0:00:02 > 0:00:03BBC Four Collections,
0:00:03 > 0:00:07specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10For this collection, Max Hastings has selected interviews
0:00:10 > 0:00:14with Great War veterans, filmed in the 1960s.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17More programmes on this theme and other BBC Four Collections
0:00:17 > 0:00:19are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:53 > 0:00:59During a quiet period of the line inautumn1915,
0:00:59 > 0:01:02when we were doing a regularfour days in the line and four daysout -
0:01:02 > 0:01:04and of course during the fourdays we were out
0:01:04 > 0:01:06there were plentyof fatigues to be getting on with -
0:01:06 > 0:01:08we came out on one occasion
0:01:08 > 0:01:12and we were ordered to get - we were covered in mud as usual -
0:01:12 > 0:01:15we were told to get rid of all this mud,clean up all our equipment,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19because tomorrow we were going to be inspected by someone pretty high up.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22We weren't told who it was.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Well, we made ourselves fairly presentable
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and the next morning we set off.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31We marched, I think, 10 or 15 miles tillwe came to a little valley
0:01:31 > 0:01:34witha road running along the bottom of it.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37And we found a lot of other unitsalready assembled there
0:01:37 > 0:01:41and we took our allottedplaces and waited.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Well, of course we waited, I think, for three orfour hours
0:01:44 > 0:01:46before anything happened.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50And then, of course, eventually along came a contingent of staff cars,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53and these high-ups gotout of the car...cars...
0:01:53 > 0:01:56and proceeded tomount their chargers.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59I believe that there was an orderly
0:01:59 > 0:02:04flying a miniature Royal Standard behind the King.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Well, he rode along the first three or four ranks
0:02:07 > 0:02:08and then crossed the road
0:02:08 > 0:02:11and around the other three or four ranks the other side,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14speaking to an officer hereand there, you know.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Well, our instructions from the beginning had been
0:02:17 > 0:02:21that at the conclusion of the parade
0:02:21 > 0:02:27we were toput the...our capson thepoints of ourfixed bayonets
0:02:27 > 0:02:29and wave and cheer.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31So of course that is what we did.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Hip, hip, hooray!
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Well, the King's horse reared and he fell off.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39He seemed to slide off.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42And, of course, the second "hip, hip"fizzled out.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44It was quite a fiasco.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47And you should have seen the confusion
0:02:47 > 0:02:51as these other high-ranking officers hurriedly tried todismount
0:02:51 > 0:02:54to go to the King'sassistance.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58They got him up and the last we sawof him
0:02:58 > 0:03:00was being hurriedly drivenaway in,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02I don't know whether it was a field ambulance or a staff car.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16During the night of 24th/25thSeptember 1915,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19the infantry battalion to which I belonged was movedup
0:03:19 > 0:03:24into reserve trenches almost opposite the Hohenzollern Redoubt.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28As we came up, we had passed through many squadrons of Britishcavalry,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32who were assembling,I suppose, to be able toexploit
0:03:32 > 0:03:35anybreakthrough that weinfantrymen could make the next day.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42We didn't get any sleep all night because even before we gotthere
0:03:42 > 0:03:45our artillery barrage was blazingaway,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48and we sat there huddled in this...in this
0:03:48 > 0:03:51sort of communication... reservecommunication trench.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56It was a long, dreary, miserablenight.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Some chaps were crying. Some were praying.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02But really, we were all optimists.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04We all hoped that we shouldcome through.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08As soon as it was light, we were issued out with a big ration of rum.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11You could drink as much as youwanted of it.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14And we were told that were to be prepared to receive orders
0:04:14 > 0:04:17to advance at any moment.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Well, the "any moment" was quitea long while coming,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24and, of course, that was a very,very trying period.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26I believe it was actually twohours
0:04:26 > 0:04:28before we got the actual order to advance.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Just before then,we were issued out
0:04:30 > 0:04:34with two additional bandoliers of ammunition,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37althoughour pouches were already full,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40so we were carrying a pretty heavy weight of ammunition.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43We clambered up out of this trench.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Some of us had ladders and some just got out as best they could.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50And we very soon found ourselves picking our way
0:04:50 > 0:04:54over the bodies of men who'd fallen in theearlierattacks that morning,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58and woundedmen who were trying to crawlinto shell holes
0:04:58 > 0:05:00to get protection.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05The enemy fire wasn't toobad for the first two or three hundred yards,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08but all of a sudden they opened up on us with terrific machine-gun fire.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12A lot of this was coming from a hugeslagheap on our right.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18We went on and on and on, because we sensed that...
0:05:18 > 0:05:21that we were getting fewer and fewer as we went on.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26I think about 20 of us got as far as the German wire.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29But that had been very well knocked about by our artillery
0:05:29 > 0:05:31and was hardly any obstacle.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35But when we reached the parapet oftheGerman trench,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37the trench was in...appeared tobe in jolly good shape.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39It had hardly been knocked about at all
0:05:39 > 0:05:41and it was still quite neatly sandbagged.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43As we looked down into it, we saw, I think,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45half a dozen Germans runningbackwards
0:05:45 > 0:05:49into oneof their communication trenches,leading rearwards.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52We just managed to get in a fewparting shots at these chaps
0:05:52 > 0:05:54before we jumped down into the trench.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57And the men who were carrying bombs
0:05:57 > 0:06:03wentand dropped them down the holes of the dugouts at either side.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07And I think in about 20 minutes, we'dsatisfied ourselves
0:06:07 > 0:06:11that thisGerman trench wascompletelyevacuated.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Then we got orders to advance again.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Well, this time there was much lessintense machine-gun fire.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24But I think in less...even less than a hundred yards
0:06:24 > 0:06:26we came to a second German trench.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Now, this trench had reallybeen plastered.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33It resembled nothing but a string of shell holes,
0:06:33 > 0:06:34although the fact that it had been a trench
0:06:34 > 0:06:37you could see by littlebits of the parapet thatremained here and there.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42We jumped down into this, butwe found it was so shallow
0:06:42 > 0:06:47that wehadn't sufficient cover tofireforward out of it.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51We hadto get busy with our entrenchingtools and make it deeper.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55So one man would be digging away
0:06:55 > 0:06:57and the next man firing overthe top,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59and then sort of changing round.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Well, from that time on, we receivedno further orders.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Whether the attack on our flanks had been held or not, I couldn't say.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13But we were there at least twohours before anything happened.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16And then I think by that time,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18the Germans began torealise where we were,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20becausethey started sweeping the parapet,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23or what was left of it, with machine-gun fire.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Then they sent over a lot of this shrapnel,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29but most of that burst behind us and didn't do any damage.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36Then presently they opened up with their 15-pounder guns,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38what we called the whizz-bangs.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42That was a thing that made a crater about a yard across
0:07:42 > 0:07:44and about 12-18 inches deep.
0:07:46 > 0:07:47But that was the sort of thingthat
0:07:47 > 0:07:50so long you were two or three yards away from where that burst,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53you were all rightbecause the blast all wentup in the air.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56But I'm afraid we lost our platoon sergeant
0:07:56 > 0:07:58and a corporal to directhits in the trench.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Well, the hours wore on and itbecame dusk,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08and then we hearda rattling and rustling behind us
0:08:08 > 0:08:10and wondered whatever this could be.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15And strong detachments of the guards managed to get in
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and were taking our places.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19They... They relieved us
0:08:19 > 0:08:22in much greater strength than we'd been all day.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Whereas we'd been about one man to about ten yards of trench,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27they had a man every couple of feet.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Well, word was passedalong
0:08:30 > 0:08:34for the Sherwood Foresters to assemble in groups and to withdraw.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Well, of course, as we withdrew overthe ground
0:08:39 > 0:08:41that had beencaptured that day...
0:08:42 > 0:08:45..thesightwas incredible.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49It was just like a flock of sheep lying asleep in a field.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53And it became evident that theregimental stretcher bearers,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55who at one time had been bandsmen,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58had been unable to cope with sucha huge number of casualties.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Quite a number of the men were still alive,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04and they were crying out and begging for water.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08They plucked at our legs as we went by.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11One hefty chap did grab meby...
0:09:11 > 0:09:13round both legs and held me,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and I was going to take the corkout
0:09:16 > 0:09:19of my hot water bottle - out of my bottle -
0:09:19 > 0:09:21out of my waterbottle to give him a drink,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24and I was immediately proddedon by...behind by someone saying,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27"Get on, get on. We're going to losetouch with the column in front.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28"We shall get lost."
0:09:30 > 0:09:32In the years that have passed,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35thatman's pleadings have haunted me.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Yes, it was a dreadful experience, there's no doubt about that.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Still, those of us who survived thinkourselves jolly lucky.