Zero Hour Battle of the Somme 100

It was really a pity to have a war on July the 1st,

for in all my time it was the most beautiful day we had.

The sky was cloudless and the sun shone.

The skylarks were singing as they flew heavenwards

thousands of our soldiers were on their way there too.

Good morning from Thiepval in northern France

commemorating the events of a century ago.

saw the start of one of the bloodiest battles in history,

the Battle of the Somme, which lasted four months,

and left more than a million men dead, injured or captured.

We've just heard the words of Bombardier RH Locke

recalling his memories as thousands of soldiers

prepared for battle a hundred years ago,

waiting for the signal that would come at Zero Hour, or 0730.

We'll be marking that moment in just under 30 minutes' time.

The country will pause for a national two-minute silence

when it's 7.28 in the United Kingdom.

The many vigils which started last night,

both here in France and across the United Kingdom,

and they'll come to an end when Zero Hour is reached.

Later this morning, we'll be following

the major commemoration organised here in Picardy

which bears the names of more than 72,000 British and

South African servicemen with no known grave who died on the Somme.

The event will be attended by thousands of guests,

including heads of government and members of the Royal Family.

But here in France, it's already 8:05 in the morning,

and ceremonies have already been held on the Somme

to mark the centenary of the start of the battle,

when thousands of British and French troops

launched a colossal offensive against the German army.

One of those ceremonies took place

at a site called the Lochnagar Crater

some two and a half miles south of where we are at Thiepval.

The huge crater was made by a British mine

which exploded beneath the German lines

on the morning of the 1st July 1916 at 7:28am.

The crater has been preserved as a memorial,

where a service is held on the 1st of July every year.

Whistles being blown as they were on the trenches that morning to send

the men over the top. The troops named their trenches

after familiar places at home. The trench that was used to plant

the mine was Lochnagar Street. That's been taking place in the last

few minutes. The military vigil vigil came to an

end. The final vigil vigil lasted 30 minutes. This one was 30 minutes.

Observed by British Army personnel including rifleman Harry Gibbs.

One of those who had the honour of taking part in that vigil there is

with my colleague Dan Snow. Yes, Harvey, what was it like standing at

the vigil last night? It was really good. What was going through your

head as you stood there? I thought about the family that were here and

it's hard to take it in what happened. It's a good experience.

How old are you now? 19. How old were you when you joined the Army?

17. You are the age of men of these young men who charged up this slope

we are standing on now and were butchered 100 years ago right now.

What makes you go over the top, what makes someone your age with your

mates go over the top? I think if you train, I think you get a massive

bond with the blokes you train with. I think that sort of is the reason

why you go over. They trained and they fought and lived with them.

Then ultimately they've died with them. That's what made them go over.

I guess it's unthinkable that you are standing there when the whistles

go and you are not going to stay behind? No. Go over. And we have

been talking about it, but actually there is also a little bit of

excitement as well. You haven't ever been in a conflict zone but you are

keen to go, aren't you? Yeah, I think we are training, with training

there is no point doing that training and not to do anything with

it. Actually we think of these young men as victims but some would be

excited to be here? I think so. Especially with Kitchener's Army.

Thank you. In London, at Westminster Abbey they're approaching the time

when the vigils that started last night will be formally concluded.

The national vigil will end and Kirsty is there to guide us through

events. where a vigil has been held

throughout the night to pay tribute to the soldiers

who fought in the Battle of the Somme, to those

who served behind the lines, and to remember the thousands

who lost their lives As the vigil continues,

the atmosphere in the abbey is one of quiet reflection,

thought and prayer. There has been a steady stream

of people through the doors since the first watch took post

just under 11 hours ago. They have come to remember

their own relatives, to pray, to light a candle,

or quietly remember. And moments ago

in Parliament Square, there was the arrival of the

King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery. The gun and limber are each pulled

by three pairs of horses. The King's Troop guns will be

fired for 100 seconds to symbolically represent

the week-long bombardment fired by the Royal Artillery

on the Somme before the main infantry attack

was launched 100 years ago. Commanded by their adjutant,

Captain Amy Poskitt. the final watch will take post

in around five minutes' time. the members of the public will be

able to pay their final respects and the clergy will take position

for this final act of remembrance. Currently, the men and women

from the New Zealand military are standing watch together

with pupils from Charter School. After the guns fall silent

in Parliament Square. The actor Luke Thompson will give

a reading in the abbey. Yesterday evening,

he took part in the service, of a soldier's thoughts

on the eve of the battle. This morning, he will read

an account of the battle from Corporal George Ashurst

of the Lancashire Fusiliers, as we approach the moment

of Zero Hour. Last night, George Ashurst's

grandson Philip Simm and his wife were in the

congregation for the abbey service. And then just before

half past seven, the country will pause to join

in a national two-minute silence. One minute to remember those killed

and one minute to remember those who came back

from this harrowing battle. It will be broken by whistles

being blown, a haunting sound. the signal to the men in the

trenches to go over the top. We'll be back with Kirsty

at Westminster Abbey in a short while

for the national silence. So at this time

a hundred years ago, in this region of Picardy

around the River Somme, A deafening artillery bombardment

had been going on, for seven long days, preparing

the way for around 100,000 men to go over the top

to attack the German lines. But here's a basic question

to understand why events are taking place here

at Thiepval today - why did this offensive take place

in this part of northern France, war had been raging in Europe

for almost two years. The Allies and Central Powers had

raised armies of millions of men. As they battled each other,

cities fell, For the first time,

modern weapons of war wreaked death

on an industrial scale. Trenches stretched

for over 400 miles. A stalemate set in

along the Western Front. it was time for the French

and British armies to strike a decisive blow

against the Germans. as young men answered

Lord Kitchener's call, and troops across the Empire signed

up for the fight. powered a drive for munitions

on an unprecedented scale. Together with the French, we had

planned to attack at the Somme. But the Germans struck first

with a massive assault on Verdun that was intended to

bleed France white. The French had to defend and reduced

their force on the Somme, so the main thrust of the offensive

fell to the British Army. On June the 24th,

a bombardment began, and over the next week more than

one and a half million shells would be fired

along a 14-mile front. intended to destroy

German trenches, defences, Just before 7:30am,

the bombardment paused. For the first time in seven days,

the guns were silent. The British stood ready

in the trenches, With me is the author and historian

Richard van Emden, who in the course of his work

has interviewed no fewer than 270 veterans

of the Great War. Just build the picture for us. The

men nr the trenches, they're waiting to go. They're dry-throated, very

nervous. Looking at each other, am I going to survive? They would want to

go, at this point now they would be desperate to get over. There is

nothing worse than waiting for that final minute to tick down. The

officer will be saying ten minutes, boys, nine minutes. All they would

want to do is get over the top and get into action. It's a very cloudy

and windy day here for 1st July, a contrast with 100 years ago. Very

much so. It was a beautiful summer's morning. The Somme had been delayed

for two days because the weather had been like this, raining and poor

weather. They delayed it to 1st July but that morning was gorgeous,

absolutely beautiful. I woke up this morning and I heard the chorus of

the birds singing, I thought about the men who were here that day. When

the bombardment was shattering the German trenches and lifted there was

a moment of silence they all talked about, the birds singing and the

bulful weather. What were the formal plans for that

day in terms of military strategy, what they were aiming to achieve by

the end of the fighting on the 1st of July? What was the plan? Well, in

a sense, it almost depended who you spoke to. Field Marshal Haig had the

idea of a breakthrough at this time. The man he delegated the job too,

Rawlinson, was someone who said, take the German front line, stop,

bring your artillery line up, go for the second line. That was a problem,

because the stated objective was to break through the German front line,

break through the German second line, and then get into open

countryside. The problem was that the artillery lifted onto the German

second line, but unfortunately for the British soldiers, the Germans

were still in their front line - they were not dead, as had been

expected. How soon was it apparent that the initial bombardment had not

gone according to plan? Very soon for the people who were here. I knew

a veteran called Walter, who went over the top a mile away from here,

and he was in the fourth wave, and he went over three or four minutes

after the whistles had blown. And he said, I knew I was going to die, I

could see the men dropping, I could see we were being site to pieces. --

scythed. For the men, the officers, they would have been fully aware

that this was a catastrophe. The information had to get back, so the

officers Furley back from the line, at corps headquarters, it would be

an hour or two before they started to get a picture that it was going

horribly wrong. -- further back. The numbers on that day, what happened

in terms of losses, just underline, by the end of the 1st of July, what

had happened? This was the worst day in British military history, without

a shadow of doubt. 60,000 casualties, 20,000 dead, 40,000

wounded. And the only way I can get a picture of that is to think of a

football stadium packed to the rafters on match day, that is

roughly the same sort of number. And the message from some of the men who

managed to come back was what? What were they saying? This was a piece

which I found incredibly poignant, actually after the fighting on the

Thursday, and this man is joining a battalion that has been cut to

pieces, and this is what he wrote. He said, there was a lot of

aggression against these newcomers, we began to notice that the

unfriendly attitude of the Tyneside is was not directed against us in

particular but was their general attitude. They were only partially

dressed, and what uniform they did where was in bad condition, no

belts, very few hats. Most of them had cigarette hanging out of their

lower lips, and their conversation consisted of a series of grunts.

These fellows are not unfriendly, I thought, they are down and out, no

spirit, no cheerfulness. That fellow over there, look at his eyes, he

seems have dazed. Those men, look how they walk, dragging their feet.

These fellows have suffered, and their memories are to be bid to be

brushed aside, too near to be laughed away. What ghost is it that

seems to be haunting them? Just a description of deep trauma.

Absolutely, if you went over the top that day, the trauma you would

experience, and I saw that with a dozen or more veterans I met who

went over the top here. One literally just down that slope

there, and it stayed with them for the rest of their lives. Richard, we

will talk again later, thank you. As we draw closer to 7:30am

in London, when a national silence

will be observed, and the conclusion of the vigils

which started last night, let's remember that in many

locations throughout the UK, people continue to stand in silent

vigil, as they have all night long. Not just in France, but as we say,

across the UK too. County Down in Northern Ireland, at the Somme

museum and memorial there, on a nice sunny morning, standing in silence.

As they are in the centre of Cardiff, at the memorial there,

which is visited by many thousands of people every year. And the

unmistakable scene of Edinburgh Casal, and they have been standing

vigil inside the castle at the Scotland War memorial all night. --

Edinburgh castle. That will be ending too at precisely 7:30, when

the church bells ring. So as we approach 7:30 in the UK, let's

return to Westminster Abbey, the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, where

the national vigil started last night in the presence of Her Majesty

the Queen. Let's joint Kirsty once again.

And so back in London, at Westminster Abbey, the last watch

has just taken post. And we are looking at the King's Troop Royal

Horse Artillery, who are standing waiting in Parliament Square for the

moment when they will fire 100 seconds that will symbolically

represents the week-long bombardment fired by the Royal Artillery on the

Somme before the main infantry attack was launched a hundred years

ago. All three guns that we are looking at now saw service in the

First World War. One is said to have fired the first round of that first

salvo at the Somme. King George VI decided that Horse

Artillery should take place in the great ceremonies of state. In 1947,

His Majesty inspected the newly formed riding trip and said that he

wished it to be known as the King's Troop, and that is a wish that Her

Majesty the Queen carried on. If they look familiar, they were

recently seen on parade at Trooping the Colour, and they fired a gun

salute to mark the 90th birthday of the Queen and also the Duke of

Edinburgh's 95th. Now in Westminster Abbey

the last watch has taken post. The five Footguards regiments of the

Household Division are represented, the men holding vigil around

the Grave of the Unknown Warrior from the Grenadier, Coldstream,

Scots, Irish, and Welsh Guards. And as we look now inside the Abbey,

we see representatives from around the Commonwealth, including

Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand. They have been

participating in the vigil, reading stories, sharing the words of those

who served or fought during the Somme.

We see now that the case colour Sergeant, the commander of the

vigil. He is Fijian, and has served with the Welsh Guards since 2002. He

was deployed in Iraq, in Bosnia and Afghanistan and has recently

returned from being a platoon Sergeant in Catterick. It is not

just soldiers who have been commemorated during the vigil,

throughout the night here at the Abbey. Sister Edith Appleton to be

nursed injured and dying soldiers during the war and documented her

experiences in a diary. In July, she wrote in her diary, of the much

longed for advance through the next day. She talks about the arrival of

hundreds upon hundreds of the wounded. And her nephew, Dick

Robinson, spent some time in the Abbey throughout the evening, and he

was with his wife Lisa. At six o'clock this morning, the life of

Canadian gunner Lionel McAdam of the tenth Corps was a member. A unique

individual, he was a Canadian who paid his own passage across the

Atlantic to join the British Army after he was barred from joining the

Canadian infantry. He was told that he was too short to join up, and so

he came to the Somme, he was wounded in January 1917, and he lived in

Toronto, happily, until his death aged 82 in 1973. And so in a moment

the guns of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery will be fired for

100 seconds to represent the week-long bombardment, fired 100

years ago, by the Royal Artillery on the Somme.

Number one... Fire! Number two, fire! Number three... Fire!

GUNS FIRE Hundreds of men

in full fighting kit, packing the front line

and reserve trenches. We had all received

our special instructions that the huge mine

under Beaumont Hamel and the great explosion would be

the signal to go over the top. We took up our position

in a communication trench rather silently leaning

against the side of the trench, wondering if we had

much longer to live and suddenly brushing

the ugly thought of death away. Just as the waiting

was becoming unbearable and the terrible strain

causing some men we felt a queer dull thud

and our trench fairly rocked, and a great blue flame shot

into the sky, carrying with it

hundreds of tonnes of earth And so we end with the final

haunting strains of the traditional Scottish lament

Flowers Of The Forest, played by Lance Corporal

Ritchie Spence of the Irish Guards, a man who knows all too well

the risks and sacrifices of combat. Aged just 18,

Ritchie himself was shot whilst he was serving

in Afghanistan. So we are glad to see him

here today, fit and well, and adding a significant note of

beauty and solemnity to the morning. The abbey vigil has drawn

to a close, something of a symbolic parallel

to the moments a century ago when those young men were poised

to go over the top Here and elsewhere

around the country, as these vigils end and we head out

to enjoy the first Friday of July, we will surely have pause to reflect

on the impact of that battle and what the Great War poet

Siegfried Sassoon, writing in 1916, called

the "shaken hues of summer". that became the most tragic

in the history of the British Army and changed the lives

of so many families as they lost fathers, brothers,

sons and uncles to battle. The Battle of the Somme

was remembered today at Westminster Abbey

and around our nation And with the conclusion of events

at Westminster Abbey and across the UK, attention now

turns to northern France, to the region of the Somme,

and the immense sacrifice made by hundreds

of thousands of soldiers in the long battle that began

a hundred years ago this morning. And that will be the focus

of the commemorative event that takes place here at Thiepval

later this morning, attended by Prince Charles

and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William,

the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry,

with thousands of guests, including descendants of those who

fought in the Battle of the Somme. Richard is still with me. That was

very moving, not least because it's a very powerful reminder for today's

younger generation really, lots of young people involved in these

events which is a nice thing to see, a powerful reminder of people of

their age, 17, 18, 19, preparing to go into battle 100 years ago. 16,

15, the children who come out here now can see the graves of

individuals who were no older than themselves. It's incredibly moving.

I was here in 1986 and 91 at the Lochnagar Crater we saw and the

priest said it's lovely to see people back here and he said I was

here in 1976 and I was the only person and that spoke volumes to me

about the growth in interest in the battlefields of the Great War and

thousands come here now and so many of them are children, which is

wonderful. What's changed? The focus clearly is much sharper now on what

occurred in the Great War, there was a time when we focussed on the

Second World War, I remember it as a schoolboy, all my history lessons in

terms of war were about the Second World War. We hardly spoke about the

World War I, what's changed? I think it was the acknowledgement we were

about to lose that generation. For many years we were there. We could

always talk to uncle Frank. Suddenly in the 1980s we became aware these

men were not going to be here much longer and if they were to tell

their story this was it, this was their moment. I found that, so many

people said you must have met veterans who wouldn't talk about it.

I said if I asked them ten years before they wouldn't have done. But

at the end of their lives they thought if I don't talk about it

now, I never will. Thank you. Events large and small are being

held in the Somme region today. My colleague Sonali Shah

is at one of them. The memorials of the

Sheffield Memorial Park remember the men of

the British Army's 31st Division I am standing in one of the original

trenches and it was from here thousands of men would have gone

across no-man's-land over there to meet their fate.

This morning, those who died will be remembered across a number of

services. We have already had people gathering here to remember the 720

Acrrington Pals. Throughout the morning we will talk to those

gathering here today to remember those that they lost.

Thank you very much. One of the stakeholders, the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, they do important work. Let's join

Dan again. Why are we here in Thiepval, of all the places why

here? The memorial behind us is the largest Commonwealth war graves

memorial in the world, it's the memorial to the Battle of the Somme,

to the British and French armies who fought here and it's a place of

commemoration for 72,000 men who have no known grave. The missing of

the Somme. It's the perfect place for the event today. Also we are on

the battlefield here. Now it's terrible, we have been - it's

terrifying to think about it, 100 years ago to the second now we would

have been hearing the rattle of machine gun fire. We are on the high

ground here. Steep slopes all around. The Salford, the highland

light infantry over there. It would have been a fierce fight but huge

losses for the British. It wasn't until September this ground was

taken. It was an objective on day one and wasn't taken until

September. It tells you about the strength of the German defences,

when the memorial was uncovered they discovered. Yesterday you were shown

around the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. A huge

privilege. Lots of stairs to climb, but the view from the top is

incredible. You really get a special sense of the battlefield. You can

see for miles. It's a really unique point to see the battlefield. What

can we expect from the service that will be here today? I think it will

be an evocative, poignant moving service. It's going to be fantastic.

There is readings, contemporary writing. Poetry, songs and music. I

very much encourage people to tune in. It will be very special. Such a

huge job to organise. Lots of VIPs and international heads of states

and things. It's a privilege for all of us here. Our gardeners will be

out here tomorrow, and next month and next year. The job carries on.

But today is a special day, for sure. Thank you very much.

Yes, indeed. Glyn, who the other day was meeting us to do filming and we

were talking about the fate of lots of Welsh troops on the 1st and 2nd

and 4th July. They had a difficult time. Just in the last few minutes

of this, before we take a break, and we look ahead to this commemoration

at Thiepval, it's the centenary. You have underlined none of these old

soldiers are with us any more, sadly. There is a special importance

for this event today because we imagine that in years to come maybe

the focus that we have today will not be quite as sharp as we move on,

as lives move on and we focus on other events too. Really important

to underline the significance of today. Yes, today is so different

from the Battle of Waterloo, we are still interconnected still with the

people who fought and died here, I can look at dozens of names and

brothers or fathers of people I knew. That's so common for many

people here. They want to see where is uncle Fred's name, and that name

has been passed down generations. It's that connection. I understand

it's 100 years and it's a big day. It's a huge day. This is it, we are

paying rightful respect to that generation but we are also saying

goodbye. We will never have a commemoration like this again.

Richard, we will talk later on. Thank you so much. We will be back

here at Thiepval in 90 minutes on BBC One for the main commemorative

event on this centenary of the opening day of the Battle of the

Somme. There are live updates on the commemorations happening throughout

the UK and in France on the BBC website. There is the address. For

now, from Richard and me, thank you for watching. We will see you at 9.

15am and we will leave you with enduring images. Goodbye.