0:00:03 > 0:00:06Specially chosen programmes from the BBC Archive.
0:00:06 > 0:00:10For this collection, Max Hastings has selected interviews
0:00:10 > 0:00:13with Great War veterans, filmed in the 1960s.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15More programmes on this theme
0:00:15 > 0:00:18and other BBC Four collections
0:00:18 > 0:00:20are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54I was a young soldier of 17 just before the war.
0:00:54 > 0:01:00I joined a Territorial Regiment for the sport, the boxing and swimming.
0:01:02 > 0:01:08And when, on the 3rd of August, 1914, mobilisation orders came out,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12we were all very excited and apprehensive.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16Because the whole feeling in the air was one of anxiety,
0:01:16 > 0:01:21at the same time great endeavour,
0:01:21 > 0:01:27and most of uswanted to be out in France
0:01:27 > 0:01:31beforethe war was over by Christmas,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34because the great thing said by the papers was that it would be
0:01:34 > 0:01:38over by Christmas, largelybecause of the Russian steamroller.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Well, we mobilised, we had our bayonets sharpened,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45taken away in wheelbarrows
0:01:45 > 0:01:48and put on the grindstone by the armourers down below.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52When they came back we were a little bit nervous about thissharpness,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55because we realisedthe other side had bayonets, also.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02And one morning, after being about ten days in London and sleeping
0:02:02 > 0:02:05in various schools, it was August and the holiday time,
0:02:05 > 0:02:10we marched outof London with bugles playing
0:02:10 > 0:02:12andthe Fife band playing and the drums.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Tremendous excitement. Cheered by the crowds.
0:02:16 > 0:02:22People standing up on the tops of motor buses and raising their hats.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25And we felt pretty fine.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29When we came to London Bridge we were told to break step,
0:02:29 > 0:02:34otherwise the pounding of thousandsof nailed boots
0:02:34 > 0:02:36at the sametime might have shaken the foundations.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41We went down into Surrey.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45We heard that many of our sister battalions of the London Regiment
0:02:45 > 0:02:47were also on this divisional march
0:02:47 > 0:02:50and we were concentrating on the coast,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54because we thought there might be an invasion.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Of course, the air was full of rumours,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00and also full of dust,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04because it was a month of great heat.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09We sweated tremendously, we carried about 60lbs of ammunition
0:03:09 > 0:03:11and kit and our rifle.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16We got blisters, but we did about 15 or 16 miles a day.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Ten minutes halt every hour. We lay on our backs gasping.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Water bottles were drunk dry.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30People in cottages, women in sun bonnets came out with apples
0:03:30 > 0:03:31and jugs of water.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37And we passed some of the battalions who'd been in front of us
0:03:37 > 0:03:41whose headquarters were in some of the poorer quarters of London,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46and I remember so well the dead white faces, many with boils,
0:03:46 > 0:03:51lying completely exhausted and sun-stricken in the hedges.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Hundreds of them.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57We considered ourselves one of the elite regiments,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01battalions of the London Regiments, such as the London Scottish,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Queen's Victoria's and London Rifle Brigade, to which I belonged.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07We did not fall out.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09But then we had been more fortunate
0:04:09 > 0:04:14and had had proper nourishment before the great march began.
0:04:17 > 0:04:23Well, we were down in Surrey
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and we had great field days,
0:04:26 > 0:04:31this glorious August weather kept on,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and one morningwe heard that we were goingoverseas.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39If we - those who wished to volunteer.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44Of course the Territorials had joined only for home service.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Most of us volunteered,
0:04:46 > 0:04:52because at that time we'd heard of the retreat from Mons,
0:04:52 > 0:04:58and oneor two soldiers had come home in the regular army, we'd met them,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02wounded, slightly wounded, and they told tales of horror
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and devastation and we were completely shocked.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Then the news came through of the great retreat, the losses,
0:05:11 > 0:05:15and the onslaught of the Germans and,of course, all the papers
0:05:15 > 0:05:20for somedays had been full of atrocities,which were pretty severe.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24And I suppose we believed them.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30It was still a very small world and we volunteered to go out.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35After a couple of months, our orderscame through.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37And when they came through,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40I rememberin the tentedlines on Crowborough,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44CrowboroughHeath, most of the fellows cheered
0:05:44 > 0:05:47and rolled over - it came down early in the morning, the news through
0:05:47 > 0:05:50the colour sergeant of the company - rolled over and kicked their legs
0:05:50 > 0:05:54inthe air and cheered and cheered andcheered. Tremendously excited.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56I wasn't excited.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58I was apprehensive.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01I didn't believe the war was going to be over by Christmas.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06I had a feeling, from having talked to two of the chaps from Mons
0:06:06 > 0:06:12in the local hospital that it wasn't going to be altogether a picnic.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Erm, it would be true to say that
0:06:20 > 0:06:25weenjoyed our first visit to the trenches.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27The weather was dry.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31We went through a wood under Messines Hill, south of Ypres.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34We were brigaded with regulars,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38whowore balaclava helmets and had beards,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43and the whole feeling was one of tremendous comradeship.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49And these old sweats, who were survivors of Mons and Aisne,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51ah, they had no fear at all.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56Any apprehension we had of going in under fire was soon gone
0:06:56 > 0:06:58there in the trenches and we enjoyed it.
0:07:00 > 0:07:01As I say, the weather was dry,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04the wood had a number of pheasants in and rabbits.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09We would have our ration bacon and tea and white bread
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and we'd hop out of the back of the trenches - risking the snipers -
0:07:12 > 0:07:16and make our fires 50 or 60 yards in among the trees.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23We also enjoyed a phenomenon thatwas known as 'wind up'.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29The battles had died down in our sector under Messines Hill,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32but they were still goingon up at Ypres,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37and at night one would hear the crackle of musketry far away.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41And then these, what I call the lilies of the dead,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43the flaresgoing up and slowly sinking down
0:07:43 > 0:07:46andgiving this powdery greenish light.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49They were sinking down under parachutes.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52The German lights were much better than ours.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55And they would come down the line, you would see them,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57and you'd hear the machine gunsgoing.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00They'd sweep down, we were ordered to stand to
0:08:00 > 0:08:03and we'd fire into the... into No-Man's-Land,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05about 80 yards from the Germans,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08and we'd see perhaps figures darting about
0:08:08 > 0:08:12and coming forwards and lyingflat and then going back.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15And this would go down south at a great rate,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18travelling about 15-20 miles an hour I should think.
0:08:18 > 0:08:19Then it would die out.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21It was known as the nightly wind up.
0:08:23 > 0:08:29Well, our time in the trenches was very happy.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33We had one or two men sniped, which was rather a shocking sight,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36but it was war, and we accepted it,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39we accepted the dead bodies lyingout just in front.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44We accepted the fact that we had to go out sometimes on listeningpatrol
0:08:44 > 0:08:48within ten yardsof the German lines and lie down andlisten,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51see if they were assembling foran attack, and then go back.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54And I can honestly say there was no fear at all.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56It was a picnic.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03One night in the second week of November
0:09:03 > 0:09:07there was a tremendous storm of rain.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Lightning, flares still going up,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15water, raindrops splashing up nine or ten inches in No-Man's-Land
0:09:15 > 0:09:17and it went on and on and on and on.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23That stopped the first battle of Ypres,which was raging up north.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Our sector north of Armentieres hadceased the actual fighting.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30The dead were lying out in front.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35The rains kept on. We were in yellow clay.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42The water table was two feet below.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Our trenches were seven feet deep.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49We walked about or moved veryslowly in a marn,
0:09:49 > 0:09:54or a pug of yellow watery clay.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58When the evening came we could get out.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01It took about an hour to get out.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Some of our chaps slipped in and were drowned and weren't seen
0:10:05 > 0:10:07until we trod on them perhaps later.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12The condition of the latrines, I... can be imagined.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15And we couldn't sleep.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23Every minute was like an hour and when were we going to be relieved?
0:10:23 > 0:10:26We were told we couldn't be relieved because nobody...
0:10:26 > 0:10:32They hadn't one battalion in reserve in the British Expeditionary Force,
0:10:32 > 0:10:38except those out in support who would go out for a few days.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43And we were four days in this dreadful trench,
0:10:43 > 0:10:45called the Hampshire T-Trench.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49It was 60 yards from the Germans
0:10:50 > 0:10:52and they could snipe right down it and we had a lot of men sniped.
0:10:53 > 0:10:54I had my friend standing beside me.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59We were trying to work apump which the engineers had
0:10:59 > 0:11:02brought in, or we'd carriedin at night, and it wouldn't work.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06We found afterwards it was connected the wrong way round.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10The outlet pipe was on the inward sideand we pumped for a long time
0:11:10 > 0:11:11and nothing happened.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15And suddenly there was a tremendous crack,
0:11:15 > 0:11:16going like that...
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Right, the clack of the bullet
0:11:18 > 0:11:22which really, as we know now breaks the sound barrier.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Incidentally, they used to say
0:11:27 > 0:11:29that they used explosive bullets, the Germans.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Well, this hit my friend in the front of the head
0:11:35 > 0:11:38and took away the back of his head and he fell down.
0:11:38 > 0:11:39Just slipped down.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Well, we were relieved after the fourth night
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and some of us had to be carried out.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51I noticed that so many of the toughones were carried out
0:11:51 > 0:11:55and theskinny little whippersnappers likemyself, somehow, could...
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Perhaps wehadn't got the weight to carry butwe got out somehow,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01and we marched back.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05And we could go in estaminets and have cafe rum
0:12:05 > 0:12:08for about a ha'penny and omelettes.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10And it was great fun.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14We had to go on workingparties at night in the wood.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16That was all night long.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19And, after four more nights, we were inthetrenches again,
0:12:19 > 0:12:25back slitheringinto this Hampshire T-Trenchand doing it all over again.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37The paths through Ploegsteert Wood -
0:12:37 > 0:12:39oh, they got pretty bad.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45Up to a foot deep in mud. We had to carry rations.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49And what was pretty boring was the tobacco
0:12:49 > 0:12:52that we had to carry, tins of tobacco.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56The rations werethen 10,000 cigarettes a day,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58or 5 lbs of pipe tobacco.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03Of course, many funds were sponsoredby newspapers,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05comforts for the troops.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10And one of the things we loathedcarrying
0:13:10 > 0:13:15were thesebiscuit boxes which were cubes ofbright
0:13:15 > 0:13:20metal, about 18 inches cubic.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24And, of course, they were seen,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and Jerry- or the Allemans, as we called him,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29from the Allemand, presumably,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33"Jerry"hadn't appeared then as a name -
0:13:33 > 0:13:35the Allemans would then fire his machine guns.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37And we just...
0:13:37 > 0:13:41All the chips would fly down from the woods and fall on us.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46We didn't give a damn except that we'dtake the occasion to dump this
0:13:46 > 0:13:53blasted biscuit box in a shell hole, where many others lay beside it.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58And, er...
0:13:58 > 0:14:04wewere overjoyed when the heavyfrosts came and the mud ceased.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11We had to clear out of the Hampshire T-Trench, it was untenable.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15It was half ice, and we had so many men sniped
0:14:15 > 0:14:17that itwas left abandoned.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23And when the frosts came
0:14:23 > 0:14:26we would try and sleep
0:14:26 > 0:14:28and our boots would freeze.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30It was very painful.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35We weren't allowed to take them off, so...
0:14:35 > 0:14:38some of us would walk about atnight
0:14:38 > 0:14:42and swing the arms to keepwarm,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46and the greatcoats, of course, were frozen,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51and the yellow clay that was onthem was frozen, too.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Very hard to get it off.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56It was a great weight.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Beingstiff as boards, we just hacked the skirt off
0:14:59 > 0:15:02about two feet up the skirt with bayonets
0:15:02 > 0:15:04and walked about in short coats.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09And then we had an issue of goatskins.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14And these were like jerkins.
0:15:14 > 0:15:20They had no arms, just armholes and they were fastened by tapes.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25They were pretty warm, butthey didn't warm the feet, of course,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27these frozen boots and the belt,
0:15:27 > 0:15:32and many of our chaps went down with frostbite.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36When the boots were taken off in thebillet,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39the feet swelled uplike tomatoes,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43and some of them gotgangrene and had to lose their feet.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48But that was in the hospitals when they went down.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59On the 19th of December, the Brigade was ordered
0:15:59 > 0:16:03to make an attack on part of the German trench
0:16:03 > 0:16:06whichenfiladed the Hampshire T-Trench.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12The attack was to be made in daylight,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and to get overthe German wire
0:16:15 > 0:16:18paillasses of strawwere made, to be carried
0:16:18 > 0:16:22and thrown over the wire for the men to run over the straw hurdles.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26We were in support of this attack.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32We were ordered to lie down at the edge of the wood and await events.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38There was practically no bombardment because there were very few shells.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43I think the ration was twoa day a heavy gun,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46our six inch Long Toms they were called.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50But the shells screamed over, half a dozen lyddite.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55Two of them burst in our front trench,four burst in No-Man's-Land,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59and then, hoarsely cheering, we heard the hoarse cries
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and theshouts of the Lancashires,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04the EastLancs, who were making the attack.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And they were only about five or six yards,
0:17:08 > 0:17:13running forward, round the shellholes filled with ice,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15and the machine guns opened up and down they went.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Cries and screams.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26We were in support lying there for...
0:17:26 > 0:17:27three or four hours.
0:17:29 > 0:17:30Then the order came.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33The London Rifle Brigade willcarry on the attack.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The order was not actually to start, butto be prepared for it.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46I noticed my friend Baldwin on myleft -
0:17:46 > 0:17:48he had an ashen white face.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53I felt drained out, and when I tried to get up I couldn't,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56my knees were wobbling.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59And we lay there another half hour.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05Then heard, with great relief, that the attack was not to be repeated.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08We went out later andhelped
0:18:08 > 0:18:11toget in the wounded with stretcher bearers.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14And I remember one man being broughtback,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17and when on a stretcher, when he was safely inside the wood
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and being carried away,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21he sang, you know, in a light tenor voice,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23"Oh for the wings, for the wingsof a dove,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26"far, far away would I rove,"
0:18:26 > 0:18:31because he was said to...
0:18:31 > 0:18:35a choir,to sing in a church choir before the war.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41And, far away in the woods, as we went back rejoicing
0:18:41 > 0:18:46to haveour rum ration, we heard this voicesinging,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48as the stars came out.
0:18:50 > 0:18:58But one poor chap with us, he tooka first sip of the rum
0:18:59 > 0:19:02and gave ashriek and dropped the jar,
0:19:02 > 0:19:09becausesome fellow back in the rear hadstolen the rum
0:19:09 > 0:19:15andfilled the jarwith Condy's Fluid, which was brown.
0:19:15 > 0:19:22This fellow had taken a mouthful, andit went down into his stomach.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24We heard he died later.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37On Christmas Eve we had a job todo in No-Man's-Land
0:19:37 > 0:19:40which put the wind up everybody.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44That is to say we were allquiet among ourselves.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49The job was to go into frozen No-Man's-Land
0:19:49 > 0:19:54and drive in some stakes which wereto support hurdles
0:19:54 > 0:20:00on whichsome tobacco had been drying in a barn in the woods -
0:20:00 > 0:20:02of courseit was all abandoned by the Belgians.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07And we made - we were to make a sort of alleyway or cover from view,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09so that, in the event of a German attack,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13we could reoccupy the Hampshire T-Trench
0:20:13 > 0:20:16which had beenabandoned owing to the floods in it,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19because that was a key position.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25Now, it was explained to us that wehad to knock in theseposts
0:20:25 > 0:20:2818 inches into this frozensoil and we'd be 50 yards
0:20:28 > 0:20:33away from the Germans, andas we crept out,
0:20:33 > 0:20:38trying to avoidour boots ringing on the frozenground
0:20:38 > 0:20:40and expecting any moment to fall flat
0:20:40 > 0:20:43with the machine guns openingup, and nothing happened.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48And, within two hours we were walking about and laughing
0:20:48 > 0:20:50and talking and there was nothing from the German lines.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54And then, about 11 o'clock,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58I saw a Christmas tree goingup on the German trenches
0:20:58 > 0:21:00and there was a light.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04And we stood still and we watched this and we talked,
0:21:04 > 0:21:10and then a German voice began tosing a song, Heilige Nacht.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14And after that somebody,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16"Come over, Tommy. Come over."
0:21:18 > 0:21:22And we still thought it was a trap, but some of uswent over at once
0:21:22 > 0:21:25andthey came tothis barbed wire fence between us
0:21:25 > 0:21:31which was five strands of wire hung by...hung with empty bully beef tins
0:21:31 > 0:21:36to make a rattle if they came, and very soon we were exchanging gifts.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40The next day we went out again.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44The whole of No-Man's-Land as far aswe could see was grey and khaki.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50There they were, smoking and talking, shaking hands, exchanging names
0:21:50 > 0:21:54and addresses for after the war towrite to one another.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59We had a splendid present from Princess Mary,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04a brass boxwith her young face
0:22:04 > 0:22:09and headembossed on it and tobacco inside,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13a packet of tobacco and a packet of 20 cigarettes with a Christmas card.
0:22:13 > 0:22:19And the Germans had also presents, and they had, some of them
0:22:19 > 0:22:25had meerschaum pipes with the figure of the Crown Prince's head on it.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28And, of course, we thought Little Willy, as we called him,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31was a little bit of an arse.
0:22:31 > 0:22:38But it was rather a shock to be told -as a Saxon held up his pipe -
0:22:38 > 0:22:42to show me and he said, "Prachtiger Kerl Kronprinz."
0:22:42 > 0:22:45And somebody who could speak German translated "prachtiger Kerl"
0:22:45 > 0:22:47was "jolly good fellow".
0:22:48 > 0:22:51The Germans started burying their dead which were frozen,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and we picked up ours and buried them.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59And little crosses of ration box wood were nailed together,
0:22:59 > 0:23:05quite small ones, and in indelible pencil they would put, the Germans,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07"Fur Vaterland und Freiheit" -
0:23:07 > 0:23:10"For Fatherland and Freedom".
0:23:10 > 0:23:12And I said to a German,
0:23:12 > 0:23:18"Excuse me, but how can you befighting for freedom?
0:23:18 > 0:23:23"You started the war, and WE are fighting for freedom."
0:23:23 > 0:23:29And he said, "Excuse me, English comrade, Kamerad,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32"but WE are fighting for freedom, for our country."
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And I said, "You also put,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40"'Hererests in God ein unbekannter Held' -
0:23:40 > 0:23:42"Here rests in God an unknown hero.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43"In god."
0:23:43 > 0:23:46"Oh yes, God is on our side."
0:23:46 > 0:23:48But I said, "He's on our side."
0:23:48 > 0:23:50And that was a tremendous shock.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55One began to think that these chaps, who were like ourselves,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58whom we liked and who felt about the war as we did
0:23:58 > 0:24:01and who said,"It'll be over soon
0:24:01 > 0:24:04"because we will win the war in Russia."
0:24:04 > 0:24:06And we said, "No, but the Russian steamroller
0:24:07 > 0:24:08"is going to win the war inRussia."
0:24:08 > 0:24:11"Well, English comrade, do not let us quarrel on Christmas Day."
0:24:12 > 0:24:14And we exchanged more gifts
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and there was a football match behind the German lines.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21And we saw - we had seen beforethis -
0:24:21 > 0:24:23five or six Germanlines of the men
0:24:23 > 0:24:27about two or threehundred yards apart, allstanding up
0:24:27 > 0:24:30in thedistance on theirparapets and we only had one trench.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32There was nothing behind us at all.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37I talked to an officer the next day, because the truce went on
0:24:37 > 0:24:41forseveral days, and he said, "You know, we could not have gone on
0:24:41 > 0:24:43"inthe first battle of Ypres,
0:24:43 > 0:24:48"or Ypresas you call it, because you had somany reserves
0:24:48 > 0:24:52in"your woods and somany automatische pistole."
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I said,"Well, all our machine guns weregone,
0:24:55 > 0:24:57"they were all knocked out."
0:24:57 > 0:25:01And he said, "Oh, no, your automatische pistole."
0:25:01 > 0:25:03It was our 15 rounds rapid.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07We also learned that many of the German mass attacks
0:25:07 > 0:25:11weremade by boys, German students of 16 and 17,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13arm in arm with one rifle among three.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19The truce went on for four days.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21In the morning, we'd come out of the wood
0:25:21 > 0:25:25and wave to our opposite numbers and they'd come and talk again.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Then the order came round,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31it was the fraternisation had to stop,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35and the Germans sent over a note
0:25:35 > 0:25:40saying their staff wasvisiting their trenches that night,
0:25:40 > 0:25:42the truce must end.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46And they would have to fire their machine guns.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49They would fire them high, but would we in any case keep
0:25:50 > 0:25:53undercover in case regrettable accidents occurred.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56And 11 o'clock precisely,
0:25:56 > 0:26:02they opened up and we saw the flashes of the machine gunsgoing high,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06andit was passed backto intelligence that the Germans
0:26:06 > 0:26:09were using Berlin time in the trenches,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11which was one hour beforeBritish time,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15which was, I suppose an important item of intelligence.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19And that was the end of our truce.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25I loved my mules and horses that I looked after,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28but there was great suffering during that winter at the Somme.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33They had mud rash.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37They also...theycould seldom be groomed.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42They were working all night and most of the day on fatigues,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45and after abit you'd see one of your donks, asthey were called,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47pulling limbers.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51It would be going along very slowly as usual and picking its way,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53these gentle creatures.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55One of its ears would go down,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59and then perhaps the next night orthe next day following,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01a second ear would go down,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and then in the morning when you went toyour picket line
0:27:04 > 0:27:08themen on picketduty would say, "Jimmy's gone, sir."
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Or "Nelson's gone," - he was a one-eyed mule.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14And there they were lying down in the mud with a glazed eye,
0:27:14 > 0:27:15dead with pneumonia.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25The battle of the Somme officiallyended in November 1916.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31But the shelling went on. The nightly work went on.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36The troops went into the line, and I, who was in charge
0:27:36 > 0:27:40of a transport for a machine gun company, used to go nightly
0:27:40 > 0:27:45up railway road, which lay between
0:27:45 > 0:27:48the two flanks of the Somme battle.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54To the south, Thiepval and the Wunderwerk and theSchwaben Redoubt,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57and to the north upto Beaumont Hamel and to Gommecourt.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05And one February, 1917 I remember, we were going up railway road
0:28:05 > 0:28:09expecting nightly the shelling and usually lost a mule or two,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11and we were not shelled,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14and we wondered what had happened.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17And then we heard the old Hun, as we called him, was pulling out.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19He'd pulled out his heavy Howitzers, he'd gone.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25And then we saw the cavalry come up, the Bengal Lancers trotted past.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27It was a wonderful sight.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Rumours all round, news that - was he going?
0:28:32 > 0:28:34Was he packing up altogether?
0:28:34 > 0:28:37He was going into the Siegfriedstellung,
0:28:37 > 0:28:38we read in Comic Cuts.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43And, bit by bit, we followed, our patrols went out.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47They had a very good rearguard action and delayed our advance,
0:28:47 > 0:28:51and, at last, we got on to green fields
0:28:51 > 0:28:53and roads that weren't shelled.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56All the railway lines had been picked up, all the buildings
0:28:56 > 0:29:00had been blown up, but it was almost virgin country
0:29:00 > 0:29:04and we couldgallop on the downs, we could seethe hares
0:29:04 > 0:29:06and see the larks.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09After the months and months
0:29:09 > 0:29:14of utterbrownness and chaos and everythinggoing back into ruin,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18to see thatopen country again was marvellous.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23And there on the horizon to the east we saw our heavy howitzers
0:29:23 > 0:29:25already starting to bombard the Hindenburg Line.