0:00:04 > 0:00:07'I'm embarking on a new railway adventure,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10'that will take me across the heart of Europe.'
0:00:11 > 0:00:12I'll be using this,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, dated 1913,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel
0:00:20 > 0:00:21for the British tourist.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26'It told travellers where to go, what to see
0:00:26 > 0:00:29'and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks
0:00:29 > 0:00:31'criss-crossing the Continent.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33'Now, a century later,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37'I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,
0:00:37 > 0:00:42'where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.'
0:00:42 > 0:00:47I want to rediscover that lost Europe that, in 1913, couldn't know
0:00:47 > 0:00:51that its way of life would shortly be swept aside
0:00:51 > 0:00:52by the advent of war.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11'Steered by my 1913 railway guide,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14'I've completed four illuminating journeys
0:01:14 > 0:01:16'through prosperous pre-war Europe.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20'Today's final leg will take me
0:01:20 > 0:01:23'to where that peaceful world was to be swept away.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26'I'll approach the French sector of the Western Front...'
0:01:26 > 0:01:27WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:27 > 0:01:29'..where from 1914,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33the trains carried a new cargo - of artillery shells...'
0:01:33 > 0:01:36That's amazing. In two minutes, we laid five metres.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40'..and Edwardian tourists were replaced by soldiers,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43'facing the horrors of the trenches.'
0:01:43 > 0:01:50He was one of the 72,000 people who never had a grave.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04'This journey began in Amsterdam,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07'then took me south, via The Hague, into Belgium.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Today I'll explore the battlefields of the First World War,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16before completing my odyssey in Compiegne,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19where four years of warfare came to an end.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26During the 19th century, with the spread of its railways,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28Belgium enjoyed enormous industrial growth.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30My Bradshaw's notes that
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Mons is the centre of the Belgian coalfields,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35but just the year after my guidebook was written,
0:02:35 > 0:02:40the town was to acquire a fame and notoriety in world history
0:02:40 > 0:02:43that has not left it since.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44- Bonjour, Monsieur.- Merci.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48'On the fourth of August 1914, Germany invaded neutral Belgium
0:02:48 > 0:02:51'and, the very same day, Britain declared war.'
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Within weeks, British troops were sent to Mons
0:02:55 > 0:02:59to try and help to hold back the Germans.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02The battle that ensued saw the first British casualties,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04and also the first acts of heroism.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Major Maurice French is the nephew of the officer
0:03:09 > 0:03:11who won the war's first Victoria Cross.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14- Maurice.- Morning, Michael.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Your uncle Lieutenant Dease won his Victoria Cross
0:03:17 > 0:03:19at this very spot on this bridge?
0:03:19 > 0:03:21That is absolutely true, yes.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Lieutenant Maurice Dease was just 24 when he was sent to fight.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27His regiment, the Royal Fusiliers,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31formed part of the British Expeditionary Force -
0:03:31 > 0:03:33100,000 regular soldiers
0:03:33 > 0:03:35who travelled on chartered trains and ships.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Tell me about his journey out to Belgium.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42They mobilised in the Isle of Wight, and they came by sea, of course,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45and then, they got in a train,
0:03:45 > 0:03:51and then, they arrived here on the evening of the 22nd of August,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54having detrained and then marched 20 miles.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58The German strategy was to sweep through Belgium at lightning speed,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01then move through France to capture Paris.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04In a bid to stop them, Lieutenant Dease and his comrades
0:04:04 > 0:04:07were ordered to defend the Mons-Conde Canal,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11placing their two machine guns on a railway bridge that crosses it.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13So what did your uncle do?
0:04:13 > 0:04:15My uncle Maurice was in a trench,
0:04:15 > 0:04:1850 yards, maybe, behind the two machine guns,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21and then he saw that one of the guns had stopped
0:04:21 > 0:04:24and so, he got out of his trench and he went forward,
0:04:24 > 0:04:30and he was hit, then. I think that was in the side or the shoulder.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Soon after, Lieutenant Dease was called to the gun
0:04:34 > 0:04:36and wounded a second time.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39But, impressively, his bravery sustained him.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43As the battle continued and casualties mounted,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Dease moved to control one of the guns himself.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51And I think he was about to do that when he was hit a third time
0:04:51 > 0:04:55and he, then, actually, died soon afterwards, after the third wound,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59but he had gone on for, maybe, two or three hours, although wounded,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03controlling his machine guns and doing everything he could.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08They believe that he died at about eleven o'clock that morning.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Despite the courage of Lieutenant Dease and his men,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16the British were forced to withdraw.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20But not before the war's second Victoria Cross
0:05:20 > 0:05:23had been won by Dease's comrade, Private Godley,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27who, at the end, single-handedly defended the bridge.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Godley survived to tell the tale, but Dease's family was left with
0:05:31 > 0:05:35only the medal to commemorate his sacrifice.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Those first British soldiers had no clue
0:05:40 > 0:05:44how long the conflict would last and how much it was to change.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51My journey continues south to visit the battlefields of the Somme.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53- Bonjour, monsieur.- Bonjour, merci.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55When do we reach France?
0:05:55 > 0:05:58- Quand est-ce qu'on arrive en France? - Tout de suite.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01- Midi six.- Midi six. C'est formidable, merci.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03- Merci.- Merci, bon voyage.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08We'll be in Lille in...12 minutes.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18I've now crossed the border into France,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20and I'm changing trains in Lille.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31My 1913 Bradshaw's describes the city as,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33"an important manufacturing centre,
0:06:33 > 0:06:38"with a vast trade in linen, woollens, cotton, machinery, etc."
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Back then, this station was busy with freight trains bound for Paris,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43but they shared the line with British travellers
0:06:43 > 0:06:45exploring northern France.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47I'm joining historian Heather Jones
0:06:47 > 0:06:50on board a local service to find out more.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53- Hello, Heather.- Hi, Michael.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Good to see you. I've been looking at my Bradshaw's guide and it says,
0:06:56 > 0:07:01"A special interest attaches to those parts of France nearest to England."
0:07:01 > 0:07:04"There's no wonderful scenery, but a country very like Kent or Surrey,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07"with constant suggestions of a common history."
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Were British travellers through northern France
0:07:10 > 0:07:11quite common already by 1913?
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Yes, they were. There'd been a massive increase in travel,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17so there were around 700,000 passengers,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19travelling either from Paris to London
0:07:19 > 0:07:22or from London to Paris by 1913.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24So, a huge volume of trade and tourism.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26What sort of comfort were they travelling in?
0:07:26 > 0:07:28It depended what class you were travelling in.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31For example, they had heated carriages, so it was quite warm,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33there was good suspension.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35However, the Baedeker guides warned passengers
0:07:35 > 0:07:37from the upper and middle classes
0:07:37 > 0:07:39not to travel third class on local French trains,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43as there were no cushions in the third-class carriages.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Edwardian tourists came for Picardy's beaches,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49peaceful countryside and historic towns,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52but soon the world they fell in love with
0:07:52 > 0:07:54would be rendered unrecognisable.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Edith Wharton travelled through this region before the war and wrote very movingly
0:07:58 > 0:08:02of the beautiful medieval villages that had been there for centuries,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05the old farmhouses that had been there for centuries. All of that's destroyed
0:08:05 > 0:08:09and, in fact, many of the First World War maps describe locations
0:08:09 > 0:08:12as "such and such a farm" because that's what was there,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15and had been there for centuries, and it's obliterated by shellfire.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17By the end of 1914,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21the railway line itself had become a casualty of conflict.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24When the war came, it obviously destroyed this particular line that
0:08:24 > 0:08:26we're travelling on, which was the main line from Paris
0:08:26 > 0:08:30up through Arras and going on either to the French coast or to Lille,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34and, in fact, the old Western Front went right across this line and many
0:08:34 > 0:08:38of the areas of this line were shelled and badly damaged in the war.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40After the Battle of Mons,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44British and French troops were forced to retreat 200 miles south,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46but they fought back,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and the battle lines gradually moved north towards the Channel.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53Soon, the two sides faced each other across no-man's-land
0:08:53 > 0:08:56in a line of trenches that stretched 400 miles,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59from the Flanders coast to the Swiss border.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03- Bye-bye, Heather.- It's great to meet you.- Thank you so much. Bye-bye.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06I'm leaving the train at Albert,
0:09:06 > 0:09:11a small town which found itself on the Allied side of the front line.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17When we think of the Western Front,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20of this landscape transformed by war,
0:09:20 > 0:09:25we think of barbed wire and trenches and mud and annihilation.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30But another novelty in the landscape was railways, the tracks of war.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36The First World War saw railways
0:09:36 > 0:09:39play a bigger role in battle than ever before.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Millions of troops were moved by train
0:09:42 > 0:09:46and temporary lines were built, to supply the trenches.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49The fields around Albert were criss-crossed with
0:09:49 > 0:09:53miles of narrow gauge tracks and, remarkably, one line has survived.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56TRAIN WHISTLES
0:09:56 > 0:10:00This is the P'tit train de la Haute Somme,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02which is now run as a heritage service,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06complete with an authentic 1916 steam locomotive.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12I'm taking a ride with curator David Blondin.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19David, who was it who built this railway?
0:10:19 > 0:10:23So this railway was built by the French and British army,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26just before the Battle of the Somme.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Were there a lot of these railways built?
0:10:28 > 0:10:34Yes. In this area, just between February and June 1916,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38they built about 300km of line.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43That's a lot of railway. They were obviously building very quickly.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Along the Western Front,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48light railways like this were used extensively, by both sides.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51With bad roads and a shortage of motor vehicles,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53they were an essential connection
0:10:53 > 0:10:57between the permanent railway network and the front line.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02Was the purpose of the railway to carry munitions or men?
0:11:02 > 0:11:03It was to carry munitions.
0:11:03 > 0:11:09On this line, they carried up to 1,500 tonnes of ammunition in a day,
0:11:09 > 0:11:15so they need all the trains to carry ammunition and not to carry troops.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17They go by foot.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Once the war was over, most of the tracks were removed,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24but one line was kept in use by a local sugar factory.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27In the 1970s, the factory switched to road transport,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31but a short stretch was saved by local enthusiasts.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Do you feel sad that of all the hundreds of kilometres that there
0:11:35 > 0:11:38used to be, only a couple of kilometres are preserved?
0:11:38 > 0:11:40No. I can say I'm happy.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Of course, it's not a lot, if you compare it to several hundred
0:11:44 > 0:11:46that were built during the war.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49We wish to preserve two kilometres and we need to keep it.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Well, congratulations, because it is a very historic railway.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56The advantage of the lightweight 60cm gauge
0:11:56 > 0:12:00used for the trench trains was the phenomenal speed at which new lines
0:12:00 > 0:12:05could be built, thanks to the simple system of pre-fabricated tracks.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09So, David, these are the sorts of instant railway
0:12:09 > 0:12:12that they used in the First World War, are they?
0:12:12 > 0:12:17Yes. They used this piece of track to build railways during the war.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21And how quickly could they build railways with these instant kits?
0:12:21 > 0:12:23So, before the Battle of the Somme,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26they can built about one kilometre per day with a team.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29That's pretty good progress, isn't it? Shall we have a go?
0:12:29 > 0:12:31- Yes.- OK.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Well, that's amazing.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53In, what, about two minutes, we laid five metres.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Shall we see if we can be quicker next time?
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Yes, we can try.
0:12:58 > 0:12:59Allez!
0:13:01 > 0:13:04So doing this for five minutes, with four strong friends,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08on a pleasant summer's afternoon has been tough enough,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12but just imagine doing this hour after hour in all weathers,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15as the soldiers did in 1916,
0:13:15 > 0:13:19and then preparing for going over the top, for battle.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25The soldiers who built these tracks
0:13:25 > 0:13:29were preparing for one of the war's most famous battles.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Launched in 1916, the Somme offensive was a bid
0:13:32 > 0:13:35to break the stalemate of trench warfare.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42And in these fields, hundreds of thousands of troops
0:13:42 > 0:13:45confronted death on an industrial scale.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Just up the road from Albert stands a towering testament
0:13:54 > 0:13:56to the magnitude of that loss.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04Nothing prepares you for the size of the Thiepval monument.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08And yet, its enormity is not in any way triumphalist.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11It is, in a strange way, humble.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13Its scale is entirely to do with
0:14:13 > 0:14:17the massive sacrifice that was made here.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22Thiepval is the biggest of all the First World War memorials
0:14:22 > 0:14:24on the Western Front.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Designed by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30it commemorates the names of over 72,000 men,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33whose bodies were never recovered.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Ever since it opened in 1932,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40families have come here to remember their dead.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42I'm meeting David Locker,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45whose uncle's name is engraved on its walls.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49- David, hello. - Michael, good morning to you.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53So, it's your uncle who was killed at the Battle of the Somme.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54What was his name?
0:14:54 > 0:14:56It is, indeed. It's my uncle, Bernard Locker.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01There's no-one in the family knew much about Uncle Bernard, at all.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04I knew very little until, perhaps, 12 years ago.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09David's grandmother shared little of the pain of losing her son.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12It wasn't until David was clearing out his aunt's home
0:15:12 > 0:15:14that he discovered the story.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19At the back of the garage was an old Victorian sideboard.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24Knowing that the Victorians used to put things in, like, secret drawers,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27we managed to get the whole front of the sideboard open,
0:15:27 > 0:15:30which turned out to be a huge drawer.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Inside it was a large, brown paper parcel and a box.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38We didn't know at first whether we'd come across the crown jewels
0:15:38 > 0:15:39or what we'd come across!
0:15:39 > 0:15:44But it turned out to be a whole pile of information on Uncle Bernard.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Uncle Bernard's entire life had been kept in a secret drawer?
0:15:48 > 0:15:51It was Grandma's own little memory box.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59What do you know about Bernard now?
0:15:59 > 0:16:05Well, Bernard was 19. He actually joined the army when he was 18.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08He was a bandsman and he was put into the battalion band.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12And, eventually, of course, they were brought to the front line.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16He was actually in France for a period of three weeks.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Eleven days of that, he actually spent at the front.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Bernard had arrived just as the Battle of the Somme
0:16:25 > 0:16:26was drawing to a close.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30His personal letters document the experience shared by
0:16:30 > 0:16:34many novice soldiers, of reaching the front and preparing to fight.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Letters from his training camp.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40That's the letter that he wrote on the train
0:16:40 > 0:16:44travelling from Blythe down to Folkestone.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47This is a letter once he got into France
0:16:47 > 0:16:51and was then travelling down by train from the French coast,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53down to his base camp here.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58This is his last letter prior to going down to the line.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Just a week before the battle ended,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Bernard was sent out to occupy a German trench.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07Battalion records reveal that,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10whilst the mission was initially successful,
0:17:10 > 0:17:11the Germans soon returned.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Bernard was never seen again.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Do you know how your grandmother took the death?
0:17:16 > 0:17:18She, quite honestly, didn't believe it.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21He'd, literally, just been reported as missing.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25No-one knew whether he'd been taken prisoner or whether he was dead.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28She eventually received notification from the British Red Cross.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Bernard was one of over 400,000 British casualties of the Somme -
0:17:35 > 0:17:40some 60,000 having been killed, injured or taken prisoner
0:17:40 > 0:17:42on the first day alone.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Bernard's mother never saw his name on this extraordinary memorial,
0:17:46 > 0:17:51but for his family, it remains an important connection with the past.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Bernard Locker, under the East Yorkshire Regiment.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57- Yep.- Halfway down.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59Killed in the High Wood area,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02which was round about five miles due east of here.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05He was one of the...
0:18:06 > 0:18:12..72,000 people who never had a grave.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17"I now conclude with sending my love to all.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22"Don't worry, I'm all right, and now I'll tell you all good night.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25"Your loving son, Bernard."
0:18:25 > 0:18:28And he signs off with 22 kisses.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31- The last letter.- The last letter.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50It's now time for me to explore further this region's past.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00My next stop is Amiens,
0:19:00 > 0:19:01whose cathedral, my Bradshaw's tells me,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05"is one of the magnificent gothic monuments of France,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08"the facade being especially admired,"
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and it attracted British soldiers on recreational breaks,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14perhaps wanting to feast their eyes on beauty
0:19:14 > 0:19:15and to renew their spirits,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19before returning to the mud and gore of the trenches.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25My 1913 guidebook describes Amiens as the chief town of the
0:19:25 > 0:19:28departmente de la Somme, the ancient capital of Picardy,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33and for Edwardian tourists, its rich history was a huge draw.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Item one on their itinerary was the 800-year-old cathedral,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40whose lofty spire still dominates the skyline.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45I'm taking a tour with Xavier Bailly from the local heritage service.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48- Xavier, lovely to see you. - Glad to meet you.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Xavier, this is the most spectacular cathedral.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58My guidebook tells me that it's one of the great
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Gothic monuments of France. Is that so?
0:20:00 > 0:20:04That's true. We are in the largest Gothic cathedral
0:20:04 > 0:20:09built during the medieval ages, built during the 13th century.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13And the guidebook also talks about the loftiness, that is to say
0:20:13 > 0:20:16the height of the nave, that's very remarkable here.
0:20:16 > 0:20:23Yes. Yes, we have the vault at 42 metres high.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26The nave is the highest in the world.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32But with the advent of war, Amiens became a target.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34It was a key railway junction,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38of vital strategic importance to the Allied forces,
0:20:38 > 0:20:43and its citizens went to extreme lengths to defend their cathedral.
0:20:43 > 0:20:50We protected, outside and inside, the treasures with sandbags,
0:20:50 > 0:20:54something like 22,000 sandbags -
0:20:54 > 0:21:0016,000 outside, and the rest inside.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Who was putting out these sandbags?
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Local companies worked to protect the cathedral,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10but it was a general enterprise for everybody,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13probably the local inhabitants,
0:21:13 > 0:21:19and probably British soldiers included in that works.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Amiens faced its greatest test in the summer of 1918.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26German forces had launched a big offensive,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29bringing the front line right to the city's edge
0:21:29 > 0:21:31and, in August of that year,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Britain joined France in a major counterattack.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38At the end of World War One, there's a big battle for Amiens
0:21:38 > 0:21:42as the Allies begin their advance towards Germany.
0:21:42 > 0:21:43The cathedral survives that, as well?
0:21:43 > 0:21:50Yes, because everything was made to protect Amiens, especially with
0:21:50 > 0:21:56the help of the British troops and the British commonwealth armies.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59The tide had finally turned in the Allies' favour.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01After four years of conflict,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05the end was in sight for the thousands of soldiers
0:22:05 > 0:22:08who'd sought solace in this magnificent cathedral.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14I have to show you the weeping angel.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19It's a symbol of the pain of the war for British soldiers.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22They used to come here and see this?
0:22:22 > 0:22:26Yes. Postcards were produced during the war
0:22:26 > 0:22:31and, especially, this one with the weeping angel,
0:22:31 > 0:22:36and soldiers sent home all over the world
0:22:36 > 0:22:41these postcards showing a crying baby.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Symbolising the suffering of the war?
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Yes. So much pain.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58The role that British Empire troops played in protecting Amiens
0:22:58 > 0:23:00is commemorated in the cathedral.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07With my 1913 Bradshaw's in hand,
0:23:07 > 0:23:12I'm embarking on the last leg of my extensive European journey.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17Bonjour. Compiegne, deuxieme classe, aller simple, s'il vous plait.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19- Pour le prochain depart, monsieur? - Le prochain depart, oui.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21- Je vous remercie.- Merci.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24- Voila, monsieur.- Au revoir. - Bonne journee, au revoir.
0:23:26 > 0:23:27The battle of Amiens,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31from which the cathedral was so mercifully spared,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34came shortly before the end of the First World War.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36I'm now bound for the place
0:23:36 > 0:23:39where the conflict was officially terminated.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43I'm attracted by the fact that the armistice had
0:23:43 > 0:23:45a bizarre railway connection,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47one that my Bradshaw's could not have foreseen,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51when it pointed travellers towards the forest of Compiegne.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57In 1913, Compiegne was known as a spa town,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59surrounded by peaceful woodland.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02But five years later, it was to make history.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07By November 1918, the Allied offensive
0:24:07 > 0:24:10had delivered a series of blows to the German forces.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14The Allies had held secret talks to decide the terms of an armistice.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18All that remained was to get the Germans to sign.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23The venue chosen for that fateful meeting was a train carriage,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25in a remote glade in the Compiegne forest.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30Battlefield tour guide Robert Gallagher knows the story.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32- Robert, hello. - Good afternoon, Michael.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Robert, how did it come to be
0:24:35 > 0:24:37that the armistice at the end of World War One
0:24:37 > 0:24:39was signed in a railway carriage at this very spot?
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Well, the railway carriage was mobile headquarters that belonged to the
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Allied Commander in Chief, the French general, Marshal Foch.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51And was this wagon part of a train?
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Yes. The carriage was actually a dining car-come-office,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58but there were sleeping arrangements - sleeping cars -
0:24:58 > 0:25:03and other offices for the vast staff that a general would be entitled to,
0:25:03 > 0:25:07so I believe there were about seven cars, in total.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Far from prying eyes
0:25:12 > 0:25:17and with easy railway access, thanks to lines built to supply the front,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20the Compiegne forest was the perfect place for the rendezvous.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24On the 8th of November 1918, the German delegation
0:25:24 > 0:25:27was invited into the carriage to discuss the terms.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29So eventually, the Germans had to sign?
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Yes. At ten past five on the morning of the 11th of November,
0:25:33 > 0:25:40they signed the armistice, which was to last for 36 days.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44- And it came into effect? - It came into effect six hours later,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48at eleven o'clock on the 11th day of the 11th month.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53Although few expected it at the time, that temporary ceasefire held
0:25:53 > 0:25:56and the armistice wagon was, in 1927,
0:25:56 > 0:25:58returned to the forest as a permanent memorial.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03But that wasn't the end of its role in world history.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07On the 22nd of June 1940,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Adolf Hitler personally arrived in this very place,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16and he had his troops drag the carriage out of the hole
0:26:16 > 0:26:22to the same spot where the armistice had taken place in 1918,
0:26:22 > 0:26:26and there he took the surrender of the French army.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33He then had his army cut down all the trees, rip up all the landscaping,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37and he left the statue of Foch still standing,
0:26:37 > 0:26:39to oversee a scene of desolation.
0:26:39 > 0:26:40And the railway carriage, then?
0:26:40 > 0:26:43The railway carriage was taken back to Berlin
0:26:43 > 0:26:46where it was put on exhibition
0:26:46 > 0:26:49and, then, in 1945, it was destroyed,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53either during a bombing raid or deliberately, by the SS.
0:26:53 > 0:26:54The stories differ.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Today, this clearing is a place of pilgrimage,
0:26:57 > 0:27:02where people come to commemorate the seismic events that culminated here.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06What had happened by the armistice of 1918
0:27:06 > 0:27:10to the Europe of my Bradshaw's guide of 1913?
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Well, all the kingdoms, all the Tsardoms,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17all the empires, had disappeared.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21The Austrian-Hungarian had signed an armistice the month before.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26Now, we have the Kaiser, the German emperor, Wilhelm,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30who had abdicated the day before the signing of the armistice
0:27:30 > 0:27:33and had fled to the Netherlands.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35- All gone?- All gone.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46My 1913 Bradshaw's has shown me the Continent
0:27:46 > 0:27:49through the eyes of the Edwardian traveller,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52gliding through the glamorous cities of Paris, Berlin or Vienna,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55or drinking up the natural beauties
0:27:55 > 0:27:58of the Swiss mountains or the French Riviera.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02The readers of my guidebook inhabited a charmed universe,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06whose progress and comforts seemed unassailable.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Yet, just a year later, Bradshaw's Europe was derailed by war.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15That conflict was brought to an end in a railway carriage,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17for whether, in peace or war,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20railways shaped the destiny of the world.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd