansea Pals
0:22:26 > 0:22:29were either killed or wounded on that fateful day
0:22:29 > 0:22:33out of an attacking contingent of 676,
0:22:33 > 0:22:34a loss so devastating
0:22:34 > 0:22:39the battalion didn't return to major action for more than a year.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45The growing toll of casualties throughout the war meant that
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Britain was in desperate need to replace its supply of soldiers,
0:22:49 > 0:22:54but as the conflict dragged on, patriotic fervour dwindled.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56The Government had to act fast.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59The Military Service Act was passed,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01ushering in the era of conscription.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Men aged between 18 and 41 could be called up,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10with only a few exemptions - the medically unfit, clergymen,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14teachers and those doing work of national importance.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Appeals against conscription were commonplace
0:23:17 > 0:23:19and the Swansea tribunal was soon busy.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24In one afternoon session alone in February 1916,
0:23:24 > 0:23:29it heard no fewer than 65 requests for exemption from military service.
0:23:29 > 0:23:342% of the appeals were from many who objected to war on moral grounds,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36and for these conscientious objectors,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41proceedings were notoriously harsh, reflecting widespread public opinion
0:23:41 > 0:23:44that they were cowardly, ungrateful shirkers.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49The grilling the men faced was to the point. One man was asked,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53"Would you allow the Germans to come to Britain to kill you?
0:23:53 > 0:23:58"Kill your mother? Do you actually possess any intelligence?"
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Needless to say, most cases were rejected.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Most but not all.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10John Oliver Watkins, a 23-year-old Swansea council worker
0:24:10 > 0:24:13was granted exemption on religious grounds.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Watkins WAS prepared to serve at the front,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19helping the wounded rather than bearing arms.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24He was sent to join an ambulance convoy attached to the French army.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28This collection of maps, letters and medals is housed
0:24:28 > 0:24:30in the West Glamorgan Archive,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33and they tell the story of Watkins' time at war.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36This is the French Croix de Guerre,
0:24:36 > 0:24:41awarded to Watkins for what he did on the night of December 10th 1917.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43He drove his ambulance to pick up
0:24:43 > 0:24:46a large number of seriously wounded men
0:24:46 > 0:24:48but on the way back they got bogged down
0:24:48 > 0:24:50in an abandoned trench.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Under heavy enemy fire and mustard gas,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57Watkins put all the men safely to one side, mended the ambulance,
0:24:57 > 0:25:02got it going again, put the men back in and then ferried the men back.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Perhaps the most striking thing here
0:25:04 > 0:25:08is his account of the final day of the war.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12"The day was dry, and outside the hut I sat with three colleagues
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"around a large tin bath peeling spuds for the midday meal.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19"A soldier was seen to fix a white paper on the church door.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22"I crossed the square and on the blank side
0:25:22 > 0:25:23"of a torn German army map
0:25:23 > 0:25:26"was brushed in Indian ink the following notice.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28"'Official. Armistice signed,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31"'hostilities ceased today 11 o'clock.'
0:25:31 > 0:25:35"I broke the news to my friends and we went on with our job.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37"There was no wild excitement
0:25:37 > 0:25:41"but just a feeling of release from war to peace."
0:25:41 > 0:25:45And here is that German map...
0:25:45 > 0:25:51and here are the words that brought the first world war to an end.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,
0:26:08 > 0:26:13Remembrance Day remains a powerful annual symbol
0:26:13 > 0:26:16of so much loss and sacrifice.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21A century on, and new discoveries continue to add
0:26:21 > 0:26:24to our understanding of Welsh communities at war.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27In a chapel in the Treboeth area of Swansea,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31a roll of honour has recently been discovered.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34- So, here we are, Gethin, a list of names.- It is indeed.
0:26:34 > 0:26:3781 men from the local chapel who served
0:26:37 > 0:26:41either in the Army or the Navy during the war years.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Most of them were actually volunteers.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47At least a third of these men would have been miners,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51most working in Mynyddbach Colliery, about a mile-and-a-half up the road.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53The local comprehensive have been great.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57One of the classes has done an awful lot of work with the official records
0:26:57 > 0:26:59- to find out who these men are. - Let's go and meet them.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04It's apt that a new generation, young people in Swansea,
0:27:04 > 0:27:06are respecting the memory of their forebears
0:27:06 > 0:27:09who sacrificed so much a century ago.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12- Hi, guys. How are you doing? - ALL: Hello.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15What have we got here? This is quite a spread.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17What we've done is we collected a load of photos,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20interesting photos, about World War I,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and are trying to pick out the most interesting ones
0:27:23 > 0:27:26to put on a big poster to go to our National Eisteddfod.
0:27:26 > 0:27:27A big project, then.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Did you know much, Megan, before this all began,
0:27:30 > 0:27:32about the First World War?
0:27:32 > 0:27:35We knew a little bit as we'd been learning it in class
0:27:35 > 0:27:38with our teacher, but it was really interesting to find out
0:27:38 > 0:27:42more about the 81 soldiers on the roll of honour.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Is there anything here that has surprised you?
0:27:45 > 0:27:48I didn't realise it had expanded so much.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Here, in this photo, it's a picture of a pyramid
0:27:50 > 0:27:52so it means they stretched as far as Egypt.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56I didn't realise that so many people from my local area were
0:27:56 > 0:28:00involved in the war, and the contribution they made towards it.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Have you found out anything about the ages of all these people?
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Yes, most of them were our age going into the war
0:28:06 > 0:28:09and that's really scary, really,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13because I could never imagine going into a war with, like, fighting.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24There's something about this connection between young people
0:28:24 > 0:28:26and the war of 100 years ago.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30At the outbreak of the First World War, Britain was unprepared.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35Even industrial Swansea was unprepared for industrial slaughter.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40Fear and suspicion would have their say in how Swansea adapted
0:28:40 > 0:28:45to this world in upheaval, but so, too, would togetherness,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48courage, the notion of self-sacrifice.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Perhaps the reason why young people are
0:28:51 > 0:28:54engaged by the events of 100 years ago is
0:28:54 > 0:28:58because what happened here and elsewhere was
0:28:58 > 0:29:03the start of the revolution that made the world they live in today.