In Flanders Fields

:00:00. > :00:09.As dawn was breaking on the 31st of July 1917,

:00:10. > :00:15.an attack would be launched on the fields of Flanders

:00:16. > :00:19.that would begin the Battle of Passchendaele.

:00:20. > :00:22.That name has become synonymous with a quagmire of a battlefield

:00:23. > :00:24.and the scene of a terrifying massacre

:00:25. > :00:27.of a generation of our young men.

:00:28. > :00:36.the human cost was half a million casualties.

:00:37. > :00:42.we remember all those who lost their lives

:00:43. > :01:07.and those who survived but bore the terrible scars of Passchendaele.

:01:08. > :01:16.just a series of posts, scraped in the mud.

:01:17. > :01:19.The Germans would be shelling them the whole time.

:01:20. > :01:22.There was mud to your right and mud to your left,

:01:23. > :01:30.It was a terrible place, just a sea of mud everywhere.

:01:31. > :01:33.If you got off the duckboards, you'd got no chance whatsoever -

:01:34. > :01:38.you just fell in the mud, and you were drowned.

:01:39. > :01:42.All day long, one had nothing to do but to sit in the mud, shivering,

:01:43. > :01:45.wet and cold, and trying to keep up appearances

:01:46. > :01:51.in some way or another, as the shells arrived.

:01:52. > :01:54.The noise would grow into a great crescendo,

:01:55. > :01:57.and at a certain point, your nerve would break

:01:58. > :02:00.and you'd throw yourself down in the mud

:02:01. > :02:04.and cringe in the mud till it was passed.

:02:05. > :02:10.you could literally feel your heart pounding against the ground.

:02:11. > :02:12.In a continuous bombardment, which lasted sometimes for hours,

:02:13. > :02:16.the emotional strain was absolutely terrific.

:02:17. > :02:18.Until, when you got the order to advance,

:02:19. > :02:24.it was a sort of release from that bondage.

:02:25. > :02:26.We heard one of their big ones coming over,

:02:27. > :02:32.and I was too damn tired even to fall down.

:02:33. > :02:38.Next I had a terrific pain in the back and the chest,

:02:39. > :02:42.and I found myself face downwards in the mud.

:02:43. > :02:46.And then I suddenly realised that I was alive.

:02:47. > :02:49.That if these wounds didn't prove fatal,

:02:50. > :02:53.then I should get back to my parents, to my sister,

:02:54. > :02:59.to the girl that I was going to marry.

:03:00. > :03:03.I've seen men coming out covered in mud.

:03:04. > :03:05.They just scraped the mud from their eyes.

:03:06. > :03:07.You never wanted to go to that sector again.

:03:08. > :03:17.We've just heard vivid recollections

:03:18. > :03:19.from men who served on the front line.

:03:20. > :03:24.Haunting memories, but their testimonies remain strong and vital

:03:25. > :03:26.in reminding us of the horrors that unfolded

:03:27. > :03:34.and of the devastating human cost of that war.

:03:35. > :03:37.Today, we're in Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium,

:03:38. > :03:40.where almost 12,000 men are buried, making this the largest

:03:41. > :03:46.Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in the world.

:03:47. > :03:49.To the northeastern end of the cemetery stands the striking

:03:50. > :03:54.vast Memorial Wall to commemorate nearly 35,000 more servicemen

:03:55. > :03:59.from the United Kingdom and New Zealand who have no known grave.

:04:00. > :04:03.Later this morning, commemorations will be held here

:04:04. > :04:06.to mark the centenary of the Third Battle of Ypres,

:04:07. > :04:10.now more commonly known as Passchendaele.

:04:11. > :04:15.More than 4,000 people are expected to attend the service,

:04:16. > :04:19.and they started arriving in the cemetery about an hour ago.

:04:20. > :04:21.His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,

:04:22. > :04:23.and Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

:04:24. > :04:27.ready to welcome Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians.

:04:28. > :04:29.And indeed the Prince of Wales is expected

:04:30. > :04:36.Events to mark this anniversary began last night

:04:37. > :04:39.in the city of Ypres with the Last Post ceremony

:04:40. > :04:45.at the Menin Gate, a poignant act of remembrance

:04:46. > :04:51.that traditionally takes place every night.

:04:52. > :04:57.The historic Cloth Hall in the city's Market Square

:04:58. > :05:00.was the dramatic backdrop for the story of the battle,

:05:01. > :05:07.and there were performances from, among others, Dame Helen Mirren,

:05:08. > :05:11.the cast of War Horse, from the play of the same name,

:05:12. > :05:15.It was a very special evening, and today we'll continue

:05:16. > :05:18.to remember all those who fought in the battle.

:05:19. > :05:22.The official commemorations are due to start in an hour,

:05:23. > :05:25.and in fact people in the cemetery are beginning to gather

:05:26. > :05:34.Dan Snow is among them to tell us more.

:05:35. > :05:39.It's very hard to imagine on this summer morning that this site

:05:40. > :05:52.was once the scene of such death and destruction.

:05:53. > :05:59.The men of the Australian Third division were attacking up the top

:06:00. > :06:02.of this rich, and they found themselves in a featureless

:06:03. > :06:05.battlefield, shattered, destroy the landscape, shell holes which

:06:06. > :06:15.contained water, mud you could drown in. The unburied corpses of other

:06:16. > :06:20.soldiers. And among that, German positions, not trenches, like at the

:06:21. > :06:24.Somme, but an interlocking network of concrete positions, so the

:06:25. > :06:27.Australians were drowning and surrounded by German strong points.

:06:28. > :06:31.Unsurprisingly, the cost was extraordinarily high as the

:06:32. > :06:35.Australians are up this slope. At the top we have the Cross of

:06:36. > :06:39.Sacrifice, a memorial to the fallen built on top of a German pillbox.

:06:40. > :06:42.Today we will be hearing from the descendants of those who fought in

:06:43. > :06:46.the wider Battle of Passchendaele, but also some of the stories of the

:06:47. > :06:50.brave men who live the need our feet in Tyne Cot Cemetery.

:06:51. > :06:52.I'm now joined by two guests who took part

:06:53. > :06:57.I'm delighted to welcome the broadcaster and writer

:06:58. > :07:05.Ian Hislop and the author of War Horse, Michael Morpurgo.

:07:06. > :07:13.Michael, I was glued to every single second of the event, what did you

:07:14. > :07:17.make of it? It was unique, it stood alone, I have never seen anything

:07:18. > :07:23.like it. It was very difficult to perform in, because by its nature,

:07:24. > :07:26.you had to mean every word of it, and that is always hard. You are not

:07:27. > :07:29.doing it in the bubble of a drama, you are doing it in the place that

:07:30. > :07:37.this thing happened. And all these people died, and it was important,

:07:38. > :07:44.so you had to get it right, which put a lot of pressure on. But once I

:07:45. > :07:48.got talking, I could become who I was supposed to become, but the joys

:07:49. > :07:52.bid for me, I have to say, was sitting down afterwards and watching

:07:53. > :07:58.the extraordinary music, the lights on the hall, but also the edge -

:07:59. > :08:03.there was an edge to the whole thing which was so important. What you do

:08:04. > :08:08.not want to do is somehow smooth it over with a nice comforting cloth,

:08:09. > :08:15.there is nothing comforting about the First World War. We can see

:08:16. > :08:18.that, and there must not be, this is not a nostalgic exercise, it is an

:08:19. > :08:24.exercise in understanding history and what happens when people go mad.

:08:25. > :08:28.Ian Hislop, let's think about The Wipers Times, the play that you have

:08:29. > :08:31.co-written, it has been filmed as well as performed live onstage, and

:08:32. > :08:36.it continues to be performed in the next few months. It is an

:08:37. > :08:40.interesting conundrum, to think that we mark something as complex and as

:08:41. > :08:43.difficult and as horrific as this through performance. What you think

:08:44. > :08:48.is to be gained from an understanding of what was a hugely

:08:49. > :08:54.complex situation? I think what one can do is add another angle, and

:08:55. > :08:57.certainly what War Horse did, and The Wipers Times, which was a

:08:58. > :09:03.satirical newspaper, it actually started in Ypres, and what you can

:09:04. > :09:06.do, these are not just men who died - they lived first. And what we were

:09:07. > :09:10.trying to do was show that they lived and they laughed, and they had

:09:11. > :09:15.an attitude to the war, they were not uncritical, they were not

:09:16. > :09:21.idiots. We tend to condescend, they did not understand as well as us,

:09:22. > :09:25.how could they possibly? Now that the last people who were there have

:09:26. > :09:29.died, the job is to keep on understanding who they work. And the

:09:30. > :09:34.you have written, The Wipers Times, for those who have not seen it, you

:09:35. > :09:37.use a lot of the words and phrases and humour that was employed in

:09:38. > :09:41.print at the time from the front line, which seems entirely

:09:42. > :09:46.remarkable to me. Yes, if you want the authentic voice of someone in

:09:47. > :09:49.the trenches in 1917, it is in The Wipers Times, they were writing it

:09:50. > :09:55.that afternoon, and it is rude, it can be sentimental, it is not

:09:56. > :09:59.reverential, and it is not like that. And interesting point, we are

:10:00. > :10:03.looking at pictures of the Central Band of the RAF just making their

:10:04. > :10:09.way towards the Stone of Remembrance, they will be central to

:10:10. > :10:12.today's performance, and again, you used the word, it is important not

:10:13. > :10:17.to sentimentalise, but also there has to be a degree of pomp and

:10:18. > :10:22.ceremony to honour these people. There does, but it must not be idle

:10:23. > :10:27.ceremony. Ceremony is fine as long as we understand the reason for the

:10:28. > :10:32.ceremony. If it is simply to make us feel better and to tap our toes to

:10:33. > :10:36.the band and to weep a bit when the bugles play and the pipes play, that

:10:37. > :10:44.is not enough. All that does, in the end, was make us feel, OK, we won,

:10:45. > :10:50.or something. And it is not about that. I am all for the bugles and

:10:51. > :10:55.pipers, though, you have to help people into the emotion. I am pretty

:10:56. > :10:58.emotional without them! We really appreciate you both taking the time.

:10:59. > :11:01.The Battle of Passchendaele took the lives of tens

:11:02. > :11:03.of thousands of men from across the British Empire.

:11:04. > :11:07.Historian and broadcaster David Olusoga

:11:08. > :11:09.has traced the steps of those soldiers,

:11:10. > :11:18.many of whom were fighting a long way from home.

:11:19. > :11:22.every British infantry regiment was, at one time or another,

:11:23. > :11:24.rotated through the Ypres battlefield.

:11:25. > :11:27.But in this war, fought between global empires,

:11:28. > :11:32.the Western front also drew in men from across the world.

:11:33. > :11:34.The front became the most diverse place on earth,

:11:35. > :11:37.perhaps the most diverse place there had ever been.

:11:38. > :11:48.are testimony to the fact that this was a world war.

:11:49. > :11:50.100 years ago today, these trenches were filled

:11:51. > :11:54.with men from the 38th Welsh Division.

:11:55. > :11:58.To the south were Australians and New Zealanders,

:11:59. > :12:00.and to the north was the French army,

:12:01. > :12:05.which, in the First World War, included men from Africa and Asia.

:12:06. > :12:07.And at 3:50am, the men put ladders against the wall,

:12:08. > :12:11.whistles were blown, and they went over the top.

:12:12. > :12:15.I remember being told, our section being told,

:12:16. > :12:22.and we've got to bloody well stay here."

:12:23. > :12:32.Whatever happened, we had to hold that position, which we did.

:12:33. > :12:36.and the death toll rose for month after month,

:12:37. > :12:39.the shattered villages of this obscure, remote

:12:40. > :12:42.part of southern Belgian became associated forever

:12:43. > :12:48.with the men who fought and died here.

:12:49. > :12:53.the very worst day of the fighting for the New Zealanders,

:12:54. > :12:56.46 men were killed in just a few hours of fighting,

:12:57. > :13:08.the names of the dead are inscribed into these panels.

:13:09. > :13:13.It rained and rained and bloody rained.

:13:14. > :13:16.We were all young, fit, highly trained,

:13:17. > :13:22.You're not shot and killed stone dead.

:13:23. > :13:30.Four divisions of Canadian troops were rushed to the front

:13:31. > :13:33.to relieve the Australians and the New Zealanders,

:13:34. > :13:36.and they proved critical, because it was the Canadians

:13:37. > :13:41.on the 10th of November who finally captured Passchendaele.

:13:42. > :13:45.And they did so in a battle so desperate, so ferocious,

:13:46. > :13:47.that nine Victoria Crosses - the highest military honour -

:13:48. > :13:54.Passchendaele was a most ghastly and hopeless mess.

:13:55. > :13:57.It was worse than we had anticipated.

:13:58. > :14:04.As winter began, the Battle of Passchendaele,

:14:05. > :14:08.the Third Battle of Ypres, drew to a miserable close.

:14:09. > :14:14.but the lines had only moved by a few miles.

:14:15. > :14:17.And men from all over the world had come and died

:14:18. > :14:37.And we are looking now at the band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines

:14:38. > :14:41.Plymouth, possessing past the stone of the members, and their music will

:14:42. > :14:43.be a key part of this morning's ceremony.

:14:44. > :14:46.And broadcaster and historian David Olusoga is with me now,

:14:47. > :14:49.and I'm also joined by the author and historian Richard van Emden,

:14:50. > :14:55.who has written widely on the First World War.

:14:56. > :15:02.You spoke to so many of the men who took part, hundreds of the men.

:15:03. > :15:08.David, in your film, we heard one of the men say that he was told, we

:15:09. > :15:14.bloody well got here and we have to stay, that sense in which there was

:15:15. > :15:15.no option but to hold this bulge in the front line, just explain why

:15:16. > :15:27.that was so important. Within that area was the town of

:15:28. > :15:34.Ypres and if it fell to the Germans it would lead them to Dunkirk and

:15:35. > :15:41.the port. The British were using the port to transfer their troops and it

:15:42. > :15:47.would fall into German hands. The question that is asked so often, on

:15:48. > :15:51.and off camera, is was it worth it? When we look at these headstones,

:15:52. > :15:55.there can be no more concrete reminder, other than the bodies

:15:56. > :16:02.themselves, of the losses that British and Allied forces sustain.

:16:03. > :16:08.Was it worth it? I am always torn by such a question. People talk about

:16:09. > :16:12.the number of casualties. But we do not talk about the Battle of

:16:13. > :16:18.Waterloo in terms of yardage made. You have got two armies here and

:16:19. > :16:23.artillery is dominating the battlefield and they are in the

:16:24. > :16:28.trenches and at some .1 side has to go out and attack. In attritional

:16:29. > :16:35.warfare, which is what we have here, that will always create huge numbers

:16:36. > :16:42.of casualties. The veterans I have met have not said it was not worth

:16:43. > :16:48.it. I think it was worth it, but I have huge reservations. There is

:16:49. > :16:52.nothing like sitting eye to eye with somebody and listening to what they

:16:53. > :16:56.tell you. Tell me about that experience that you have had over

:16:57. > :17:01.the decades, of listening to these men and have them tell you things

:17:02. > :17:05.that they very often have not told their nearest and dearest. They have

:17:06. > :17:12.not shared these memories with their husbands, their wives or children or

:17:13. > :17:16.other relatives. When I interviewed these men I always wanted the family

:17:17. > :17:20.out of the room because I knew that they would tell me things that they

:17:21. > :17:25.would not say if there family was there. The best interview is when

:17:26. > :17:29.you forget the camera is there and you have this amazing one-to-one

:17:30. > :17:32.with that individual and they will explore their own emotions. I

:17:33. > :17:38.remember one veteran telling me about having shell shock and I could

:17:39. > :17:41.hear his daughter saying in the background, I have never heard this.

:17:42. > :17:47.And yet there was this communion that we had at that moment and it

:17:48. > :17:51.was an incredible memory. We are here at Tyne Cot Cemetery and we

:17:52. > :17:55.have so many people connected in so many ways, relatives of those people

:17:56. > :18:02.whose lives were lost. In half an hour we expect the Duke and Duchess

:18:03. > :18:07.of Cambridge to arrive at Tyne Cot, followed by the Prince of Wales and

:18:08. > :18:10.amongst the headstones there will be a special service of remembrance to

:18:11. > :18:18.commemorate the first day of the battle. The three military bands are

:18:19. > :18:21.getting into position. They are in fact now at the Stone of Remembrance

:18:22. > :18:28.and they are in readiness for the start of that ceremony. David, I

:18:29. > :18:34.want to ask you about the people we do not hear so much about. I was

:18:35. > :18:38.reading myself this morning over breakfast about the nurses. Three

:18:39. > :18:44.miles from the front line, this was as close as their station got to the

:18:45. > :18:48.front in the entirety of the war, at the Battle of Passchendaele. These

:18:49. > :18:55.were nice, young women with fairly sheltered backgrounds. Tell us more

:18:56. > :19:01.about them. They are part of this world behind the lines, nurses from

:19:02. > :19:05.all over the world, both men and women, who are close to action and

:19:06. > :19:09.in the danger zone. They are the people we do not talk about. We

:19:10. > :19:15.focus on the trenches and the slaughter that takes place, but

:19:16. > :19:18.behind the lines is another world, which is much more international and

:19:19. > :19:26.male and female. We sometimes forget that. Over 8000 people applied in a

:19:27. > :19:29.special ballot to be part of the events today.

:19:30. > :19:32.to give thanks and remember their fathers, grandfathers,

:19:33. > :19:36.uncles, and close relatives who fought in the Battle of Passchen

:19:37. > :19:38.Some were tragically killed in these fields,

:19:39. > :19:42.others survived to share their memories.

:19:43. > :19:49.Dan Snow is now with one of the descendants.

:19:50. > :19:54.Rebecca, there are a lot of descended here today, but few have

:19:55. > :20:02.the connection with this battlefield that you have. You have got two

:20:03. > :20:05.relatives commemorated here. Yes, my great-grandfather, Harry Moorhouse,

:20:06. > :20:10.he was acting Lieutenant Colonel when he died. And his son Ronald

:20:11. > :20:18.mortars, who was a captain. Together they were in the fourth Battalion,

:20:19. > :20:23.the Kings own Yorkshire light infantry, and they died on the same

:20:24. > :20:28.day on October the 9th, 1917. A father and son in the same unit and

:20:29. > :20:33.killed on the same day will stop it is tragic. How did the father found

:20:34. > :20:40.out his son had been killed? They were trying to take a hill called

:20:41. > :20:45.the Bellevue 's birth. It was raining and it was muggy, one of the

:20:46. > :20:51.worst possible conditions. Ronald was sent by Harry because he was the

:20:52. > :20:58.commanding officer to go up this hill and he was shot. But Harry did

:20:59. > :21:02.not know that and he got back to base, headquarters, a farmhouse down

:21:03. > :21:07.the road, and when he got back they brought his son in injured. He was

:21:08. > :21:13.so horrified he said, I must go and get a doctor. The other officer

:21:14. > :21:17.said, you cannot, it is too dangerous, there are snipers out

:21:18. > :21:22.there. But he insisted he would go and he set out with another officer

:21:23. > :21:26.across the swamp and the craters and was sadly shot very soon by a sniper

:21:27. > :21:33.and died in the arms of the officer who was with him. Rebecca, it is an

:21:34. > :21:39.extraordinary story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. So many

:21:40. > :21:40.extraordinary stories this morning. So many extraordinary

:21:41. > :21:43.stories this morning. This morning's ceremony

:21:44. > :21:45.will take place in amongst the thousands

:21:46. > :21:47.of headstones here behind me, each one made from

:21:48. > :21:49.white Portland stone. These headstones were erected

:21:50. > :21:52.by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, who today ensure every

:21:53. > :21:55.grave is cared for with the same respect and dignity

:21:56. > :22:00.that it deserves. On the Western Front in 1914,

:22:01. > :22:03.the British Army had no way of organising and recording

:22:04. > :22:06.the burial places The numbers were staggering

:22:07. > :22:11.at that stage in the war. It was clear that the death toll

:22:12. > :22:16.was only going to rise. Fabian Ware and his small team began

:22:17. > :22:20.to record the burial places of British soldiers,

:22:21. > :22:22.wherever they'd died, wherever they'd been

:22:23. > :22:25.buried by their comrades, and that gradually developed

:22:26. > :22:28.into what we know as the Commonwealth War Graves

:22:29. > :22:33.Commission. Today, we commemorate 1.7 million

:22:34. > :22:36.men and women who lost their lives We've got 23,000 different

:22:37. > :22:42.sites in 154 different countries and territories,

:22:43. > :22:45.all over the world, in every The biggest is Tyne Cot

:22:46. > :22:49.Cemetery in Flanders. Three quarters of them

:22:50. > :23:01.are unidentified. After the end of the war, Tyne Cot

:23:02. > :23:04.was a sea of wooden crosses, then gradually over the course

:23:05. > :23:08.of the 1920s, the War Graves Commission created

:23:09. > :23:11.the cemetery that you see today. They installed the headstones,

:23:12. > :23:13.they created the cemetery architecture, the walls

:23:14. > :23:16.and the shelter buildings and, And from those very early days,

:23:17. > :23:22.the Commission's gardeners make sure that this continues to be a place

:23:23. > :23:25.where people can come and pay their respects,

:23:26. > :23:27.reflect on what happened In the beginning, the idea was to

:23:28. > :23:33.create English country gardens for these men to lie amongst,

:23:34. > :23:37.for people to get a sense that this was a corner of England, as it were,

:23:38. > :23:40.and that was very important to families visiting immediately

:23:41. > :23:43.after the First World War, and we still try to maintain that

:23:44. > :23:47.today. My dad started working in '46

:23:48. > :23:51.for the War Graves Commission, When you are here, you feel close

:23:52. > :24:09.to the soldiers who are buried here. There's almost 40,000

:24:10. > :24:14.herbaceous plants, 2,500 roses It takes us two days to mow it,

:24:15. > :24:21.but then you have the pruning, It's quite a job to do it

:24:22. > :24:28.but it's done with love. Beneath the Cross of Sacrifice

:24:29. > :24:31.is the Tyne Cot blockhouse, the largest German pillbox

:24:32. > :24:34.in this area. You can still see a small area

:24:35. > :24:38.of concrete within a wreath, as a reminder of how strong

:24:39. > :24:42.a position it was. Once it had been captured,

:24:43. > :24:45.it was used as an advanced dressing station to help treat those

:24:46. > :24:49.who were wounded. The majority of the graves

:24:50. > :24:52.here are in long rows, evenly spaced, and they're

:24:53. > :24:55.the graves that were But those battlefield graves around

:24:56. > :25:01.the bunker, they are exactly where they were when they were first

:25:02. > :25:04.put there, buried by their comrades The battlefield cemetery,

:25:05. > :25:09.that's my favourite part. If you stand there, I think

:25:10. > :25:15.you can feel it a bit. I'm very happy to do something

:25:16. > :25:22.for these people who made sure that we can live

:25:23. > :25:40.in a peaceful country. These are the scenes today at Tyne

:25:41. > :25:44.Cot cemetery in Flanders. We are looking at the chiefs of staff. We

:25:45. > :25:53.have Sir Stuart pitch. the vice chairman of the

:25:54. > :26:02.Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and Dr Glyn Prysor,

:26:03. > :26:14.the Commission's resident historian. Anything I have needed to know in

:26:15. > :26:19.the last few days, you either man I have gone to. Tim, year round this

:26:20. > :26:25.place is kept with great care as we heard from one of the gardeners. We

:26:26. > :26:31.do it with love. On a day like today it immaculate. Why is it important

:26:32. > :26:37.that on the other 364 days of the year it looks like it does today? It

:26:38. > :26:40.is important because people come here throughout the year. We want to

:26:41. > :26:46.make sure that whenever people come here they find the cemetery in

:26:47. > :26:49.perfect condition. It is just a team of four gardeners who look after the

:26:50. > :26:53.cemetery. They have had a bit of extra help over the last few years

:26:54. > :27:01.to get it right for this important event. This is a standout event, one

:27:02. > :27:06.of the biggest events they have ever had? It is fair to say that, one of

:27:07. > :27:10.the biggest ones. We have seen on the film these beautiful, ornate

:27:11. > :27:17.carvings that represent the nations of the soldiers. Give us an idea of

:27:18. > :27:23.the nationalities. There are regimental symbols from all across

:27:24. > :27:27.the British Army, the phone of New Zealand, the Maple Leaf of Canada,

:27:28. > :27:33.the rising Sun and the Springbok of South Africa. There were Indian

:27:34. > :27:36.soldiers, members of the Chinese Labour Corps, nurses and so on, a

:27:37. > :27:42.real demonstration of the diversity of the armies of the British Empire

:27:43. > :27:48.that for at that time. What I did not expect to see where two German

:27:49. > :27:54.headstones and there are four German soldiers buried here. Tell us about

:27:55. > :27:59.that. Those headstones are exactly the same dimensions of the British

:28:00. > :28:04.Army headstones. They are treated in exactly the same way. These men were

:28:05. > :28:07.enemies in life, but in death they were brothers and they are given

:28:08. > :28:12.exactly the same respect by the gardeners as any other soldier. The

:28:13. > :28:16.memorial wall at the back that contains so many tens of thousands

:28:17. > :28:22.of names. Why is that here because we think of the Menin Gate where we

:28:23. > :28:27.see the names. We ran out of space on the Menin Gate and it was obvious

:28:28. > :28:34.there would not be enough space, so a second memorial wall was designed

:28:35. > :28:39.and created. It, if you like, acted as an overflow when we did not have

:28:40. > :28:44.any more real. As I understand it, there are still commemorations and

:28:45. > :28:51.names being engraved on that wall to this very day. Explain that to me.

:28:52. > :28:57.Every year remains are discovered. In these very fields? By farmers?

:28:58. > :29:03.Absolutely, by farmers. Each of them is treated as they work 100 years

:29:04. > :29:08.ago and they are given a burial with full dignity. If their identity is

:29:09. > :29:14.known, it is added to the memorial. It is the beauty of the commission

:29:15. > :29:15.continuing it from 100 years ago. Thank you for taking the time to

:29:16. > :29:23.talk to us today. The names of some of those will be

:29:24. > :29:28.read out today. During today's commemorations

:29:29. > :29:31.the names of some of those buried or inscribed on the

:29:32. > :29:33.Memorial Wall in Tyne Cot will be read out in tribute

:29:34. > :29:36.to all those killed This wall, with 35,000

:29:37. > :29:38.thousand names on it, is a continuation of

:29:39. > :29:41.the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, which gives a place

:29:42. > :29:43.to remember the men who died Dan Snow is with Warrant Officer

:29:44. > :29:46.William Rhodes, who has the honour of reading out

:29:47. > :29:54.one of the names. William, you volunteer to be part of

:29:55. > :29:57.this event, why did you do that? I volunteered as a descendant, my

:29:58. > :30:05.great great ankle was killed in the Battle of Passchendaele. -- uncle. I

:30:06. > :30:08.felt it was important to come out for the 100th anniversary. It has

:30:09. > :30:14.been planned for the best part of ten years now with my family, to

:30:15. > :30:17.come out, and now with the big commemorations, we have taken part

:30:18. > :30:22.in that. It sounds like it was talked about within your family, who

:30:23. > :30:30.particularly are you remembering? It is my great great uncle, he was

:30:31. > :30:38.killed 100 years ago today, the 31st of July, the first day of the

:30:39. > :30:41.battle, in the battle of St-Julien. He was part of the Cheshire

:30:42. > :30:46.Regiment. They suffered extremely large casualties. I know a little

:30:47. > :30:51.bit about him, we have been doing a lot of research, trying to gather

:30:52. > :30:56.that information together, and we have been massively helped by the

:30:57. > :31:03.military museum they have given us a lot of information from the Cheshire

:31:04. > :31:07.edge and's diaries and archives. -- the Cheshire Regiment. Enjoy the

:31:08. > :31:08.experience and the experience of remembering him as well. Thank you

:31:09. > :31:11.very much. have been told in the

:31:12. > :31:15.testimonies of soldiers and, of course, by journalists at the

:31:16. > :31:18.time and subsequently historians. However, the poets of

:31:19. > :31:20.the Great War who themselves served in the trenches

:31:21. > :31:22.have dominated the collective memory

:31:23. > :31:28.of the war in a unique war. They exist only on the pages

:31:29. > :31:35.of history books, and their victims become

:31:36. > :31:38.little more than statistics. But the First World War

:31:39. > :31:40.is different. 100 years after it was fought,

:31:41. > :31:43.it's still part of our slick upon the duck-boards:

:31:44. > :32:02.so I fell Into the bottomless mud,

:32:03. > :32:04.and lost the light. The armies of the Western Front

:32:05. > :32:07.were unlike any that had ever For the first time,

:32:08. > :32:10.the majority of soldiers, no matter what their class,

:32:11. > :32:15.could read and write. These literate men found themselves

:32:16. > :32:19.in a conflict of siege warfare - They spent much of their time

:32:20. > :32:26.in the trenches, near to the danger and the death, but protected

:32:27. > :32:29.underground, and that gave them time His brother, we can

:32:30. > :32:55.hear death's roar. Those lines, translated

:32:56. > :33:01.from Welsh, were written by Ellis Humphrey Evans,

:33:02. > :33:05.who wrote under the name Hedd Wyn. He was killed on the first day

:33:06. > :33:12.of the Battle of Passchendaele. Another poet who fought here was

:33:13. > :33:17.Francis Ledwidge from Ireland. Ledwidge died on the

:33:18. > :33:32.same day as Hedd Wyn, killed by a shell that landed

:33:33. > :33:36.about 200 yards from here. These two poets are buried

:33:37. > :33:40.in the same cemetery. Both men remembered

:33:41. > :33:43.100 years after their deaths, thanks to the words

:33:44. > :33:50.they left behind. The poetry of the First World War

:33:51. > :33:54.is just a fragment of the otherwise unwritten work

:33:55. > :33:57.of a doomed generation. It's a taste of

:33:58. > :34:16.what they might have produced, These are the scenes this morning

:34:17. > :34:22.and Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium. We are looking at the band of the Welsh

:34:23. > :34:25.Guards in their red tunics and bearskin, conducted by Lieutenant

:34:26. > :34:30.Colonel Kevin Roberts, and he has a job in hand today, because he will

:34:31. > :34:33.be in charge of all the musicians, single-handedly overseeing four

:34:34. > :34:40.different groups of musicians who will be participating in the

:34:41. > :34:41.ceremony that. Shortly. -- that will start shortly.

:34:42. > :34:44.Well, later in the commemorations, two of those poets,

:34:45. > :34:45.killed 100 years ago, will be remembered.

:34:46. > :34:48.An elegy will be sung in memory of the poet Hedd Wyn,

:34:49. > :34:50.and actor Peter Campion will perform

:34:51. > :34:54.A Soldier's Grave by the Irish poet Francis Ledwidge.

:34:55. > :34:58.And I'm joined by Belgian historian Professor

:34:59. > :35:02.Sophie de Schaepdrijver, together with broadcaster and historian David

:35:03. > :35:06.Olusoga and Richard van Emden to chat a bit more about the

:35:07. > :35:19.Richard, if I can come to you first of all, these photographs are seared

:35:20. > :35:22.on our consciousness, and we are a hundred years away from that battle,

:35:23. > :35:27.what impression did they make on people at the time you saw the

:35:28. > :35:32.images that were taken? Well, I mean, you can imagine that it had a

:35:33. > :35:39.profound effect on families back home. I mean, how could you not look

:35:40. > :35:43.at the morass... I mean, this is the worst hell you could imagine, and to

:35:44. > :35:47.see men stuck in there, fighting for their lives. There is one amazing

:35:48. > :35:53.photograph of a gentleman called Reginald Brown on this ridge, there

:35:54. > :35:57.were five men on the photograph, and the next morning four were dead, he

:35:58. > :36:07.was the only survivor. They are testimony to the most dramatic era

:36:08. > :36:12.for Britain, and the scenes are truly shocking, how could they be

:36:13. > :36:16.otherwise? Poetry seems so esoteric, but it absolutely captured not just

:36:17. > :36:20.the feelings but the brutal and vital experiences of the men on the

:36:21. > :36:24.battlefield. It is a strange thing, we don't talk about the poetry of

:36:25. > :36:28.the Napoleonic wars very much the Second World War, but the British

:36:29. > :36:33.experience of the First World War is intimately linked to poetry, and

:36:34. > :36:40.that is an anomaly. Partly it is because the men were educated,

:36:41. > :36:43.nothing quite explains this. What is critical is whether it distorts

:36:44. > :36:50.history, and many historians have written about why 4000 people are

:36:51. > :36:57.here today, the poetry draws us into this epic tragedy. Sophie, when I

:36:58. > :37:00.was talking to one of my daughters about coming here, she knew about

:37:01. > :37:05.Siegfried Sassoon, that was her way into the war, and your country has

:37:06. > :37:10.been memorialised in words by these people, rather brilliantly and

:37:11. > :37:17.beautiful. Yes, it has, British poetry in particular is a milestone,

:37:18. > :37:22.a relay station for remembrance. What is particularly interesting

:37:23. > :37:26.about the First World War is that so many people wrote who had never put

:37:27. > :37:31.pen to paper. This is across the belligerent world, you see it in

:37:32. > :37:36.Germany, everywhere, so people write poetry, they write drama, they write

:37:37. > :37:43.sketches, and they feel the need to express their war. So amidst this

:37:44. > :37:46.war, which is regimented, which takes a generation, everyone feels

:37:47. > :37:51.the need to express something subjective. Yes, there is the war,

:37:52. > :37:55.but also my war. We are looking at the British guard of honour, there

:37:56. > :37:59.will be two this morning and Tyne Cot Cemetery, the Belgian guard of

:38:00. > :38:05.honour as well, but this is the Irish Guards, 96 men, guardsman,

:38:06. > :38:16.Lund scored is and Lance Sergeant is. Back now to Dan Snow, he has

:38:17. > :38:19.been joined by Linda Parton. Your father at the most extraordinary

:38:20. > :38:24.career in the army, served all the way through to the end, did he ever

:38:25. > :38:28.talk about those experiences? A little bit, on a very light level,

:38:29. > :38:38.he never talked about the feelings, the fear, the dread. He talked about

:38:39. > :38:44.having to make their own ammunition, being continually wet, footrot, but

:38:45. > :38:49.never what it felt like. Was he happy to talk to you about it? He

:38:50. > :38:55.was 53 when I was born, so it was quite distant from his wartime

:38:56. > :39:04.experiences, and that made it easier for him. But you also have an uncle

:39:05. > :39:09.who fought at Passchendaele. Yes, my father's younger brother, Walter, he

:39:10. > :39:16.joined in 1916, as soon as he was old enough, and he was killed in

:39:17. > :39:21.1917, just 19 years old. It must be very special being here today. It

:39:22. > :39:25.is, to remember my uncle, but also to think about my father and what he

:39:26. > :39:34.went through, and to have a chance to save thanks, Dad. Dan Snow, thank

:39:35. > :39:40.you very much indeed for that. We are looking at the scenes in Tyne

:39:41. > :39:51.Cot, and splendid scenes they are indeed, the Irish Guards, and on

:39:52. > :39:53.their ensign, it includes 21 battle honours, the wreath of the Battle of

:39:54. > :40:04.Passchendaele that we see there. And that was taking place at the

:40:05. > :40:14.Stone of Remembrance, a hugely significant point in today's

:40:15. > :40:19.commemorations. Lynne, as you look at the scenes today, what is going

:40:20. > :40:25.through your head, because you have a very intimate relationship with

:40:26. > :40:28.Tyne Cot and the other Commonwealth War Graves? What I am reminded of

:40:29. > :40:36.the images of the first pilgrims coming to this place to mourn their

:40:37. > :40:38.lost relatives, images of mothers, daughters, comrades, veterans

:40:39. > :40:43.returning in the years after the war to pay tribute to lost friends. And

:40:44. > :40:47.I think seeing the images of the crowds gathering here, it mind me of

:40:48. > :40:52.1927, the images of the cemetery when it was first unveiled. We are

:40:53. > :40:57.just doing here what we have been doing for many decades. When it was

:40:58. > :41:01.first unveiled, it looked very different, I presume, it would have

:41:02. > :41:07.been wooden crosses. Yes indeed, they would have been wooden crosses

:41:08. > :41:09.laid out, and over many years the architecture was designed and

:41:10. > :41:13.created, and of those wooden crosses are very poignant, when you see the

:41:14. > :41:17.images of the German blockhouses rising up out of the ground. Today

:41:18. > :41:21.it is very peaceful and beautiful, but we have to remember that this is

:41:22. > :41:25.the work of generations of gardeners, and many of them local

:41:26. > :41:34.people, who care for this place and create what we see today. Five

:41:35. > :41:40.Victoria Cross awardees buried here. Yes, one is particularly striking,

:41:41. > :41:44.Lewis Moody, an Australian soldier who was awarded his Victoria Cross

:41:45. > :41:50.for his actions in 1917 when this area was captured by the 14th

:41:51. > :41:56.Australian division, a tale of almost reckless bravery, incredibly

:41:57. > :42:01.brutal fighting with bayonet and bomb, rather than with bullets, a

:42:02. > :42:05.reminder of the brutality of the fighting, and acts of heroism on

:42:06. > :42:09.both sides, it is important we remember that. That is an

:42:10. > :42:14.interesting point, you are nodding your head, acts of bravery on both

:42:15. > :42:19.sides, men on both sides going through, ostensibly, entirely the

:42:20. > :42:25.same experience. Entirely the same experience. Actually, if you had

:42:26. > :42:29.been here in 1927, you would have found almost 100 German cemeteries

:42:30. > :42:34.dotted across the landscape. Really? So the story that this landscape

:42:35. > :42:40.told in the 1920s is completely different from the story today, so

:42:41. > :42:44.today, it is peaceful - when it wasn't, so that is already a change.

:42:45. > :42:49.But it tells quite a lopsided story, because the Germans have been

:42:50. > :42:54.relegated to four very large cemeteries, no longer inscribed into

:42:55. > :42:58.the space as they had been. Just looking ahead, Richard, to the

:42:59. > :43:03.commemoration today, we are going to see the German Foreign Minister,

:43:04. > :43:07.there will be a German reading here today, during this commemoration,

:43:08. > :43:11.this reconciliation of the nations, that must surely have been a very

:43:12. > :43:18.nuanced and difficult thing to begin to look forward to at the time, post

:43:19. > :43:25.war. Absolutely. I mean, Britain and Germany had a lot in common in so

:43:26. > :43:28.many ways, I always be the Germans saying, you are Anglo-Saxons, we are

:43:29. > :43:33.Saxons, so there was a kind of unity, a lot of interest to keep

:43:34. > :43:35.Germany together as a unitary state out of the war, so a lot of

:43:36. > :43:40.co-operation between the British and the Germans behind the scenes. But

:43:41. > :43:44.somewhere like this, obviously it was incredibly important to build

:43:45. > :43:48.that relationship, and coming back to Harry patch, I remember how

:43:49. > :43:54.important it was for him to have that reconciliation, and when we

:43:55. > :43:59.went to the biggest cemetery for German casualties, he picked up two

:44:00. > :44:04.acorns from next to a German grave of a man was killed on the day he

:44:05. > :44:07.attacked, and he buried them in the garden, and that communion, on a

:44:08. > :44:12.very small scale, is being represented today on a much bigger

:44:13. > :44:16.scale. We were just looking at the Belgian Minister of defence, Steven

:44:17. > :44:22.Vandeput, and there will be many dignitaries this morning, we will

:44:23. > :44:28.seed Theresa May, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of

:44:29. > :44:31.Wales, the King and Queen of the Belgians. We are sitting in

:44:32. > :44:38.Flanders, but this is essentially a small slice of saying this is now

:44:39. > :44:45.British soil, handed over in perpetuity. That is right, the War

:44:46. > :44:48.Graves are on land donated by the government of Belgium, a very

:44:49. > :44:53.poignant thought, this is land that will never be reclaimed, the

:44:54. > :44:59.Commonwealth War Graves Commission is the lack has a motto about

:45:00. > :45:04.perpetuity, and of course that was a very new idea at the time, the idea

:45:05. > :45:07.that these would exist 100 years on was an unprecedented way of

:45:08. > :45:15.commemorating the dead, and I think it feels so natural now, but it

:45:16. > :45:20.wasn't always like that. With that very thought, I wanted to ask you

:45:21. > :45:24.about communications at the time. How easy was it for the troops on

:45:25. > :45:30.the front line to be able to communicate with commanders and

:45:31. > :45:35.people who were so close? The wireless was in its infancy. Once

:45:36. > :45:40.the battle started it was any man's game. You could not properly

:45:41. > :45:44.communicate. You would have runners and men running back and forward

:45:45. > :45:50.across the battlefield. But you would not know what had happened to

:45:51. > :45:56.them. You had pidgins and even dogs taking messages. You say you had

:45:57. > :46:05.pidgins, of course. Tell me more about that. It was one form of

:46:06. > :46:09.communication when you had all other sorts of mechanisms. One way you

:46:10. > :46:12.could communicate was with them because you could type a message to

:46:13. > :46:16.their legs and they would go home as they were met to do and you would

:46:17. > :46:21.pick up the message. But the Germans would try and bring them down and it

:46:22. > :46:33.would be difficult. We are looking at an extraordinary vehicle of these

:46:34. > :46:40.birds in this picture. There is a lot to be said for that and the way

:46:41. > :46:48.in which these animals were remembered. They were seen as heroic

:46:49. > :46:51.agents, resistance agents, and avian resistance agent. If you look at the

:46:52. > :46:55.work of Michael Morpurgo what we are doing is the other way around. We

:46:56. > :47:03.are looking at the human experience through the eyes of the animals.

:47:04. > :47:08.Indeed and we saw a performance of war horse last night in Ypres in

:47:09. > :47:15.front of Cloth Hall. At the forefront of our mind today I had

:47:16. > :47:19.the men who died and we see pictures of the horses being sucked into the

:47:20. > :47:23.mud. Man and horse worked together and people who worked with the

:47:24. > :47:27.horses were very close to them. It must have been a terrible tragedy

:47:28. > :47:32.for the troops on the front like to see their horses going. The

:47:33. > :47:37.closeness men had with their animals was intense. I always remember one

:47:38. > :47:42.veteran talking about coming up here with his mule. Mules were better

:47:43. > :47:46.because they have smaller feet. He said he was exhausted and the mule

:47:47. > :47:53.was exhausted and he tried to clamber onto the mule and it

:47:54. > :47:57.collapsed. He said he was trying to pull his mule out of the earth and

:47:58. > :48:03.it looked at him as if to say, why did you do that? He said it had

:48:04. > :48:07.haunted him all his life. With friends dying around him, this had

:48:08. > :48:13.haunted him. That closeness between man and animal was extraordinary in

:48:14. > :48:18.the First World War. And a word or two on the situation with the mud,

:48:19. > :48:22.Sophie. There was a unique confluence of circumstance which

:48:23. > :48:29.meant the mud was significant in Flanders. If you go to the stone

:48:30. > :48:32.quarries around here you see this layer of rubbery clay. You could see

:48:33. > :48:39.immediately it would be impossible for what to penetrate that. For

:48:40. > :48:42.centuries this was an area where you had all these small canals and

:48:43. > :48:50.drainage ditches, so there was a very intricate water economy if you

:48:51. > :48:56.will. It was blown to bits by all of those shells. Then when the rain was

:48:57. > :49:02.added to that, you have a perfect catastrophe. David, the rain that

:49:03. > :49:10.was added, it was twice the rainfall they normally expect at this time of

:49:11. > :49:15.the year. It rained almost everyday in the first month of the battle.

:49:16. > :49:20.You have a land battle in which soldiers literally drowned. One of

:49:21. > :49:25.the reasons why we have so many unknown victims, men whose bodies

:49:26. > :49:34.were never found, was because people sank into this mire. That is the

:49:35. > :49:37.unique horror of Passchendaele. We can see their name live Earth for

:49:38. > :49:47.evermore and those were words that were approved at the time by people

:49:48. > :49:56.themselves. Why did they need this to be approved? It was so sensitive.

:49:57. > :50:03.You look at the Commonwealth War Graves records and people are

:50:04. > :50:07.writing in and saying, why are there not crosses? Everyone was so per

:50:08. > :50:12.tune as to what remembrance was going to take place. We see the

:50:13. > :50:18.Belgian guard of honour just lining the roads back to Tyne Cot Cemetery.

:50:19. > :50:24.We believe this is the arrival of the British Prime Minister, Theresa

:50:25. > :50:28.May. She has been an two of the three ceremonies so far and indeed

:50:29. > :50:39.her grandfather served in the First World War in Flanders in the second

:50:40. > :50:44.Battle of Ypres. Oh, well, and there is a surprise for all of us. It is

:50:45. > :51:07.the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving.

:51:08. > :51:15.And Sir Tim Lawrence and the welcoming committee making them

:51:16. > :51:20.welcome at Tyne Cot Cemetery. There has been bad traffic on the way

:51:21. > :51:25.here, so maybe the British Prime Minister Theresa May is stuck in

:51:26. > :51:29.that. But the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are here. It has been a

:51:30. > :51:34.time of great change for the Duke himself as he carried out his last

:51:35. > :51:39.ever shipped last Thursday with the East Anglia air Ambulance Service.

:51:40. > :51:43.His most recent visit to Belgium was at the beginning of June when he

:51:44. > :51:51.attended the British and Irish commemorative service to mark the

:51:52. > :52:01.Centenary of a battle at the Ireland peace Park.

:52:02. > :52:09.It is worth noting that there are over 15,000 Canadian casualties at

:52:10. > :52:12.Passchendaele and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently

:52:13. > :52:28.conducted a tour of Canada. That was in October of last year. The Duke of

:52:29. > :52:56.Cambridge is having a chat with the Mayor of Zonnebeke.

:52:57. > :53:02.There has been meticulous organisation, of course, that goes

:53:03. > :53:07.into making sure that for these three major events people arrived,

:53:08. > :53:12.people leave, and the person in charge is Lieutenant Colonel David

:53:13. > :53:17.Hann of the Irish guys, part of the Queen's has division and it has been

:53:18. > :53:21.his job, and it is no small job, to make sure that everybody gets to

:53:22. > :53:29.where they are meant to be. I will wait with you and find out who is

:53:30. > :53:37.going to be in this car. The welcoming party is made up of Karen

:53:38. > :53:40.Bradley, the UK Secretary of State for Culture and I was chatting

:53:41. > :53:45.earlier to Sir Tim Laurence, the vice-chairman of the Commonwealth

:53:46. > :53:57.War Graves Commission. He is part of the welcoming committee for this

:53:58. > :54:09.morning's VIPs. And indeed Theresa May is now with us. She is the MP

:54:10. > :54:13.for Maidenhead and has been since 1987. That is significant because

:54:14. > :54:16.the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is headquartered in her

:54:17. > :54:22.constituency. She visited their offices in June of last year. She

:54:23. > :54:27.said, the commission does vital work in ensuring that our fallen soldiers

:54:28. > :54:31.are never forgotten and that respect is shown to all those who died in

:54:32. > :54:41.the world wars. She will see first hand this morning the work that the

:54:42. > :55:17.commission does. That is at Tyne Cot Cemetery.

:55:18. > :55:22.And we believe now that given the flag on the car, this is the German

:55:23. > :55:40.Foreign Minister. He has served as Vice Chancellor of

:55:41. > :55:42.Germany since 2013. His current position is as foreign minister

:55:43. > :56:18.since January of this year. And so the Duke and Duchess, it

:56:19. > :56:22.looks like they have decided to become part of the welcoming

:56:23. > :56:28.committee, which will be a lovely surprise for anybody who gets out of

:56:29. > :56:32.their car this morning. The Duchess is no stranger to commemorative

:56:33. > :56:35.events such as these. She accompanied the Duke and the King

:56:36. > :56:39.and Queen of the Belgians to a series of events in 2014 and that

:56:40. > :56:44.would seem a very good reason as to why they are waiting outside. They

:56:45. > :56:48.will welcome the King and Queen of the Belgians to Tyne Cot Cemetery

:56:49. > :57:08.when they arrived in just a moment or so.

:57:09. > :57:32.And of course we see the arrival of the Prince of Wales who will be

:57:33. > :57:36.joining their Royal Highness is to welcome the king and the Queen of

:57:37. > :57:43.the Belgians. In so many ways for so many of the dignitaries and VIPs who

:57:44. > :57:46.are taking part in the ceremony, there are highly personal

:57:47. > :57:52.connections to Passchendaele and to the First World War. The Prince of

:57:53. > :58:02.Wales' great grandfather, George V, was involved in the design of this

:58:03. > :58:05.very Cemetery. It was George V who ordered the Cross of Sacrifice be

:58:06. > :58:11.built on top of a captured German pillbox. You will see in some of the

:58:12. > :58:13.wide shots that we show you this morning that that is the highest

:58:14. > :58:56.point of Tyne Cot Cemetery. And just beyond them, the Belgian

:58:57. > :58:57.guard of honour will be lining the route in preparation for the arrival

:58:58. > :00:07.of their king and Queen. And so the Royal Highness is welcome

:00:08. > :00:15.the King and Queen of the Belgians to Tyne Cot Cemetery, King Philippe

:00:16. > :00:19.and Queen Mathilde. King Philippe was commander-in-chief of the

:00:20. > :00:21.Belgian army, and after leaving school, he attended their Royal

:00:22. > :00:49.Military Academy and joined the Belgian air force.

:00:50. > :00:55.And the Queen of the Belgians' grandfather was a Sergeant in the

:00:56. > :01:18.eighth Regiment of the Belgian army. And the King's great-grandfather,

:01:19. > :01:23.King Albert I, he was nicknamed the King soldier, he took command of the

:01:24. > :01:25.Belgian army in the field. He led them to victory against German

:01:26. > :01:42.forces. The Prince of Wales, no doubt,

:01:43. > :01:46.enjoying the music of the Welsh Guards, a key part of today's

:01:47. > :01:52.ceremony, in terms of the music they are making, and the Prince of Wales

:01:53. > :01:53.is Colonel of the Welsh Guards, a position he took up in March of

:01:54. > :02:29.1975. Now, there were 15,600 Canadian

:02:30. > :02:35.casualties at Passchendaele, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, they

:02:36. > :02:38.recently conducted a tour of Canada, highlights included meeting Justin

:02:39. > :02:43.Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, and hosting an event for

:02:44. > :03:14.members of the Canadian military at Government House.

:03:15. > :03:20.The Prince of Wales, of course, not in regimental dress today, as this

:03:21. > :03:28.is a commemorative ceremony, but he has a very special relationship with

:03:29. > :03:33.the military, 12 UK regiments in particular and ten across the

:03:34. > :03:36.Commonwealth. This includes being Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute

:03:37. > :03:39.Regiment, Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Gurkha Rifles,

:03:40. > :03:44.Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, and the Royal Colonel of the

:03:45. > :03:47.Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh and of Scotland. -- the Royal

:03:48. > :04:11.Regiment of Scotland. So very shortly the ceremony will

:04:12. > :04:16.begin and it will include first person testimony read by individuals

:04:17. > :04:18.who all have links through their family to the Battle of

:04:19. > :04:48.Passchendaele, which began in 100 years ago today.

:04:49. > :04:55.And some of the choral music that we will enjoy today will be the

:04:56. > :04:59.National Youth Choir of Scotland, conducted by Colonel Roberts of the

:05:00. > :05:04.Welsh Guards, overseeing all of the splendid music that we are enjoying

:05:05. > :05:06.today. And their voices will mark the beginning of this very special

:05:07. > :05:44.commemoration. # In Flanders fields

:05:45. > :05:51.the poppies blow # Between the crosses,

:05:52. > :05:57.row on row # That mark our place,

:05:58. > :06:04.and in the sky # The larks still

:06:05. > :06:12.bravely singing fly # Scarce heard amid

:06:13. > :06:32.the guns below. # Private Edward Michael Batten

:06:33. > :06:38.of the D Company, 13th Platoon, 45th Battalion,

:06:39. > :06:44.Australian Infantry. Killed in action on the 12th

:06:45. > :06:59.of October 1917, aged 40. Second Lieutenant

:07:00. > :07:05.Frederick Falkiner MC, 17th Service Battalion

:07:06. > :07:11.of the Royal Irish Rifles. Killed in action

:07:12. > :07:14.flying over enemy lines near Ypres

:07:15. > :07:24.on the 21st of August 1917. Private James Munro,

:07:25. > :07:32.1st South African Infantry Regiment. Killed in action on

:07:33. > :07:38.the 20th of September 1917. His commanding officer wrote home,

:07:39. > :07:41."Your son was a general favourite, and we shall all miss

:07:42. > :07:50.his cheerful personality." Killed in action

:07:51. > :08:05.on the 24th of August 1917. His son, my grandfather,

:08:06. > :08:14.was only three years old. My great-great-uncle

:08:15. > :08:17.Private Walter Stevenson of the 4th Battalion

:08:18. > :08:20.Grenadier Guards. Killed in action on

:08:21. > :08:30.the 29th of July 1916. Private Dafydd Griffith

:08:31. > :08:36.of the 7th Battalion the King's Shropshire

:08:37. > :08:38.Light Infantry. Killed in action on the 26th

:08:39. > :08:43.of September 1917. His younger brother was killed

:08:44. > :08:50.three months later. My great-great-uncle and namesake?,

:08:51. > :08:54.Sergeant William Rhodes, Cheshire Regiment, awarded

:08:55. > :08:58.the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Killed in action on

:08:59. > :10:04.the 31st of July 1917. 100 years ago today, the Third

:10:05. > :10:11.Battle of Ypres began. At ten to four in the morning, less than five

:10:12. > :10:14.miles from here, thousands of men, drawn from across Britain, France

:10:15. > :10:20.and the Commonwealth, attacked German lines. The battle we know

:10:21. > :10:31.today as Passchendaele would last for over 100 days. We remember it's

:10:32. > :10:34.not only for the rain that fell, the mud that weighed down the living and

:10:35. > :10:42.swallowed the dead, but also for the courage and bravery of the men who

:10:43. > :10:49.fought here. The advance was slow, and every inch was hard-fought. The

:10:50. > :10:57.land we stand upon was taken two months into the battle by the third

:10:58. > :11:10.Australian Division. It would change hands twice again before the end of

:11:11. > :11:14.the war. In 1922, my great-grandfather, King George

:11:15. > :11:17.Polona Hercog, came here as part of a pilgrimage to honour all those who

:11:18. > :11:24.died in the First World War. -- King George V. Whilst visiting Tyne Cot,

:11:25. > :11:30.he stood before the pillbox that this Cross of Sacrifice has been

:11:31. > :11:41.built upon, a former German stronghold that had dominated the

:11:42. > :11:47.ridge. Once taken by the Allies, the pillbox became a forward aid opposed

:11:48. > :11:52.to treat the wounded. Those who could not be saved were buried by

:11:53. > :12:02.their brothers in arms in makeshift graves. These became the headstones

:12:03. > :12:11.that are before us today. After the end of the war, almost 12,000 graves

:12:12. > :12:20.of British and Commonwealth soldiers were brought here from surrounding

:12:21. > :12:24.battlefields. Today, a further 34,000 men who could not be

:12:25. > :12:32.identified or whose bodies were never found have their names

:12:33. > :12:41.inscribed on the memorial. Thinking of these men, my great-grandfather

:12:42. > :12:46.remarked, I have many times asked myself whether there can be more

:12:47. > :12:55.potent advocates of peace upon earth through the years to come than this

:12:56. > :13:03.massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war. In 1920,

:13:04. > :13:10.war reporter Philip Gibbs, who had himself witnessed this, wrote that

:13:11. > :13:16.nothing that has been written is more than a pale image of the

:13:17. > :13:21.abomination of those battlefields, and that no pen or brush has yet

:13:22. > :13:28.achieved a picture of that Armageddon in which so many of our

:13:29. > :13:35.men perished. Drawn from many nations, we come together in their

:13:36. > :13:40.resting place, cared for with such dedication by the Commonwealth War

:13:41. > :13:54.Graves Commission, to commemorate their sacrifice, and to promise that

:13:55. > :14:01.we will never forget. KIRSTY: The Welsh poet was killed on

:14:02. > :14:03.the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele.

:14:04. > :14:20.We will now hear Rhodri Jones sing a tribute to him.

:14:21. > :15:08.# Y bardd trwm dan bridd tramor - y dwylo

:15:09. > :15:44.# Wedi ei fyw y mae dy fywyd - dy rawd

:15:45. > :16:23.# Tyner yw'r lleuad heno - tros fawnog Trawsfynydd yn dringo

:16:24. > :16:51.# Trawsfynydd tros ei feini - trafaeliaist

:16:52. > :18:23.A tribute in song to the Welsh poet Hedd Wyn, who is buried

:18:24. > :18:27.at Artillery Wood Cemetery alongside the Irish poet, Lance Corporal

:18:28. > :18:33.Francis Edward Ledwidge of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

:18:34. > :18:36.Ledwidge was an Irish nationalist who enlisted

:18:37. > :18:47.Both poets were killed in action, one hundred years ago today.

:18:48. > :18:52.A Soldier's Grave by Francis Ledwidge.

:18:53. > :18:57.Then in the lull of midnight, gentle arms

:18:58. > :19:00.Lifted him slowly down the slopes of death

:19:01. > :19:03.Lest he should hear again the mad alarms

:19:04. > :19:10.Of battle, dying moans, and painful breath.

:19:11. > :19:14.And where the earth was soft for flowers we made

:19:15. > :19:18.A grave for him that he might better rest.

:19:19. > :19:22.So, Spring shall come and leave it sweet arrayed,

:19:23. > :19:36.And there the lark shall turn her dewy nest.

:19:37. > :19:42.Sergeant Walter Hubert Downing, 57th Battalion Australian Imperial Force.

:19:43. > :19:45.Men fell silent, or spoke casually, or made surly jests,

:19:46. > :19:56.Occasionally we stirred to brush the dirt from our necks

:19:57. > :20:05.Dry, heavy clods of earth flew on the air.

:20:06. > :20:08.Shells roared and moaned incessantly across the floor of heaven.

:20:09. > :20:18.Private C Miles, 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.

:20:19. > :20:22.The moment you set off you felt that dreadful suction.

:20:23. > :20:25.It was forever pulling you down, and you could hear the sound

:20:26. > :20:28.of your feet coming out in a kind of sucking "plop" that seemed

:20:29. > :20:33.much louder at night when you were on your own.

:20:34. > :20:36.In a way, it was worse when the mud didn't suck you down,

:20:37. > :20:39.when it yielded under your feet you knew that it was a body

:20:40. > :20:54.Private Leonard Hart, 2nd Battalion Otago Regiment.

:20:55. > :20:57.Dear Mother, Father and Connie, in a postcard which I sent

:20:58. > :21:01.you about a fortnight ago, I mentioned that we were on the eve

:21:02. > :21:06.of a great event, and that I had no time to write you a long letter.

:21:07. > :21:11.Well, that great event is over now, and by some strange act of fortune

:21:12. > :21:16.I have once again come through without a scratch.

:21:17. > :21:18.The great event mentioned consisted of a desperate attack

:21:19. > :21:22.by our Division against a ridge, strongly fortified and strongly

:21:23. > :21:28.For the first time in our brief history as an army

:21:29. > :21:31.the New Zealanders failed in their objective

:21:32. > :21:35.with the most appalling slaughter I have ever seen.

:21:36. > :21:42.My Company went into action 180 strong and we came out 32 strong.

:21:43. > :21:46.Still, we have nothing to be ashamed of as our commander afterwards told

:21:47. > :21:50.us that no troops in the world could possibly have taken

:21:51. > :21:55.the position, but this is small comfort when one remembers

:21:56. > :22:01.the hundreds of lives that have been lost and nothing gained.

:22:02. > :22:12.Sister Jean Calder, Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Siding.

:22:13. > :22:16.We'd had boys coming in all week, of course, and we'd been busy

:22:17. > :22:20.but the ones we got at the weekend were in a shocking state

:22:21. > :22:23.because so many of them had been lying out in the mud before

:22:24. > :22:26.they could be picked up by the first-aid orderlies.

:22:27. > :22:31.They didn't look like clothes at all.

:22:32. > :22:34.We had to cut them off and do what we could.

:22:35. > :22:39.In a civilian hospital, even an army hospital,

:22:40. > :22:42.the man had a home quite near and relations possibly,

:22:43. > :22:45.but the wounded man on the battlefield is miles away

:22:46. > :22:54.He's in pain and he's amongst strangers, and I think that was why

:22:55. > :23:10.sympathy went out from one to the other.

:23:11. > :23:15.MUSIC: "Lux Aeterna" by Edward Elgar

:23:16. > :26:29.Private Bert Fearns, 2/6th Lancashire Fusiliers,

:26:30. > :26:32.describing an attack in October 1917 on the land we are

:26:33. > :26:37.Mr Kay came up and said, "Come on, lads, it's our turn," and we just

:26:38. > :26:41.walked round the corner of the pillbox and up the hill.

:26:42. > :26:43.The Germans didn't have much to fear from me that morning.

:26:44. > :26:48.There was no fire in my belly - no nothing.

:26:49. > :26:50.I staggered up the hill and then dropped over a slope

:26:51. > :26:57.It was here that I froze and became very frightened because a big shell

:26:58. > :27:00.had just burst and blown a group of our lads to bits.

:27:01. > :27:02.There were bits of men all over the place, a terrible sight,

:27:03. > :27:12.It was still and misty, and I could taste their blood in the air.

:27:13. > :27:20.Then an officer came across and shouted we were too far

:27:21. > :27:23.left and must go half right, I would have probably been dead

:27:24. > :27:28.These men had just been killed, and we just had to wade

:27:29. > :27:44.That's one thing I'll never forget, what I saw and what I smelt.

:27:45. > :27:46.Private F Hodgson, 11th Canadian Field Ambulance,

:27:47. > :27:57.The doctor and his helpers were in one, and we stretcher

:27:58. > :28:00.bearers were in another about a hundred feet away.

:28:01. > :28:03.We put the stretcher-case in a depression in the ground.

:28:04. > :28:06.He was very frightened, the wounded boy.

:28:07. > :28:09.He said to me, "Am I going to die, mate?"

:28:10. > :28:13.I said, "Don't be stupid, fella, you're going to be all right."

:28:14. > :28:16."As soon as Heinie stops this shelling, we'll

:28:17. > :28:19.have you out of here, and they'll fix you up OK."

:28:20. > :28:21."You'll be back across the ocean before you know it."

:28:22. > :28:24.The shelling eased off, and we picked him up

:28:25. > :28:29.He died before we got to the dressing-station.

:28:30. > :28:34.On the way back we passed the remains of our number one squad.

:28:35. > :28:38.There were nothing but limbs all over the place.

:28:39. > :28:42.We lost ten of our stretcher-bearers that day.

:28:43. > :29:04.# In Flanders fields the poppies blow

:29:05. > :29:10.# Between the crosses, row on row

:29:11. > :29:16.# That mark our place: and in the sky

:29:17. > :29:27.# The larks still bravely singing fly

:29:28. > :29:47.# Scarce heard amid the guns below. #

:29:48. > :29:53.My great-uncle, Rifleman Harold Emmens, Rifle Brigade.

:29:54. > :30:08.Missing in action on the 8th of September 1917.

:30:09. > :30:11.Second Lieutenant Alexander Currie Goudie

:30:12. > :30:13.of the 9th Service Battalion Scottish Rifles.

:30:14. > :30:17.He joined the Scottish Horse in 1914, before transferring

:30:18. > :30:28.Missing in action on the 20th of September 1917.

:30:29. > :30:32.Private Hugh Dalzell of the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

:30:33. > :30:38.Identified by a photograph he was carrying of his mother.

:30:39. > :30:49.Missing in action on the 16th of August 1917, aged 20.

:30:50. > :30:52.Private Albert James Ford, C Company, 14th Service Battalion,

:30:53. > :30:59.the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, husband to Edith and father to six.

:31:00. > :31:01.In a last letter to his wife he wrote,

:31:02. > :31:04."Know that my last thoughts were of you,

:31:05. > :31:09.in the dugout or on the firestep, my thoughts went out to you,

:31:10. > :31:13.the only one I ever loved, the one that made a man of me."

:31:14. > :31:30.Killed in action on the 26th of October 1917.

:31:31. > :31:36.X Corps Cyclist Battalion, Army Cyclist Corps.

:31:37. > :31:46.Dear friend, I am addressing you as friend

:31:47. > :31:48.as any friend of my boys is my friend.

:31:49. > :31:51.I thank you for sending us word of how our dear Ernest died.

:31:52. > :31:55.It is dreadful, though, to lose our dear boy in this way.

:31:56. > :32:00.We would not believe it till we had the letter from someone who saw him.

:32:01. > :32:06.Did you see my boy after he died, could you tell us how he was?

:32:07. > :32:09.I should like to know what time of the day or night

:32:10. > :32:17.I am sure we are all the while thinking of you dear lads,

:32:18. > :32:21.hoping and praying for you to be kept safe, and then when

:32:22. > :32:28.these awful tidings are sent us, it shakes our faith.

:32:29. > :32:30.But then again when we get calm we know

:32:31. > :32:36.that God is still in his heaven and he orders all things for the best.

:32:37. > :32:38.I sent Ernie a parcel off on 21st August.

:32:39. > :32:45.will you share what is good between you and his friends.

:32:46. > :32:50.I shall never forget you and hope you will write often to me.

:32:51. > :33:14.Letter from an unknown German officer, September 1917.

:33:15. > :33:18.Dear Mother, on the morning of the 18th, the dug-out,

:33:19. > :33:21.containing 17 men, was shot to pieces over our heads.

:33:22. > :33:24.I am the only one who withstood the maddening bombardment

:33:25. > :33:30.You cannot imagine the frightful mental torments

:33:31. > :33:34.I have undergone in those few hours.

:33:35. > :33:38.After crawling out through the bleeding remnants of my comrades

:33:39. > :33:41.and the smoke and debris, and wandering and fleeing

:33:42. > :33:45.in the midst of the raging artillery fire in search of refuge,

:33:46. > :33:49.I am now awaiting death at any moment.

:33:50. > :33:57.Flanders means blood and scraps of human bodies.

:33:58. > :34:02.Flanders means heroic courage and faithfulness unto death.

:34:03. > :34:34.KIRSTY: And now the German Foreign Minister will be joined by the Queen

:34:35. > :34:38.of the Belgians and the Duchess of Cambridge, and they are going to

:34:39. > :34:43.collect posies from three local children. They are children that

:34:44. > :36:13.live locally in the community, the municipality of Zonnebeke.

:36:14. > :36:20.# The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended

:36:21. > :36:48.# Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.

:36:49. > :36:54.# We thank thee that thy church unsleeping

:36:55. > :37:03.# While earth rolls onward into light

:37:04. > :37:13.# Through all the world her watch is keeping

:37:14. > :37:44.# The voice of prayer is never silent

:37:45. > :38:02.# The sun that bids us rest is waking

:38:03. > :38:11.# Our brethren 'neath the western sky

:38:12. > :38:18.# And hour by hour fresh lips are making

:38:19. > :38:36.# So be it, Lord, thy throne shall never

:38:37. > :38:44.# Like earth's proud empires, pass away

:38:45. > :38:52.# Thy kingdom stands and grows for ever

:38:53. > :39:18.# Till all thy creatures own thy sway. #

:39:19. > :39:27.Faithful God, compassionate and merciful,

:39:28. > :39:29.Hear us as we remember those valiant hearts

:39:30. > :39:34.and died here in the mire and clay of the trenches.

:39:35. > :39:37.We honour the examples of selfless service,

:39:38. > :39:44.of comradeship and care, that shine out of the loss and waste.

:39:45. > :39:49.We remember the proud and sorrowing lands from which they came,

:39:50. > :39:54.those who returned wounded in mind and body,

:39:55. > :40:05.and all here who suffered the loss of home and community.

:40:06. > :40:08.Guide the nations, united today in sorrow,

:40:09. > :40:14.into the light of freedom, contentment and glorious hope,

:40:15. > :40:20.and hear the longing of our hearts for peace.

:40:21. > :40:23.We ask this for the sake of your world

:40:24. > :40:46.KIRSTY: And we will now hear from the British Prime Minister, Theresa

:40:47. > :40:52.May, she is going to be reading from Ecclesiastes, and you can listen out

:40:53. > :40:54.for the phrase, their name liveth for evermore, carved on the Stone of

:40:55. > :41:04.Remembrance here at Tyne Cot. All these were honoured

:41:05. > :41:07.in their generations, There be of them, that have left

:41:08. > :41:12.a name behind them, that their praises might

:41:13. > :41:15.be reported. And some there be,

:41:16. > :41:18.which have no memorial, who are perished,

:41:19. > :41:23.as though they had never been, and are become as though

:41:24. > :41:27.they had never been born, whose righteousness hath

:41:28. > :41:37.not been forgotten. With their seed shall continually

:41:38. > :41:41.remain a good inheritance, and their children are

:41:42. > :41:46.within the covenant. Their seed standeth fast,

:41:47. > :41:53.and their children for their sakes. and their glory shall

:41:54. > :42:01.not be blotted out. Their bodies are buried in peace,

:42:02. > :42:21.but their name liveth for evermore. They shall grow not old,

:42:22. > :42:39.as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them,

:42:40. > :42:45.nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun,

:42:46. > :42:48.and in the morning Private Robert Stokoe,

:42:49. > :46:57.Private Edward Wright and Private Peter Hulland of

:46:58. > :47:03.the East Lancashire Regiment. Killed in action on

:47:04. > :47:09.the 27th of November 1917, Private William Dominey,

:47:10. > :47:26.21st Battalion Canadian Infantry. Killed in action on 3rd or 4th

:47:27. > :47:39.of November 1917, aged 18. My great-grandfather,

:47:40. > :47:43.Private Albert James Goff agricultural labourer

:47:44. > :47:50.and father of eight. Killed in action on the 26th

:47:51. > :47:58.of October 1917, aged 38. Private Henry Morris,

:47:59. > :48:05.2nd Battalion Aukland Regiment, Killed in action

:48:06. > :48:14.on the 4th of October 1917. A tribute to him read,

:48:15. > :48:18."In a hero's grave he sleepeth." "How little we thought when we

:48:19. > :48:25.parted, it was the last farewell." of the Duke of Wellington's

:48:26. > :48:33.West Riding Regiment. Throughout my childhood

:48:34. > :48:38.I was intrigued by his portrait A soldier of the Great War,

:48:39. > :56:47.known unto God. And so as part of the laying of the

:56:48. > :56:53.reads this morning we saw the combatant nations taking part, their

:56:54. > :56:56.representatives, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany,

:56:57. > :57:05.Ireland, Malta, New Zealand and South Africa. In a few moments' time

:57:06. > :57:11.we will be witnessing a fly past by the Belgian air component. We will

:57:12. > :57:18.see four F-16 planes and they will be flying approximately 1500 feet

:57:19. > :57:23.above Tyne Cot Cemetery in Flanders. They will be flying in the missing

:57:24. > :57:28.man formation, a classic aircraft manoeuvre, and it is used to honour

:57:29. > :57:33.the dead or the missing. Take note as one aircraft breaks away from the

:57:34. > :58:08.rest of the formation, leaving one single gap.

:58:09. > :58:19.And well they might look up. Clear skies today above Tyne Cot Cemetery,

:58:20. > :58:34.to enjoy that moment. Four F-16s from the Belgian air component.

:58:35. > :58:41.All of the splendid music we have enjoyed today has been under the

:58:42. > :58:46.charge of the conductor, Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Roberts. He has

:58:47. > :58:48.single-handedly overseen four different groups of musicians

:58:49. > :59:00.participating in this commemorative ceremony. And the buglers that we

:59:01. > :59:08.saw and heard performing the Last Post were led by Bugler John Sumner

:59:09. > :59:27.and Bugler John Challis was played under his charge, and Mike Thomas.

:59:28. > :59:35.And so we see Prince Philip along with the King of the Belgians, I beg

:59:36. > :59:42.your pardon, Prince Charles along with the King of the Belgians, King

:59:43. > :59:45.Philippe. And Queen Mathilde along with the Duchess of Cambridge, her

:59:46. > :00:00.husband behind. And so as the royal guests depart

:00:01. > :00:06.from Tyne Cot that brings to an end to the official commemorations here

:00:07. > :00:09.in Belgium. The battle 100 years ago on the fields of Flanders left

:00:10. > :00:14.behind the shattered, broken landscape and in its wake of a

:00:15. > :00:18.million men killed or wounded. Passchendaele touched the lives of

:00:19. > :00:20.so many families from all corners of the earth. They lost fathers,

:00:21. > :01:43.brothers, Experience the power

:01:44. > :01:46.of the BBC Proms. # Oh, lullaby of Birdland,

:01:47. > :01:52.that's what I... # to jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald

:01:53. > :01:57.and Dizzy Gillespie,