For The Fallen

:00:08. > :00:12.100 years ago tomorrow, the Allies prepared to face

:00:13. > :00:16.the Imperial German Army on the fields of Flanders.

:00:17. > :00:20.It was a brutal battle, truly beyond imagining and it

:00:21. > :00:24.would claim the lives of tens of thousands of people.

:00:25. > :00:27.Passchendaele, the name, the place, will forever be

:00:28. > :00:34.synonymous with human horror - the destruction, the quagmire

:00:35. > :00:36.of the battlefield and, above all, the terrifying massacre

:00:37. > :01:07.Good evening from Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium -

:01:08. > :01:12.the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the world.

:01:13. > :01:14.Almost 47,000 men are buried or commemorated

:01:15. > :01:19.Given the peace and tranquillity here today, it's difficult

:01:20. > :01:26.to envisage the scene of carnage that unfolded a century ago.

:01:27. > :01:31.events will be held to mark the Third Battle of Ypres

:01:32. > :01:32.which became commonly known as Passchendaele.

:01:33. > :01:35.And tomorrow marks the exact date 100 years ago when

:01:36. > :01:39.the first attack was made - the 31st of July.

:01:40. > :01:44.This evening's commemorations will begin in Ypres -

:01:45. > :01:46.the Belgian city at the very heart of Flanders.

:01:47. > :01:49.Winston Churchill said of the city, "A more sacred place for the British

:01:50. > :01:55.Tonight, it's where we'll be paying tribute to all the people

:01:56. > :01:57.who fought in and around here, from 1914 right through

:01:58. > :02:03.And we'll be remembering in particular the half a million

:02:04. > :02:13.The first event will focus on the Menin Gate in Ypres.

:02:14. > :02:21.an act of remembrance - known as The Last Post Ceremony -

:02:22. > :02:24.It's a tradition that goes back 89 years,

:02:25. > :02:29.and it was started by the Belgians to show their deep-felt appreciation

:02:30. > :02:34.of those individual sacrifices made for their nation's freedom.

:02:35. > :02:36.Tonight then, we will witness a significant event -

:02:37. > :02:39.Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend

:02:40. > :02:41.the commemorations together with Their Majesties,

:02:42. > :02:45.The King and Queen of the Belgians, accompanied by lots of other VIPs

:02:46. > :02:52.They are all here to pay tribute on behalf of their nations

:02:53. > :02:56.to the courage and loss of those young men who fought a century ago.

:02:57. > :02:58.Now later this evening, following that Last Post Ceremony,

:02:59. > :03:02.there will be a unique event in the city's Market Square.

:03:03. > :03:06.The imposing facade of a building known as the Cloth Hall will be

:03:07. > :03:12.illuminated with projections and lights, together with some very

:03:13. > :03:13.special live performances, from, among others,

:03:14. > :03:19.The city of Ypres, where all those events are taking place,

:03:20. > :03:31.Let's join Dan Snow, who's going to tell us more.

:03:32. > :03:41.yes, Kirsty. I'm beneath the mighty Menin Gate, on the Menin Road.

:03:42. > :03:49.During the course of the war, hundreds of thousands of men marched

:03:50. > :03:58.Out of medieval Ypres, three. Menin Gate and out onto the battlefield

:03:59. > :04:01.beyond. The Germans in the summer of 1917 word two miles that way, so

:04:02. > :04:04.when the troops marched through here they were on a ravaged, devastated

:04:05. > :04:07.battlefield, a place of horror. In around half an hour's time,

:04:08. > :04:11.people who have been selected in a special ballot,

:04:12. > :04:13.whose relatives are remembered on the Menin Gate, will

:04:14. > :04:16.process down this road for the Last Post Ceremony,

:04:17. > :04:25.where they'll be joined by some Kirsty has been finding out more

:04:26. > :04:28.about the symbolism and meaning of this extraordinary monument.

:04:29. > :04:30.The land around Ypres saw some of the most sustained fighting

:04:31. > :04:37.In the sea of mud where the battles were fought, many bodies

:04:38. > :04:40.could not be recovered - they simply sank into the earth

:04:41. > :04:46.They died and had no known grave, and their families

:04:47. > :04:54.Many of those soldiers had made their way to the front line

:04:55. > :05:01.by crossing a bridge that was flanked by two lions.

:05:02. > :05:04.It was called the Menin Gate, and it was beyond the gate

:05:05. > :05:18.So, this place was chosen as a fitting site for a memorial.

:05:19. > :05:24.On its walls, 54,392 names are inscribed.

:05:25. > :05:26.For those soldiers, the Menin Gate is their tombstone.

:05:27. > :05:37.The Menin Gate Memorial gave the families of the missing a place

:05:38. > :05:55.The people of Ypres had seen the sacrifice

:05:56. > :06:05.So, in their own tribute, they started playing

:06:06. > :06:08.the Last Post under the gate and, apart from the years of Nazi

:06:09. > :06:14.occupation, it has been played here every evening since 1929.

:06:15. > :06:19.We bring to life, in fact, each evening, the memorial

:06:20. > :06:22.and the names on the gate, by sounding the Last Post in honour

:06:23. > :06:26.Symbolically, Ypres stops the daily life.

:06:27. > :06:30.We go back in thoughts to the First World War.

:06:31. > :06:32.Then at eight o'clock, we sound the Attention,

:06:33. > :06:37.followed by the Last Post, to honour and remember the fallen.

:06:38. > :06:48.We need to continue to remember those guys who came sometimes

:06:49. > :06:54.from the other side of the world to rescue Belgium 100 years ago.

:06:55. > :07:02.So there is always a link between Ypres and all those other

:07:03. > :07:06.cities and countries from where they came.

:07:07. > :07:33.It seemed full of respect, profoundly connected, not just to

:07:34. > :07:38.the men who lost their lives but this community that saw so much

:07:39. > :07:42.horror. As I was listening to the notes of the last post, I started

:07:43. > :07:47.looking at the ground and was imagining these young men marching

:07:48. > :07:52.through these very streets on the way to an unimaginable hell and it

:07:53. > :07:55.seems not just fitting that absolutely vital that we stand here

:07:56. > :08:00.and recognise what happened 100 years ago.

:08:01. > :08:02.As we gear up for tonight's ceremonies, we'll be talking

:08:03. > :08:05.about Passchendaele and the stories of those men who

:08:06. > :08:07.travelled from Britain, Ireland and from around the world to

:08:08. > :08:14.I'm joined by David Olusoga, broadcaster and historian, and

:08:15. > :08:17.also with us is the author and historian Richard van Emden

:08:18. > :08:19.who has, over the years, interviewed many hundreds of

:08:20. > :08:32.Having just watched that again and having witnessed The Last Post

:08:33. > :08:35.Ceremony myself, I'm sure you will have been many times. David, the

:08:36. > :08:40.thing that struck me was how personal the ceremony is. It seems

:08:41. > :08:46.to come from the very heart of the people of this area. I think it's an

:08:47. > :08:49.almost unique phenomenon. This isn't an official ceremony, no act of

:08:50. > :08:54.Parliament was passed, no one from the Belgian government says you must

:08:55. > :08:57.do this. The people of this one small town, 35,000 people, have

:08:58. > :09:05.decided for 80 years to remember what happened in the fields out

:09:06. > :09:09.here. It is an amazing act of remembrance by individuals,

:09:10. > :09:14.personal, from the bottom up, not by the government. Almost like the war

:09:15. > :09:20.itself, unique. Richard, it was interesting for me to hear from the

:09:21. > :09:28.man who was in charge of making sure the ceremony run smoothly every

:09:29. > :09:34.night, he said a very poignant phrase, he said" their blood is in

:09:35. > :09:38.our soil". What do you make of that? How true it is. You only have to

:09:39. > :09:43.look at the cemetery behind us here tonight. I think there are countless

:09:44. > :09:48.men being dug up every single year, their bodies are being found, then

:09:49. > :09:54.blown to pieces here. The vast majority of these grapes here are of

:09:55. > :10:02.men who are of unknown identities. -- these graves here. It really is,

:10:03. > :10:06.the soil here holds the blood of so many nationalities that fought for

:10:07. > :10:11.the Allies. Let's bring in it remind ourselves of why it was at this

:10:12. > :10:14.point in the war, a century ago, British troops, Allied troops, found

:10:15. > :10:20.themselves in Flanders. What was happening at this point? For those

:10:21. > :10:24.months in 1917 this was the most terrible place in the world. This

:10:25. > :10:29.was the place where Britain could lose the war, because if Ypres is

:10:30. > :10:33.captured, the Germans would have access to Dunkirk and Calais, the

:10:34. > :10:37.Channel ports and could cut Britain from France, separate the Allies.

:10:38. > :10:40.This was a place where Britain could in a number of days lose the war.

:10:41. > :10:56.The question nobody really knew is if this was a place Britain could

:10:57. > :10:58.win the war. In 1917, and offensive around the Ypres Salient, the

:10:59. > :11:01.question was, could you push forward, break into Belgium, into

:11:02. > :11:03.the open countryside behind the line and reached the German frontier? And

:11:04. > :11:06.could you reach the U-boat aces on the coast? Britain is beginning to

:11:07. > :11:10.lose the U-boat war. Richard, just expand on that for a moment if you

:11:11. > :11:13.will. It was an important time because the submarines were bombing

:11:14. > :11:19.supplies that were literally going to feed the British people. Probably

:11:20. > :11:25.in historical reflection, we were unlikely to lose the war because of

:11:26. > :11:28.the U-boat menace but we had introduced the convoy system, that

:11:29. > :11:32.protected many ships across the Atlantic. But it was perceived as

:11:33. > :11:39.being extremely dangerous. It was felt that the offensive here, not

:11:40. > :11:45.just an attempt to secure the coast, but also it was about holding the

:11:46. > :11:52.allies together. The French had had a mutiny in April 1917, and a

:11:53. > :11:56.revolution in Russia. Britain was the only army at that time that

:11:57. > :12:00.could really be relied upon to Harris the Germans. 1917 was a year

:12:01. > :12:02.of harrying the enemy. We have so much to talk about. I know you are

:12:03. > :12:04.staying with us. Tonight we are commemorating

:12:05. > :12:06.the Third Battle of Ypres, more From the early onset

:12:07. > :12:09.of the First World War, the battlefields around Ypres

:12:10. > :12:12.witnessed brutal fighting, and that intensified

:12:13. > :12:14.with this offensive. David Olusoga, who we've

:12:15. > :12:16.just been hearing from, is going to guide us through some

:12:17. > :12:19.of the key moments Germany's U-boats were sinking

:12:20. > :12:31.British ships at such a rate that it was feared Britain could be

:12:32. > :12:34.starved out of the war. So it was hoped that this battle

:12:35. > :12:38.would break through the German lines and capture the U-boat bases

:12:39. > :12:42.on the Channel coast. Preparations were intense

:12:43. > :12:47.but they were also dramatic, and that's because two months before

:12:48. > :12:51.the main offensive, 19 mines, deep tunnels dug

:12:52. > :12:53.underneath the German And in an instant, 10,000 German

:12:54. > :13:02.soldiers were killed. Devastating though these detonations

:13:03. > :13:04.were, they were merely meant to prepare the ground

:13:05. > :13:07.for the main offensive. And that came 54 days later,

:13:08. > :13:14.on the 31st of July. The initial attacks were largely

:13:15. > :13:17.successful and among the many objectives captured was this

:13:18. > :13:21.German signals bunker. And in here, troops sheltered

:13:22. > :13:23.from the German shellfire And that was critical,

:13:24. > :13:31.because at Passchendaele it very quickly became obvious

:13:32. > :13:33.that the British had a second The ancient ditches and channels

:13:34. > :13:41.that drained the water from the fields around Ypres,

:13:42. > :13:43.had been almost completely obliterated by three years

:13:44. > :13:46.of artillery bombardments. That meant that while

:13:47. > :13:48.the rain kept falling, Well, I think there's a limit

:13:49. > :14:00.to almost everything and the mud at Passchendaele and the sight

:14:01. > :14:04.of seeing men sucked down in this mud, dying in this mud,

:14:05. > :14:11.absolutely finished me off. The conditions on the Ypres

:14:12. > :14:15.battlefield in 1917 were appalling. Men weren't fighting

:14:16. > :14:19.in proper drained trenches. They were living in shell holes

:14:20. > :14:22.full of mud and slime and there they were being feasted

:14:23. > :14:27.upon by lice and by rats. Well, we were literally

:14:28. > :14:30.living like animals. There was no enlivening sort

:14:31. > :14:35.of attitude in living at all. Although people still fought

:14:36. > :14:37.for their existence, the general opinion

:14:38. > :14:39.was that it wasn't worthwhile. As the fighting continued,

:14:40. > :14:46.a series of attacks were launched But what they all had in common

:14:47. > :14:57.was high rates of attrition, as every month, tens of thousands

:14:58. > :14:59.of men were wounded, And despite the appalling

:15:00. > :15:04.conditions, Passchendaele on the 10th of November

:15:05. > :15:10.was finally captured. The British had succeeded in pushing

:15:11. > :15:12.back the German lines, The German war machine had

:15:13. > :15:17.certainly been weakened, but there was no end in sight

:15:18. > :15:22.to the First World War. And between them, the two armies

:15:23. > :15:25.that had faced one another in the fields around Passchendaele

:15:26. > :15:28.had suffered half And the bones and the remains

:15:29. > :15:49.of thousands of those men still lie That gives a wonderful sense of why

:15:50. > :15:51.we were, where we were. But of course, it is the Third Battle of

:15:52. > :15:58.Ypres, what happened in the first two to get us to this point? The

:15:59. > :16:02.first battle of Ypres is one that gives birth to the Western Front.

:16:03. > :16:06.Where there is a mod come of fluid fighting and the armies are trying

:16:07. > :16:11.to get around. This is where the British Army with a lot of Indian

:16:12. > :16:16.soldiers hold the line and give birth to the Western Front. The

:16:17. > :16:24.second battle, is infamous, because it is the first moment in 1915 where

:16:25. > :16:28.the chemical weapons are used. The Germans unleashed chlorine gas and

:16:29. > :16:33.nearly break through the lines and capture the town of Ypres.

:16:34. > :16:40.Did the battle meet the objectives of what it set out to do? Well, the

:16:41. > :16:45.submarine bases were never captured. There was never a significant break

:16:46. > :16:50.through into the Belgium countryside behind the lines and the German

:16:51. > :16:57.frontier was never confronted. But a First World War battle never

:16:58. > :17:00.achieves its objectives. This is the Band of the Welsh

:17:01. > :17:06.Guards, marching their weigh through the lovely little town of Ypres.

:17:07. > :17:09.Getting into position at the Menin Gate for the evening's ceremony.

:17:10. > :17:18.There they are. What a colour and what a sight. And let's talk about

:17:19. > :17:23.Again Haig. His is a name in the historian community one that strikes

:17:24. > :17:29.up a lot of controversy. What were his aims in the Third Battle of

:17:30. > :17:33.Ypres in Passchendaele? He wanted a breakthrough on the Somme and here.

:17:34. > :17:39.He was well aware of the fact that his army was the only army at that

:17:40. > :17:45.time that could launch an offensive against the Germans. His decision

:17:46. > :17:51.early on in 1917 was to Harry the Germans at each be opportunity. He

:17:52. > :17:55.had done it at Arras, at Messines and now at Ypres he was to have

:17:56. > :18:03.another go, to try to force the Germans back. You have to look, to

:18:04. > :18:07.see, Ypres was so important to the British, the losses, it became so

:18:08. > :18:11.important to us, he wanted to ensure that the Germans could no longer

:18:12. > :18:15.oversee the British forces from the high ground, to push them back and

:18:16. > :18:19.save Ypres. David you are nodding, when you say

:18:20. > :18:27.important, important beyond the battle itself, as it spoke to people

:18:28. > :18:31.at home, did it? It has become symbolic, to if it had fallen it

:18:32. > :18:37.would have been a crisis. It would have been seen as a major defeat.

:18:38. > :18:41.Probably more so at times, Ypres was sacred to the British.

:18:42. > :18:47.And Richard, briefly in terms of the loss of life. When I say these

:18:48. > :18:52.figures, reel them off, 500,000 people either injured or killed, was

:18:53. > :18:57.the sacrifice worth it is the question that we now ask ourselves.

:18:58. > :19:02.Is it a fair question? We look at this with the benefit of hindsight.

:19:03. > :19:09.Was this operation a sensible idea on the 30th of July? Yes, it was.

:19:10. > :19:14.Was it, it was time to go, it was a sensible offensive to be had at that

:19:15. > :19:20.time. Was it sensible to continue it after the 6th of October when the

:19:21. > :19:25.rains pulled down? It is debatable. The casualties are a by-product of

:19:26. > :19:32.horrendous attritional warfare. There are no longer any survivors of

:19:33. > :19:38.the Great War but the powerful testimonies remain.

:19:39. > :19:41.Tonight, the special live event in Ypres' Market Square will feature

:19:42. > :19:43.the stories and voices of very many veterans who fought right

:19:44. > :19:47.Andrew Bowie was just 19 when he came to Passchendaele to fight.

:19:48. > :19:53.I had to go there, as I was a certain age and I was...

:19:54. > :20:01.We were there to take Passchendaele Ridge.

:20:02. > :20:08.There was an anxiety in the air - what was going to happen

:20:09. > :20:20.When it came to attack, the whole hell was let

:20:21. > :20:24.loose by the Germans, because they were on the ridge,

:20:25. > :20:27.you see, and we were in the flat below, and they couldn't miss

:20:28. > :20:52.When we had a chance, this big shell hole was near us

:20:53. > :20:59.You just sat there with your feet in water, ankles up,

:21:00. > :21:14.They were all dead or wounded or something.

:21:15. > :21:18.We were in the shell hole for two or three days.

:21:19. > :21:23.We couldn't see our way out because this place was being sprayed

:21:24. > :21:33.We finished off with two rifles together, ground

:21:34. > :21:35.sheets over the top, and pretending we were

:21:36. > :21:42.The Germans did not fire on us, luckily,

:21:43. > :21:52.and that was the great escape for us.

:21:53. > :21:58.680 men went in as a battalion and the roll call,

:21:59. > :22:08.The feeling I got was, it was a waste of life.

:22:09. > :22:12.I felt that it was just a waste of human life,

:22:13. > :22:24.sending men in to take in a place like that.

:22:25. > :22:27.David and Richard are still with me, and we've been joined

:22:28. > :22:30.by the Belgian historian Professor Sophie De Schaerpdrijver.

:22:31. > :22:38.Thank you for joining us. I'll come to you in a second. Richard, you

:22:39. > :22:42.recorded that 20 years ago with Andrew Bowie. I don't know how

:22:43. > :22:47.recently you have seen it but what are your thoughts this evening? It's

:22:48. > :22:53.a powerful first testimony. It is. I have a very emotional

:22:54. > :22:57.response to seeing that film. Andrew was a remarkable man. He suffered

:22:58. > :23:02.the hell of Passchendaele. He is talking about the end of the battle,

:23:03. > :23:10.October, when this place was horrific, and I mean horrific. Men

:23:11. > :23:14.just drowned in the aye palling mud. He suffered three days of incredible

:23:15. > :23:19.torture but it did not marr his life. I have to say that. He said he

:23:20. > :23:25.saw it as a waste of life but he made something of his life. It

:23:26. > :23:31.didn't finish him as an individual. He went on. He was a lovely, lovely

:23:32. > :23:35.man. To see him now after all of these years is wonderful.

:23:36. > :23:40.And a very significant piece of film to have.

:23:41. > :23:44.Sophie, we have been talking about the Allied Troops and British

:23:45. > :23:47.people, I wonder if you can give a sense of the experience of the

:23:48. > :23:56.people of Flanders and Belgium at this point in the war? What was

:23:57. > :23:59.happening? What was their response? The salient characteristic of

:24:00. > :24:05.Belgium in war is that Belgium was invaded. Yes. That is to shape the

:24:06. > :24:10.Belgium experience of war. So the British Army is here in a corner

:24:11. > :24:15.that has not been conquered. The sense was strong, a strong sense of

:24:16. > :24:20.part of Belgium, only part of Belgium not being invaded.

:24:21. > :24:26.So there was a strong sense of the front of it being about rolling back

:24:27. > :24:34.the invasion, rolling back military occupation. That sense was

:24:35. > :24:40.prevalent, extremely so among the Belgiums in 1917 because around that

:24:41. > :24:44.time forced labour had been introduced among the civilians,

:24:45. > :24:50.exploitation had reached very great and very cruel heights. Civilians

:24:51. > :24:56.were used, lives were being torn apart and the Belgium army too,

:24:57. > :25:02.which helped the French to the north of Ypres, well, there was a strong

:25:03. > :25:05.sense in spite of war weariness, there was a strong sense it was

:25:06. > :25:13.absolutely crucial to hold that front.

:25:14. > :25:17.We saw the The Regiment Carabiniers Prince Baudouin, indeed, marching

:25:18. > :25:23.Uhl towards the Menin Gate for the evening's ceremony. It is difficult

:25:24. > :25:27.to listen to. David you put it it in great context: It is very difficult

:25:28. > :25:36.to Maginn how important it must have been to the people of Belgium to see

:25:37. > :25:41.the Allied Troops on their land trying their damndest to protect

:25:42. > :25:46.Flanders? This is a tiny corner of the country. It is that all is left.

:25:47. > :25:51.It is as if all of Britain other than Cornwall is being conquered.

:25:52. > :25:54.You have to defend the dream of pushing back, reuniting with your

:25:55. > :25:59.brothers, the Belgium soldiers to the north of here, their families

:26:00. > :26:04.are in the other side of the German line in the occupation, suffering

:26:05. > :26:06.the forced labour that Sophie is talking about.

:26:07. > :26:08.Later on there will be 200 descendants joining the

:26:09. > :26:11.Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the King and Queen of the

:26:12. > :26:13.Belgians alongside others, for the special Last Post

:26:14. > :26:17.Dan Snow's with a couple of the guests.

:26:18. > :26:24.I'm joined by three people. A special connection with the events

:26:25. > :26:33.of 100 years ago. Christine, Ruth and Jan. Who are you here to

:26:34. > :26:40.remember? Edmund Galletti, our grandfather who died on the 31st of

:26:41. > :26:43.July, 1917. That was 100 years ago tomorrow.

:26:44. > :26:50.How old was your father when his father was killed out here? He was

:26:51. > :26:54.just a baby. A year old when his father died as he had been born in

:26:55. > :26:58.1916. You have a special letter from the

:26:59. > :27:05.Commanding Officer. Would you like to read it out? To all of us his

:27:06. > :27:10.death is a great loss but our share of lurks we can measure the

:27:11. > :27:15.greatness of yours and I venture to send our deepest sympathy. You have

:27:16. > :27:19.the consolation of knowing he did his duty nobly, and to your little

:27:20. > :27:22.son his father should always be a proud memory.

:27:23. > :27:29.It is a special thing to have that letter in the family. Jan, what is

:27:30. > :27:34.it like being here, seeing his name on the wall and looking around Ypres

:27:35. > :27:42.today? It is incredible. It is a privilege. It is a pilgrimage. We

:27:43. > :27:45.are here to honour not just our grandfather but our father as well,

:27:46. > :27:50.who really didn't know him as we knew him. So it is massive to be

:27:51. > :27:54.here. This whole event is just fantastic.

:27:55. > :27:55.Thank you for joining us and sharing the stories about your grandfather.

:27:56. > :28:01.Thank you. Thank you.

:28:02. > :28:08.The ladies will be enjoying the events taking place later.

:28:09. > :28:15.Now elet's have a look at the scene at the Menin Gate.

:28:16. > :28:20.There are the Band of the Welsh Guards.

:28:21. > :28:28.A fantastic scene there. One man who has a very big job is Lieutenant

:28:29. > :28:34.Kevin Reynolds, doing his best to conduct all of the music this

:28:35. > :28:42.receivening. No small task, overseeing four different groups of

:28:43. > :28:48.musicians, the Walsh, the Central Band of the RAF and the Band of Her

:28:49. > :28:52.Majesty's Plymouth. And the The National Youth Choir of Scotland. I

:28:53. > :28:53.have heard the rehearsals it will be something to look forward to.

:28:54. > :28:57.The First World War is now beyond living memory,

:28:58. > :29:00.but the testimonies of those who fought mean the horrors

:29:01. > :29:07.The following film is a testament to the remarkable story of one

:29:08. > :29:10.ordinary man who fought at Passchendaele and became

:29:11. > :29:16.During the four years of war, over five million men from Britain

:29:17. > :29:21.and the Empire fought on the Western Front.

:29:22. > :29:24.They were ordinary men, destined to fight an extraordinary war.

:29:25. > :29:27.Such was the pain of that doomed generation that it

:29:28. > :29:42.Eventually, from all those who fought in the trenches,

:29:43. > :29:51.The first time he spoke publicly about the war was in 1998,

:29:52. > :30:00.There was number one on the gun, there was me with the spare parts

:30:01. > :30:01.and they were carrying the air munition.

:30:02. > :30:18.It's a difficult thing to describe, the friendship there was between us.

:30:19. > :30:24.We each knew where the other came from and what their lives had been,

:30:25. > :30:34.We belonged to each other, if you understand.

:30:35. > :30:37.When it came to the point when we went into action,

:30:38. > :30:47.We were on a piece of ground and the Whizz Bang

:30:48. > :30:53.The last three, who were the air munition carriers, they must

:30:54. > :31:01.have been right back where the shell burst.

:31:02. > :31:06.I shall never forget the three I lost behind me.

:31:07. > :31:22.80 years after, I always remember it.

:31:23. > :31:28.That is the trouble now, talking to you.

:31:29. > :31:40.You are making me relive what happened, years and years ago.

:31:41. > :31:57.Over the next 11 years, Harry confronted the memories that

:31:58. > :32:02.tormented him, and became a figurehead for remembrance.

:32:03. > :32:06.When he passed away on the 25th of July 2009, we lost our last

:32:07. > :32:09.living link to the trenches of World War I.

:32:10. > :32:24.But the legacy of Harry's generation will last for ever.

:32:25. > :32:30.The memories of Harry Patch. I should tell viewers at home David

:32:31. > :32:36.Denton Richard Ewing and said, you should be very proud of that. --

:32:37. > :32:40.David turned to Richard. You got him to talk about bits of his life he

:32:41. > :32:44.had never discussed before, even with his family, the people he loved

:32:45. > :32:48.the most. Why do you think he spoke to you and at that point was ready

:32:49. > :32:53.to talk? Because he knew it was two minutes to 12 in his life. He knew

:32:54. > :32:57.he was going to take this to the grave with him and it was a monkey

:32:58. > :33:01.on his back. When I first met him, he told me his entire war in five

:33:02. > :33:06.minutes, he said that sick, I don't think there's any more I can tell

:33:07. > :33:09.you. I said, can I ask you more questions? When I said afterwards,

:33:10. > :33:14.we would love to feel knew about this, is that possible? He agreed.

:33:15. > :33:19.He said on the clip, you're making me talk about things. We weren't, we

:33:20. > :33:25.said if we bring a crew down here and talk to will you up and tell it?

:33:26. > :33:28.He said yes, I will. It was incredibly painful for him but you

:33:29. > :33:33.could see, as he talked about it, not just on that occasion but

:33:34. > :33:38.occasions, slowly this monkey that had been on his back for 80 years

:33:39. > :33:42.began to lift. I'll tell you something, just before he died, I

:33:43. > :33:47.think he actually wanted to die here. He said to me, take me back to

:33:48. > :33:51.Passchendaele. It was coming up to his 111th birthday, there was no way

:33:52. > :33:56.he could have come back. He went like this I pulled out his passport.

:33:57. > :34:00.I think he wanted to come back here and die. But he was happy. At that

:34:01. > :34:04.time, he'd got over his war. The last couple of times we brought him

:34:05. > :34:08.here, with so much more at peace than he was the first time we came

:34:09. > :34:13.here and he couldn't get off the bus for crying. When he came here, did

:34:14. > :34:17.he talk while he was here or word the memories internal and personal

:34:18. > :34:24.whilst he was in Flanders? The first time we came here we went to where

:34:25. > :34:27.he was on the 16th of August any good and he couldn't really talk

:34:28. > :34:32.about it, he wept. He couldn't even get off the bus at first. Slowly but

:34:33. > :34:35.surely he would let us in a little bit more, tell us a little bit more

:34:36. > :34:41.about what had happened to him. But it traumatised him. Even just before

:34:42. > :34:46.he died, he said to me, have you ever handled a man without a head? I

:34:47. > :34:51.said, are you talking about the Second World War? He said no, the

:34:52. > :34:56.First World War. I said to Harry, I said maybe this is the time to leave

:34:57. > :35:01.that. We are just looking at pictures of Harry, a visit to a

:35:02. > :35:04.German cemetery. David, that is an interesting idea, that someone is

:35:05. > :35:13.willing to confront not just the horror of what he and his comrades

:35:14. > :35:16.and his friends went through, but what happened on the other side.

:35:17. > :35:19.That seems to have been a great strength of the man, that he could

:35:20. > :35:21.confront that? He was aware he had been through hell and an equal hell

:35:22. > :35:25.had been experienced by men on the other side of the line. I met quite

:35:26. > :35:28.a number of veterans, not as many as Richard, they were aware they had

:35:29. > :35:32.killed as well as seen their comrades die. There was among many

:35:33. > :35:36.of them a sense that what they had been through was something that

:35:37. > :35:42.should never have been asked of any generation. There was not a pacifism

:35:43. > :35:45.but they sense that war, especially this war, with something that had to

:35:46. > :35:51.be regretted unlamented and not glamorised. Sophie, as a Belgian and

:35:52. > :35:54.historian, when you hear Richard say he was talking to this man is more

:35:55. > :36:00.than 100 years old, who felt above all else, he would have been

:36:01. > :36:04.happiest and most comfortable coming back here to die. That is an

:36:05. > :36:10.extraordinary thing. It must be almost a strange thing for a Belgian

:36:11. > :36:14.person to hear? Would you of that? I have interviewed Belgian veterans

:36:15. > :36:23.and they have they similar things. It is probably the defining

:36:24. > :36:26.experience. It may be remembered as such in extreme old age. I would

:36:27. > :36:34.like to refer to something that David said, about the German

:36:35. > :36:40.soldiers dying in the Salient. Their memorial footprint is much smaller,

:36:41. > :36:45.so the landscape here tells a story, but it tells a lopsided story,

:36:46. > :36:50.because you wonder, where are the Germans? You miss them. They are

:36:51. > :36:54.there, but you have German war cemeteries that are much smaller

:36:55. > :36:57.than Tyne Cot but hold many more remains. Do you think that is

:36:58. > :37:00.something potentially in the future people will be willing to explore or

:37:01. > :37:06.do you think it's buried with history? If this is to be as it

:37:07. > :37:10.should become a European memory, then yes, this is the way to go.

:37:11. > :37:14.Later this evening there is a very special live event that will pay

:37:15. > :37:15.tribute to these men we have been talking about, who fought in the

:37:16. > :37:17.fields of Flanders. Hosted by Dame Helen Mirren, it

:37:18. > :37:30.will feature performances of songs, Dan met with Ian Hislop who was

:37:31. > :37:35.taking part in the events later. What can expect from you and the

:37:36. > :37:38.team tonight? The commemoration of the Battle of Passchendaele and we

:37:39. > :37:44.are doing extracts from the play The Wipers Times, which my friend and I

:37:45. > :37:47.wrote. We are doing selected bits, which is particularly good because

:37:48. > :37:53.our slot were actually at the Battle of Passchendaele. What was The

:37:54. > :37:57.Wipers Times? Unbelievably a satirical newspaper produced in the

:37:58. > :38:00.trenches and it started right here in Dammartin-en-Goele. Two British

:38:01. > :38:04.officers and their Sergeant, who turned out to be a printer, started

:38:05. > :38:12.a newspaper and it around throughout the rest of the war, from 1916 to

:38:13. > :38:17.the Armistice. Ian Hislop, what first attracted you to a satirical

:38:18. > :38:21.newspaper written in the trenches? What a question. Two men in the

:38:22. > :38:26.worst possible circumstances producing a brilliantly funny paper,

:38:27. > :38:29.under duress and threat of death. On the front line, they didn't do it at

:38:30. > :38:35.home and send it up, it was on the front line. At one point they had to

:38:36. > :38:39.correct page proofs before going over the trenches. These guys did it

:38:40. > :38:44.for real. You do it for real as well, thank you very much. Back to

:38:45. > :38:54.you, thank you.

:38:55. > :38:58.Back to the Menin Gate. A ceremony that takes place every evening but

:38:59. > :39:02.tonight a rather bigger and more special event. The UK Defence

:39:03. > :39:08.Secretary Michael Fallon taking his place. The welcoming party for all

:39:09. > :39:13.of these significant people includes Sir Tim Laurence, the vice-chairman

:39:14. > :39:17.of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the husband of the

:39:18. > :39:27.Princess Royal, Princess am. We can also see the mayor of Ypres. Born in

:39:28. > :39:32.a village nearby and it will be a proud evening an important evening

:39:33. > :39:37.for him as he watches the people gather under this important

:39:38. > :39:40.monument. With me still are Sophie, David and Richard. I'm keen to try

:39:41. > :39:44.and explore a little more of the history of this place, and I'm

:39:45. > :39:48.talking not about when the battles were here but when people were going

:39:49. > :39:54.about their daily lives. The first thing that struck me, and it is the

:39:55. > :39:59.first time I have been to Ypres this week, was to see Cloth Hall. So

:40:00. > :40:03.beautiful and ornate as a piece of architecture, yet it has a very

:40:04. > :40:08.simple name, the Cloth Hall, because that was the industry of the area.

:40:09. > :40:13.Can you put it some context? The Cloth Hall does look like a

:40:14. > :40:18.cathedral. Yes. The largest Gothic civil building in Europe. Why is

:40:19. > :40:25.that? Why does it look like a cathedral? What was done there was

:40:26. > :40:31.trading in woollens. It was the heart, the driving heart of the

:40:32. > :40:34.woollen trade, with England and then across Western Europe. If you look

:40:35. > :40:40.at medieval Europe, you can see almost a spine of cities going from

:40:41. > :40:44.England, and then flounders, you have Paris and then it goes all the

:40:45. > :40:53.way down to northern Italy, which is in many ways this long spine of

:40:54. > :40:57.trade, exchange, communication, knowledge, discovery. There is a

:40:58. > :41:02.very proud memory of that, even though by the late 19th-century,

:41:03. > :41:07.Ypres was no longer the heart of things as it had been. The Cloth

:41:08. > :41:12.Hall lay in ruins at the end of the Second World War. That was not just

:41:13. > :41:16.a practical problem for the people of this area but somehow hugely

:41:17. > :41:23.significant symbolically. The whole idea was it stood for urban

:41:24. > :41:26.liberties, it stood for trade, it stood for exchange and openness, all

:41:27. > :41:32.of that simply had to be rebuilt, even if in the event it meant

:41:33. > :41:36.prioritising that kind of rebuilding over rebuilding houses for ordinary

:41:37. > :41:41.people. Many of them lived in barracks well into the 1920s,

:41:42. > :41:46.however it was absolutely a priority. It was crucial. The

:41:47. > :41:51.picture we saw is of a pile of rubble that nothing but almost two

:41:52. > :41:55.faces of the tower still standing. When it was proposed that a lot of

:41:56. > :42:00.effort and I'm guessing a lot of money was put into rebuilding it,

:42:01. > :42:06.the people of Ypres and Flanders said good idea? If they were living

:42:07. > :42:10.in barracks? First of all, we're not in a social democracy yet so their

:42:11. > :42:13.opinion was not being asked. They may have muttered but there were no

:42:14. > :42:16.channels for they're muttering, so we do not know. I'm sure they

:42:17. > :42:25.weren't very happy. It could well be that the very idea they could not

:42:26. > :42:30.yet be articulated. We're going to take a little look now at the

:42:31. > :42:36.descendants procession that is taking place, towards the Menin

:42:37. > :42:40.Gate. Since the 1920s families have come to Ypres to visit the Menin

:42:41. > :42:55.Gate and commemorate the last dead, those who had no grave and no tomb

:42:56. > :42:58.at that point. They are led by the Royal Irish pipes and drums in fine

:42:59. > :43:04.fettle. A fine evening, the sun has come out. The clouds have parted and

:43:05. > :43:08.we have a fine evening for the commemoration. David, I want to ask

:43:09. > :43:12.you about these families. There is a great question as to why people

:43:13. > :43:16.still come. They have been coming since the 1920s. In the beginning,

:43:17. > :43:21.entirely understandable because these were mothers, sisters, and

:43:22. > :43:24.aunts who wanted to know where their young men had gone and wanted

:43:25. > :43:28.somehow to connect with their death. Why do you think it is, and we have

:43:29. > :43:32.hundreds of them here this evening, that each and every year tens of

:43:33. > :43:35.thousands of people come to this tiny town in ostensibly the middle

:43:36. > :43:40.of nowhere, to connect with that event? I think it's one of the great

:43:41. > :43:45.questions of British history. 100 years ago people would say this will

:43:46. > :43:48.be remembered in 100 years' time but I don't know if they were confident.

:43:49. > :43:53.Most wars are forgotten, this war hasn't been. Normally when the

:43:54. > :43:57.generation who fought leave us, wars are put behind us. This hasn't

:43:58. > :44:02.happened. In the 1980s there was talk that even the Remembrance Day

:44:03. > :44:06.ceremony would eventually die out. That is unimaginable now. The First

:44:07. > :44:12.World War has become part of who we are. I don't think anyone can answer

:44:13. > :44:16.as to why, but it is part of European history and British history

:44:17. > :44:20.and the idea of not commemorating it is unimaginable. Is an intrigue in

:44:21. > :44:25.many ways, White a century on we are still doing it. I know you have a

:44:26. > :44:29.great depth of information about many of the family stories. One of

:44:30. > :44:36.the stories I read about were three Australian brothers. Can you tell us

:44:37. > :44:40.about them? Three brothers from Sydney in Australia that came over

:44:41. > :44:47.here and they fought at the Battle of Menin Road on the 20th of

:44:48. > :44:50.September. All three were mortally wounded, two dying very soon

:44:51. > :44:54.afterwards, their bodies were lost, never recovered. They are on the

:44:55. > :45:00.Menin Gate. The third one died of his wounds I think the following

:45:01. > :45:03.dates and is buried a few miles at the back of Ypres. All three

:45:04. > :45:09.brothers effectively killed at the same time, at the same place. Some

:45:10. > :45:14.of those commemorated on the gate, under the age of 18, am I right in

:45:15. > :45:17.saying that? Yes, I had a great interest in a number of boys who

:45:18. > :45:24.served under age in the First World War. There are certainly ten

:45:25. > :45:28.15-year-olds on the Menin Gate. It only holds 50% of ages on their

:45:29. > :45:32.website, so you could fairly well speculate there would be at least

:45:33. > :45:38.twice that and probably more. Many boys used false names. Parents have

:45:39. > :45:46.the habit of rounding up ages, when they were asked to log their son

:45:47. > :45:51.was, born in 89 and died in 16 so he was 15 but he might have been

:45:52. > :45:55.younger. A lot of young lads. The idea age, the more there are. A lot

:45:56. > :46:00.of 17-year-olds, lots of 16-year-olds are lots of

:46:01. > :46:07.18-year-old. At the time you had to be 19. We're seeing a splendid site

:46:08. > :46:10.of the Belgian standards. This is a procession of the descendants making

:46:11. > :46:15.their way towards the Menin Gate. David, can you give us a little bit

:46:16. > :46:19.more, some of the facts and figures behind the Menin Gate. As we saw in

:46:20. > :46:22.the earlier film, of course, this is a commemoration. Before it used to

:46:23. > :46:26.be there with the bridge on the lines on the bridge that was it, but

:46:27. > :46:27.here at the Menin Gate now, when people come to visit, what are they

:46:28. > :46:36.seeing and witnessing? They are seeing the transformation

:46:37. > :46:42.of what was a number of gates of medieval Ypres turned into an

:46:43. > :46:47.international place of pilgrimage. Those 53,000 names are the names of

:46:48. > :46:51.those without a proper burial, without a proper headstone. The

:46:52. > :46:58.reason is because of the nature of the war, the landscape it was fought

:46:59. > :47:02.on, meant they were atomised by the explosions or drowned in the mud.

:47:03. > :47:07.The scale of the monument is in balance to the horror that happened.

:47:08. > :47:10.We needed to build something here, to try to acknowledge account awful

:47:11. > :47:17.this had been. And Sophie, as I was standing there,

:47:18. > :47:20.there is no pomposity, there is something that is almost spare and

:47:21. > :47:25.noble about this. What are your thoughts on that? Absolutely. It is

:47:26. > :47:30.not a performance. It does not matter there is no audience. Many

:47:31. > :47:36.people here remember decades where on many, many, many evenings, where

:47:37. > :47:39.there was nobody, or maybe two people, somebody walking a dog, it

:47:40. > :47:44.doesn't matter, it is not a performance. Precisely on those

:47:45. > :47:49.I'vening, you can sense how brilliant the ritual is. It doesn't

:47:50. > :47:55.tell you what to think about war, one way or another but it is done

:47:56. > :47:59.every day. The brilliance of the significance, lies in the sheer

:48:00. > :48:04.dogged dailiness of it. Let's cast our minds back 100 years

:48:05. > :48:09.ago, and beyond that, to the information that was reaching people

:48:10. > :48:16.in Britain. What did people know about what was happening out here?

:48:17. > :48:23.How much did they know? By 1917 people understand the nature of the

:48:24. > :48:27.war. By 1917 there is a certain amount of naivety about the Western

:48:28. > :48:33.Front. There is a control of newspaper, there is a degree of

:48:34. > :48:37.censorship but it cannot disguise the list of the deads. So people

:48:38. > :48:42.after the Somme know what the First World War. They may not know the

:48:43. > :48:49.grimmer, the nastier details but they know that the Western Front is

:48:50. > :48:51.slaughterhouse, that the Ypres Salient is the worst place in the

:48:52. > :49:00.world. Sophie? They know it is a

:49:01. > :49:05.slaughterhouse, how many are falling dead every day but at the same time,

:49:06. > :49:10.that it is not just a testimony to how horrible it is but also an

:49:11. > :49:14.emblem of natural resolve, somehow. That is the mentality of that war,

:49:15. > :49:17.that explains why Britain stick it out.

:49:18. > :49:23.Richard, how much did you find that, when talking to men who had fought

:49:24. > :49:31.here? We are not talking as we are now but talk of a highly

:49:32. > :49:36.individualised civil sighs, where people may not agree with it, that

:49:37. > :49:44.they know they could be going to hell. But they do it as it is

:49:45. > :49:49.expected of them? They would spell it out to me DUTY, duty. They had

:49:50. > :49:55.huge store in the word. For some of them, it was right or wrong but for

:49:56. > :50:01.the majority it was country-right. In that they believed that the task

:50:02. > :50:08.that they were Jung was legitimate. So willing to do their utmost for

:50:09. > :50:13.that. They knew the horrors. I mean, Harry Patch, his brother had been

:50:14. > :50:18.here, two years before he had arrived here. He had no illusions

:50:19. > :50:25.what he was going to. But he was determined. He was conscripted and

:50:26. > :50:29.he would do his level best. And you can is a that about the vast men who

:50:30. > :50:38.came here. David, can you give a snapshot of

:50:39. > :50:44.this time if you can? 1917 began with feeling for peace. American

:50:45. > :50:48.President Wilson had brokered a suggestion of peace, the Catholic

:50:49. > :50:52.Church had offered services to broker for peace and even from the

:50:53. > :50:59.Germans to suggest a way to find a way to end the world. One of the

:51:00. > :51:04.great questions, with espent years debating why the war began but

:51:05. > :51:17.equally, why in we could not stop the war. 1916, 17, was a

:51:18. > :51:22.catastrophe. On Verdun, on Arras, there was a des rate conversation to

:51:23. > :51:27.end it but nobody seemed to know how to do it.

:51:28. > :51:33.I am interested to talk about that more. Why is your theory why it

:51:34. > :51:39.could not be reached if there was intent on each side to reach it? The

:51:40. > :51:45.grim calculation is that by the end of 1916, so many men had died on

:51:46. > :51:50.each sides, that to bring the war to an end, was to suggest that the men

:51:51. > :51:54.had died for nothing. So the temptation was to keep fighting so

:51:55. > :52:04.that there was a victory for those who died. But you were throwing more

:52:05. > :52:08.lives on to the pyre. And Haig, all of the intelligence he was receiving

:52:09. > :52:13.was that Germany was on the last legs, one more push, we could win

:52:14. > :52:18.the war. That was coming directly from Ypres and when the Germans came

:52:19. > :52:23.close to winning the war, close to breaking the British line and Haig

:52:24. > :52:27.had seen it, he would never make that mistake, that his intelligence

:52:28. > :52:31.was telling him if he pushed to gain victory, he would go for it. That is

:52:32. > :52:36.what happened here. That is why he pushed for as long as he did, that

:52:37. > :52:41.he could bring the war to a successful end, to its conclusion.

:52:42. > :52:46.Sophie? I think it was because neither side was willing to

:52:47. > :52:50.compromise over invaded areas. 14 million Europeans are living under

:52:51. > :52:58.military occupation, so the allies do not want to let this go. So those

:52:59. > :53:06.powers that have overrun the areas have no intention of relinquishing

:53:07. > :53:10.them. So that is where it stands. We see now the British Prime

:53:11. > :53:15.Minister, Theresa May, walking up to the Menin Gate here in her official

:53:16. > :53:21.capacity as the Prime Minister but she is also personally connected to

:53:22. > :53:27.the event. Her paternal grandfather served in the First World War in the

:53:28. > :53:35.4th Battalion, the King's Royal Rifles. Her grandfather was awarded

:53:36. > :53:44.the Military Cross. She's speaking there to Commander

:53:45. > :53:50.Tim Lawrence. She's also talking to the Secretary

:53:51. > :54:03.of State for Culture and now to the Mayor of Ypres.

:54:04. > :54:12.She's shaking the hand of Benoit Mottrie, the.man who makes sure each

:54:13. > :54:18.and every night, when there are no VIPs, when there are no standards,

:54:19. > :54:24.that the ceremony goes ahead with dignitaries. I spoke to him the

:54:25. > :54:31.other night. He is a man of great precision, great respect, as well as

:54:32. > :54:36.great height! And for this small town, Sophie, I know it is used to,

:54:37. > :54:41.and indeed, Benoit Mottrie had said that we had Her Majesty the Queen

:54:42. > :54:46.here a few years ago, that this is another event to be taken in its

:54:47. > :54:50.stride but do you think that for this little town, that this is a big

:54:51. > :54:54.occasion, after 100 years, to take a breath as well as to make the

:54:55. > :55:04.preparations and host such a grand event? Yes, to be sure. It is also

:55:05. > :55:10.very obvious that British war memory, which has this extremely

:55:11. > :55:16.coherent narrative of the war, and is extremely convincing aesthetic,

:55:17. > :55:20.the poppies, the Portland Stone, the poems, has really pretty much taken

:55:21. > :55:24.over war memory, including in Belgium.

:55:25. > :55:27.And there must, as there is in every town, in every city, of every

:55:28. > :55:35.country, people of differing views who think it is time to move on, is

:55:36. > :55:39.that heard often in Belgium? That, OK, we acknowledged the past for

:55:40. > :55:45.long enough but we have to move on from it? I'm sure you would hear it

:55:46. > :55:50.but they would not make themselves popular here, I think.

:55:51. > :55:55.Yes, this is a busy town that thrives on the tourism for them.

:55:56. > :56:00.And so many guests coming this evening.

:56:01. > :56:07.With are expecting the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge. A fine night

:56:08. > :56:14.in Ypres. All of the preparations have gone smoothly. The dignitaries

:56:15. > :56:19.are gathered, the des end ants are gather #d, the bands are massed and

:56:20. > :56:23.the preparations have all gone very smoothly indeed it is a fine

:56:24. > :56:28.evening. And David, as you look as somebody

:56:29. > :56:33.familiar with every aspect, I don't think there is a question that I can

:56:34. > :56:38.throw at you cannot answer, when you see, what is essentially people

:56:39. > :56:48.connecting with history, it is an interesting moment, surely? This

:56:49. > :56:53.event, this daily event at Menin is a communion between generations.

:56:54. > :57:00.The connections to the generations that lie here, they are permanent.

:57:01. > :57:04.We are looking at the Belgium Minister of Defence.

:57:05. > :57:09.He is taking up his place and shaking the hands of the welcoming

:57:10. > :57:13.committee. Sorry, do carry on, David.

:57:14. > :57:19.Where the ceremony is taking place is where hundreds of thousands have

:57:20. > :57:24.been marched to the guns, to the trenches, to the battlefields, where

:57:25. > :57:27.the dignitaries are walking now, the sense of that journey, that they

:57:28. > :57:33.went through, it has to be remembered. It is very strong.

:57:34. > :57:36.And of course we see the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge making

:57:37. > :57:46.their way up Menenstraat towards the Gate. The Duchess accompanied the

:57:47. > :57:51.Duke back in 2014 to common rate events since the start of the First

:57:52. > :58:00.World War. There was a reception to mark the

:58:01. > :58:22.Ken tenary of the battle of Messines.

:58:23. > :58:32.And so the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge being welcomed there to

:58:33. > :58:37.Right Honourable Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Culture, and

:58:38. > :58:44.Sir Tim Laurence, the Vice-Chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves

:58:45. > :58:48.Commission and the Mayor of Ypres, along with Benoit Mottrie. It was

:58:49. > :59:07.last Thursday the Duke carried out his last ever shift with shift as an

:59:08. > :59:12.Air Ambulance pilot, serving with them for many years. By their side

:59:13. > :59:15.is Ambassador Alison Rose. Here, now, we welcome the King and Queen

:59:16. > :59:56.of the Belgians. As monarch, the King, is commander

:59:57. > :00:00.of the Belgium army. He has a strong military background in the Belgium

:00:01. > :01:36.Air Force, indeed, he was a fighter pilot.

:01:37. > :01:46.Every evening, the city of Ypres falls silent at eight o'clock, and

:01:47. > :01:51.The Last Post is played by the buglers of The Last Post

:01:52. > :01:58.Association. With the sounding of this bugle call, the 250,000 British

:01:59. > :02:09.and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed on the Ypres Salient during

:02:10. > :02:13.the First World War are remembered. The battlefields of the Salient came

:02:14. > :02:20.to define the war for many British and Commonwealth soldiers. The

:02:21. > :02:28.defence of the city at such great cost, meant that it became hallowed

:02:29. > :02:33.ground. Winston Churchill said of Ypres

:02:34. > :02:40."More sacred for the British race does not exist in all the world. "

:02:41. > :02:46.It was from here, along the Menin Road, that so many marched towards

:02:47. > :02:52.the front line. After the war, when a location was

:02:53. > :03:00.being sought for a lasting memorial to these men, it seemed fitting for

:03:01. > :03:09.it to be built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in this place.

:03:10. > :03:17.To date, the Menin Gate records almost 54,000 names of the men who

:03:18. > :03:23.did not return home. The missing with no known grave.

:03:24. > :03:31.Members of our families, our regiments, Alan Nations -- our

:03:32. > :03:37.nations, all sacrificed everything for the lives we live today.

:03:38. > :03:47.During the First World War, Britain and Belgium stood shoulder to

:03:48. > :03:53.shoulder, 100 years on, we still stand together. Gathering, as so

:03:54. > :03:59.many do every night, in remembrance of that sacrifice.

:04:00. > :05:22.Thank you for the honour that you do ask. -- to us.

:05:23. > :05:41.Every time we stand here, under the Menin Gate, we feel overwhelmed by

:05:42. > :05:48.the immensity of the sacrifice of the men whose names around us. And

:05:49. > :05:56.when a fresh breeze whispers through the archers, it touches something

:05:57. > :06:06.inside all of us. It is as if the fallen were telling us, we did this

:06:07. > :06:11.for you. Indeed, they came to our country from near and far, to defend

:06:12. > :06:21.our freedom, alongside our own soldiers. Ever since, we have

:06:22. > :06:27.expressed our gratitude to these heroes, and 100 years have been

:06:28. > :06:36.passed without it being diminished. I am proud of the people of Ypres

:06:37. > :06:41.and of other places on the Western front, conscious of the sacrifices

:06:42. > :06:48.made by those who fought on Belgian soil, they pay homage daily on

:06:49. > :06:56.behalf of all Belgian citizens. The Last Post ceremony, held here

:06:57. > :07:01.each evening, is a tradition founded and maintained by the local

:07:02. > :07:09.community. It has taken place more than 30,000 times since 1928, and is

:07:10. > :07:16.an important part of the identity of the city of Ypres. Members of The

:07:17. > :07:24.Last Post Association organised the ceremony day after day, an busy

:07:25. > :07:31.summer evenings and quiet winter nights, for your dedication, we

:07:32. > :07:37.thank you. Passchendaele was a struggle for

:07:38. > :07:44.freedom. Our common freedom, the freedom we enjoy today. At the time,

:07:45. > :07:53.it was a fight for land. Every possible metre of land. Blood soaked

:07:54. > :07:59.the Earth. The bodies of the thousands of soldiers who remained

:08:00. > :08:10.here for ever became one with the Earth. So your Graves on our soil

:08:11. > :08:18.have become our grades on your soil, in the same way your Menin Gate has

:08:19. > :08:23.become our gate, and our cities and countryside on the Western front

:08:24. > :08:32.will for ever be a part of our common history.

:08:33. > :08:39.This battle, 100 years ago, makes the bond between our countries

:08:40. > :08:44.strong and everlasting. At our gathering today, let us together

:08:45. > :08:51.with a new generation renew our commitment to the fallen, to use the

:08:52. > :09:32.freedom we owe to them in a way that honours their immense sacrifice.

:09:33. > :11:17.They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not

:11:18. > :11:22.weary them or the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the

:11:23. > :15:20.morning, we will remember them. We will remember them.

:15:21. > :15:28.And so, the wreath-laying ceremony against the King of Belgium, King

:15:29. > :16:28.Philippe of Belgium and the Duke of Cambridge.

:16:29. > :16:36.HEARTS And the turn now of the Belgium Minister of Defence,

:16:37. > :17:20.accompanied by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May.

:17:21. > :17:29.Laying wreaths now will be the Governor of West Flanders and Sir

:17:30. > :18:12.Tim Laurence. Following on from them, Jan Durnez,

:18:13. > :18:41.and Benoit Mottrie. Now in this final grouping, a large

:18:42. > :18:47.grouping, we see about 19 members of the National Citizenship Service. We

:18:48. > :18:49.will witness them handing wreaths to representatives from various

:18:50. > :18:57.combatant nations that served in the First World War. The countries we

:18:58. > :19:01.see being represented this evening are Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh

:19:02. > :19:09.and Canada. The Democratic Republic of Congo, France, and Germany.

:19:10. > :19:13.We will witness an and ant representative among the various

:19:14. > :19:19.British colonies, India contributed the largest number of men, with

:19:20. > :19:26.approximately 1.5 million recruited during the war and up until

:19:27. > :19:34.December, 1919. There are representatives interest Ireland, be

:19:35. > :19:37.Montserrat, New Zealand, Pakistan and Morocco, 24300 Moroccans served

:19:38. > :20:10.in the French army during the First World War.

:20:11. > :20:17.O valiant hearts who to your glory came

:20:18. > :20:21.Through dust of conflict and through battle flame;

:20:22. > :20:25.Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,

:20:26. > :20:35.Your memory hallowed in the land you loved.

:20:36. > :20:41.Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, to war

:20:42. > :20:51.As who had heard God's message from afar;

:20:52. > :20:59.All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave,

:21:00. > :21:14.To save mankind - yourselves you scorned to save.

:21:15. > :21:19.Splendid you passed, the great surrender made;

:21:20. > :21:27.Into the light that nevermore shall fade;

:21:28. > :21:33.Deep your contentment in that blest abode,

:21:34. > :22:15.Who wait the last clear trumpet call of God.

:22:16. > :22:17.In glorious hope their proud and sorrowing land

:22:18. > :23:10.Commits her children to Thy gracious hand.

:23:11. > :23:16.When you go home tell them of us and say: For your tomorrow, we gave our

:23:17. > :27:37.today. So the Royal party now meets the

:27:38. > :27:43.Menin Gate Last Post Buglers. They are part of a team that alternative

:27:44. > :27:58.the responsibilities for the nightly task of performing The Last Post.

:27:59. > :28:09.And the 90 singers we enjoyed this evening, congratulate themselves so

:28:10. > :28:15.far this evening, they were from between the ages of 16 and 24.

:28:16. > :28:17.There we see the Prime Minister's message on the wreath that she laid

:28:18. > :28:31.tonight on the Menin Gate. And that is His Royal Highness'

:28:32. > :29:06.Prince William's wreath. Now the Queen of the Belgian's

:29:07. > :29:12.grandfather was a Sergeant in the Belgian army. He was captured and

:29:13. > :29:17.spent the much of the war as a prisoner of war in a German war

:29:18. > :29:24.camp. So for many of the people here, and for Theresa May too, there

:29:25. > :29:35.are personal memories connected to this very civic occasion.

:29:36. > :29:48.And there we are. The Last Post has been sounded at the Menin Gate as it

:29:49. > :29:51.has each and every night. David Olusoga Professor Sophie de

:29:52. > :29:57.Schaerpdrijver and Richard van Emden are still with me. We are at Tyne

:29:58. > :30:03.Cot Cemetery a few kilometres from Ypres. We have spoken much about the

:30:04. > :30:08.commemorative moment, about what the Menin Gate means to the world,

:30:09. > :30:14.Sophie, what was going through your head while watching the ceremony? I

:30:15. > :30:19.was reminded of something that David said earlier about the communion of

:30:20. > :30:24.today's generation with the generation of those men and not only

:30:25. > :30:30.as a Belgian but more in general. I am struck by the fact that here was

:30:31. > :30:35.an entire generation put in uniform and put in harm's way. We have

:30:36. > :30:42.travelled an enormous distance. There are very few states in the

:30:43. > :30:48.world that could manage that today, that would want to sort of a very

:30:49. > :30:51.awe authoritarian state. Most of our young people are growing up in the

:30:52. > :30:56.knowledge that they will never have to face something like this. So on

:30:57. > :31:01.the one hand there is an intense communion with the dead, on the

:31:02. > :31:05.other hand, they were facing a fate that today's young people will most

:31:06. > :31:10.probably not have to face. So there is a disconnect there,

:31:11. > :31:15.coupled with an intense wish to understand. It is fascinating in

:31:16. > :31:22.itself. We heard His Royal Highness say, 100

:31:23. > :31:28.years on we stand together. Leaving aside the current political

:31:29. > :31:35.complexities in which we are, it is an interesting phase phrase to use?

:31:36. > :31:40.Britain entered the First World War to defend the Belgian majority. It

:31:41. > :31:47.is appropriate that the link between Belgium and Britain is special for

:31:48. > :31:50.those reasons. A quarter of all of the British and the Belgian

:31:51. > :31:56.servicemen died in these fields in this very small area. It was always

:31:57. > :31:57.going to be a special place it is where the bond between Belgium and

:31:58. > :32:07.Britain was born. You mentioned the Empire servicemen.

:32:08. > :32:09.Stay with that thought, we are now going to move on.

:32:10. > :32:12.This evening's next event will take place in the Market

:32:13. > :32:16.Square of Ypres in around ten minutes.

:32:17. > :32:24.Earlier Dan Snow Medvedev on the performers, Dame Helen Mirren.

:32:25. > :32:27.What can we expect from tonight? I think it will be pretty

:32:28. > :32:32.spectacular tonight, very emotional, how can it not be? We are standing

:32:33. > :32:37.right here on the spot that so many young men walk to their deaths or

:32:38. > :32:43.into incredibly heroic actions. So it's loaded with a motion, with

:32:44. > :32:48.feeling. It will also be very stirring. There is an orchestra of

:32:49. > :32:52.100 people, there is a beautiful young choir of 100 young kids

:32:53. > :32:56.singing and this incredible building behind us is going to be lit up with

:32:57. > :33:01.the most amazing light show. So the whole thing, I think, is going to be

:33:02. > :33:03.pretty spectacular. You are being typically modest because you are

:33:04. > :33:09.playing an important part. What are you doing? I'm just the glue, one of

:33:10. > :33:15.many contributors to the evening. There are quite a few British actors

:33:16. > :33:19.who are going to be there tonight. But I'm just really one of the

:33:20. > :33:23.contributors. I'm sort of the glue that holds sections of it together,

:33:24. > :33:27.to describe exactly in the most simple terms, exactly what happened

:33:28. > :33:30.historically. You have done so many different and

:33:31. > :33:34.varied jobs over the years, what is it like to be here and part of this

:33:35. > :33:39.event? It means an enormous amount to me.

:33:40. > :33:43.I'm basically a child of the Second World War, but my parents generation

:33:44. > :33:49.were very much of the First World War. So I feel it's kind of in my

:33:50. > :33:55.history and in my blood, that particular terrible, terrible

:33:56. > :33:59.battle. I lost an uncle, my mother was the 13th of 14 children. By the

:34:00. > :34:05.time she was born, she had already lost one of her brothers, early

:34:06. > :34:10.brothers, in the First World War. So literally one of my uncles was

:34:11. > :34:17.killed in the First World War. So obviously I feel that, that

:34:18. > :34:22.emotional connection with it. Also, much more than that in a way, every

:34:23. > :34:27.time I travel in Europe and I go to a small village in France or in

:34:28. > :34:31.Germany or the Netherlands, or Belgium, you see the monument to the

:34:32. > :34:35.boys, the lost boys of that tiny little village, and there's a list

:34:36. > :34:39.of ten, 15 or 20 names and you realise a whole generation of young

:34:40. > :34:47.men were wiped out in this particular war. And so many of them

:34:48. > :34:51.lost their lives in this particular battle that we are commemorating

:34:52. > :34:57.today. Thank you for playing your part in that commemoration.

:34:58. > :35:02.We look forward to seeing Dame Helen Mirren later. Welcome back to Tyne

:35:03. > :35:07.Cot. David, if I'm going to interrupt you for anyone, Dame Helen

:35:08. > :35:13.Mirren isn't bad! I'm honoured. What I was beginning to ask you is about

:35:14. > :35:17.Commonwealth troops. Very many of the countries, 19 nations that were

:35:18. > :35:25.represented tonight in that ceremony at the Menin Gate. The one I didn't

:35:26. > :35:30.have time to mention was Nepal, 90,000 Indian Gurkhas served in the

:35:31. > :35:35.war. An astonishing number. Their role in that, if enough done to mark

:35:36. > :35:40.their contribution, do you think? I've been really pleased in this

:35:41. > :35:43.three years so far, one year to go, of centenary remembrance, that we

:35:44. > :35:47.have begun to make a sea change in recognising that this was a war of

:35:48. > :35:53.empires. Britain was an empire, France and Belgium were empires. Men

:35:54. > :35:58.from all over the world fought and laboured on the Western

:35:59. > :36:01.The Western front was most the most ethnically diverse place there had

:36:02. > :36:05.been by 1917. I think we're beginning, when we have these

:36:06. > :36:10.moments and celebrations, these moments of remembrance, that it was

:36:11. > :36:15.a world War. That was the phrase I was going to use. Sophie, you were

:36:16. > :36:18.nodding your head. It was a world war and we cannot for a minute

:36:19. > :36:25.discount that it touched every corner of our world. It did indeed,

:36:26. > :36:29.every corner, yes, in the sense of all those tens of thousands,

:36:30. > :36:35.hundreds of thousands of men coming here to fight. It also touched home

:36:36. > :36:41.fronts across the globe, economies, trade routes.

:36:42. > :36:44.Richard, you have been steeped in this war for decades now. There is

:36:45. > :36:48.barely a part of it that you don't seem to almost tangibly feel in your

:36:49. > :36:56.bones. When I was listening to King Philippe of Belgium talk tonight, he

:36:57. > :37:01.was poetic in parts. He seemed to sort of be trying to sum up not the

:37:02. > :37:07.facts as we do sitting here, but the spirit. What did you make of his

:37:08. > :37:13.attempt to do it? The word to use, he said when a fresh wind whispers

:37:14. > :37:21.through the arches it's like the fallen talking and calling to you.

:37:22. > :37:24.Yes, that emotion we all feel. We have such reverence for that

:37:25. > :37:28.generation of men from all corners of the globe that came here to

:37:29. > :37:33.Belgium and France and lay down their lives. You can't help but feel

:37:34. > :37:38.very emotional when you see the poppies coming through... A

:37:39. > :37:44.remarkable moment. A beautiful moment, with the playing of The Last

:37:45. > :37:47.Post. We all stand here now, 100 years on, saying, and I said this at

:37:48. > :37:51.the sombre year ago, a Farewell to these men. There won't ever be

:37:52. > :37:56.another commemoration like this. This is a very important day. I

:37:57. > :38:00.think he caught the spirit exactly. How much are you concerned... I

:38:01. > :38:03.noticed when I was at the Menin Gate watching The Last Post ceremony a

:38:04. > :38:11.couple of nights ago, there were all sorts of people that is very elderly

:38:12. > :38:13.men in wheelchairs, a toddler on top of his father's shoulders. I was

:38:14. > :38:17.standing next to two sisters, about nine and five, and they seemed

:38:18. > :38:21.generally interested in what was going on. How much are you concerned

:38:22. > :38:25.that what you write about, what you all spend your lives trying to

:38:26. > :38:29.communicate, is going to be of interest to the next generation?

:38:30. > :38:38.Well, I can only hope and pray it is. Things ebb and flow. 20 years

:38:39. > :38:41.ago, 25 years ago, I was here with the regular army men and there were

:38:42. > :38:44.12 old contemptible is under the Menin Gate with 12 helpers and five

:38:45. > :38:49.other people. Just looking at some pictures just

:38:50. > :38:52.now in Dammartin-en-Goele at Cloth Hall. The arrivals for this evening.

:38:53. > :39:00.I mentioned they would be meeting each other tomorrow. -- now in

:39:01. > :39:05.Ypres. They are again together right now, to watch what promises to be a

:39:06. > :39:09.rather intriguing and remarkable creative event tonight. We are going

:39:10. > :39:17.to be watching these performances, along with the Duke of Cambridge and

:39:18. > :39:23.the Royal Belgians. And accompanied by Sir Tim Laurence. It will take

:39:24. > :39:27.place in the Market Square of Ypres and retell the story of the Battle

:39:28. > :39:32.of Passchendaele. As we saw from Dan Snow, Dame Helen Mirren will be our

:39:33. > :39:36.narrator. Ian Hislop, who we also heard from earlier, will introduce a

:39:37. > :39:40.performance of his play, The Wipers Times. I could tell you a little bit

:39:41. > :39:43.about it, but he tells me he doesn't want me to spill the beans, so I

:39:44. > :39:48.won't do that. Stay tuned to see what it's all about. It promises

:39:49. > :39:53.interestingly a few laughs as well as a few very poignant moment. It

:39:54. > :39:57.has been in the West End, I've seen it for myself, and it will be

:39:58. > :40:00.touring around Britain through September. There you see their Royal

:40:01. > :40:06.Highness is making their way to their seats, taking their time,

:40:07. > :40:10.allowing people to take their photograph. Those are cobblestones,

:40:11. > :40:14.and very high heels, not easy to negotiate! No wonder they are taking

:40:15. > :40:22.their time. There will also be some specially written extracts from War

:40:23. > :40:26.Horse and plenty of music to enjoy as well, including the voices of the

:40:27. > :40:27.National Youth Choir of Scotland, who you heard earlier at the Menin

:40:28. > :40:50.Gate. And even for rehearsals last night,

:40:51. > :40:55.the entirety of the Market Square in Ypres was full of people, crammed to

:40:56. > :41:00.the barriers. Standing room only tonight, apart of course from the

:41:01. > :41:04.Royals themselves and other esteemed bitter that is, will be taking their

:41:05. > :41:09.seats. We estimate about 9000 people will be in the square in this little

:41:10. > :41:31.market town in France this evening. There they are, just setting

:41:32. > :41:35.themselves down in the Royal box. It is a fine evening. Sophie, it's

:41:36. > :41:39.always nice, I feel this about Scotland, my home country, if it's a

:41:40. > :41:43.country that gets a lot of rain, it's very nice to see it on a

:41:44. > :41:47.beautiful night like this, looking its very best for such a significant

:41:48. > :41:55.occasion. And so... The event will be starting

:41:56. > :42:00.very soon. It promises to be a feast for the eyes. We will see

:42:01. > :42:04.projections, we will hear from Harry Patch, among others, and it will be

:42:05. > :42:11.presented very creatively, I promise. I think it will be like few

:42:12. > :42:13.things that you have seen before. I witnessed some of the rehearsals and

:42:14. > :42:55.it was a remarkable sight. In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow

:42:56. > :44:13.between the crosses... We shall not sleep,

:44:14. > :44:37.though poppies grow # Will ye go tae

:44:38. > :45:20.Flanders, my Mally O? # Tae see the bold

:45:21. > :45:32.commanders, my Mally O? # And the soldiers,

:45:33. > :45:45.how they die # And the ladies how

:45:46. > :46:00.they cry, Oh my Mally O? # Will ye go tae

:46:01. > :46:29.Flanders, my Mally O? # Oh will ye go tae

:46:30. > :46:50.Flanders, my Mally O?.#. # Oh will ye go tae

:46:51. > :46:56.Flanders, my Mally O?.# # Oh will ye go tae

:46:57. > :47:09.Flanders, my Mally O?# Passchendaele was remembered by many

:47:10. > :47:11.soldiers as the most horrific battle Officially called the Third Battle

:47:12. > :47:19.of Ypres, it was one of the many battles that were fought in Flanders

:47:20. > :47:22.by the armies of the British Britain entered the war in 1914,

:47:23. > :47:28.following the German The French, British

:47:29. > :47:36.and Belgian Armies did all they could to stop the German

:47:37. > :47:42.advance through Europe. Two months later in October 1914

:47:43. > :48:07.the fighting arrived here, in Ypres. From the diary of Pastor Van

:48:08. > :48:10.Walleghem, 13th October 1914. "The sound of the guns

:48:11. > :48:12.could be heard from early violent and getting nearer

:48:13. > :48:16.all the time. No doubt the Germans

:48:17. > :48:21.are being driven back... At about 7:30 in the morning,

:48:22. > :48:23.a dozen German soldiers They had a careful look

:48:24. > :48:28.around and then departed Half an hour later, three

:48:29. > :48:35.armoured cars arrived. Everyone was saying,

:48:36. > :48:38."The Germans are back!", Later in the afternoon, 150 French

:48:39. > :48:48.soldiers marched past Hallebast. And so we had seen

:48:49. > :48:53.the troops of four different armies in a single day - German,

:48:54. > :49:06.Belgian, English and French." Father Camille Delaere,

:49:07. > :53:11.Pastor St Peter's Parish, Ypres. "Wednesday 14th of October,

:53:12. > :53:13.a powerful British army, about 40,000 men, admirably

:53:14. > :53:15.equipped, took possession On the 14th October the 7th

:53:16. > :53:31.Division, halfway to being convinced that the war would be over before

:53:32. > :53:34.they had participated, We had marched 103 miles,

:53:35. > :53:48.of which the last 40 miles had been To the weary British Ypres seemed

:53:49. > :53:52.as peaceful and welcoming as Lyndhurst after a long march

:53:53. > :53:54.through the New Forest. The quaint old fashioned

:53:55. > :53:56.Flemish town lies sleepily by the side of a serene,

:53:57. > :54:02.tree shaded canal, and seemed Sister Marie-Marguerite,

:54:03. > :54:14.teacher and member of the Sisters of Mary at the La Motte Convent,

:54:15. > :54:27.Ypres. 250 English soldiers and 60 horses

:54:28. > :54:33.were housed in our convent. Inside the town there

:54:34. > :54:37.was still a number of British All the city's ambulances,

:54:38. > :54:48.our school, were full of refugees and represented

:54:49. > :54:51.the saddest of scenes. But also, sadly, they represented

:54:52. > :55:03.the desolation and destruction of our poor country,

:55:04. > :55:05.which only yesterday Gunner Charlie Burrows,

:55:06. > :55:14.Royal Field Artillery. They blocked the roads

:55:15. > :55:35.and we cannot move until they get Our officer tells us that a great

:55:36. > :55:41.battle will soon be fought here. All the people are

:55:42. > :55:44.running for their lives. The village is burning

:55:45. > :55:46.just in front of us. Poor things."

:55:47. > :56:06.shelling again and we see the shells # O vaderland, aanhoor onze klacht

:56:07. > :56:12.Gij doet er menig herte lijden. # Gij maakt ons vrouwen zo ongerust,

:56:13. > :56:19.In dez' bedroefde oorlogstijden # Omdat wij hier man en zoon Vier

:56:20. > :56:33.lange Jaren moeten derven. # Wij vrouwen zijn

:56:34. > :56:59.al om te sterven. # Fatherland, hear our

:57:00. > :57:00.complaints, # De zorgen voor morgen,

:57:01. > :58:03.drukken on sneer. # Hoe zal de toekomst

:58:04. > :58:05.ons nog bezwaren? # Wij

:58:06. > :58:24.hopen, wij vrezen. # Blijft alles donker,

:58:25. > :58:51.blijft alles zwart? # Wij vrouwen zullen

:58:52. > :58:58.altijd wachten.# Corporal John Lucy,

:58:59. > :59:03.Royal Irish Rifles, November 1914. "The dwindling Regular battalions

:59:04. > :59:05.faced assault after assault. The fighting was tremendous,

:59:06. > :59:08.and the slaughter such Practically every unit

:59:09. > :59:17.had lost three-quarters of its fighting strength,

:59:18. > :59:19.yet fresh German attacks kept coming on, and more and more enemy

:59:20. > :59:25.batteries thickened the circle Father Camille Delaere, Pastor St

:59:26. > :59:38.Peter's Parish Ypres, May 1915. "As I am writing, no less

:59:39. > :59:41.than five shells have fallen Permission to stay here has

:59:42. > :59:47.been revoked and we must The shrapnel is still exploding

:59:48. > :59:55.on the outskirts of the city. Four horses are bathing

:59:56. > :00:01.in their blood in the Market Square. We see bloodstains from far away

:00:02. > :00:06.in the Rue du Beurre, When the British troops arrived

:00:07. > :00:25.in Ypres, they brought In the ruins of the city,

:00:26. > :00:31.a group of soldiers from the Sherwood Foresters,

:00:32. > :00:33.led by Captain Fred Roberts and Lieutenant Jack Pearson,

:00:34. > :00:36.produced an extraordinary satirical trench

:00:37. > :00:43.newspaper which laughed at the high command, at the horrors

:00:44. > :00:46.of the war. Its defiant flippancy

:00:47. > :00:47.embodied the triumph of the human spirit in the face

:00:48. > :00:52.of overwhelming adversity. I find it frightfully

:00:53. > :01:02.difficult to tell. It's certainly hot

:01:03. > :01:06.for the time of year. Fritz's love-tokens seem to be

:01:07. > :01:10.arriving with disturbing accuracy. That's how we know

:01:11. > :01:19.the artillery is not our own. The state of the roads out

:01:20. > :01:22.there is quite appalling. I'm going to have to complain

:01:23. > :01:28.to Ypres Town Council. The Boche use them for

:01:29. > :01:31.target practice, Sir. Yes, they're not as "poplar"

:01:32. > :01:34.as they used to be. Sir - where's this Ypres place that

:01:35. > :01:46.everyone keeps talking about? Ypres is what the

:01:47. > :01:49.Belgians call Wipers. It's like the Napoo rum

:01:50. > :01:56.they have over here. Well, why don't they

:01:57. > :02:06.just say that sir? Very good Dodd, we'll make

:02:07. > :02:12.a sapper of you yet. The Arab is an Anglo-American

:02:13. > :02:32.handfed Platen Press. It's a manual, pedal

:02:33. > :02:33.operated printing machine. How on earth do you

:02:34. > :02:40.know all this Tyler? I used to be a printer back

:02:41. > :02:43.in civvy street sir. No, no, it's temporary

:02:44. > :02:56.requisitioning of civilian facilities

:02:57. > :02:58.for military purposes. You ever done any

:02:59. > :03:04.journalism Pearson? Because what we are going to do,

:03:05. > :03:13.boys, is produce a newspaper. I was thinking of something

:03:14. > :03:21.rather more accurate. And what shall we call

:03:22. > :03:27.this publication? It's not going to be in Belgium, is

:03:28. > :03:42.it? We all call it Wipers, sir. Will the Wipers Times address

:03:43. > :03:48.the big issues of the war? We'll write the first thing that

:03:49. > :03:55.comes into our heads and fill There is a slight

:03:56. > :03:58.problem with potential advertisers such as shops,

:03:59. > :03:59.theatres, restaurants, I'm sure we can find

:04:00. > :04:15.some advertisements... Fred, you are an

:04:16. > :04:19.incorrigible optimist. Many are and don't know

:04:20. > :04:40.the tell-tale signs. I just need

:04:41. > :04:46.you to answer a few questions. Do you wake up in the morning

:04:47. > :04:48.feeling that all is going Do you sometimes think

:04:49. > :04:56.that the war will end sometime Oh dear this

:04:57. > :05:08.is the worst case of I'm writing something for you now

:05:09. > :05:13.which should cure you completely. Is it

:05:14. > :05:18.a prescription, Doctor? # Take a wilderness of ruin,

:05:19. > :05:33.Spread with mud some six feet deep; # In this mud now cut some channels,

:05:34. > :05:37.Then you have the line we keep. # Now you get some wire

:05:38. > :05:46.that's spiky, Throw it round outside your line,

:05:47. > :05:49.Get some pickets, drive in tightly # Now you have a war in the making,

:05:50. > :05:58.As waged here from day to day. Ypres stood between the German Army

:05:59. > :06:18.and the coastal ports. Right here, the Allies

:06:19. > :06:21.halted the German advance, in what became known

:06:22. > :06:25.as the First Battle of Ypres. After fighting to a stalemate both

:06:26. > :06:30.sides dug in, forming The Western Front -

:06:31. > :06:35.a 440 mile trench system that snaked To the east of this

:06:36. > :06:45.city, the German Army held the high ground -

:06:46. > :06:52.small hills that dominated the area. The Allies were surrounded

:06:53. > :06:54.on three-sides, in what came to be The Second Battle of Ypres

:06:55. > :07:04.in the Spring of 1915 saw the German Army launch a major gas

:07:05. > :07:11.attack here for the first time. The Allies were driven back,

:07:12. > :07:17.but the line held, just. Their foothold became smaller,

:07:18. > :07:21.the pressure even more intense. Fighting in the Salient

:07:22. > :07:25.was continuous. Over a million men marched

:07:26. > :07:30.along the Menin Road, many passing through this square

:07:31. > :07:37.on their way to the front line. Shelled constantly, it was one

:07:38. > :07:40.of the most dangerous places Every regiment and corps of

:07:41. > :07:45.the British Army would serve here and by 1917, thousands were wounded

:07:46. > :07:49.or killed every month # Where German snipers

:07:50. > :08:16.can't get at me # Damp is my dug out

:08:17. > :08:23.cold are my feet # Waiting for whizzbangs

:08:24. > :08:31.to put me to sleep #. In the summer of 1917,

:08:32. > :08:37.the Allies began a major offensive to push back the German Army

:08:38. > :08:40.and finally break out of their precarious

:08:41. > :08:45.positions in the Salient. On 31st July, after two weeks

:08:46. > :08:47.of intense shelling, The Third Battle of Ypres would rage

:08:48. > :09:04.for the following 100 days, and eventually come to an end

:09:05. > :09:07.at a small village on the high This is the story of that battle

:09:08. > :09:29.told by the men who were there. I was 19 years of age;

:09:30. > :09:32.I was in the front line Now Passchendaele when I knew

:09:33. > :09:38.it was flat, everything On that morning, the 31st July,

:09:39. > :09:54.we were told we were going over the top, the terrain was very very

:09:55. > :09:58.difficult, shell holes, some of them We entered the front line,

:09:59. > :10:15.Shell holes over shell holes, On the other side,

:10:16. > :10:20.there were the snipers, And the artillery fired at everyone

:10:21. > :10:46.whom they saw in these fields. About 8 o'clock in the morning, one

:10:47. > :10:49.of those whizz bang shells landed about two feet under me and blew me

:10:50. > :10:55.right over the whole place. My section was almost buried,

:10:56. > :11:01.but fortunately the shell did not The air was boiling

:11:02. > :11:14.with the turmoil of the We were thrown about in

:11:15. > :11:21.the aircraft, rocking from side Below us was mud, filth,

:11:22. > :11:28.smashed trenches, wreckage And as we came out of it,

:11:29. > :11:36.I felt that we had escaped from one of the most evil things that I had

:11:37. > :11:40.ever seen at any time in any of the flying that occurred

:11:41. > :12:13.to me during that war. # Against all of the

:12:14. > :12:23.songs you can sing # And the snow falls,

:12:24. > :12:39.the wind calls # And like Barleycorn

:12:40. > :12:49.who rose from the grave Father used to tell me that when he

:12:50. > :13:11.was a littlun, he used to get He always said that the worst scrape

:13:12. > :13:18.he got hisself into, was the First World War,

:13:19. > :13:21.and the worst battle And he was there, all

:13:22. > :13:39.because of a horse. He was a farm boy when the war broke

:13:40. > :13:44.out, 15, that's all. Like me, he didn't get

:13:45. > :13:50.a lot of schooling. He always said you could learn most

:13:51. > :13:53.of what was worth knowing from keeping your eyes

:13:54. > :14:00.and ears peeled. Father had this young colt,

:14:01. > :14:05.Joey he called him, broke him to halter,

:14:06. > :14:08.broke him to ride, Grew up together they did,

:14:09. > :14:16.best friends, meant If ever that horse got sick,

:14:17. > :14:24.Father would bed down beside him in his stable,

:14:25. > :14:28.till he was better. Now Father weren't old enough yet

:14:29. > :14:39.to join up, but Joey was. Father was busy with

:14:40. > :14:43.Joey out in the fields. He were thinking

:14:44. > :14:57.about his ploughing. He didn't know the army were coming

:14:58. > :15:00.to the village looking for good sturdy horses to buy,

:15:01. > :15:03.for the cavalry, for pulling guns They needed all the horses

:15:04. > :15:10.they could get, and they were It were his own father who done it,

:15:11. > :15:21.done it without telling him, His father took Joey up

:15:22. > :15:29.to the village and sold Albert squared up to his father

:15:30. > :15:47.and told him just what he thought of him, said goodbye

:15:48. > :15:49.to his mother, and told them Nothing they could

:15:50. > :16:01.say would stop him. Now there's millions of men over

:16:02. > :16:05.there at the front in Belgium, Needle in a haystack you might

:16:06. > :16:14.think, Father told me, Just staying alive

:16:15. > :16:21.was the difficult bit. The worst was at the battle

:16:22. > :16:27.of Passchendaele, he always said. Hell on earth, he called it,

:16:28. > :16:30.for men and horses both. The horses died just

:16:31. > :16:33.the same way the men did, shell fire, machine

:16:34. > :16:40.gun fire, barbed wire. And every horse Father

:16:41. > :16:48.saw, dead or alive, Then at first light one grey misty

:16:49. > :17:01.morning, Father's on stand-to in the trenches on the lookout

:17:02. > :17:05.for German attack, mist and he sees something

:17:06. > :17:14.moving out there, not a German, not a cow,

:17:15. > :17:27.but a horse, a horse in Nomansland! He loves horses, all horses,

:17:28. > :17:33.so he's got to go out Quick as a twick, Father is up

:17:34. > :17:41.and over the top, and stumbling through the mud

:17:42. > :17:46.towards this horse. Trouble is there's this German bloke

:17:47. > :17:50.doing just the same thing, So the two of them, a Fritz

:17:51. > :18:27.and a Tommy, had a little chat. "We don't want to

:18:28. > :18:38.start a war, do we?" The German bloke laughs,

:18:39. > :18:51.takes a coin out of his pocket, "I have a good idea, Tommy,

:18:52. > :18:55.let us toss for the horse. Seemed like a fair idea to Father,

:18:56. > :19:01.so he calls, "Heads!" "That, I am afraid to say,

:19:02. > :19:08.is the face of my Kaiser looking up The two of them shook hands

:19:09. > :19:39.and wished each other well. Auf wiedersehen, Tommy. Same to you,

:19:40. > :19:44.So Father won, and, you guessed it, when they got the horse back

:19:45. > :19:46.to the veterinary hospital, and cleaned him down,

:19:47. > :19:47.and that took some doing, Father said

:19:48. > :20:02.Takes some believing, I know, but it's true

:20:03. > :20:05.Father always said he and Joey were the lucky ones.

:20:06. > :20:08.They came home at the end of the war, and the whole village

:20:09. > :20:10.was there to meet them, bells ringing, band

:20:11. > :20:16.But all Father could think of, he told me, as they

:20:17. > :20:20.rode up into the village that day, were the millions of men and horses,

:20:21. > :20:23.on all sides, for whom the bells were not ringing, the band not

:20:24. > :22:13."It began to rain and rained continuously so that the bog

:22:14. > :22:14.of Passchendaele spread out into a lake.

:22:15. > :22:24.To begin with, we were sitting up to our knees in mud and water."

:22:25. > :22:26."Now the mud at Passchendaele was very viscous indeed,

:22:27. > :22:31.But it stuck to you all over, it slowed you down.

:22:32. > :22:36.It got into the bottom of your trousers, you were covered with mud.

:22:37. > :22:39.It "drew" at you, not like a quicksand, but a

:22:40. > :22:48."Because of the mud there were no trenches, just shell-holes.

:22:49. > :22:51.That forward line was made of shell holes.

:22:52. > :22:55.The men were wet to the skin day after day.

:22:56. > :22:59.Their overcoats were plastered with mud.

:23:00. > :23:06.So you can imagine how hard it was to move at all."

:23:07. > :23:10."I remember very well trying to assist a lad,

:23:11. > :23:12.we called to him, "Are you hit, son?"

:23:13. > :23:18.There was no hope of getting to him he was in the middle of this huge

:23:19. > :23:22.The look on the lad's face, it was really pathetic,

:23:23. > :23:27.Had I bent a little more, I should have gone in with

:23:28. > :23:30."I don't know how far the duck boards extended,

:23:31. > :23:33.but each side was a sea of mud, you stumbled and slugged along

:23:34. > :23:37.and slipped, you went up to the waste possibly,

:23:38. > :23:43.not only that, but in every pool there was decomposed bodies

:23:44. > :23:48.of humans and mules, or perhaps both, and if your wounded

:23:49. > :24:04.and slipped off well then that was the end of you."

:24:05. > :24:07.The Wipers Times continued to be produced throughout

:24:08. > :24:11.the war, despite the fact that the Sherwood Foresters

:24:12. > :24:14.were involved in the heaviest fighting - with both editors Roberts

:24:15. > :24:15.and Pearson winning the Military Cross.

:24:16. > :24:19.Amidst all the carnage, including the battle of Passchendaele -

:24:20. > :24:23.the paper's mix of subversive humour, silly jokes and poignant

:24:24. > :24:29.poems provided an unlikely, but very British form

:24:30. > :24:32.of morale-boosting - and the Wipers Times was hugely

:24:33. > :24:50.What we need to do, Jack is...increase the print run,

:24:51. > :24:55.up the cover price and get in some new writers.

:24:56. > :24:58.You don't think you might be getting rather obsessed

:24:59. > :25:09.Sergeant Tyler - are there any new submissions to the paper?

:25:10. > :25:55.Tell you what, though - that Wipers Times does

:25:56. > :26:01.DODD: Do you ever get used to the noise Barnsey?

:26:02. > :26:06.Do you ever get used to the noise Barnsey?

:26:07. > :26:15.What did you do before you joined up?

:26:16. > :26:23.And I was a machine worker digging tunnels for the Underground.

:26:24. > :26:26.So you won't hear us complaining about the noise.

:26:27. > :26:37.So what do you really think of the poetry?

:26:38. > :26:40.think poetry is essential in the modern battlefield sir.

:26:41. > :26:47.Probably better not to dwell on the...

:26:48. > :26:54.That's why I would rather think about the paper.

:26:55. > :27:12.Excuse me for asking Sir, but there's a rumour going round.

:27:13. > :27:16.I am afraid such information is a bit hush-hush Dodd.

:27:17. > :27:21.They were shouting out across no man's land.

:27:22. > :27:24.Yes, perhaps it is not the best kept military

:27:25. > :27:25.secret in the history of the British Army...

:27:26. > :27:27.However, I do have some good news, lads.

:27:28. > :27:38.It's a small v-shaped piece of coloured cloth to be sewn

:27:39. > :27:42.onto your tunic to denote active service overseas.

:27:43. > :27:44.How we've managed to sleep at night without chevrons all this

:27:45. > :27:47.time is one of the astounding features of the war!

:27:48. > :27:52.BARNES: If only I'd got me bloomin' chevrons Sir, I'd die happy!

:27:53. > :27:57.Is there time to give the boys a tot?

:27:58. > :28:01.passes a jug down the line, and the soldiers tip it

:28:02. > :28:09.Dodd's too young - I'll have his.

:28:10. > :28:10.We don't want you incapable Henderson.

:28:11. > :28:17.Rum jar continues down line

:28:18. > :28:24.Water is not for drinking, Sergeant -

:28:25. > :28:27.it's for putting in the radiators of the staff officers' cars.

:28:28. > :28:29.Don't do anything that's risky - forget

:28:30. > :28:32.There are various types of courage there

:28:33. > :28:41.# Hands the courage which is Dutch...

:28:42. > :28:43.# There are various types of courage

:28:44. > :29:08.# Hands the courage which is Dutch...

:29:09. > :29:11.the whole of Passchendaele, there was a smell.

:29:12. > :29:18.It was the smell of decaying bodies, or decayed bodies, men, mules.

:29:19. > :29:20.Now, you got this smell more strongly and more strongly

:29:21. > :29:22.as you got towards the front line because the shells

:29:23. > :29:31.You see, the ground was full of these dead bodies.

:29:32. > :29:34.And over that was a very strong smell and if it got

:29:35. > :29:42.stronger it was dangerous, it was chlorine gas.

:29:43. > :29:50.I do hope you will have this note before learning from the War Office.

:29:51. > :29:53.Morris was admitted to our Ambulance about 9am this morning suffering

:29:54. > :29:59.from abdominal wounds, and is very dangerously ill.

:30:00. > :30:01.He was operated on shortly after admission, is just

:30:02. > :30:06.He is young and strong and we hope with God's help to pull him ?

:30:07. > :30:10.I will write again tomorrow and tell you how he is.

:30:11. > :30:16.Need I say how deeply we sympathise with you in your

:30:17. > :30:37.I remember these wounded men hanging on to the end

:30:38. > :30:40.of these duckboards with their body about half submerged

:30:41. > :30:43.in the mud, and some of these fellows not knowing

:30:44. > :30:47.they were there, would step on their fingers, you know,

:30:48. > :30:50.It just haunts you, you know but - strict orders,

:30:51. > :31:07.Your son, I am sorry to say, is not nearly so well this morning.

:31:08. > :31:09.He had a very restless night and his condition

:31:10. > :31:12.He does not appear conscious of pain and takes

:31:13. > :31:25.I am so sorry for you, so far away from your boy,

:31:26. > :31:39.I came across a Cornishman, he was ripped from his shoulder

:31:40. > :31:45.to his waist with shrapnel, directly we got to him,

:31:46. > :31:53.Before we could pull the revolver, 30 seconds, he was dead.

:31:54. > :32:21.Your wire came this morning just an hour too

:32:22. > :32:23.late, your dear boy having passed peacefully away at 9 o'clock.

:32:24. > :32:27.Sister Rickard was with him and took this little piece of hair for you.

:32:28. > :32:30.She also put some white flowers in his hands in your name,

:32:31. > :32:36.It may be of some comfort to you to know he didn't suffer.

:32:37. > :32:39.I cannot tell you how sorry we are not to have been able

:32:40. > :32:42.to save him for you, but really if you had only seen

:32:43. > :32:44.how wearied he looked you would not grudge him to rest.

:32:45. > :32:46.With deepest sympathy with all his friends,

:32:47. > :33:55.# The blue high blade of Cotswold lie

:33:56. > :34:26.# By jagged Malvern with a train of shadows

:34:27. > :34:43.# Where the land is low like a huge imprisoning

:34:44. > :34:49.# I hear a heart that's sound and high,

:34:50. > :35:39.# Cotswold or Malvern sun or rain

:35:40. > :36:25.At last I have the opportunity of writing

:36:26. > :36:33.In the first place dearest, I trust you and the children are quite well.

:36:34. > :36:39.I am sorry to say that nearly all the boys from the 7th that came

:36:40. > :36:42.out with me have gone under, poor fellows...

:36:43. > :36:44.We are expecting to go up again in two or three days

:36:45. > :37:05.It's nearly six months now since I saw you.

:37:06. > :37:08.How I long for you and the children God bless you all.

:37:09. > :37:15.What a lot of love we have missed but please God it will make it

:37:16. > :37:20.I often take your photo out of my pocket and look at your dear

:37:21. > :37:26.face and think of the times we have had together.

:37:27. > :37:31.And when I think again of some of the worry I have caused

:37:32. > :37:34.you, it makes me only the more eager to get home to you to atone

:37:35. > :37:37.for all the worry and anxious moments you have had

:37:38. > :37:43.Out here, dear, we're all pals what one hasn't

:37:44. > :37:49.We try to share each other's troubles, get each

:37:50. > :37:56.You wouldn't believe the humanity between men out here.

:37:57. > :37:58.Please God, it won't be long before this war is over.

:37:59. > :38:02.We are pushing old Fritz back and don't think he will stand

:38:03. > :38:05.the British boys much longer, and then we will try

:38:06. > :38:19.Well, darling, I don't think I can say any more at present.

:38:20. > :38:22.Goodnight love, God bless you and my children and may He soon

:38:23. > :38:25.send me back to those I love is the wish of your

:38:26. > :38:40.When Jack's letters stopped, every effort was made

:38:41. > :38:56.On 4th December 1917, Lizzie received a telegram,

:38:57. > :38:58.informing her that Private Jack Mudd, 24th Battalion,

:38:59. > :39:12.London Regiment was missing presumed dead.

:39:13. > :39:15.There is precious little glamour about modern war seen on the spot;

:39:16. > :39:19.squalor is its means, and destruction its end.

:39:20. > :39:21.Everyone is homeless, and the homeless man is,

:39:22. > :39:28.for all his heroic cheerfulness, a most forlorn fellow.

:39:29. > :39:32.And so, here stands Talbot House - a refuge behind the lines

:39:33. > :39:35.where British soldiers of all ranks can escape.

:39:36. > :39:42.It was plain that it was up to the chaplains to open

:39:43. > :39:45.a place of their own, an institutional church,

:39:46. > :39:48.to provide happiness for men, and also, if possible,

:39:49. > :39:51.a hostel for officers going on leave.

:39:52. > :39:55.And here I am - Chaplain to the Forces.

:39:56. > :39:59.I am a comic kind of creature in officer's kit, but people

:40:00. > :40:05.are getting used to me and my queer unmilitary way.

:40:06. > :40:08.My job here is of the kind I more or less understand ie.

:40:09. > :40:10.Being friendly to all comers, without any of the regimental

:40:11. > :40:17.Don't dally with the doormat; it is accustomed to neglect.

:40:18. > :40:23.On the left han,d its walls are covered with maps,

:40:24. > :40:31.See how the London we love, without knowing it is worn away

:40:32. > :40:34.by the faithful fingers of your fellow-citizens.

:40:35. > :40:36.Looking straight through the hall, you catch a glimpse of a well-kept

:40:37. > :40:39.garden, where men bask, as in St James' Park.

:40:40. > :41:05.Come into the garden and forget about the war.

:41:06. > :41:24.# Till the sergeant brings our breakfast up to bed

:41:25. > :41:35.# How shall we spend the money we earn?

:41:36. > :42:20.# 'Til it seems, the world is full of dreams

:42:21. > :42:31.# There's a long long trail a-winding

:42:32. > :42:50.# There's a long long night a-waiting

:42:51. > :43:03.# 'Til the day when I'll be going down

:43:04. > :43:23.# Seem to hear your footsteps falling

:43:24. > :43:33.# Though the road between us stretches

:43:34. > :43:51.# There's a long long trail a-winding

:43:52. > :44:10.# There's a long long night a-waiting

:44:11. > :44:56.Lieutenant Edmund Blunden MC fought at Third Ypres.

:44:57. > :44:59.He would later recall vividly entertainment behind the lines

:45:00. > :45:14.in his poem: Concert Party - Busseboom.

:45:15. > :45:25.the house was packed, The famous troop began;

:45:26. > :46:09.# Dance sprang and spun and neared and fled,

:46:10. > :46:12.# Jest chirped at gayest pitch, Rhythm dazzled, action sped

:46:13. > :46:24.# With generals and lame privates both Such charms worked wonders,

:46:25. > :46:28.# Till The show was over - lagging loth We faced the sunset chill;

:46:29. > :46:33.# And standing on the sandy way, With the cracked church peering

:46:34. > :46:38.# Past, We heard another matinee, We heard the maniac blast Of barrage

:46:39. > :46:44.# South by Saint Eloi, And the red lights flaming

:46:45. > :46:50.# There Called madness: Come, my bonny boy, And dance

:46:51. > :47:02.# To this new concert, white we stood; Cold certainty

:47:03. > :47:58.# Held our breath; While men in tunnels below Larch Wood.

:47:59. > :48:01.By the end of 1917, the city of Ypres was in ruins

:48:02. > :48:14.and its magnificent Cloth Hall reduced to rubble.

:48:15. > :48:17.On 10th November, British and Canadian forces finally secured

:48:18. > :48:22.the village of Passchendaele and the offensive was called off.

:48:23. > :48:26.Paul Nash served on the Ypres Salient in early 1917.

:48:27. > :48:31.Following an injury he returned as an official war artist

:48:32. > :48:50.On the 13th November 1917 he wrote home to his wife Margaret:

:48:51. > :48:53."I have just returned, last night, from a visit

:48:54. > :48:57.to Brigade Headquarters up the line and I shall not forget it as long

:48:58. > :49:04.I have seen the most frightful nightmare of a country more

:49:05. > :49:08.conceived by Dante or Poe than by nature, unspeakable,

:49:09. > :49:20.In the 15 drawings I have made, I may give you some idea

:49:21. > :49:24.of its horror, but only being in it and of it can ever make you sensible

:49:25. > :49:28.of its dreadful nature and of what our men have to face.

:49:29. > :49:32.We all have vague notions of the terror of a battle,

:49:33. > :49:37.but no pen or drawing can convey this country...

:49:38. > :49:47.The stinking mud becomes more evilly yellow.

:49:48. > :49:49.The shell holes fill up with green white water.

:49:50. > :49:52.The roads and tracks are covered in inches of slime.

:49:53. > :49:55.The black dying trees ooze and sweat and the shells never cease.,

:49:56. > :50:10.They plunge into the grave which is this land; one huge grave,

:50:11. > :50:21.It is unspeakable, godless, hopeless.

:50:22. > :50:24.I am no longer an artist interested and curious,

:50:25. > :50:27.I am a messenger who will bring back word from the men who are

:50:28. > :50:30.fighting to those who want the war to go on forever.

:50:31. > :50:35.Feeble, inarticulate, will be my message, but it

:50:36. > :50:57.will have a bitter truth, and may it burn their lousy souls."

:50:58. > :50:59.Passchendaele was the infantryman's graveyard, we called it

:51:00. > :51:04.Even the most seasoned veteran felt he'd be lucky if they got

:51:05. > :51:12.There was no chance of getting wounded or getting a blighty

:51:13. > :51:23.once at Passchendaele, you either get through or die.

:51:24. > :51:27.we came out of Passchendaele from the guns, I think

:51:28. > :51:30.that was the day that I was most scared of all.

:51:31. > :51:32.I mean throughout the war you didn't sort of, anticipate being killed.

:51:33. > :51:35.When you saw chaps killed, well you sort of felt well,

:51:36. > :51:40.It was only when a friend of yours was killed that you really

:51:41. > :51:43.The worst thing for me was Passchendaele.

:51:44. > :51:47.That's where for me we were in the thick of it

:51:48. > :51:51.The mud and the wounds, the shocking waste of life.

:51:52. > :52:03.out of Passchendaele numb, simply numb.

:52:04. > :52:08.And I wouldn't have thought that many of us would have recovered

:52:09. > :52:20.from it but "c'est la guerre", and one good leave does an awful lot

:52:21. > :52:27."When out there the last time, we went to one of ?

:52:28. > :52:34.Then you go to see the English, stones, And it make you sick

:52:35. > :52:38.Then you go to see the English, stones, and it make you sick

:52:39. > :52:42.to see all the stones, all people who died...

:52:43. > :54:54.The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace continues.

:54:55. > :58:50.MUSIC: Pipers Lament - The Bloody Field of Flanders.

:58:51. > :58:59.As the even's events draw to a close, we remember the troops, 100

:59:00. > :59:10.years ago who launched the attack at the Battle of Passchendaele.

:59:11. > :59:12.It was a moment in history that would mark humanity with a deep and

:59:13. > :59:33.lasting wound. Join us tomorrow, where we will be

:59:34. > :59:36.back at 11.00am.