1
00:00:36,328 --> 00:00:38,422
(WHISTLING)

2
00:00:52,761 --> 00:00:57,232
'I gave every part of my youth
to do a job

3
00:00:57,266 --> 00:01:00,770
and to go through a savage war.'

4
00:01:00,894 --> 00:01:03,443
'It was a different war
from year to year

5
00:01:03,564 --> 00:01:06,113
and one's reactions
were completely different.

6
00:01:06,233 --> 00:01:10,739
The intensity changed so much
that anybody who'd been out in 1914

7
00:01:10,779 --> 00:01:15,080
and went home, then came back in 1917,
wouldn't recognise it as the same war.'

8
00:01:16,118 --> 00:01:18,871
'I could only say one thing:
I wouldn't have missed it.

9
00:01:18,954 --> 00:01:21,753
It was terrible at times,
but I wouldn't have missed it.'

10
00:01:21,790 --> 00:01:24,885
'Oh, yes,
if I could have my time again,

11
00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:28,590
I'd go through it all over again
because I enjoyed the service life.'

12
00:01:28,630 --> 00:01:32,100
'I could only say that
I have never been so excited in my life.

13
00:01:32,134 --> 00:01:35,809
This was like a boy going to the play
for the first time.'

14
00:01:35,887 --> 00:01:38,982
'I never realised there was
anything unusual about it.

15
00:01:39,099 --> 00:01:42,399
There was a job to be done
and you just got on and did it.'

16
00:01:42,477 --> 00:01:45,447
'We were all instilled with that idea

17
00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,450
that this was war
and that we'd got to kill the Germans

18
00:01:48,483 --> 00:01:50,781
and this was
how we looked at the thing.'

19
00:01:50,819 --> 00:01:53,618
'I don't regret having experienced it.

20
00:01:53,655 --> 00:01:58,411
I wish I hadn't, but I don't regret it,
because I'm safe. (CHUCKLES)'

21
00:01:58,493 --> 00:02:01,167
'There were good times and bad times
in France,

22
00:02:01,246 --> 00:02:03,340
but you took the rough with the smooth.'

23
00:02:03,415 --> 00:02:07,010
'I was twice wounded and gassed,
but it just didn't worry me.

24
00:02:07,127 --> 00:02:09,004
I just made the best of it.'

25
00:02:09,087 --> 00:02:11,465
'Just took it in its stride,
like everybody else.

26
00:02:11,506 --> 00:02:14,510
We were glad to be in it
and we expected it to be rough,

27
00:02:14,635 --> 00:02:16,854
and it was rough,
but we didn't complain.'

28
00:02:17,638 --> 00:02:19,982
'There was no real excitement about it.

29
00:02:20,015 --> 00:02:23,485
You'd seen death so many times,
you'd seen wounded so many times,

30
00:02:23,518 --> 00:02:25,191
blood didn't excite you.

31
00:02:25,312 --> 00:02:29,533
We were professionals
and, to us, it was just a job of work.'

32
00:02:29,608 --> 00:02:33,658
'It would be a fallacy to say
that one enjoyed it,

33
00:02:33,695 --> 00:02:36,790
but one got afterwards
a nice, warm inner feeling

34
00:02:36,865 --> 00:02:38,538
that one had been of some use.'

35
00:02:38,617 --> 00:02:40,164
'It didn't affect me very much,

36
00:02:40,202 --> 00:02:43,376
because I wasn't sufficiently up
in the ways of the world.

37
00:02:43,497 --> 00:02:45,875
I was only a kid,
like other blokes there.

38
00:02:45,999 --> 00:02:49,219
It was more like
a great, big game to be enjoyed,

39
00:02:49,294 --> 00:02:52,719
apart from the actual shelling
and all that sort of thing.'

40
00:02:52,839 --> 00:02:54,887
'It made me a man, yes, it did.

41
00:02:55,008 --> 00:02:57,386
I don't think
I should have ever been the man I am

42
00:02:57,511 --> 00:03:00,390
if it hadn't been for having to serve.'

43
00:03:00,472 --> 00:03:03,191
'You'd learn to look after yourself

44
00:03:03,225 --> 00:03:07,196
whereas, in your civilian life,
your mother did all the chores.

45
00:03:07,229 --> 00:03:11,200
You've got to learn how to cook
for yourself, darn your own socks,

46
00:03:11,233 --> 00:03:14,157
sew on your own buttons
and all the things like that.'

47
00:03:14,236 --> 00:03:15,738
'It was just a day's work.

48
00:03:15,862 --> 00:03:17,910
I knew that I was not alone.

49
00:03:18,031 --> 00:03:20,329
I knew that
I wasn't fighting the war by myself

50
00:03:20,409 --> 00:03:23,253
and that what happened to other people
might happen to me.'

51
00:03:23,328 --> 00:03:27,925
'I had no regrets at all but, you see,
I had no wife, no girl, no nothing.

52
00:03:27,999 --> 00:03:30,172
No regrets and no horrors...

53
00:03:31,837 --> 00:03:35,341
...because, if you survive that,
you can survive anything.'

54
00:03:35,424 --> 00:03:37,518
(WHISTLING CEASES)

55
00:03:46,351 --> 00:03:50,401
'We were aware there was sort of a nasty
feeling between England and Germany,

56
00:03:50,439 --> 00:03:53,443
as we knew of the Kaiser's ambition
to expand his empire

57
00:03:53,525 --> 00:03:55,198
and all that sort of thing.'

58
00:03:55,277 --> 00:03:57,371
'During that summer,

59
00:03:57,446 --> 00:04:01,201
there was a lot of talk about
trouble going on in the Balkans,

60
00:04:01,283 --> 00:04:04,913
but we were a long way from the Balkans
and it didn't worry us at all.'

61
00:04:06,037 --> 00:04:09,632
'It was that Serbia business, wasn't it?
Serbia, when that chap was shot.'

62
00:04:10,709 --> 00:04:12,461
'I was paying attention to politics

63
00:04:12,586 --> 00:04:16,432
and I realised there was going to be
trouble between England and Germany.'

64
00:04:17,299 --> 00:04:20,394
'Well, it was
a lovely August 4th morning.'

65
00:04:20,469 --> 00:04:22,471
'We were all seated round the table

66
00:04:22,554 --> 00:04:26,149
and we were starting the rugby football
dinner with the German team.

67
00:04:26,266 --> 00:04:28,985
There was a German here
and next to him was an Englishman,

68
00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:31,483
and next to him was a German,
and so on and so on.

69
00:04:31,605 --> 00:04:34,324
And a runner arrived into
the middle of this dinner

70
00:04:34,399 --> 00:04:37,448
with extraordinary news of
outbreak of war.'

71
00:04:37,486 --> 00:04:40,660
'There was a big placard:
"War declared on Germany."'

72
00:04:40,781 --> 00:04:43,125
'We didn't know what we ought to do,

73
00:04:43,158 --> 00:04:45,581
whether we ought to seize
a knife off the table

74
00:04:45,660 --> 00:04:50,416
and plunge it into the German or what,
but after a little bit of discussion

75
00:04:50,499 --> 00:04:53,343
we decided that,
as far as we were concerned,

76
00:04:53,460 --> 00:04:58,682
the war was going to start tomorrow,
and the party proceeded.'

77
00:05:00,634 --> 00:05:02,511
'I'm proud of being a Britisher.

78
00:05:02,594 --> 00:05:05,268
I mean, I think we're as good
a country as any in the world

79
00:05:05,347 --> 00:05:08,191
and you've got to be prepared
to fight for that.'

80
00:05:08,266 --> 00:05:11,110
'There's no doubt about it,
in the First World War,

81
00:05:11,186 --> 00:05:13,280
we prepared for war.'

82
00:05:13,355 --> 00:05:16,859
The Empire was strong.
We weren't afraid of anyone.'

83
00:05:16,983 --> 00:05:20,613
'Everybody bought little buttons
and waved flags and sang songs.

84
00:05:20,695 --> 00:05:23,448
There was no feeling of despair
about it at all.'

85
00:05:23,532 --> 00:05:25,330
'England couldn't possibly lose,

86
00:05:25,367 --> 00:05:28,962
no matter how many Germans pushed
how many Englishmen into the Channel,

87
00:05:29,037 --> 00:05:30,505
they'd get no further.

88
00:05:30,580 --> 00:05:32,048
We couldn't possible lose.'

89
00:05:32,123 --> 00:05:36,173
'We were brought up to think that
one Englishman's worth ten Germans.'

90
00:05:36,253 --> 00:05:38,597
'I thought that any enemy of England

91
00:05:38,672 --> 00:05:42,142
was an enemy of mine
and I wanted to be in it.'

92
00:05:42,217 --> 00:05:46,313
'Oh, six months or 12 months and
it'd be all over and Bob's your uncle.'

93
00:05:46,388 --> 00:05:49,187
'I went with a friend of mine into
Shepherd's Bush Empire

94
00:05:49,266 --> 00:05:52,987
to see the picture show there and they
showed the fleet sailing the high seas

95
00:05:53,061 --> 00:05:55,780
and played,
"Britons never shall be slaves."

96
00:05:55,856 --> 00:05:58,450
One feels that little shiver
run up their back

97
00:05:58,525 --> 00:06:00,527
and you know
you've got to do something.'

98
00:06:00,610 --> 00:06:03,329
'A friend of mine said to me,
"We're going to join up."

99
00:06:03,405 --> 00:06:05,499
It was from the patriotic point of view

100
00:06:05,574 --> 00:06:09,829
and from the general excitement of
the whole affair, I suppose.'

101
00:06:10,912 --> 00:06:13,290
'I didn't believe in war to that extent,

102
00:06:13,373 --> 00:06:15,501
but I was prepared to do my part.'

103
00:06:15,584 --> 00:06:19,464
'You see, in those days,
men weren't to think for themselves.

104
00:06:19,546 --> 00:06:23,471
They just had to do what they were told
and that's all there was to it.'

105
00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:26,554
'Oh, my mother was
very aggrieved about it

106
00:06:26,636 --> 00:06:30,015
but, you know, a young man,
you decide you're going to go.'

107
00:06:30,098 --> 00:06:33,693
'At lunch time, I left the office,
went along to Armoury House

108
00:06:33,768 --> 00:06:37,147
and there was a queue of
about 1,000 people trying to enlist.'

109
00:06:37,230 --> 00:06:39,858
'Everybody thought
that it would be a civilised war

110
00:06:39,941 --> 00:06:41,818
and wanted to be fit enough to go.'

111
00:06:41,902 --> 00:06:44,951
'Two of us decided to join up together
and when we told the boss

112
00:06:45,030 --> 00:06:48,159
we were going to start training
on Monday, he was very annoyed.

113
00:06:48,241 --> 00:06:52,041
He didn't make any promise that our jobs
would be there when we got back.'

114
00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,590
'My mother, she said,
"You wait until you're 19."

115
00:06:55,665 --> 00:07:01,513
See, that was the age in those days,
19 to 35. Well, it was supposed to be.'

116
00:07:01,588 --> 00:07:03,841
'We were all lads together, you know,

117
00:07:03,924 --> 00:07:06,347
full of excitement
and all this kind of thing.

118
00:07:06,426 --> 00:07:08,929
I mean,
I just wanted to have a go at Jerry.'

119
00:07:09,012 --> 00:07:12,232
'I just thought that I'd like to go
and fight for the country.

120
00:07:12,307 --> 00:07:16,483
You were proud of your country
and you'd do the best you could for it

121
00:07:16,561 --> 00:07:21,067
and this was what most of the young
people thought of doing in those days.'

122
00:07:21,149 --> 00:07:22,822
'My mother, she said to me,

123
00:07:22,901 --> 00:07:26,121
"Look, we could stop you doing this
because of your age."

124
00:07:26,196 --> 00:07:29,951
I said, "Yes, I know you could, Mother,
but I'm sure you won't,"

125
00:07:30,033 --> 00:07:31,831
which they never did.'

126
00:07:31,910 --> 00:07:35,756
'l just felt that all the young fellas
of that age were volunteering

127
00:07:35,830 --> 00:07:38,424
and I thought it was my job
to do the same.'

128
00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:40,173
'I was desperately keen.

129
00:07:40,251 --> 00:07:43,596
A whole heap of us went.
I said, "Direct enlistment, please."

130
00:07:43,672 --> 00:07:47,142
They were highly delighted
and pushed me in as quick as lightning.'

131
00:07:47,217 --> 00:07:50,061
'Lots of the lads
were joining the local regiments,

132
00:07:50,136 --> 00:07:52,389
like the Bucks and the Middlesex.

133
00:07:52,472 --> 00:07:54,474
Lads that I knew
and been to school with,

134
00:07:54,557 --> 00:07:58,437
played football and cricket with,
we joined up, hoping for the best.'

135
00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:00,943
'We were good friends, comrades

136
00:08:01,022 --> 00:08:05,198
and it was a relief from
rather boring jobs at home, you see.'

137
00:08:05,276 --> 00:08:08,701
'I was walking down
the Camden town High Street

138
00:08:08,780 --> 00:08:11,158
when two young ladies approached me.

139
00:08:11,241 --> 00:08:14,916
"Why aren't you in the army?"
I said, "I'm only 17."

140
00:08:14,995 --> 00:08:16,918
"Oh, they all say that here."

141
00:08:16,997 --> 00:08:20,251
And to my amazement,
she put her hand in her bag

142
00:08:20,333 --> 00:08:23,678
and I put my hand up
to sort of safeguard myself

143
00:08:23,753 --> 00:08:26,757
when this white feather
finished up my nose.'

144
00:08:27,674 --> 00:08:31,724
'As we marched to the station,
some of the chaps had bowler hats,

145
00:08:31,803 --> 00:08:35,774
some had straw hats, some had
the regulation peaked army cap.

146
00:08:35,849 --> 00:08:39,854
Some would have tunics, some would
be dressed with their ordinaryjackets

147
00:08:39,936 --> 00:08:41,813
with a pair of army trousers.

148
00:08:41,896 --> 00:08:47,153
Some had army boots, some didn't,
and we really were a motley throng.'

149
00:08:47,235 --> 00:08:50,455
'Some of them were obviously chaps
who had hoped to live in some comfort

150
00:08:50,530 --> 00:08:54,125
and brought suitcases with clothes
with them which they never saw again.'

151
00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,295
'We had to all get our hair cut.
"How would you like it, sir?"

152
00:08:57,370 --> 00:08:59,668
And you'd say, "Short back and sides,"

153
00:08:59,748 --> 00:09:03,093
but the answer was straight over the top
with horse clippers

154
00:09:03,168 --> 00:09:05,887
and we looked more like
convicts than soldiers.'

155
00:09:05,962 --> 00:09:10,468
'As soon as war broke out, there was a
call made for all ex-soldiers to rejoin

156
00:09:10,550 --> 00:09:12,848
and they made 'em sergeants
straightaway,

157
00:09:12,927 --> 00:09:15,305
so you got a lot of instructors
that way.'

158
00:09:15,805 --> 00:09:18,183
'The people
who really carried us through

159
00:09:18,266 --> 00:09:21,270
was the old sweats
who'd had previous war experience

160
00:09:21,352 --> 00:09:26,529
and gave us a lot of wise advise as to
what to look for and what to dodge.'

161
00:09:26,608 --> 00:09:29,657
'We were ordered down
onto the parade ground

162
00:09:29,736 --> 00:09:33,491
and then we were allotted
to different platoons.'

163
00:09:33,573 --> 00:09:39,751
'When they came to us, they were weedy,
sallow, skinny, frightened children.

164
00:09:39,829 --> 00:09:42,503
The refuse of our industrial system

165
00:09:42,582 --> 00:09:47,088
and they were in very poor condition
and had to be made into soldiers.'

166
00:09:47,170 --> 00:09:51,141
'Many of us had given our wrong ages
to join the army.'

167
00:09:51,216 --> 00:09:53,935
'The adjutant walked down the lines
and gave an order,

168
00:09:54,010 --> 00:09:58,436
"Every man under the age of 19
to take two paces forward."

169
00:09:58,515 --> 00:10:00,893
Nobody moved.'

170
00:10:01,768 --> 00:10:05,773
'I was a lad of 17,
and they'd probably see I wasn't 19,

171
00:10:05,855 --> 00:10:07,949
which you had to be to join up,

172
00:10:08,024 --> 00:10:11,324
but they says,
"How long do you want to sign on for?"'

173
00:10:11,402 --> 00:10:14,906
'Everybody else was joining up,
so I went into the recruiting office.

174
00:10:14,989 --> 00:10:17,959
He said to me, "How old are you?"
I said, "17, sir."

175
00:10:18,034 --> 00:10:21,379
"Well," he says, "Go outside
and come back and say you're 18."

176
00:10:21,454 --> 00:10:24,128
So, of course,
I went outside and said I were 18.

177
00:10:24,207 --> 00:10:26,505
Then straight o'er the sea
for Flanders.'

178
00:10:26,584 --> 00:10:30,259
'The sergeant said, "How old are you?"
I said, "I'm 18 and one month."

179
00:10:30,338 --> 00:10:33,182
He said, "Do you mean 19 and one month?"
So I thought a moment.

180
00:10:33,258 --> 00:10:36,102
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "Right, sign here, please."'

181
00:10:36,177 --> 00:10:40,227
'He asked me how old I was
and I said I was 16 in March.

182
00:10:40,306 --> 00:10:44,356
"Oh." he said, "You're too young. You'd
better go outside and have a birthday.“

183
00:10:44,435 --> 00:10:49,817
'I was 16 years old in 1917,
and I was six-foot-two tall

184
00:10:49,899 --> 00:10:52,402
and my father allowed me to go.

185
00:10:52,485 --> 00:10:55,830
So I entered my age as 19 years old,

186
00:10:55,905 --> 00:10:59,626
three years older than
what I really was.'

187
00:10:59,701 --> 00:11:03,877
'I was 15 years,
just two-and-a-half years short of 18,

188
00:11:03,955 --> 00:11:09,587
and I got before this medical officer
who said, "All right, you pass."'

189
00:11:10,712 --> 00:11:12,714
'I was just turned 17 at the time

190
00:11:12,797 --> 00:11:16,518
and I went up to Whitehall and enlisted
in the 16th Lancers.'

191
00:11:17,385 --> 00:11:22,061
'I was 15 and I thought I'd have
a better chance than when I were 14,

192
00:11:22,140 --> 00:11:27,488
so I walked into the barracks and
just said, "I'm 18," and that was it.'

193
00:11:28,646 --> 00:11:30,819
'My parents wrote to
the commanding officer

194
00:11:30,899 --> 00:11:33,368
and asked for me, as I was underage,
to be released.

195
00:11:33,443 --> 00:11:36,788
He said, "Your parents want you back.
Do you want to go?"

196
00:11:36,863 --> 00:11:38,957
I said, "No."'

197
00:11:40,491 --> 00:11:43,665
'The chaplain asked me my age
and I said I was 16.

198
00:11:43,745 --> 00:11:46,043
He said, "Much too young.

199
00:11:46,122 --> 00:11:48,295
Would you like me to pray for you?"'

200
00:11:51,669 --> 00:11:55,845
'The clothing came piecemeal
into the quartermaster's stores.'

201
00:11:58,468 --> 00:12:00,937
'One lad said,
"These boots don't fit me."

202
00:12:01,012 --> 00:12:04,892
The quartermaster said, "There isn't
such a thing as boots that don't fit,

203
00:12:04,974 --> 00:12:07,147
it's your feet,
they don't fit the b0ots."'

204
00:12:08,269 --> 00:12:13,070
'Some men would find a tunic to fit them
or perhaps a pair of trousers.

205
00:12:13,149 --> 00:12:18,121
And so it went on for nearly
a fortnight. Just one uniform.

206
00:12:18,196 --> 00:12:21,826
I was in the army nearly four years.
I only had one uniform.'

207
00:12:22,951 --> 00:12:25,955
'We were all issued with
these famous puttees,

208
00:12:26,037 --> 00:12:27,710
which were news to all of us

209
00:12:27,789 --> 00:12:31,919
and I personally could never quite
master the putting on of puttees.'

210
00:12:32,001 --> 00:12:35,881
'The main reason for puttees were
to support the legs in marching.'

211
00:12:35,964 --> 00:12:39,844
'I was issued with a kilt,
but nothing to wear underneath it

212
00:12:39,926 --> 00:12:42,020
and I was given a slip of paper to say,

213
00:12:42,095 --> 00:12:44,939
"This man has not been issued
with underpants."

214
00:12:45,014 --> 00:12:49,269
I was given strict instructions that
I couldn't ride on top of a tram car.

215
00:12:49,352 --> 00:12:51,025
I had to ride downstairs.'

216
00:12:52,981 --> 00:12:56,611
'Now, the pack was for
everything that you owned.

217
00:12:56,693 --> 00:13:01,073
The overcoat had to be folded
very, very neatly and tightly.

218
00:13:01,155 --> 00:13:05,877
There was a needle, thread,
spare buttons, knife, fork, spoon,

219
00:13:05,952 --> 00:13:11,800
razor, shaving brush, toothbrush,
and also a half-pint mug,

220
00:13:11,874 --> 00:13:17,506
one spare shirt and one spare
pair of socks, and that was your kit.

221
00:13:17,588 --> 00:13:21,013
The army razor with which
we were issued was absolutely useless,

222
00:13:21,092 --> 00:13:23,845
but it came in handy for cutting up meat
and so forth.

223
00:13:23,928 --> 00:13:26,772
The toothbrush,
that came in handy for cleaning buttons.

224
00:13:26,848 --> 00:13:29,772
One of the peculiarities
about the army was,

225
00:13:29,851 --> 00:13:32,149
although it was a crime
to have dirty buttons,

226
00:13:32,228 --> 00:13:36,153
you were never issued with
the materials to clean the buttons with.

227
00:13:36,232 --> 00:13:37,984
You had to buy them yourself.

228
00:13:38,067 --> 00:13:41,492
We were awakened by the bugle
which sounded Reveille.

229
00:13:41,571 --> 00:13:45,542
Wash, shave, pack your bed up
and pack your kit about half-past six

230
00:13:45,616 --> 00:13:49,041
and you would have
an hour PT before breakfast.'

231
00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:53,375
'Press-ups and physical exercises,
arms upward stretch.'

232
00:13:53,458 --> 00:13:56,678
'They knew you were fresh
and they tried to take you by stages.

233
00:13:56,753 --> 00:13:59,222
There wasn't any bullying
or anything like that.'

234
00:14:00,173 --> 00:14:03,302
'Breakfast consisted of bread,

235
00:14:03,384 --> 00:14:06,183
butter,
one rasher of Lance Corporal bacon,

236
00:14:06,262 --> 00:14:09,812
cos it was streaky bacon,
it had one stripe in it.'

237
00:14:09,891 --> 00:14:14,397
'There was jam and they seemed to make
nothing but plum and apple, you know.

238
00:14:14,479 --> 00:14:18,450
If you got any other kind,
it was a celebration event. (CHUCKLES)'

239
00:14:19,484 --> 00:14:22,738
'Well, Bruce Bairnsfather's cartoons
depicted that.

240
00:14:22,820 --> 00:14:24,914
They'd hand him
a tin of plum and apple jam.

241
00:14:24,989 --> 00:14:27,162
"When the 'ell is it
goin' to be strawberry?"

242
00:14:27,241 --> 00:14:29,118
Ooh, he was wonderful, that chap.'

243
00:14:29,202 --> 00:14:32,251
'Ticklers, the jam manufacturers,

244
00:14:32,330 --> 00:14:36,005
they must have made millions of tins
of P&A: plum and apple.

245
00:14:37,168 --> 00:14:40,763
♪ Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war

246
00:14:40,838 --> 00:14:45,844
♪ What do we want with eggs and ham
when we've got bags of Ticklers jam? ♪

247
00:14:46,969 --> 00:14:50,644
Then it would be parade time,
then the sergeant would take over

248
00:14:50,723 --> 00:14:53,727
and you would have
a whole morning of marching.

249
00:14:53,810 --> 00:14:55,938
And you would learn all commands,

250
00:14:56,020 --> 00:14:59,069
such as "About turn,"
and all that sort of thing.'

251
00:14:59,899 --> 00:15:03,153
'Having been in the Boy Scouts,
it was dead easy to me.'

252
00:15:03,236 --> 00:15:08,618
'When you get the order, "Right dress!"
you turn your head only to the right.'

253
00:15:08,699 --> 00:15:13,796
'Some of them managed to turn left,
which didn't please the drill sergeant.'

254
00:15:13,871 --> 00:15:18,502
'We were all youngsters. We'd come from
fairly sheltered lives and so forth.

255
00:15:18,584 --> 00:15:23,055
This sergeant of ours was
the loudmouth shouting-type.'

256
00:15:23,131 --> 00:15:27,807
'Corning up against military discipline
was a shock,

257
00:15:27,885 --> 00:15:32,356
being chased around from pillar to post
by disciplinarian NCOs.'

258
00:15:32,432 --> 00:15:34,651
'Some of the sergeants were shockers.

259
00:15:34,725 --> 00:15:38,195
They would cause a lot of trouble
if you were out of step,

260
00:15:38,271 --> 00:15:42,617
or if you didn't keep time, or if
you didn't handle your rifle properly.

261
00:15:42,692 --> 00:15:44,660
They were always having a go at you.'

262
00:15:44,735 --> 00:15:47,659
'Most of them were all right,
their shouting meant nothing,

263
00:15:47,738 --> 00:15:49,411
but some of them never lost it.'

264
00:15:49,490 --> 00:15:54,371
'One night I'd gone to bed and
this pot was brought round to my bed

265
00:15:54,454 --> 00:15:57,333
and they said,
"Oh, you want to do a piss,"

266
00:15:57,415 --> 00:15:59,793
so I did the business in the pot.

267
00:15:59,876 --> 00:16:05,383
They'd rested this big, huge pot
which contained gallons on the door

268
00:16:05,465 --> 00:16:10,221
and when this sergeant came along
to see that everybody was in bed,

269
00:16:10,303 --> 00:16:14,558
this thing turned up and he was drenched
from top to bottom in fluid.

270
00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:15,892
(LAUGHSY

271
00:16:16,809 --> 00:16:20,109
'First of all, I was full of enthusiasm

272
00:16:20,188 --> 00:16:23,158
but, after about the first week,
I wished I hadn't done it

273
00:16:23,232 --> 00:16:27,829
because the discipline was so strict and
I was beginning to get a bit nervous

274
00:16:27,904 --> 00:16:29,827
as to what was in store.'

275
00:16:29,906 --> 00:16:32,204
'We weren't out dancing,
anything like that.

276
00:16:32,283 --> 00:16:33,956
We were getting ready for a war.'

277
00:16:34,035 --> 00:16:38,040
'The thing was you were in the army,
you had to do as you were told,

278
00:16:38,122 --> 00:16:40,750
you had one master, or dozens,

279
00:16:40,833 --> 00:16:43,632
but you just had to get on with it
and that was it.'

280
00:16:43,711 --> 00:16:46,555
'I did find that right through the army.

281
00:16:46,631 --> 00:16:49,350
If you behaved yourself,
you'd nothing much to fear.'

282
00:16:49,425 --> 00:16:52,395
'This was quite a new world to us,
I mean, you can imagine,

283
00:16:52,470 --> 00:16:54,939
I came out of civilian life
like all the others did

284
00:16:55,014 --> 00:16:58,018
and we weren't in a position
to argue or object.

285
00:16:58,100 --> 00:17:00,899
It was just a matter of
doing what we were told.'

286
00:17:00,978 --> 00:17:04,323
'I liked it. I liked to be told
what I had to do,

287
00:17:04,398 --> 00:17:06,821
because there was a reason
for doing it.

288
00:17:06,901 --> 00:17:11,077
Later on, I realised that was
the best training you could have.'

289
00:17:11,155 --> 00:17:15,035
'The first week,
our route march would be ten miles.

290
00:17:15,117 --> 00:17:18,121
The second week, it would be 12,
and so on and so on.

291
00:17:18,204 --> 00:17:22,129
It intensified because
it's of the utmost importance

292
00:17:22,208 --> 00:17:25,929
that the infantry soldier
could march with the full kit.'

293
00:17:26,003 --> 00:17:28,882
'What you had to carry was 109 pounds.'

294
00:17:28,965 --> 00:17:31,593
'Marching was easy for me,

295
00:17:31,676 --> 00:17:36,227
but quite a lot of chaps who were
in sedentary jobs found it pretty hard.'

296
00:17:36,305 --> 00:17:41,812
'It numbed and cramped
the muscles on my thighs and calves

297
00:17:41,894 --> 00:17:44,192
until they hurt very much indeed.'

298
00:17:45,231 --> 00:17:48,201
'Oh, those army boots! I could've cried.

299
00:17:48,276 --> 00:17:53,328
My feet and ankles with those heavy
army boots, after civilian shoes...'

300
00:17:53,406 --> 00:17:56,250
'So, to get your boots made pliable,

301
00:17:56,325 --> 00:17:59,955
you used to urinate in them
and leave it overnight.'

302
00:18:00,037 --> 00:18:04,918
'Quite a lot of men were clerks
or they worked in shops

303
00:18:05,001 --> 00:18:08,722
and the very nature of their calling
didn't make for fitness.'

304
00:18:09,630 --> 00:18:13,931
'Well, they sent me to hospital and
they gave me the cure for hookworm

305
00:18:14,010 --> 00:18:17,514
and I found that
I could stand the drill after that.'

306
00:18:17,597 --> 00:18:20,521
'They used to march us
all round the West End.

307
00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:22,568
Crowds used to foregather.

308
00:18:22,643 --> 00:18:26,568
And some of the poor, deluded ones
fell for the con trick

309
00:18:26,647 --> 00:18:29,696
and lined up behind us
and we used to march 'em all

310
00:18:29,775 --> 00:18:32,278
down to Chelsea Barracks
where they got signed up.'

311
00:18:34,697 --> 00:18:37,871
'Lunch would consist of inevitable stew.

312
00:18:37,950 --> 00:18:40,044
Now, we must remember that

313
00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,999
the chaps in the cookhouse were
by no means experienced cooks,

314
00:18:44,081 --> 00:18:46,925
but anybody can make a stew
and that's what they did.'

315
00:18:47,001 --> 00:18:51,347
'Sometimes, we got a bit of plum duff
and milk puddings and tapioca rice.

316
00:18:51,422 --> 00:18:56,019
It was good, old-fashioned, plain stuff
that I was brought up on.

317
00:18:56,093 --> 00:18:58,812
I had no complaint about it.'

318
00:18:58,888 --> 00:19:03,894
'In the afternoon, it could be a lecture
on Vickers machine guns.'

319
00:19:03,976 --> 00:19:08,732
'You used to strip the machine gun
right down and put it together again

320
00:19:08,814 --> 00:19:12,409
and, luckily, I seemed
to cotton onto that quite quickly.'

321
00:19:12,485 --> 00:19:15,910
'We were always told
that man's best friend is his rifle

322
00:19:15,988 --> 00:19:17,661
and it was.'

323
00:19:17,740 --> 00:19:20,334
'Our rifle was a short Lee-Enfield.

324
00:19:20,409 --> 00:19:23,913
A very good rifle indeed.
A real sturdy rifle.

325
00:19:23,996 --> 00:19:28,001
You had your ammunition pouches
on both sides of the chest

326
00:19:28,084 --> 00:19:30,382
to counterbalance
the weight of the pack

327
00:19:30,461 --> 00:19:35,262
and those pouches carried
150 rounds of .303 ammunition.'

328
00:19:35,341 --> 00:19:38,265
'We were supposed to hold a rifle
with one hand,

329
00:19:38,344 --> 00:19:42,770
but I could never hold a rifle properly.
my right wrist wouldn't hold it up.'

330
00:19:42,848 --> 00:19:46,148
'I'd never fired a rifle in my life
but, on the first day,

331
00:19:46,227 --> 00:19:50,198
we went onto the rifle range and it was
amazing, the bull's-eyes I was getting.

332
00:19:50,272 --> 00:19:54,027
So, the next thing,
I was made a first-class rifleman.'

333
00:19:54,110 --> 00:19:56,454
'Above all, we learned rapid fire.

334
00:19:56,529 --> 00:20:00,204
Ten rounds, get those ten rounds
onto the target in one minute.

335
00:20:00,282 --> 00:20:02,376
It was known as "the mad minute".'

336
00:20:02,451 --> 00:20:05,830
'I'd never seen a dead man,
or anything of that kind

337
00:20:05,913 --> 00:20:08,587
and I wondered,
if it came to my shooting a man,

338
00:20:08,666 --> 00:20:10,760
whether I would be able to do this.'

339
00:20:10,835 --> 00:20:13,714
'You'd plunge the bayonet into the sack,
shout like hell.'

340
00:20:13,796 --> 00:20:16,049
'They would tell you
where to put your bayonet.

341
00:20:16,132 --> 00:20:18,601
Either into his left shoulder,
his right shoulder,

342
00:20:18,676 --> 00:20:21,020
in the chest, or in the body.'

343
00:20:21,095 --> 00:20:23,223
'We were told to make
as much noise as we could.

344
00:20:23,305 --> 00:20:25,433
I think that was to frighten the enemy.

345
00:20:25,516 --> 00:20:28,235
Didn't seem a likely thing to do,
but we used to shout.'

346
00:20:28,310 --> 00:20:31,860
'When you've trained as a division,
there's 12 battalions,

347
00:20:31,939 --> 00:20:34,783
that's roughly 12,000 men
who are on the move

348
00:20:34,859 --> 00:20:38,284
and you're a very small cog
in a big wheel.'

349
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:41,374
'Saturday mornings we were let off,

350
00:20:41,449 --> 00:20:43,793
but we had to do sometimes
barrack duties.

351
00:20:43,868 --> 00:20:46,417
Then, on Sundays,
we were all marched down to church.

352
00:20:46,495 --> 00:20:51,296
It didn't matter what religion you were,
you all had to go and that was it.'

353
00:20:51,375 --> 00:20:55,050
'Hardly a day passed without
the shout around the barrack room,

354
00:20:55,129 --> 00:20:57,723
"Has anybody here had
any experiences with horses?"

355
00:20:57,798 --> 00:21:00,517
"Can anybody here play
any musical instruments?"

356
00:21:00,593 --> 00:21:03,016
"Anybody had any experience at
so-and-so...?"

357
00:21:03,095 --> 00:21:07,475
So, gradually, the 1,000 men
who joined up as a motley throng,

358
00:21:07,558 --> 00:21:13,190
now became a transport man, a bandsman,
signalman, and so on.'

359
00:21:13,272 --> 00:21:15,695
'You didn't wanna mess about
at the parade ground

360
00:21:15,775 --> 00:21:17,869
with heavy packs on the route marches.

361
00:21:17,943 --> 00:21:21,914
Most of us wanted to go across
and do some scrapping.'

362
00:21:21,989 --> 00:21:24,788
'After good food, fresh air
and physical exercise,

363
00:21:24,867 --> 00:21:28,337
they'd changed so that their mothers
wouldn't have recognised them.

364
00:21:28,412 --> 00:21:32,007
They'd put on an average of one stone
in weight and one inch in height.'

365
00:21:32,082 --> 00:21:35,632
'Although we hated the sight and sound
of our disciplinary sergeants,

366
00:21:35,711 --> 00:21:40,012
this reflects greatly to their credit
because they knocked us into shape

367
00:21:40,090 --> 00:21:42,218
as regards to marching and foot drills.'

368
00:21:42,301 --> 00:21:43,974
'But, far more than that,

369
00:21:44,053 --> 00:21:48,729
they were handsome, ruddy, upstanding,
square-shouldered young men

370
00:21:48,808 --> 00:21:52,278
who were afraid of nobody,
not even the sergeant major.'

371
00:21:52,353 --> 00:21:56,654
'After six weeks, we were informed
we were gonna be posted overseas.'

372
00:21:56,732 --> 00:22:00,578
'They said, "You're leaving tomorrow
morning for an unknown destination."'

373
00:22:00,653 --> 00:22:03,497
'You were never told
where you were heading for.'

374
00:22:03,572 --> 00:22:06,951
'I just wanted to fight the Germans
and, as far as that was concerned,

375
00:22:07,034 --> 00:22:09,628
it didn't matter tuppence to me
where we went.'

376
00:22:09,703 --> 00:22:11,376
'And when we pushed them through

377
00:22:11,455 --> 00:22:14,755
this crash programme of
military training,

378
00:22:14,834 --> 00:22:16,962
they were pushed off to France
in batches.'

379
00:22:17,044 --> 00:22:18,796
'Before we left, the officer said,

380
00:22:18,879 --> 00:22:21,348
"Well, you haven't had time
to be made sergeants,

381
00:22:21,423 --> 00:22:23,346
so we'll give you a couple of stripes."

382
00:22:23,425 --> 00:22:26,725
So they made us corporals and,
in less than no time,

383
00:22:26,804 --> 00:22:29,023
we were marched down to the station.'

384
00:22:29,098 --> 00:22:32,978
'In my mind, I wondered,
"Shall I ever come back?"

385
00:22:33,060 --> 00:22:35,154
I didn't think I would at the time.

386
00:22:35,229 --> 00:22:37,652
I didn't worry about it.'

387
00:22:37,731 --> 00:22:39,859
'Oh, they were all full of euphoria.

388
00:22:39,942 --> 00:22:42,741
They were all glad they were going.
Nobody was crying.'

389
00:22:42,820 --> 00:22:46,700
'I wrote a postcard when I was in
the train and chucked it out the window,

390
00:22:46,782 --> 00:22:49,251
hoping that it would be delivered
to my family.'

391
00:22:49,326 --> 00:22:51,954
'We arrived at Folkestone
in the evening.

392
00:22:52,037 --> 00:22:55,291
We embarked on one of
the old Thames pleasure boats.'

393
00:22:55,374 --> 00:22:57,047
'Well, pretty crowded.

394
00:22:57,126 --> 00:23:01,973
Well, of course, it's only 21 miles
from Dover to Calais on the boat.'

395
00:23:02,047 --> 00:23:04,425
'There were talks by officers to us

396
00:23:04,508 --> 00:23:06,727
as to how to behave ourselves
on foreign soil

397
00:23:06,802 --> 00:23:10,932
and that we'd got to respect
other people's modes of conduct.'

398
00:23:11,015 --> 00:23:14,736
'The biggest number of casualties
were NCOs

399
00:23:14,810 --> 00:23:17,233
and we weren't all too keen about this.

400
00:23:17,313 --> 00:23:21,068
So I went into the lavatory
and my stripes came off

401
00:23:21,150 --> 00:23:23,403
and they disappeared
through the porthole.

402
00:23:23,485 --> 00:23:26,989
And with that,
I went back on deck as a private.'

403
00:23:30,075 --> 00:23:33,329
'As our horses
were brought down the gangways,

404
00:23:33,412 --> 00:23:35,710
I noticed the expression
on the men's faces.

405
00:23:35,789 --> 00:23:39,839
There were no cheerful, smiling faces
coming down that gangway at all.'

406
00:23:42,421 --> 00:23:44,719
'It was beautiful weather. Very warm.

407
00:23:44,798 --> 00:23:48,268
Every village and town we went through,
people rushed out,

408
00:23:48,344 --> 00:23:51,188
bottles of wine,
yards of French bread, flowers...'

409
00:23:52,056 --> 00:23:54,479
'The land flowed in every single aspect.

410
00:23:54,558 --> 00:23:58,859
There were farmers going about their
business, the most lovely country.'

411
00:24:00,314 --> 00:24:03,443
'If we were passing a field of carrots,
we used to raid the field

412
00:24:03,525 --> 00:24:06,074
and walk along
munching the carrots and turnips.'

413
00:24:10,699 --> 00:24:14,545
'I was dead scared that the war
would be over before I got out to it.

414
00:24:14,620 --> 00:24:17,749
When I got out to France,
I was terribly pleased.

415
00:24:17,831 --> 00:24:19,925
Really keen.'

416
00:24:21,210 --> 00:24:25,340
'You just marched and marched until
roughly 20 miles from the trenches.'

417
00:24:25,422 --> 00:24:27,925
'We knew we were getting
close to the line,

418
00:24:28,008 --> 00:24:31,387
because the gunfire was becoming
more noisy.'

419
00:24:31,470 --> 00:24:33,814
'I remember the first shell,
I was delighted.'

420
00:24:36,517 --> 00:24:40,272
'We went through towns, villages,
that were absolutely derelict,

421
00:24:40,354 --> 00:24:44,029
so we never knew where we were,
except that we were in Belgium.'

422
00:24:46,193 --> 00:24:49,663
'The devastation was something
I never could have imagined.

423
00:24:49,738 --> 00:24:53,117
The whole place gave one
a most eerie sensation.'

424
00:24:56,578 --> 00:24:59,923
'There were stunted trees
torn to shreds with shellfire

425
00:24:59,999 --> 00:25:02,343
and there were shell holes
all over the place.'

426
00:25:04,169 --> 00:25:06,968
'We were relieving men of
the 28th Division

427
00:25:07,047 --> 00:25:10,551
and, as they passed us, we would say,
"What's it like up there?"

428
00:25:10,634 --> 00:25:13,979
The reply invariably came back,
"Bloody awful, mate."'

429
00:25:14,054 --> 00:25:17,228
'The old sweats coming back
had got their tails up all right,

430
00:25:17,307 --> 00:25:20,106
but I didn't know what to expect,
just hadn't a clue.'

431
00:25:21,270 --> 00:25:22,943
'It was deadly warfare.

432
00:25:23,022 --> 00:25:24,774
You were facing the Germans.'

433
00:25:26,567 --> 00:25:28,661
<i>(DISTANT GUNFIRE)</i>

434
00:25:28,736 --> 00:25:30,830
<i>Follow me!</i>

435
00:25:33,032 --> 00:25:34,705
'You got the order: load.

436
00:25:34,783 --> 00:25:38,378
You put nine in your magazine
and one up the spout

437
00:25:38,454 --> 00:25:40,127
and you put your safety catch on

438
00:25:40,205 --> 00:25:44,756
and you always went into the line
prepared to use your rifle immediately.'

439
00:25:44,835 --> 00:25:47,805
'That's when you got rigid orders.

440
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,633
"No talking whatsoever!
Keep your head down!

441
00:25:50,716 --> 00:25:53,219
Single file! No smoking!"

442
00:25:53,302 --> 00:25:56,431
The captain would then direct you
right to the front trenches.'

443
00:25:57,723 --> 00:25:59,396
<i>(INDISTINCT CHATTER)</i>

444
00:25:59,475 --> 00:26:01,193
'When a man goes into the trenches,

445
00:26:01,268 --> 00:26:05,148
he usually carries a roll of barbed wire
or bag of bombs,

446
00:26:05,230 --> 00:26:06,903
beside his own equipment.

447
00:26:06,982 --> 00:26:09,826
That's the way they get the stuff
up to the front line.'

448
00:26:09,902 --> 00:26:12,246
'Now a guide would always be sent out.'

449
00:26:12,321 --> 00:26:14,619
<i>Extend this part of the trench
over there.</i>

450
00:26:14,698 --> 00:26:16,371
<i>- What, that way?
- That's it.</i>

451
00:26:16,450 --> 00:26:18,544
'The trenches in France were a maze.

452
00:26:18,619 --> 00:26:21,042
If you didn't have a guide,
you could soon get lost.'

453
00:26:21,121 --> 00:26:23,590
<i>Smile so your mother thinks
I'm looking after you.</i>

454
00:26:25,709 --> 00:26:28,258
<i>Now up you go. Double up! Double up!</i>

455
00:26:32,382 --> 00:26:35,056
'The trenches weren't in
one straight line.

456
00:26:35,135 --> 00:26:38,139
They were built on
what they call the traverse system.

457
00:26:38,222 --> 00:26:41,271
The traverse would break up
the shellfire

458
00:26:41,350 --> 00:26:44,149
and stop it spreading
right along the trench.'

459
00:26:44,228 --> 00:26:46,230
'There was a front line of trenches,

460
00:26:46,313 --> 00:26:48,611
and then there was
a second line of trenches.'

461
00:26:48,690 --> 00:26:52,570
'The support line would be about
50 yards or more behind the front line.

462
00:26:52,653 --> 00:26:55,702
In between,
there would be communication trenches

463
00:26:55,781 --> 00:26:59,706
so that they could move through
if the front line was under jeopardy.'

464
00:27:00,744 --> 00:27:03,122
'The first impression
I got of the trenches was

465
00:27:03,205 --> 00:27:05,299
they were very much lived in.'

466
00:27:05,374 --> 00:27:07,468
'We had to take 'em as we found 'em.'

467
00:27:07,543 --> 00:27:10,888
'You would see an overcoat hanging
from a wooden peg.

468
00:27:10,963 --> 00:27:14,558
You would see a mess tin
with some tea in it.

469
00:27:14,633 --> 00:27:17,807
A dugout which had
a piece of blanket in it.

470
00:27:17,886 --> 00:27:19,980
A bed made of sandbags.'

471
00:27:20,055 --> 00:27:24,982
'Our world was divided by no-man's-land,
a sort of iron curtain

472
00:27:25,060 --> 00:27:28,564
beyond which were bogeymen who would
kill you if they ever saw you.'

473
00:27:28,647 --> 00:27:30,615
'As you looked through your periscope

474
00:27:30,691 --> 00:27:33,240
all you could see were
hundreds of shell holes,

475
00:27:33,318 --> 00:27:36,868
your barbed wire
and the German barbed wire.'

476
00:27:36,947 --> 00:27:39,826
'You could see dead bodies
hanging on the barbed wire

477
00:27:39,908 --> 00:27:42,457
and they may have been there
for a long, long time.'

478
00:27:42,536 --> 00:27:46,040
'It was one of the most
desolate-looking places in the world.

479
00:27:46,123 --> 00:27:48,217
You never saw a sign of life

480
00:27:48,292 --> 00:27:51,842
and yet you knew very well that,
within shouting range,

481
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,218
there were hundreds
and hundreds of men.'

482
00:27:55,007 --> 00:27:58,887
'A platoon of about 50 men would have
about 100 yards of frontline trenches,

483
00:27:58,969 --> 00:28:01,267
their responsibility.

484
00:28:01,346 --> 00:28:05,772
There were signs all over the trenches:
Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street,

485
00:28:05,851 --> 00:28:09,230
and all that sort of thing,
telling you where the water points were,

486
00:28:09,313 --> 00:28:12,783
and which was the most dangerous part
of land with regard to snipers.'

487
00:28:12,858 --> 00:28:14,986
'You had to be extremely careful because

488
00:28:15,068 --> 00:28:18,493
a bullet would go through
one layer of sandbags quite easily.'

489
00:28:18,572 --> 00:28:21,325
'I was talking to a bloke one clay
and plop!

490
00:28:21,408 --> 00:28:23,502
His head was smashed in like an egg.

491
00:28:23,577 --> 00:28:27,673
He just happened to be in a place
where a sniper could get an aim on him.'

492
00:28:27,748 --> 00:28:30,672
'We used to do a four-day stint
in the line.

493
00:28:30,751 --> 00:28:35,052
We took with us sufficient food
to last the four days.'

494
00:28:35,130 --> 00:28:37,349
<i>- Got any grog?
- See you later on.</i>

495
00:28:37,424 --> 00:28:39,518
<i>My best to Jerry.</i>

496
00:28:39,593 --> 00:28:42,813
<i>- Mind yourselves. That's it.
-'Your</i> day <i>would start before</i> dawn,

497
00:28:42,888 --> 00:28:47,815
when NCOs would go round this 100 yards
to make sure everybody was alive.'

498
00:28:47,893 --> 00:28:51,147
'Of a day in the trenches,
you had two hours on, four off.'

499
00:28:51,230 --> 00:28:55,906
'A third of the people on sentry duty,
a third working and a third sleeping.'

500
00:28:55,984 --> 00:28:58,362
- Wake y-wake <i>y!</i>
-'We just slept where we were.

501
00:28:58,445 --> 00:29:00,618
No beds,
just flopped down on the ground.'

502
00:29:00,697 --> 00:29:02,791
<i>You're in the pictures, mate.</i>

503
00:29:02,866 --> 00:29:05,995
'The trench was very wet
and, wherever possible,

504
00:29:06,078 --> 00:29:08,251
we would try and get above the water.'

505
00:29:08,330 --> 00:29:10,753
'We were able to dig out
a side of the trench

506
00:29:10,832 --> 00:29:15,679
and that was when we used to steal our
sleep on the two-on four-off stretch.'

507
00:29:15,754 --> 00:29:20,260
'Then you'd have your couple of hours
on the parapet and then rest again.'

508
00:29:20,342 --> 00:29:23,596
'If nothing untoward happened,
there would be perhaps

509
00:29:23,679 --> 00:29:27,149
two or three sentry groups
in the whole company's front.'

510
00:29:32,187 --> 00:29:34,485
<i>(EXPLOSIONS, SHELLS FIZZING)</i>

511
00:29:39,027 --> 00:29:42,873
'It was a job to keep awake and woe
betide you if you were caught asleep.'

512
00:29:43,824 --> 00:29:46,703
'If you are so tired,
you can sleep standing up,

513
00:29:46,785 --> 00:29:48,458
which I've done many times.'

514
00:29:49,579 --> 00:29:54,836
'The first thing you did when you got
into the line was to have a brew up.'

515
00:29:54,918 --> 00:29:57,296
'There was one thing
about the Vickers gun,

516
00:29:57,379 --> 00:29:59,677
it being a water-cooled weapon,

517
00:29:59,756 --> 00:30:03,260
if you were continuously firing,
you'd find that the water'd be boiling.

518
00:30:03,343 --> 00:30:05,937
You could disconnect the tube
and make a cup of tea.'

519
00:30:06,013 --> 00:30:08,766
'The water came up in
two-gallon petrol cans.'

520
00:30:08,849 --> 00:30:10,897
'And we could taste the petrol in it,

521
00:30:10,976 --> 00:30:13,570
cos they couldn't wash it
completely out.'

522
00:30:13,645 --> 00:30:15,522
<i>(CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY)</i>

523
00:30:16,606 --> 00:30:19,655
-'In every bay was a little fireplace.'
- Let's get this lit.

524
00:30:19,735 --> 00:30:23,365
'You used tiny slivers of wood because,
if you made smoke in the front line,

525
00:30:23,447 --> 00:30:25,541
-over would come a shell.'
- I <i>fancy</i> a <i>brew.</i>

526
00:30:25,615 --> 00:30:28,459
'You'd save a drop of that tea
to shave with.'

527
00:30:28,535 --> 00:30:31,129
'Because we had to shave
in the front line.'

528
00:30:31,204 --> 00:30:34,879
'We used to put a lot of tins out
on the parapet if it rained.

529
00:30:34,958 --> 00:30:37,461
<i>You 68TH“ touch any of
the other water.'</i>

530
00:30:37,544 --> 00:30:40,013
'We were scooping water off shell holes.

531
00:30:40,088 --> 00:30:42,432
There might have been
dead bodies underneath.

532
00:30:42,507 --> 00:30:46,512
As long as we boiled it for a long time,
all the green stuff'd come off the top.'

533
00:30:46,595 --> 00:30:49,189
<i>- Nice</i> and gentle.
-'Anyway, we made tea with it.'

534
00:30:49,264 --> 00:30:51,562
'That's how I got my dose of dysentery.'

535
00:30:51,641 --> 00:30:55,066
'Of course,
there were no sanitary arrangements.

536
00:30:55,145 --> 00:30:57,318
They'd dig a trench
and stick a pole across.

537
00:30:57,397 --> 00:31:00,321
You'd get about seven or eight chaps
on the pole.'

538
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,028
'God! To have a clear out was terrible.

539
00:31:03,111 --> 00:31:06,661
People used to go to the toilet
with no privacy.'

540
00:31:06,740 --> 00:31:11,416
'Being rather a shy nature, if I pissed
with somebody, I felt a bit nervous

541
00:31:11,495 --> 00:31:15,090
but, when you're in the army,
you got quite used to it.'

542
00:31:15,165 --> 00:31:18,715
'It didn't matter a damn, cos there's
no women or anything like that.'

543
00:31:18,794 --> 00:31:22,765
'The flies used to crawl all over
your bottom. Most unpleasant.'

544
00:31:22,839 --> 00:31:24,807
'We had no such thing as toilet rolls.'

545
00:31:24,883 --> 00:31:27,056
'You had to wipe your behind
with your hand.'

546
00:31:27,135 --> 00:31:30,435
'Your hands might have been in
all sorts, but you never washed.'

547
00:31:30,514 --> 00:31:33,142
-'Well, you heard a terrific shout...'
-(SNAPPING)

548
00:31:33,225 --> 00:31:35,944
-(GRUNTS) Christ!
-'..and the pole had snapped

549
00:31:36,019 --> 00:31:39,489
and the four men who were sitting
on the bar fell down in the muck.'

550
00:31:39,564 --> 00:31:42,738
'There was always
a humorous side of the war.

551
00:31:42,818 --> 00:31:44,491
(CHUCKLES)'

552
00:31:44,569 --> 00:31:47,493
'We had to put rifles down
for them to hang onto

553
00:31:47,572 --> 00:31:51,998
and they came out like slimy rabbits
and nobody wanted to go near 'em.'

554
00:31:52,077 --> 00:31:54,171
<i>(CHUCKLES)</i>

555
00:31:54,246 --> 00:31:56,374
'We had no spare clothes at all

556
00:31:56,456 --> 00:32:00,177
and you were living for weeks
without washing or getting a bath.'

557
00:32:00,252 --> 00:32:04,132
'And I personally became
really badly infested

558
00:32:04,214 --> 00:32:07,218
and "chatty" as we used to call it,
with these lice.'

559
00:32:07,300 --> 00:32:09,928
'Oh, lice was a dreadful problem.'

560
00:32:10,011 --> 00:32:13,515
'They were funny little things,
like little lobster sort of things

561
00:32:13,598 --> 00:32:16,602
with six legs
and they used to feed ten times a day.'

562
00:32:16,685 --> 00:32:20,440
'You had to kill the bloody things.
My favourite way was burning them.'

563
00:32:20,522 --> 00:32:23,571
'You would run the seams
over a lighted candle

564
00:32:23,650 --> 00:32:27,405
and you could hear the eggs going
pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!'

565
00:32:27,487 --> 00:32:29,660
'The sooner you got
your shirt back again,

566
00:32:29,739 --> 00:32:32,538
the heat of the body hatched the eggs
that you'd missed.'

567
00:32:33,618 --> 00:32:35,837
'We were just as lousy next day.'

568
00:32:37,289 --> 00:32:39,007
<i>(LAUGHTER)</i>

569
00:32:39,082 --> 00:32:42,177
-'Each man prepared his own breakfast.'
- Cheerio.

570
00:32:42,252 --> 00:32:46,632
'Bread and jam. It was about
16 men to a loaf of bread.'

571
00:32:46,715 --> 00:32:47,967
<i>Eh?</i>

572
00:32:48,049 --> 00:32:52,680
'There'd be a little of bacon, which
would suffice for half a dozen men.'

573
00:32:52,762 --> 00:32:55,686
'You put your rasher of bacon
in your mess tin lid,

574
00:32:55,765 --> 00:32:59,486
put a few more sticks on your fire
and you would fry your bacon...

575
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,399
...and then soak up the fat
with a piece of biscuit.

576
00:33:03,482 --> 00:33:05,359
Then there you are with a breakfast.'

577
00:33:05,442 --> 00:33:08,412
'Dinnertime was mostly
bully beef cut up and stewed

578
00:33:08,487 --> 00:33:11,366
along with
all sorts of vegetables from tins.'

579
00:33:11,448 --> 00:33:14,452
'Mag0n0ghie's tinned stew
was mixed up with the bully beef.'

580
00:33:14,534 --> 00:33:16,878
'I've got into French dugouts

581
00:33:16,912 --> 00:33:20,758
and eaten biscuits which have been left
by the troops two years' previously

582
00:33:20,874 --> 00:33:24,720
and tasted the green mould in them,
but they didn't do me any harm.'

583
00:33:24,794 --> 00:33:28,389
'This was how it was and anything's
good, you know, when you're hungry.'

584
00:33:28,423 --> 00:33:32,894
-'And people were always hungry.'
-(LAUGHS)

585
00:33:32,969 --> 00:33:35,722
'At any given moment,
you can expect to be shelled.

586
00:33:36,806 --> 00:33:39,229
You got very little protection
against that.'

587
00:33:39,309 --> 00:33:43,439
'One would hear a mild pop as
the gun fired five miles away...'

588
00:33:43,563 --> 00:33:45,611
<i>- Sir, here.
- Very good.</i>

589
00:33:45,732 --> 00:33:48,485
'..and in the five or six seconds
it took for them to come,

590
00:33:48,568 --> 00:33:51,663
you can pass through quite a number of
psychological changes.'

591
00:33:55,825 --> 00:33:57,498
<i>Steady!</i>

592
00:33:57,577 --> 00:34:00,456
'I can't remember
anything more nerve-wracking

593
00:34:00,580 --> 00:34:04,084
than the continuous shelling,
without stop, day and night.'

594
00:34:04,125 --> 00:34:07,595
'Well, we were always told that you
never heard the shell that hit you

595
00:34:07,629 --> 00:34:10,633
because most of them
travelled faster than sound.'

596
00:34:10,757 --> 00:34:14,352
'You could literally feel your heart
pounding against the ground.

597
00:34:14,427 --> 00:34:17,601
The emotional strain was
absolutely terrific.'

598
00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:19,937
'Although a shell might burst
50 yards away,

599
00:34:19,975 --> 00:34:24,481
you might find a fragment of jagged iron
really red hot and weighing half a pound

600
00:34:24,604 --> 00:34:26,652
arriving in your trench.'

601
00:34:26,773 --> 00:34:29,322
'I mean, you'd seen people
blown to little bits.

602
00:34:29,442 --> 00:34:31,615
I've actually had to put a man
in a sandbag.'

603
00:34:31,695 --> 00:34:33,948
'Every now and again,
there would be a great roar

604
00:34:33,989 --> 00:34:36,993
-like an aeroplane coming in to land.'
<i>-(BOOMING)</i>

605
00:34:37,117 --> 00:34:39,996
'And, in a fifth-of-a-second,
your resolution would break

606
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:43,795
and you'd throw yourself into the mud
and the other ones laugh at you.'

607
00:34:43,873 --> 00:34:46,296
'The shrapnel shell
would burst in the air

608
00:34:46,334 --> 00:34:48,462
and spray bullets
on the troops below...

609
00:34:49,879 --> 00:34:51,631
...as if they're from a shotgun.'

610
00:34:54,050 --> 00:34:57,145
'The bullets came down,
whistling like all the hobs of hell.'

611
00:35:00,682 --> 00:35:02,559
'Another one of the annoyances we had

612
00:35:02,642 --> 00:35:05,486
was that the Germans were
very active with mining.

613
00:35:07,564 --> 00:35:11,319
We crouched down underneath the front
parapet to dodge the debris falling

614
00:35:11,401 --> 00:35:13,495
and I got the men to open up rapid fire

615
00:35:13,528 --> 00:35:17,408
to prevent the Germans from getting into
that crater where they could bomb us.'

616
00:35:18,575 --> 00:35:21,374
'As the front line gets damaged,
it's got to be repaired.

617
00:35:21,494 --> 00:35:25,874
Well, the people who were in the line,
they've got to get on with it.'

618
00:35:25,999 --> 00:35:30,846
'I had in my mind that we expected big
gunfire to light amongst all us cavalry

619
00:35:30,879 --> 00:35:33,849
and absolutely swipe us off
the face of the earth.'

620
00:35:36,551 --> 00:35:38,349
'I shouted, "Gallop!" like that!'

621
00:35:38,386 --> 00:35:40,730
'And they dropped 'em
all amongst the horses.

622
00:35:42,015 --> 00:35:43,733
Ooh, a heck of a mess.

623
00:35:43,850 --> 00:35:46,945
The horses were laying down with
their intestines hanging out

624
00:35:47,020 --> 00:35:49,273
and men with matter
hanging out their heads.'

625
00:35:49,356 --> 00:35:52,860
- Regroup!
-'The boys, they said, "Bloody Germans!"

626
00:35:52,901 --> 00:35:55,529
To lose a horse
was like losing a friend.'

627
00:35:55,612 --> 00:35:58,240
- Ready!
-'The brigadier turned to our captain.

628
00:35:58,365 --> 00:36:00,914
He said, "See that the boy has
two or three days' rest.

629
00:36:01,034 --> 00:36:04,789
When a boy likes an animal like that,
there's not a lot wrong with him."'

630
00:36:04,871 --> 00:36:07,545
'Over the whole of the front line,
there was a smell.

631
00:36:07,624 --> 00:36:09,718
It wasn't a complicated smell.

632
00:36:09,793 --> 00:36:12,467
It was the smell of decaying corpses.'

633
00:36:12,545 --> 00:36:16,425
'Nasty, sickly smell.
You never forgot that smell.'

634
00:36:19,302 --> 00:36:23,307
'It was the smell of death.
If you've ever smelt a dead mouse,

635
00:36:23,390 --> 00:36:26,940
it was like that, but hundreds
and hundreds of times worse.'

636
00:36:29,104 --> 00:36:30,777
'It seemed to cling to everything.

637
00:36:30,897 --> 00:36:33,650
When you were having your food,
you could taste it.'

638
00:36:33,733 --> 00:36:38,739
'The awful stench
and bits of human bodies lying about,

639
00:36:38,780 --> 00:36:41,283
it became an everyday thing.

640
00:36:41,408 --> 00:36:45,083
You thought, "Well, it'll be
your turn next. What does it matter?"'

641
00:36:45,912 --> 00:36:46,913
<i>(FLIES BUZZING)</i>

642
00:36:46,996 --> 00:36:50,045
'Wherever there was a grave or a body,
there were rats.'

643
00:36:50,083 --> 00:36:52,757
-(SQUEAKING)
-'They were all big, fat ones

644
00:36:52,794 --> 00:36:54,967
and we knew
where they got their fat from.'

645
00:36:55,088 --> 00:37:00,470
'Unpleasant animals, because of
the filtration into the graves.'

646
00:37:00,593 --> 00:37:03,597
'They used to feed on the dead
and come in the dugouts,

647
00:37:03,638 --> 00:37:05,515
pick up scraps in there.'

648
00:37:05,598 --> 00:37:09,694
'I woke up at the bottom of the trench
and felt something warm on my face

649
00:37:09,769 --> 00:37:12,648
and a little heart
went bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.

650
00:37:12,772 --> 00:37:16,276
The devil scratched my face with the
claws of his hind feet as he took off.'

651
00:37:16,317 --> 00:37:20,618
'We'd try and shoot them, hit them,
kill them, chase them, do anything.'

652
00:37:20,655 --> 00:37:23,204
-(GUNSHOTS)
-'Then you've got gas.'

653
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,498
'We saw this green cloud
coming toward us,

654
00:37:26,619 --> 00:37:30,044
-just rolling slowly along the ground.'
-'They'd shout, "Gas!"

655
00:37:30,123 --> 00:37:34,799
and we had to take our mask out and
stick it on in two or three seconds.'

656
00:37:34,836 --> 00:37:39,012
'Yes, it was phosgene gas.
Later on, there was mustard gas.

657
00:37:39,132 --> 00:37:41,180
That was very effective.

658
00:37:41,301 --> 00:37:43,349
I never saw a "slightly gassed" man.'

659
00:37:43,470 --> 00:37:46,974
If you couldn't get your gas mask,
you were to pee on your handkerchief

660
00:37:47,056 --> 00:37:49,184
and stuff this round
your nose and mouth.'

661
00:37:49,309 --> 00:37:53,655
'I don't mind admitting I didn't think
much of urinating on handkerchiefs,

662
00:37:53,730 --> 00:37:56,358
so I went into
one of the trench latrines

663
00:37:56,483 --> 00:37:58,326
and I stuck my head in the bucket.

664
00:37:58,401 --> 00:38:01,405
I'll tell you, I couldn't hold my breath
any more, came up,

665
00:38:01,488 --> 00:38:03,866
took a good breath of air, down again.'

666
00:38:03,990 --> 00:38:07,745
'We were very soon enveloped in
this thick, yellow, filthy cloud.'

667
00:38:07,827 --> 00:38:12,003
'The more we tried to get rid of the
stinging in our eyes, the worse it got.'

668
00:38:12,081 --> 00:38:14,504
<i>(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)</i>

669
00:38:14,584 --> 00:38:18,509
'I thought deeply of what the effect
of blindness was going to be.'

670
00:38:18,546 --> 00:38:22,517
'But the extraction of clotted blood
and the injection of saline

671
00:38:22,550 --> 00:38:24,678
could alleviate a lot of the trouble

672
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:28,064
and, as I was gassed myself,
I can speak from experience.'

673
00:38:29,933 --> 00:38:32,732
'In the wintertime,
as the weather deteriorated,

674
00:38:32,852 --> 00:38:36,527
so the trenches got
more and more sodden with water

675
00:38:36,564 --> 00:38:38,407
until they just became ditches.'

676
00:38:38,525 --> 00:38:42,450
'The water was swirling about our feet
and rising higher and higher

677
00:38:42,529 --> 00:38:44,406
until it reached our chests.

678
00:38:44,531 --> 00:38:47,080
Our difficulty was frostbite.

679
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:49,453
Our gumboots filled with water

680
00:38:49,536 --> 00:38:52,210
and, in the mornings,
we could not strip them off,

681
00:38:52,247 --> 00:38:54,375
because they were frozen to our feet.'

682
00:38:54,415 --> 00:38:58,545
'When you're talking about trench feet,
you're talking about gangrene.

683
00:38:58,586 --> 00:39:01,965
Send him straight down the line.
Hack the legs off.'

684
00:39:03,216 --> 00:39:04,934
<i>Give us a hand with that.</i>

685
00:39:05,051 --> 00:39:07,554
'When the water
had soaked into the earth,

686
00:39:07,595 --> 00:39:11,896
the floors of the trenches
were just paved with liquid mud

687
00:39:11,933 --> 00:39:14,061
and that became like glue.'

688
00:39:14,102 --> 00:39:17,402
'It was a curious, sucking kind of mud.

689
00:39:17,438 --> 00:39:19,566
Very viscous indeed.

690
00:39:19,607 --> 00:39:22,406
Very tenacious. It stuck to you.'

691
00:39:22,443 --> 00:39:25,993
'If one had to go
to the rear for rations,

692
00:39:26,072 --> 00:39:29,918
well, that was just a nightmare journey,
slithering about.'

693
00:39:29,993 --> 00:39:33,463
'When it was pouring with rain,
and on slippery duckboards,

694
00:39:33,580 --> 00:39:35,924
the language was really edifying.

695
00:39:35,957 --> 00:39:38,676
You heard words
that you never dreamed existed.'

696
00:39:38,751 --> 00:39:41,504
'And, if you slipped off the duckboards,
you sank into

697
00:39:41,588 --> 00:39:47,015
the mud of decomposed bodies of humans
and mules, and that was the end of you.'

698
00:39:47,093 --> 00:39:50,848
'The boy was in the middle of
this huge sea of mud, struggling,

699
00:39:50,930 --> 00:39:52,603
and we couldn't do a thing.

700
00:39:52,682 --> 00:39:54,434
There was no hope of getting to him.

701
00:39:54,517 --> 00:39:58,647
The look on the lad's face, and he was
only a mere boy, was really pathetic.'

702
00:39:58,771 --> 00:40:02,366
'I've seen men sinking into the mud
and dying in the slime.

703
00:40:02,442 --> 00:40:05,446
I think it absolutely finished me off.'

704
00:40:06,529 --> 00:40:10,784
'It was supposed to be quiet, then you
might get some drunken German say,

705
00:40:10,825 --> 00:40:13,704
"I'm gonna give 'em hell,"
open up with all his batteries

706
00:40:13,786 --> 00:40:15,538
and catch hundreds on the wire.

707
00:40:15,622 --> 00:40:17,795
That was what they called
"holding a line".'

708
00:40:19,167 --> 00:40:23,172
'We were in conditions that isolated us
completely from civilisation.

709
00:40:23,296 --> 00:40:27,017
We got so degenerate, so isolated,
living in this mud.'

710
00:40:27,133 --> 00:40:31,183
'And you could sympathise with
how a rabbit must feel,

711
00:40:31,304 --> 00:40:34,683
because we were hunted by mankind
just the same as a rabbit.'

712
00:40:34,807 --> 00:40:37,401
'You knew your lives were in
one an0ther's hands

713
00:40:37,477 --> 00:40:41,983
and it united you closely and you didn't
let anything interfere with that.'

714
00:40:42,023 --> 00:40:44,492
'You knew what was going on
within your vision.

715
00:40:44,525 --> 00:40:47,199
- Beyond that, you hadn't got a clue.'
-(MOUTH ORGANS <i>PLAY)</i>

716
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,699
'You didn't care how the war was going,
whether you were winning.

717
00:40:50,823 --> 00:40:52,700
You weren't bothered with that at all.'

718
00:40:52,825 --> 00:40:56,045
'You lived like tramps.
You didn't polish any buttons.

719
00:40:56,162 --> 00:40:59,166
You wore any uniform bits that you liked
and nobody worried.

720
00:40:59,207 --> 00:41:02,677
All they were concerned with was
that you were fit to fight.'

721
00:41:02,710 --> 00:41:05,088
'If nothing's happened,
you'd chat about life,

722
00:41:05,171 --> 00:41:07,265
where he came from,
where you came from.

723
00:41:07,340 --> 00:41:08,842
Everything was friendly.

724
00:41:08,883 --> 00:41:11,932
There was a terrific lot of kindness
in a way to each person.'

725
00:41:12,011 --> 00:41:13,854
'When the war was not very active,

726
00:41:13,930 --> 00:41:16,433
it was really rather fun
to be in the front line.

727
00:41:16,516 --> 00:41:18,189
It was not very dangerous.

728
00:41:18,267 --> 00:41:21,362
A sort of out-of-door camping holiday
with the boys

729
00:41:21,396 --> 00:41:24,366
with a slight spice of danger
to make it interesting.'

730
00:41:25,233 --> 00:41:29,204
'We used to raid the trenches
and get a prisoner if possible.'

731
00:41:29,278 --> 00:41:32,703
'On a typical trench raid,
there'd be perhaps eight in the party.'

732
00:41:34,033 --> 00:41:35,706
'If you were going to make a raid,

733
00:41:35,785 --> 00:41:38,880
somebody would cut a passage
through the wire at night.'

734
00:41:40,540 --> 00:41:42,918
'The only way to do it was silently...

735
00:41:45,253 --> 00:41:47,722
...to rush it,
and that was the arrangement.'

736
00:41:47,755 --> 00:41:51,760
'We would bayonet the Germans coming out
on their hands and knees out the dugout,

737
00:41:51,884 --> 00:41:55,104
we'd smack them over the head,
and throw in a couple of bombs.

738
00:41:59,976 --> 00:42:02,149
There were three ways of
getting rid of him.

739
00:42:02,228 --> 00:42:05,607
One was to knife him, garrotte him,
or to bayonet him.

740
00:42:05,732 --> 00:42:10,078
The quietest was a quick wrap around
the throat and a knife into the back.'

741
00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:16,493
'I threw the revolver at
poor little Rudolph.

742
00:42:16,576 --> 00:42:19,329
He was only about 18.
I hit him in the face with it.

743
00:42:19,412 --> 00:42:22,131
He screamed and came back at me
and that's when I got him.

744
00:42:22,248 --> 00:42:23,921
Got him with a Very pistol.'

745
00:42:23,958 --> 00:42:27,679
<i>- Well</i> done, <i>chaps!</i> Good raid!
-'l always had a full flask.

746
00:42:27,754 --> 00:42:30,098
I gave him a drink.
I felt very sorry for him.

747
00:42:30,173 --> 00:42:32,426
He said, "Danke sch6n. Das ist gut,"

748
00:42:32,467 --> 00:42:34,595
and died.'

749
00:42:34,635 --> 00:42:36,763
<i>Pick up prisoners, lads!</i>

750
00:42:36,804 --> 00:42:38,932
<i>(PROJECTILE WHISTLES)</i>

751
00:42:41,350 --> 00:42:43,944
'And it was
a very successful little raid.

752
00:42:44,020 --> 00:42:47,320
They got two prisoners,
I think, which was all they all wanted.'

753
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:50,614
'By the way, the men who were captured
on the trench raids

754
00:42:50,651 --> 00:42:53,495
were the first Germans I saw
on the Western Front.'

755
00:42:53,613 --> 00:42:55,286
<i>Right. What else is there?</i>

756
00:42:55,323 --> 00:42:58,543
'A lot of the German troops
were very good, very friendly.

757
00:42:58,618 --> 00:43:02,213
In fact, some of those Bavarians
were damn good, decent people.

758
00:43:02,288 --> 00:43:05,838
The snipers would fire, but not
hit anybody, know what I mean?'

759
00:43:07,627 --> 00:43:12,053
'They put up a sign: "Gott mit uns,"
in German, "God is with us."

760
00:43:12,131 --> 00:43:14,884
We put up a sign up in English,
"We've got mittens too."

761
00:43:14,967 --> 00:43:18,141
We don't know if the Germans
enjoyed that joke or not.'

762
00:43:18,179 --> 00:43:20,648
'There was a wounded German,
a Wartenberger, I think.

763
00:43:20,681 --> 00:43:24,185
We did what we could for him, we gave
him a bit of food, that sort of thing.

764
00:43:24,310 --> 00:43:26,984
He was cursing
the Prussians like anything.'

765
00:43:27,063 --> 00:43:30,317
'The Saxons were in front of us
and they gave us the warning

766
00:43:30,358 --> 00:43:32,907
that they were going to be
relieved by the Prussians.

767
00:43:34,737 --> 00:43:37,490
And they said to us, "Give 'em hell!"

768
00:43:37,532 --> 00:43:39,534
They hated the Prussians.'

769
00:43:39,659 --> 00:43:42,879
'Cos the Prussians were cruel bastards.'

770
00:43:42,995 --> 00:43:45,373
<i>- This way.
- Schnell! Schnell!</i>

771
00:43:45,498 --> 00:43:48,001
<i>- Here! Watch yourself!
- Come along!</i>

772
00:43:48,042 --> 00:43:52,513
'The Bavarians or the Saxonians
were the more civilised of the Germans.

773
00:43:52,547 --> 00:43:54,345
Part-English, if anything.'

774
00:43:57,510 --> 00:44:02,732
'After a four-day spell
in the front line, we were relieved

775
00:44:02,849 --> 00:44:06,945
and we had to march back to billet
somewhere a few miles behind the lines.'

776
00:44:07,019 --> 00:44:09,772
'We were going for
a supposed one-week's rest.'

777
00:44:09,856 --> 00:44:11,950
'Everybody was dead whacked.

778
00:44:12,024 --> 00:44:14,026
We were all pretty knocked up.'

779
00:44:14,110 --> 00:44:16,204
'We extricated ourselves from the mud

780
00:44:16,279 --> 00:44:18,782
to what was somewhat ironically
called "rest".'

781
00:44:18,865 --> 00:44:20,538
'In the front line itself,

782
00:44:20,616 --> 00:44:22,914
-you didn't criticise people.'
-(CHEERING)

783
00:44:23,035 --> 00:44:27,040
'And if you had a chap who was a bit
dicky, you would keep an eye on him.

784
00:44:27,081 --> 00:44:29,925
It was like being a family but,
when you were out of the line,

785
00:44:30,042 --> 00:44:32,386
you'd want nothing to do with
those people at all.

786
00:44:32,461 --> 00:44:35,761
You can't call it "comradeship,"
exactly, it was the way you did it.'

787
00:44:35,882 --> 00:44:37,930
<i>- Get your mail!
- Welcome back.</i>

788
00:44:38,050 --> 00:44:42,146
'The thing which always took me
as being absolutely stupid

789
00:44:42,221 --> 00:44:44,315
was that the next morning,

790
00:44:44,390 --> 00:44:48,941
every man had to be spick and span,
not a trace of mud on him.'

791
00:44:50,146 --> 00:44:54,242
'You'd brush your clothes
or dry them off the best way you could

792
00:44:54,317 --> 00:44:56,240
and clean your boots.

793
00:44:56,277 --> 00:44:58,496
In other words, smarten yourself up.'

794
00:44:59,071 --> 00:45:01,119
(I IT'S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY)

795
00:45:10,917 --> 00:45:15,639
'The men would always appear the same:
cheerful under the circumstances,

796
00:45:15,755 --> 00:45:19,805
happy as they could be, and making
the best of everything, you know,

797
00:45:19,926 --> 00:45:21,769
in true British fashion.'

798
00:45:22,929 --> 00:45:25,773
- What?
-'The Cockney wit was prevalent.

799
00:45:25,848 --> 00:45:29,443
And we were all lads together, you know.
We didn't care a bugger.'

800
00:45:29,518 --> 00:45:33,113
-(LAUGHTER)
-'We'd make a fuss about nothing.

801
00:45:33,147 --> 00:45:37,618
Little things that didn't matter really,
it was something to fill the time in.'

802
00:45:37,693 --> 00:45:40,196
'We used to have to make
our own amusements.'

803
00:45:40,279 --> 00:45:41,826
<i>Bloody bastard.</i>

804
00:45:41,948 --> 00:45:44,292
'You laughed at the slightest things.

805
00:45:44,367 --> 00:45:47,496
I think probably it was the general
tension of the atmosphere

806
00:45:47,620 --> 00:45:50,339
that used to make us like that,
you know.'

807
00:45:51,290 --> 00:45:54,715
'My mother sent me a parcel
with a plum pudding of all things

808
00:45:54,794 --> 00:45:58,674
and I had no thought of being able to
cook it, so we used it as a rugby ball.'

809
00:45:58,798 --> 00:46:00,550
<i>(CHEERING)</i>

810
00:46:00,633 --> 00:46:02,977
'We had this regimental sports day

811
00:46:03,052 --> 00:46:06,522
and I won't say
I was the only sober one,

812
00:46:06,639 --> 00:46:09,142
but most of 'em were,
well, merry about it.'

813
00:46:09,225 --> 00:46:10,477
<i>(LAUGHTER)</i>

814
00:46:10,518 --> 00:46:12,316
<i>(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)</i>

815
00:46:12,395 --> 00:46:15,740
<i>- Come on. Sock him one!
-(LAUGHTER)</i>

816
00:46:16,482 --> 00:46:18,985
- Come on, mate.
-'You took part in everything,

817
00:46:19,026 --> 00:46:24,499
because you had to fill your time in,
you know, otherwise all you did was

818
00:46:24,532 --> 00:46:27,001
<i>-sit</i> about <i>and smoke.'
{CHILDREN'S LA LIGHTER)</i>

819
00:46:27,034 --> 00:46:29,162
<i>- Go on, lad!
- Get off!</i>

820
00:46:29,245 --> 00:46:31,498
'The only time
we saw the artillerymen

821
00:46:31,539 --> 00:46:34,258
-was when we were out at rest.'
<i>- Fire!</i>

822
00:46:34,333 --> 00:46:36,006
<i>(ORDERS ARE SHOUTED)</i>

823
00:46:36,085 --> 00:46:39,385
'They would be, say,
two miles behind the line.'

824
00:46:39,505 --> 00:46:41,553
-...eight, two...
<i>- Fire!</i>

825
00:46:41,674 --> 00:46:44,177
'We wanted to neutralise
enemy batteries,

826
00:46:44,260 --> 00:46:46,934
so we were registering
our batteries on his.'

827
00:46:47,013 --> 00:46:50,187
<i>- Fire!
- Come on!</i>

828
00:46:50,224 --> 00:46:54,525
'We used to know the line and elevation
because it was done by aircraft.'

829
00:46:54,603 --> 00:46:58,278
<i>- Once</i> they're through, <i>go</i> again!
-'lt's pretty ghastly, but the idea was

830
00:46:58,357 --> 00:46:59,859
to kill as many German gunners

831
00:46:59,900 --> 00:47:02,198
-as you could.'
- Ready!

832
00:47:03,029 --> 00:47:05,077
<i>Fire!</i>

833
00:47:09,785 --> 00:47:11,458
<i>Sir.</i>

834
00:47:11,537 --> 00:47:15,713
'There was no motorised transport then
for guns.

835
00:47:15,791 --> 00:47:18,044
The guns used to be
brought up by horses.'

836
00:47:18,085 --> 00:47:21,305
'Eight horses to each gun team.
Four horses to each wagon team.

837
00:47:21,380 --> 00:47:23,883
<i>- About 60 horses.'
-(WHINNYING)</i>

838
00:47:23,966 --> 00:47:26,060
'The gunners made a filthy noise,

839
00:47:26,135 --> 00:47:29,139
jingling and jingling and
the horses making noises both ends

840
00:47:29,221 --> 00:47:32,725
and it was always a great concern for
those of us who were going to battle.'

841
00:47:32,808 --> 00:47:35,982
<i>- Heave!
-(WHINNYING)</i>

842
00:47:36,062 --> 00:47:39,236
- Come <i>on! That's it! Come on!
- Heave!</i>

843
00:47:43,235 --> 00:47:45,909
'Each company officer paid
his own company.

844
00:47:45,946 --> 00:47:50,417
Now, it was generally the first morning
after we were out of the line,

845
00:47:50,451 --> 00:47:52,124
you got five francs.

846
00:47:52,244 --> 00:47:56,920
A franc was worth ten pence, so 5O pence
was your pay for a fortnight. 50 pence.

847
00:47:56,957 --> 00:47:59,085
Now, that's a week of riotous living.'

848
00:48:00,419 --> 00:48:03,798
'Every town of any size at all
had a brothel

849
00:48:03,923 --> 00:48:08,349
and that was where most of these boys
learnt a little more about life

850
00:48:08,427 --> 00:48:11,146
than they would ever have done
in normal, civil life.

851
00:48:11,263 --> 00:48:13,311
So, although they were young in years,

852
00:48:13,432 --> 00:48:16,777
it wasn't long before
they were quite worldly men.'

853
00:48:16,811 --> 00:48:20,156
'One of the lads said, "Let's go
and have a look in the White Star!

854
00:48:20,272 --> 00:48:21,774
It's like a pub."

855
00:48:21,857 --> 00:48:24,701
I'd led a very sheltered life

856
00:48:24,777 --> 00:48:27,951
and there were beautiful girls
with just a piece of lace on.

857
00:48:28,030 --> 00:48:32,206
And, ooh, my word! (LAUGHS)
I'd never seen anything like it before.'

858
00:48:32,284 --> 00:48:35,128
'There was I, a young lad,
knowing nothing about this.

859
00:48:35,204 --> 00:48:39,459
Off we go and these men were going up
regularly to see the girls.

860
00:48:39,542 --> 00:48:43,172
I was very keen. I said to one of these
fellas, "I've only got a sixpence."

861
00:48:43,295 --> 00:48:45,844
"Well, that's no good," he said,
"It's a shilling."

862
00:48:45,965 --> 00:48:48,514
That was
my first experience of a brothel.'

863
00:48:48,634 --> 00:48:51,308
'Anyway, we looked in there
for a couple of minutes,

864
00:48:51,387 --> 00:48:54,561
when four or five naked girls
came running down the corridor.

865
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:56,813
We turned tail and ran! (LAUGHS)'

866
00:48:56,892 --> 00:48:58,644
'It was an eye-opener to me.

867
00:48:58,727 --> 00:49:02,072
There she stood, a great big woman
with this little cane in her hand

868
00:49:02,148 --> 00:49:05,493
and she belted my backside
as if I was a little schoolboy.

869
00:49:05,568 --> 00:49:08,321
"Petty sergeant this"
and "Petty sergeant the other!"

870
00:49:08,362 --> 00:49:11,206
Thump-thump-thump-thump! (LAUGHS)'

871
00:49:11,323 --> 00:49:14,918
'Ooh, gambling! Good Lord!
People were gambling all day long.

872
00:49:14,994 --> 00:49:18,840
The Canadians and Australians used
to gamble terrific amounts of money,

873
00:49:18,873 --> 00:49:20,546
more money than I'd ever seen.'

874
00:49:20,666 --> 00:49:22,509
<i>Beer up!</i>

875
00:49:23,669 --> 00:49:25,717
'The beer was very thin indeed.

876
00:49:25,838 --> 00:49:29,342
It was one-and-nine stuff.
One pint, nine piddles.'

877
00:49:30,509 --> 00:49:33,683
'Friday was always the issue day
for cigarettes.

878
00:49:33,721 --> 00:49:36,520
And the cigarettes were Three Witches,

879
00:49:36,557 --> 00:49:39,686
which soon became "Three Bitches",
or Red Hussars.

880
00:49:39,768 --> 00:49:42,692
I think they were made
from stable returns.

881
00:49:44,690 --> 00:49:49,867
But, generally, in good-sized villages,
you could get Woodbines and Player's

882
00:49:49,904 --> 00:49:54,205
and they were far preferable
to the issue cigarettes.'

883
00:49:54,283 --> 00:49:57,708
'Of course, we were always bartering
with the Frenchmen.

884
00:49:57,786 --> 00:50:01,381
We used to barter some of our
under-clothing and get a loaf of bread.'

885
00:50:01,415 --> 00:50:05,386
'We used to swap our British cigarettes
for their French wine.'

886
00:50:05,419 --> 00:50:07,547
'It could be just as tiring
out of the line

887
00:50:07,630 --> 00:50:10,053
as in the line
and it was sometimes worse.'

888
00:50:10,090 --> 00:50:15,392
'If you were chosen for a fatigue,
you'd have to go on the working party.'

889
00:50:15,429 --> 00:50:19,229
'You collected stores from a big dump
three or four miles back.

890
00:50:20,267 --> 00:50:24,067
Enormous bundles of sandbags,
ready made-up duckboards

891
00:50:24,146 --> 00:50:26,240
and, worst of all, barbed wire.'

892
00:50:26,315 --> 00:50:29,410
- That's <i>that.</i>
-'It was always hard work.

893
00:50:29,443 --> 00:50:32,447
You were a bonny, labouring boy
more than you were a fighter.'

894
00:50:32,571 --> 00:50:36,075
'All the chaps were very tired,
but it made no difference.'

895
00:50:36,116 --> 00:50:38,244
'And they were mentally tired out.

896
00:50:38,285 --> 00:50:40,287
They'd come out of a trench tour
for a rest

897
00:50:40,412 --> 00:50:42,414
and this was the rest
they were getting.'

898
00:50:42,456 --> 00:50:44,083
<i>Tuck it down now.</i>

899
00:50:44,166 --> 00:50:46,840
'You would be carrying stuff up
on a light railway.'

900
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:51,094
'Yes, they laid
a narrow-gauge light railway track.'

901
00:50:52,091 --> 00:50:55,595
'It was the simplest of things,
just platforms on wheels,

902
00:50:55,636 --> 00:50:57,513
driven by light locomotives.'

903
00:51:05,688 --> 00:51:08,692
'Light railways, well, they were
always a blooming nuisance,

904
00:51:08,774 --> 00:51:11,448
because they were always
coming off the track.'

905
00:51:11,485 --> 00:51:15,786
'They lost control of this truck
going down a slight incline

906
00:51:15,823 --> 00:51:17,496
and it barged into the one in front,

907
00:51:17,616 --> 00:51:19,710
scattered duckboards
all over the place.'

908
00:51:21,954 --> 00:51:25,003
'We used to take our mess tins
up to the engine driver

909
00:51:25,124 --> 00:51:28,003
and get some boiling water
for our brew up of tea.'

910
00:51:28,127 --> 00:51:29,800
<i>(GRUNTING)</i>

911
00:51:29,837 --> 00:51:32,340
<i>- Stop messing around.
- And another.</i>

912
00:51:33,882 --> 00:51:35,555
<i>Second line there.</i>

913
00:51:35,634 --> 00:51:39,480
'The Germans could see the steam
and smoke from the steam engine,

914
00:51:39,555 --> 00:51:45,233
so then it was mostly petrol engines
which used to run up to the trenches.'

915
00:51:45,311 --> 00:51:47,405
<i>(CHATTER AND LAUGHTER)</i>

916
00:51:47,479 --> 00:51:50,653
'The light railway only went
as far as the communication trench

917
00:51:50,691 --> 00:51:53,194
and then we had to push the thing
along by hand.'

918
00:51:53,319 --> 00:51:55,367
<i>Now, then...</i>

919
00:51:57,156 --> 00:51:59,409
'Somebody came along and said,
"Oh, this is it!

920
00:51:59,491 --> 00:52:01,493
We're gonna be home by Christmas."
"Oh?"

921
00:52:01,577 --> 00:52:04,922
"Well, just go down the road and look
in a field there, you'll see."

922
00:52:04,997 --> 00:52:07,546
Wouldn't tell us why.
Anyway, we went down.'

923
00:52:07,666 --> 00:52:11,091
'They were on the roadside
covered with tarpaulin sheets.

924
00:52:11,170 --> 00:52:14,174
You could see nothing
except a square outline.'

925
00:52:14,214 --> 00:52:17,844
'And then the officer said,
"These are supposed to be hush-hush."'

926
00:52:17,926 --> 00:52:21,055
'When we asked what it was,
the simple reply was, "Tanks."

927
00:52:21,180 --> 00:52:24,684
Knowing the shortage of water,
we naturally assumed water tanks

928
00:52:24,725 --> 00:52:27,228
and thought we were getting
reserve supplies.

929
00:52:27,353 --> 00:52:29,230
It was one of the best-kept secrets.'

930
00:52:29,355 --> 00:52:33,110
'We were delighted as these wonderful
machines were going to win the war...

931
00:52:34,526 --> 00:52:36,574
...and soon everybody'd be home again.

932
00:52:36,695 --> 00:52:39,073
Of course, it didn't happen like that.'

933
00:52:39,198 --> 00:52:41,246
<i>Wahey!</i>

934
00:52:41,367 --> 00:52:45,122
'We were taken out of the line
and had intensive training.'

935
00:52:46,205 --> 00:52:49,755
'Plunge the bayonet into the sack,
shout like hell.'

936
00:52:49,875 --> 00:52:53,300
'It was to get used to plunging them
into s0meb0dy's body.'

937
00:52:53,379 --> 00:52:56,223
'Then we fired our rifles
on the rifle range.'

938
00:53:03,972 --> 00:53:07,067
'Firing rifle grenades was
a specialist job.'

939
00:53:08,227 --> 00:53:10,275
'But they were clumsy.

940
00:53:10,396 --> 00:53:12,569
I didn't like them much.'

941
00:53:15,109 --> 00:53:17,487
'Forced marching,
marching without a rest

942
00:53:17,569 --> 00:53:21,574
and also frontal attack,
right flank attack, left flank attack,

943
00:53:21,657 --> 00:53:23,500
both flanks attack, night attack

944
00:53:23,575 --> 00:53:26,419
and we wondered what the devil
all this training was for.'

945
00:53:26,495 --> 00:53:28,589
<i>(BAGPIPES PLAY)</i>

946
00:53:28,664 --> 00:53:32,510
'The corps commander said
that he had just received instructions

947
00:53:32,584 --> 00:53:34,461
to go ahead with an operation

948
00:53:34,586 --> 00:53:38,807
-to break through the German lines.'
- Come on, Wellington!

949
00:53:38,924 --> 00:53:42,599
'We were told to parade, full marching
order. We had to go back up the front.

950
00:53:42,636 --> 00:53:44,934
We'd only been out of the line
a couple of days.'

951
00:53:45,013 --> 00:53:47,516
'We could see streams of supplies,

952
00:53:47,599 --> 00:53:50,443
mostly ammunition columns
going up towards the front.'

953
00:53:50,477 --> 00:53:52,946
-(WHISTLING)
-'We didn't have a lot of notice,

954
00:53:53,021 --> 00:53:55,649
but we knew
there was gonna be a big advance.'

955
00:54:04,283 --> 00:54:05,785
<i>(WHINNYING)</i>

956
00:54:09,872 --> 00:54:11,795
'So, batteries pushed forward,

957
00:54:11,832 --> 00:54:14,210
forward positions filled up
with ammunition.'

958
00:54:14,293 --> 00:54:16,637
<i>- Let's get these ladders up!
- Righto.</i>

959
00:54:16,670 --> 00:54:19,890
'As our great push drew nearer,
the line livened up,

960
00:54:19,965 --> 00:54:23,185
it began to get much more dangerous
and not nearly so much fun.'

961
00:54:23,302 --> 00:54:27,808
'We learnt that a bayonet charge was
to be made on German machine guns.'

962
00:54:28,974 --> 00:54:30,851
<i>"I wish it to be impressed on all ranks,</i>

963
00:54:30,976 --> 00:54:34,150
<i>the importance of the operations
about to commence.</i>

964
00:54:34,188 --> 00:54:37,192
<i>The Germans are now outnumbered
and outgunned</i>

965
00:54:37,316 --> 00:54:40,035
<i>and will soon go to pieces
if every man goes into the fight</i>

966
00:54:40,152 --> 00:54:43,702
<i>determined to get through whatever
the local difficulties may be.</i>

967
00:54:43,822 --> 00:54:46,826
<i>I am confident that
the brigade will distinguish itself</i>

968
00:54:46,867 --> 00:54:48,414
<i>in this, its first battle.</i>

969
00:54:48,494 --> 00:54:51,873
<i>Let every man remember
that all England is watching him."</i>

970
00:54:51,997 --> 00:54:55,501
'We marched all through the night
and it got so bad

971
00:54:55,584 --> 00:54:58,554
that officers at the side
were pushing men back into line

972
00:54:58,670 --> 00:55:02,516
who were straggling out and your legs
seemed to go automatically forward.

973
00:55:02,549 --> 00:55:05,519
I had a feeling that
we were walking in our sleep.'

974
00:55:05,552 --> 00:55:10,023
'More men were brought into the line and
regiments were crowded closer together.'

975
00:55:10,057 --> 00:55:13,186
'We were filling up the trenches,
packed in like sardines.'

976
00:55:14,353 --> 00:55:18,358
'Our captain was a splendid man.
He would never bark an order at you.

977
00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:20,863
He would give an order in
a conversational way.

978
00:55:20,901 --> 00:55:25,577
"We don't know how far this trench is,
but it's between 200 and 300 yards.

979
00:55:25,697 --> 00:55:29,042
I will go over in the first wave
and you'll be in the second wave

980
00:55:29,076 --> 00:55:32,250
and as soon as the curtain fire starts,
we move.

981
00:55:32,371 --> 00:55:34,920
Now, go along
and tell your men to be ready."

982
00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:36,792
And this is the sort of order we got.'

983
00:55:37,918 --> 00:55:40,262
'Our two assaulting companies
were ignorant of

984
00:55:40,379 --> 00:55:42,973
what their conduct would be
when they got into action.

985
00:55:43,048 --> 00:55:46,723
Captain Neville thought it might be
helpful if he could furnish each platoon

986
00:55:46,802 --> 00:55:49,897
with a football and allow them
to kick it forward and follow it.

987
00:55:49,930 --> 00:55:53,605
I think myself that it did help them
enormously. Took their minds off it.'

988
00:55:53,725 --> 00:55:57,571
'We had an extra bandolier of ammunition
around our necks

989
00:55:57,646 --> 00:56:00,069
and if you didn't have a shovel,
you had a pick.'

990
00:56:00,148 --> 00:56:02,742
'We got in the trenches
and we waited for zero hour.

991
00:56:02,818 --> 00:56:04,570
All the watches are synchronised.'

992
00:56:05,612 --> 00:56:07,990
'I was what is called
a first bayonet man,

993
00:56:08,073 --> 00:56:11,748
which meant I carried the rifle with
the bayonet in the attacking position

994
00:56:11,827 --> 00:56:14,250
and the rest of the men
carried bags of bombs.'

995
00:56:16,415 --> 00:56:19,339
'And we warned to be ready
to advance at any moment.

996
00:56:19,418 --> 00:56:21,762
"Any moment" was
quite a long time coming.

997
00:56:21,795 --> 00:56:24,765
Of course, that added to
the tension that we were feeling.'

998
00:56:24,798 --> 00:56:26,641
<i>Mind the wire!</i>

999
00:56:26,758 --> 00:56:30,262
'My platoon had been told
to go out and test the fire.

1000
00:56:30,345 --> 00:56:33,269
We had to get out and walk
towards the enemy.

1001
00:56:33,348 --> 00:56:36,818
We went about 200 yards
and then they called us back again.'

1002
00:56:37,811 --> 00:56:41,691
'There was to be no preliminary
bombardment the days beforehand.

1003
00:56:41,773 --> 00:56:45,653
There was only one short, sharp barrage
just before the battle.'

1004
00:56:45,777 --> 00:56:47,620
<i>Fire!</i>

1005
00:56:47,696 --> 00:56:51,291
'You've got to have the artillery
preparation to smash their wire down.'

1006
00:56:51,325 --> 00:56:53,043
<i>Fire!</i>

1007
00:56:53,118 --> 00:56:57,464
'I ordered fire on possible enemy
assembly and forming-up positions.'

1008
00:56:57,497 --> 00:57:00,626
-'The bombardment started...'
- Ready! <i>Fire!</i>

1009
00:57:00,709 --> 00:57:03,804
-'..and the ground shook...'
<i>- Fire!</i>

1010
00:57:03,837 --> 00:57:08,809
'..and we could see the hundreds
and hundreds of gun flashes.'

1011
00:57:08,884 --> 00:57:11,307
<i>Ready! Fire!</i>

1012
00:57:11,386 --> 00:57:13,309
<i>Fire one!</i>

1013
00:57:13,347 --> 00:57:15,725
<i>Fire two! Fire three!</i>

1014
00:57:15,807 --> 00:57:17,309
<i>Fire four!</i>

1015
00:57:20,145 --> 00:57:24,070
'As soon as the bombardment started,
the Germans' retaliation came.

1016
00:57:27,653 --> 00:57:31,203
For four hours, we had to sit there
and take everything he slung at us.'

1017
00:57:33,492 --> 00:57:36,712
'And, first of all,
a large number of tanks went in.

1018
00:57:36,828 --> 00:57:39,377
We could hear them
rumbling and rattling.'

1019
00:57:39,498 --> 00:57:42,342
'320 tanks crawling along.'

1020
00:57:42,376 --> 00:57:45,095
'We waited for the signal to move off.

1021
00:57:45,170 --> 00:57:50,176
Already, everybody was anxious to go,
but we waited and waited.'

1022
00:57:52,177 --> 00:57:55,932
'We got no sleep that night, owing to
the noise of our artillery barrage,

1023
00:57:56,014 --> 00:57:58,233
which was continuous the whole time.'

1024
00:57:59,393 --> 00:58:03,364
'We were asked to hand over any personal
belongings to our company officer,

1025
00:58:03,438 --> 00:58:07,284
such as photographs
and letters that we valued.'

1026
00:58:07,359 --> 00:58:10,909
'I heard soft voices
talking to one another quietly

1027
00:58:11,029 --> 00:58:14,124
and I wondered how many
were going to live to see the sun rise.'

1028
00:58:14,199 --> 00:58:17,544
'In a man's pay book, there was
provision for making a valid will,

1029
00:58:17,577 --> 00:58:21,047
if they were going into action for
the first time, but I didn't bother.

1030
00:58:21,123 --> 00:58:23,217
I had nothing to leave anybody.
(LAUGHS)'

1031
00:58:23,291 --> 00:58:26,716
'The fellow next to you, he was
your best friend. You loved him.

1032
00:58:26,753 --> 00:58:29,051
You perhaps didn't know him
the day before

1033
00:58:29,089 --> 00:58:30,716
and then an hour to go...

1034
00:58:30,757 --> 00:58:33,886
They were the longest
and the shortest hours in life.'

1035
00:58:33,927 --> 00:58:36,055
'We had unlimited time for thinking

1036
00:58:36,096 --> 00:58:39,600
and I know I found myself
thinking much more deeply

1037
00:58:39,725 --> 00:58:41,819
than I had ever thought before.'

1038
00:58:41,893 --> 00:58:44,237
'Some people might
be incapable of thinking.

1039
00:58:44,271 --> 00:58:47,241
They might have regarded
the situation as being such that

1040
00:58:47,274 --> 00:58:50,778
-they were incapable of thought.'
-'l don't think there was any fear.

1041
00:58:50,902 --> 00:58:54,327
It was just that we were doing a job
and if it came, it came.'

1042
00:58:55,157 --> 00:58:59,082
'We realised that, sooner or later,
we were going to get the chop.

1043
00:58:59,119 --> 00:59:01,838
You were either going to be killed
or wounded.'

1044
00:59:01,913 --> 00:59:04,837
'l was not in the least frightened
of being killed,

1045
00:59:04,916 --> 00:59:08,420
but I was terrified
lest I should lose an arm or a leg.'

1046
00:59:08,503 --> 00:59:12,258
'Waiting for an hour for an attack
is not a very pleasant thing.

1047
00:59:12,340 --> 00:59:16,095
We sort of chatted away,
trying to keep the spirits up, you see.

1048
00:59:16,178 --> 00:59:19,273
We told dirty stories
and made crude remarks.'

1049
00:59:20,140 --> 00:59:23,110
'We had 1,000 guns massed
on a mile front behind us.

1050
00:59:23,143 --> 00:59:25,612
Well, you imagine
all this stuff coming over you

1051
00:59:25,687 --> 00:59:27,860
with the German stuff
coming the other way.'

1052
00:59:27,939 --> 00:59:31,364
'The noise rose to a crescendo
such as I'd never heard before.'

1053
00:59:31,443 --> 00:59:33,116
'You wouldn't hear a word.'

1054
00:59:33,195 --> 00:59:37,120
'The shells were passing over you
probably three foot, four foot,

1055
00:59:37,199 --> 00:59:41,295
and the air, it was an inferno
and your mind was another inferno.

1056
00:59:41,369 --> 00:59:43,667
Reason was completely blast out of it.'

1057
00:59:43,789 --> 00:59:47,134
'The bombardment created
a sort of hysterical feeling.'

1058
00:59:47,209 --> 00:59:51,214
'All of a sudden, one of our fellas
started crying, screaming and crying.

1059
00:59:51,296 --> 00:59:53,640
The officer in charge,
telling the sergeant,

1060
00:59:53,715 --> 00:59:56,138
"Find that man and shoot him!
Shoot him!"'

1061
00:59:56,218 --> 01:00:01,190
'It's difficult to explain the reaction
of a man when he's in a bombardment.'

1062
01:00:01,306 --> 01:00:04,480
'He thought that
this man's screaming and crying

1063
01:00:04,518 --> 01:00:06,896
would be a danger
to the rest of the men.'

1064
01:00:06,978 --> 01:00:11,233
'As soon as it was light, we were given
rum, as much as you could drink.'

1065
01:00:12,400 --> 01:00:14,243
'And we got the order to fix bayonets.'

1066
01:00:14,319 --> 01:00:17,198
<i>- Fix bayonets!
- Bayonets fixed!</i>

1067
01:00:17,322 --> 01:00:21,498
'It was a beautiful day the way
it dawned after a rainy night.

1068
01:00:21,535 --> 01:00:23,208
A beautiful day.'

1069
01:00:23,328 --> 01:00:26,502
'Then, five minutes to go,
I remember those lads standing there.

1070
01:00:26,581 --> 01:00:28,504
Dead silent, couldn't make a noise.'

1071
01:00:28,542 --> 01:00:31,421
'I was more frightened
sitting waiting to start.

1072
01:00:31,503 --> 01:00:34,222
I was very frightened then.
Very frightened indeed.'

1073
01:00:34,339 --> 01:00:38,014
'And an officer shouted along the line,
"ls everybody ready?"

1074
01:00:38,051 --> 01:00:41,021
And I called out, "I can't get
my bayonet on my rifle, sir!"

1075
01:00:41,096 --> 01:00:43,349
He said, "Damn you, mate!
Well, hurry up!"'

1076
01:00:43,431 --> 01:00:46,935
'I sent back a message to brigade
headquarters to say we were all ready

1077
01:00:47,018 --> 01:00:49,567
but, unfortunately,
a slight mistake occurred.

1078
01:00:49,688 --> 01:00:52,862
The first thing they knew was
this terrific tremor in the ground.

1079
01:00:52,899 --> 01:00:56,529
We blew a mine which should've been
under the German trenches, but wasn't.

1080
01:00:59,906 --> 01:01:03,536
It was in no-man's-land and that gave
the Germans five minutes

1081
01:01:03,577 --> 01:01:06,080
to occupy the crater, which they did.'

1082
01:01:08,415 --> 01:01:11,134
'Sergeant Moore,
he was standing behind the trench.

1083
01:01:11,209 --> 01:01:13,211
He'd got a revolver in his hand,
he said,

1084
01:01:13,253 --> 01:01:15,472
"Anybody going back, I'll shoot 'em!"

1085
01:01:15,547 --> 01:01:18,551
So that, if we didn't go one way,
we wouldn't go the other.'

1086
01:01:18,633 --> 01:01:21,056
'There wasn't a reluctance
to go over the top,

1087
01:01:21,136 --> 01:01:22,809
not with people I was with.'

1088
01:01:22,888 --> 01:01:24,731
<i>Fire!</i>

1089
01:01:26,057 --> 01:01:28,936
<i>- Fire!</i>
-'They put a curtain of shells over you

1090
01:01:29,060 --> 01:01:30,733
and you advance.

1091
01:01:30,812 --> 01:01:34,658
- That was the theory of the thing.'
<i>- Fire!</i>

1092
01:01:34,733 --> 01:01:37,156
- Fire!
-'l realised that this was the moment

1093
01:01:37,235 --> 01:01:38,737
of the assault.'

1094
01:01:38,820 --> 01:01:41,824
-'And then zero hour.'
'Somebody shouted, "There they go!"

1095
01:01:41,907 --> 01:01:45,912
To the left were the London Scottish
running forward.'

1096
01:01:45,994 --> 01:01:48,747
'I gave the order of,
"Up the ladders! Over the top!"'

1097
01:01:48,830 --> 01:01:50,924
<i>(WHISTLE BLOWING)</i>

1098
01:01:52,083 --> 01:01:57,089
'And after this, we lived in a world of
noise. Simply noise for hours.'

1099
01:01:57,130 --> 01:01:59,258
<i>(sums BOOMING)</i>

1100
01:02:00,342 --> 01:02:02,936
'As soon as you get over the top,
fear has left you.'

1101
01:02:02,969 --> 01:02:05,939
'We didn't run.
There was no shouting, nor cheering.

1102
01:02:06,014 --> 01:02:07,937
Everybody was deadly quiet.'

1103
01:02:07,974 --> 01:02:10,272
'Just as I stepped into no-man's-land,

1104
01:02:10,352 --> 01:02:14,277
somebody was shot through the head
and his skull was splintered.

1105
01:02:14,314 --> 01:02:17,193
It wasn't a good send-off,
I can assure you.'

1106
01:02:17,275 --> 01:02:20,620
'The barrage proceeded
into the enemy lines

1107
01:02:20,695 --> 01:02:25,496
-in steps of 100 yards at a time.'
<i>- Fire!</i>

1108
01:02:26,826 --> 01:02:30,296
'The line of British troops, fixed
bayonets, walking quite steadily

1109
01:02:30,330 --> 01:02:31,798
behind the barrage.

1110
01:02:31,873 --> 01:02:33,625
It was a sight I shall never forget.'

1111
01:02:33,708 --> 01:02:36,461
'To start with, we'd had
the odd machine-gun firing,

1112
01:02:36,503 --> 01:02:39,973
but remarkably little, and it seemed
almost too good to be true.

1113
01:02:40,048 --> 01:02:44,224
'And we then realised the
Germans had been retaining their fire

1114
01:02:44,302 --> 01:02:47,306
until they saw how far
the attack was developing.'

1115
01:02:47,389 --> 01:02:50,518
'Unknown to us, there was
ten to 20 German machine guns.'

1116
01:02:50,642 --> 01:02:53,145
'Then all hell broke loose.'

1117
01:02:53,186 --> 01:02:56,531
'And, my God, he really opened up
and he let us have it.

1118
01:02:56,648 --> 01:02:59,026
<i>- It just swept us.'
-(MACHINE-GUN FIRE)</i>

1119
01:03:00,860 --> 01:03:03,158
<i>Keep back! Keep back!</i>

1120
01:03:03,238 --> 01:03:05,332
<i>Keep moving, laddie!</i>

1121
01:03:07,659 --> 01:03:10,333
<i>(GUNFIRE CONTINUES)</i>

1122
01:03:10,370 --> 01:03:12,168
<i>(ARTILLERY BOOMING)</i>

1123
01:03:15,417 --> 01:03:18,762
'Machine-gun bullets came at us
like hailstones.'

1124
01:03:18,837 --> 01:03:22,057
'I didn't realise that
the swish-swish were bullets.'

1125
01:03:22,173 --> 01:03:25,552
'l looked round
and people were dropping all round you.

1126
01:03:25,677 --> 01:03:28,681
I mean, they just faded away, you know,
on either side of you.'

1127
01:03:28,763 --> 01:03:32,108
'And I thought, "What are they
shooting at me for?" (CHUCKLES)'

1128
01:03:32,183 --> 01:03:35,357
'I hadn't gone more than a few yards
before I was shot in the thigh.'

1129
01:03:35,395 --> 01:03:38,114
'There was a captain alongside me
with his revolver out

1130
01:03:38,189 --> 01:03:39,862
and, all of a sudden, he dropped.

1131
01:03:39,941 --> 01:03:42,535
And then another chap,
he was hit in the leg,

1132
01:03:42,610 --> 01:03:45,454
but he continued with great bounds,
hopping on one leg.'

1133
01:03:45,530 --> 01:03:48,409
-(CLANKING)
-'When the bullets hit the tank,

1134
01:03:48,533 --> 01:03:52,788
the metal flakes were whirring around
like razor blades inside the tank.'

1135
01:03:52,871 --> 01:03:55,715
'You could see men dropping,
but you didn't take any notice.

1136
01:03:55,790 --> 01:03:57,713
If you didn't get hit,
you carried on.'

1137
01:03:57,751 --> 01:04:00,220
'l found myself with a terrible pain
in my left hand

1138
01:04:00,253 --> 01:04:02,881
as if somebody had caned me
and I found a big hole in it.'

1139
01:04:02,964 --> 01:04:06,719
'A man was running across the front of
me and he was shot through the body

1140
01:04:06,760 --> 01:04:09,889
because the contents of his wallet
were flung out forward of me.'

1141
01:04:10,805 --> 01:04:13,274
'I felt a terrific pain in my right arm

1142
01:04:13,391 --> 01:04:16,565
and the blood started running off
the end of my hand.'

1143
01:04:16,603 --> 01:04:20,403
'I just didn't think that this German
machine-gunner would fire at me

1144
01:04:20,440 --> 01:04:23,614
but, the next thing, I felt
a shock of quite a number of bullets

1145
01:04:23,735 --> 01:04:25,612
hitting the right side of my body.'

1146
01:04:25,737 --> 01:04:29,412
'A hare crossed my path
with eyes bulging, in fear,

1147
01:04:29,491 --> 01:04:32,916
but I felt that it couldn't have been
half as frightened as I was.'

1148
01:04:32,952 --> 01:04:35,455
'You could see your mates
going down right and left.

1149
01:04:35,580 --> 01:04:39,301
You were face-to-face with the stark
realisation that this is the end of it.'

1150
01:04:39,417 --> 01:04:43,172
'The two in front of me went down,
wounded in the head and chest.'

1151
01:04:43,254 --> 01:04:46,508
'These bloody bullets got me in the leg
and blew a great big hole at the back.

1152
01:04:46,591 --> 01:04:47,808
It didn't hurt.'

1153
01:04:47,926 --> 01:04:50,520
'Well, life was
very, very hazardous indeed

1154
01:04:50,595 --> 01:04:54,691
and we proceeded in this fashion, some
getting hit and others carrying along.'

1155
01:04:54,766 --> 01:04:57,269
'You hadn't got time to deliberate
upon things.

1156
01:04:57,352 --> 01:05:01,448
Machine-gun bullets might be coming
over, but they weren't hitting you.'

1157
01:05:01,523 --> 01:05:04,322
<i>-(BA GPIPE PLA YS)
-'They say your past comes up</i>

1158
01:05:04,442 --> 01:05:08,447
when you think you were gonna die,
but I hadn't got very much past at 19.

1159
01:05:08,530 --> 01:05:12,956
When I saw these bullets coming along,
all I thought was, "Am I gonna live?"'

1160
01:05:12,992 --> 01:05:16,792
'Of course, if the thing hits you fair
and square and you die immediately,

1161
01:05:16,830 --> 01:05:19,629
you don't feel anything at all,
nothing to it.'

1162
01:05:19,707 --> 01:05:22,335
'The first wave were all
absolutely wiped out.

1163
01:05:22,460 --> 01:05:24,508
Everybody was either killed or wounded.'

1164
01:05:24,629 --> 01:05:28,475
'There were so many dead laying about,
it was hard to avoid treading on them.'

1165
01:05:28,508 --> 01:05:31,637
'I was trying to step over them.
The sergeant behind me said,

1166
01:05:31,678 --> 01:05:34,978
"Go on! You mustn't take
any notice of that. Keep going!"'

1167
01:05:35,056 --> 01:05:38,731
'And we were literally walking over
the dead bodies of our cobbers.

1168
01:05:38,810 --> 01:05:40,904
The carnage is just indescribable.'

1169
01:05:42,647 --> 01:05:45,901
'I had in my path about 2,000 dead,
British and German.

1170
01:05:45,984 --> 01:05:49,238
An attempt to clear any dead man
from our path was impossible

1171
01:05:49,320 --> 01:05:52,039
because of the shelling
and we ploughed over the lot.'

1172
01:05:53,241 --> 01:05:56,245
'Any shell bursting
within a few yards of the tank

1173
01:05:56,327 --> 01:05:58,580
seemed to lift it up in the air

1174
01:05:58,663 --> 01:06:01,007
and you felt a tremendous
back pressure.'

1175
01:06:02,375 --> 01:06:05,049
'The noise of the battle
when you're out in the middle of it

1176
01:06:05,170 --> 01:06:08,674
is so terrific that you don't hear
any individual shots even.'

1177
01:06:08,715 --> 01:06:11,218
'And we had to stop in front
of the German wire.'

1178
01:06:11,342 --> 01:06:13,720
'It was quite impossible to advance
any further

1179
01:06:13,845 --> 01:06:16,564
because of the barbed wire
and the machine-gun posts,

1180
01:06:16,681 --> 01:06:18,433
which were about 50 yards further on.'

1181
01:06:18,516 --> 01:06:21,235
'The wire in front of us
was quite uncut,

1182
01:06:21,352 --> 01:06:23,275
despite the intense bombardments.'

1183
01:06:23,354 --> 01:06:25,448
'You couldn't see anything
but this wire,

1184
01:06:25,523 --> 01:06:27,400
it seemed to be acres and acres of it.'

1185
01:06:27,525 --> 01:06:29,869
'It was just black with rust

1186
01:06:29,944 --> 01:06:32,697
and I don't think a rabbit
could have got through it.'

1187
01:06:32,739 --> 01:06:35,868
'Then, our own artillery started
dropping shells amongst us.'

1188
01:06:42,290 --> 01:06:45,885
'Obviously, they hadn't got the range,
or they didn't know where we were.'

1189
01:06:46,711 --> 01:06:49,430
'l heard the first shrapnel shell
burst above my head.'

1190
01:06:49,547 --> 01:06:51,891
-'There was a terrific whiz.'
-(CLANGING)

1191
01:06:51,966 --> 01:06:56,062
'That was the disappearance of my steel
helmet. I never found it again.'

1192
01:06:56,137 --> 01:06:59,892
'I got a bit off the cheek of
my backside, a piece in my hip,

1193
01:06:59,933 --> 01:07:03,107
a piece in my leg,
and a piece right through my leg.'

1194
01:07:03,228 --> 01:07:05,902
'The fellow to my left took
the full blast of the shell

1195
01:07:05,939 --> 01:07:07,612
and had half his head blown away.'

1196
01:07:07,732 --> 01:07:11,578
'Bullets were catching us and
shrapnel was coming down overhead

1197
01:07:11,653 --> 01:07:14,406
and we had all
the German artillery banging away at us

1198
01:07:14,489 --> 01:07:16,583
and our own artillery going over.'

1199
01:07:16,658 --> 01:07:19,252
'The shells were exploding
all round you

1200
01:07:19,285 --> 01:07:23,165
and it was a real, good, old battle
and it got hold of you, sort of.'

1201
01:07:23,248 --> 01:07:25,671
'One had no sanity at all

1202
01:07:25,750 --> 01:07:29,471
because the inferno was so blasting
that you had no time to think.'

1203
01:07:30,296 --> 01:07:32,640
'That din, that numbing din

1204
01:07:32,757 --> 01:07:36,102
seemed to stop one doing the things
that one would normally do,

1205
01:07:36,177 --> 01:07:38,475
no matter how well-intentioned one was.'

1206
01:07:40,473 --> 01:07:43,352
'You don't look, you see.
You don't hear, you listen.

1207
01:07:43,434 --> 01:07:47,610
You taste the top of your mouth. Your
nose is filled with fumes and death.

1208
01:07:47,689 --> 01:07:50,192
The veneer of civilisation
has dropped away.'

1209
01:07:51,526 --> 01:07:53,995
'I was literally blown about
12 or 14 yards

1210
01:07:54,112 --> 01:07:57,537
and all that I could hear was the cries
and screams from the survivors,

1211
01:07:57,615 --> 01:08:00,118
sometimes in two,
sometimes in three parts.

1212
01:08:00,159 --> 01:08:05,381
Legs, arms, all strewn over the place
and that arid smell of explosion.'

1213
01:08:05,456 --> 01:08:09,802
'Well, all my romantic ideas of war
completely vanished.'

1214
01:08:10,670 --> 01:08:13,640
'A shell had hit this man,
it knocked off his left arm,

1215
01:08:13,715 --> 01:08:17,470
knocked off his left leg,
his left eye was hanging on his cheek

1216
01:08:17,552 --> 01:08:19,350
and he's calling out for Nanny.

1217
01:08:19,470 --> 01:08:22,144
His bleeding eye was hanging on,
pulsing.

1218
01:08:24,058 --> 01:08:25,981
So I shot him.

1219
01:08:26,060 --> 01:08:28,062
I had to. I had to shoot him.

1220
01:08:28,146 --> 01:08:31,650
He'd have died in any case
and it put him out of his misery.

1221
01:08:32,734 --> 01:08:34,657
(SOBBING) And that hurt me.'

1222
01:08:36,070 --> 01:08:38,493
'I knew there was no hope
of getting any orders

1223
01:08:38,531 --> 01:08:40,329
cos there was nobody to give any.'

1224
01:08:40,408 --> 01:08:44,379
'All officers were killed and wounded
and most of the NCOs.'

1225
01:08:44,495 --> 01:08:46,338
'I jumped into this big shell hole.'

1226
01:08:46,372 --> 01:08:49,501
'You dropped down anywhere,
shell holes, anywhere at all

1227
01:08:49,584 --> 01:08:52,337
just to take cover
until the barrage lifted.'

1228
01:08:52,378 --> 01:08:55,723
'I'm not one of those heroes who want
to take the German Army on my own,

1229
01:08:55,840 --> 01:08:59,720
so I went to earth and I got down
behind the lip of a big shell hole.'

1230
01:08:59,844 --> 01:09:02,848
'Fortunately, I was able
to drop into a shell hole.'

1231
01:09:02,889 --> 01:09:06,063
'We used to call them shell-hole
droppers, they would drop down

1232
01:09:06,184 --> 01:09:09,905
into a shell hole because of the barrage
and seeing a few of the men killed.'

1233
01:09:10,021 --> 01:09:12,615
'It's a pity they didn't all drop
into shell holes.

1234
01:09:12,690 --> 01:09:15,364
Before the barrage lifted,
they were dead.'

1235
01:09:15,401 --> 01:09:19,531
'And the bullets were hitting
the back of the shell hole where I was.

1236
01:09:19,572 --> 01:09:22,792
It was raining bullets.
I don't know how I got missed.'

1237
01:09:22,867 --> 01:09:25,120
'From behind the lip
of this shell hole,

1238
01:09:25,203 --> 01:09:27,922
the dirt was spraying down
the back of my neck.'

1239
01:09:28,039 --> 01:09:30,963
'There were three chaps in
the shell hole and one of them said,

1240
01:09:31,042 --> 01:09:33,136
"They're firing
at your bloody shovel!"

1241
01:09:33,211 --> 01:09:36,055
We looked round to see a bullet
go right through his head.

1242
01:09:36,130 --> 01:09:38,633
- So that was the end of that.'
-'A sergeant came down

1243
01:09:38,716 --> 01:09:42,220
into the shell hole on top of us, he was
dead, he'd got it through the neck.

1244
01:09:42,261 --> 01:09:45,310
Anyway, he had a lovely pair of
field glasses round his neck

1245
01:09:45,390 --> 01:09:48,109
and I nabbed them,
because things were so scarce,

1246
01:09:48,226 --> 01:09:50,775
if there was anything like that,
you'd collar it.'

1247
01:09:50,895 --> 01:09:53,739
'Jerry slapped shell after shell into us

1248
01:09:53,773 --> 01:09:57,118
until one shell penetrated
the forward part of the tank.

1249
01:09:57,235 --> 01:09:59,112
What happened then,
I cannot tell you,

1250
01:09:59,237 --> 01:10:01,490
but I believe there was an explosion.'

1251
01:10:01,572 --> 01:10:04,746
'We were fully-trained soldiers,
we always had the rifles loaded,

1252
01:10:04,784 --> 01:10:09,085
but we stuck in the extra five rounds
to make it a ten for rapid-fire.'

1253
01:10:09,122 --> 01:10:12,092
'The Germans got up in
their own trenches and fired at us.

1254
01:10:12,166 --> 01:10:15,420
In my opinion, they were very brave,
very brave men indeed.'

1255
01:10:15,503 --> 01:10:19,599
'There was a German standing up
on his parapet and flinging bombs,

1256
01:10:19,674 --> 01:10:21,267
so I shot him.'

1257
01:10:21,300 --> 01:10:25,146
'The officer gave us orders,
"Open immediate rapid-fire!"

1258
01:10:25,263 --> 01:10:28,642
We all opened up as fast as we could go,
continually firing.

1259
01:10:28,766 --> 01:10:30,768
It was a real mad minute,
I'll tell you.'

1260
01:10:30,810 --> 01:10:35,031
'They stood up and I was picking
the Germans off because I was a sniper.'

1261
01:10:35,106 --> 01:10:38,656
'I was trying to pick the shot
and something hit me

1262
01:10:38,776 --> 01:10:41,279
between the eyes
like a Sledgehammer.

1263
01:10:41,362 --> 01:10:43,865
I dissolved into unconsciousness
with no pain,

1264
01:10:43,948 --> 01:10:47,623
but with millions of golden stars
in a dark-blue heaven.'

1265
01:10:47,702 --> 01:10:50,125
'After I'd used up
a whole lot of bullets,

1266
01:10:50,163 --> 01:10:52,541
I got down, I says,
"You have a go, Bill."

1267
01:10:52,623 --> 01:10:55,342
He didn't even fire a shot,
he was killed immediately.

1268
01:10:55,460 --> 01:10:57,508
That's how things were.

1269
01:10:57,628 --> 01:11:00,131
You felt grief, it was a pal of yours,

1270
01:11:00,214 --> 01:11:04,469
but you took it casually because
I suppose you become battle-hardened.'

1271
01:11:04,552 --> 01:11:07,897
'We kept up rapid-fire there
as long as our rifles would work.

1272
01:11:07,972 --> 01:11:10,725
- They got too hot to fire any more.'
-'Fat was pouring out

1273
01:11:10,808 --> 01:11:12,651
the woodwork of the rifles.

1274
01:11:12,685 --> 01:11:14,687
The muzzles were beginning to extend.'

1275
01:11:14,812 --> 01:11:16,814
'Then we got an order from the captain:

1276
01:11:16,856 --> 01:11:20,827
We must make a barricade of the dead -
the German dead and our own dead.'

1277
01:11:21,819 --> 01:11:24,914
'My captain, at that time,
was anxious to go on and keep it up,

1278
01:11:24,989 --> 01:11:26,866
but I'm afraid he died.'

1279
01:11:27,867 --> 01:11:31,497
'I had three men loading up rifle
grenades and I peppered the whole line.

1280
01:11:31,537 --> 01:11:34,666
Judging by the shouts and the screams,
I'd taken a very good toll.'

1281
01:11:34,749 --> 01:11:38,720
'There was a machine gun spraying
on the lip of our shell hole.

1282
01:11:38,836 --> 01:11:41,385
I waited until
the belt of that gun had fired

1283
01:11:41,506 --> 01:11:43,929
and immediately carried on the advance.'

1284
01:11:44,008 --> 01:11:46,727
'The sergeant, he says, "Follow me."'

1285
01:11:46,844 --> 01:11:50,565
'I had managed to crawl under the wire,
a lot of us got through in that way,

1286
01:11:50,681 --> 01:11:54,060
and gathered together
on the German side of the wire.'

1287
01:11:54,185 --> 01:11:58,031
'All the shells screamed over our heads
onto the German posts and stopped.

1288
01:11:58,105 --> 01:12:03,032
"Come on, lads, give them hell!"
And we just got up and rushed forward.'

1289
01:12:03,069 --> 01:12:05,913
'In the bayonet charge,
the majority of us always had

1290
01:12:06,030 --> 01:12:08,954
a round up the spout,
besides the magazine.'

1291
01:12:09,033 --> 01:12:12,537
'There was an exultation that with
a rifle, bayonet and Mills bombs,

1292
01:12:12,578 --> 01:12:15,206
we were going to be able
to get stuck into the bastards

1293
01:12:15,289 --> 01:12:18,634
-that had been killing our mates.'
-'And we went like hell,

1294
01:12:18,709 --> 01:12:21,713
<i>-straight into the Germans.'
-(SCREAMING AND GUNFIRE)</i>

1295
01:12:25,800 --> 01:12:27,723
<i>(GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING)</i>

1296
01:12:27,760 --> 01:12:30,229
'And we fired at anything that moved.'

1297
01:12:30,263 --> 01:12:32,265
'I dropped down to my knees

1298
01:12:32,390 --> 01:12:35,234
and the sergeant fired over my shoulder
and hit the German.

1299
01:12:35,309 --> 01:12:39,155
He was on the ground but still firing,
so he went up and killed him.'

1300
01:12:39,230 --> 01:12:41,574
'There was only one method
of bayonet fighting:

1301
01:12:41,649 --> 01:12:43,902
to shove your bayonet in
as hard as you could.'

1302
01:12:43,943 --> 01:12:46,162
'There was this German
on the floor of the trench,

1303
01:12:46,237 --> 01:12:47,784
the poor bugger was dead scared.

1304
01:12:47,905 --> 01:12:50,579
While I'm wondering
whether to stick him or shoot him,

1305
01:12:50,616 --> 01:12:54,337
a German jumped out away to my left,
another one on the right,

1306
01:12:54,412 --> 01:12:57,962
so I pinned this German down,
then shot the German on the left.

1307
01:12:58,082 --> 01:13:01,427
I put another one up the spout and
shot the German running on the right.'

1308
01:13:02,253 --> 01:13:05,928
'Quite a number of Germans came in
a rush and we shot them, one by one.

1309
01:13:06,007 --> 01:13:07,805
We probably killed the lot.'

1310
01:13:07,925 --> 01:13:10,269
'Some chap said, "Poor old Dick got it,"

1311
01:13:10,303 --> 01:13:13,933
and I looked around and saw him lying
with the top of his head off.'

1312
01:13:14,015 --> 01:13:17,815
'On our right flank came
a German with a canister on his back,

1313
01:13:17,935 --> 01:13:20,438
squirting this liquid fire
out of the hose.'

1314
01:13:20,521 --> 01:13:23,365
'I looked towards jets of flame
coming across the trench.

1315
01:13:23,441 --> 01:13:25,284
We'd never heard of flame-throwers.'

1316
01:13:25,359 --> 01:13:28,533
'Burnt 23 of our chaps to death.
I plonked one into his chest,

1317
01:13:28,613 --> 01:13:32,163
but we didn't stop him, he must have had
an armour-plated waistcoat on.'

1318
01:13:32,283 --> 01:13:35,162
'I got a bang in the arm
and found I was bleeding.

1319
01:13:35,286 --> 01:13:38,460
I could bomb pretty well with
my left arm as I could with my right.'

1320
01:13:39,290 --> 01:13:41,884
'Somebody threw a Mills bomb
and it burst behind him.

1321
01:13:41,959 --> 01:13:44,303
He wasn't armour-plated behind,
he went down.'

1322
01:13:44,378 --> 01:13:46,722
'One German came
running out of this trench,

1323
01:13:46,797 --> 01:13:49,300
screaming his head off,
he nearly knocked me over.'

1324
01:13:49,383 --> 01:13:52,557
'Three Germans came out
with their hands up

1325
01:13:52,637 --> 01:13:56,642
and they were young chaps
about our own age, about 19 or 20.'

1326
01:13:56,724 --> 01:14:00,149
'If Jerries came up with their hands up,
we just waved them on,

1327
01:14:00,186 --> 01:14:02,063
we didn't fire at them, obviously.'

1328
01:14:03,189 --> 01:14:04,862
'Prisoners were a nuisance!

1329
01:14:04,982 --> 01:14:07,485
We were shooing them back,
you know, get rid of them.'

1330
01:14:07,568 --> 01:14:11,493
'The only Germans we were really
fighting were the machine-gunners.'

1331
01:14:11,572 --> 01:14:15,202
'They were firing belt after belt at us
and they never stopped firing.

1332
01:14:15,326 --> 01:14:18,170
The bloody cartridge cases
were piled up in a heap.'

1333
01:14:18,245 --> 01:14:20,668
'They'd got all their best men
on machine guns

1334
01:14:20,706 --> 01:14:22,583
and they fought to their deaths.'

1335
01:14:22,667 --> 01:14:24,920
It popped open,
there was three Jerries there

1336
01:14:25,002 --> 01:14:28,723
in front of the machine gun
and the bloody gun was pointing at me,

1337
01:14:28,839 --> 01:14:32,218
and I just swung the Lewis gun
and I opened fire first.

1338
01:14:32,343 --> 01:14:34,516
It was split-second stuff.

1339
01:14:34,553 --> 01:14:36,681
Thankfully, I moved on.'

1340
01:14:36,722 --> 01:14:39,350
'As the war progressed,
it was inevitable that

1341
01:14:39,433 --> 01:14:42,858
we developed
the animal characteristic of killing.'

1342
01:14:42,895 --> 01:14:46,399
'Well, we'd got some young
Lincolnshire lads, the 18-year-olds.

1343
01:14:46,524 --> 01:14:48,777
Machine-gunners
were putting their hands up.

1344
01:14:48,859 --> 01:14:51,203
It didn't make a difference.
They were killed.'

1345
01:14:53,364 --> 01:14:56,083
'I'm afraid there was
a little bit of slaughter going on,

1346
01:14:56,200 --> 01:14:57,873
until we got in some sort of order.'

1347
01:14:57,910 --> 01:15:02,461
'Everybody was screaming,
laying down, moaning and groaning

1348
01:15:02,540 --> 01:15:05,384
and eventually there was silence.'

1349
01:15:05,459 --> 01:15:08,383
'I found a German officer
with his lung hanging out.

1350
01:15:08,421 --> 01:15:10,719
He was still alive,
but he wasn't conscious.

1351
01:15:10,798 --> 01:15:14,644
You could see his lung was expanding
and contracting as he was breathing.

1352
01:15:14,719 --> 01:15:17,768
It was the nearest I came to ever
shooting a man point-blank,

1353
01:15:17,888 --> 01:15:19,936
but we had to go on.'

1354
01:15:20,057 --> 01:15:22,810
'One dead German leaning
against a shell wall.

1355
01:15:22,893 --> 01:15:25,772
He was a handsome bloke,
he reminded me of my father.

1356
01:15:25,896 --> 01:15:27,944
A shell had dissected him nicely

1357
01:15:28,065 --> 01:15:32,787
and it had taken the whole of the front
of his chest down to his stomach,

1358
01:15:32,903 --> 01:15:34,576
neatly cut aside.

1359
01:15:34,655 --> 01:15:37,454
What a fantastic exhibition of anatomy.'

1360
01:15:39,618 --> 01:15:42,246
'The real shooting was over
in about ten minutes.'

1361
01:15:42,288 --> 01:15:46,043
'There was about 100 of us coming
out, instead of 600 who'd gone over,

1362
01:15:46,083 --> 01:15:48,461
and a band came to meet us.

1363
01:15:48,586 --> 01:15:50,259
It was a wonderful feeling.

1364
01:15:50,296 --> 01:15:53,891
I've been in a battle!
And I'm so very proud about it.'

1365
01:15:54,967 --> 01:15:56,640
<i>Hang on!</i>

1366
01:15:56,761 --> 01:15:58,388
<i>(GRUNTING)</i>

1367
01:15:58,429 --> 01:16:00,602
<i>- You got it?
- Yeah.</i>

1368
01:16:00,639 --> 01:16:04,269
'And if you'd anybody
wounded or killed,

1369
01:16:04,310 --> 01:16:07,780
if you didn't get 'em out straightaway,

1370
01:16:07,813 --> 01:16:11,488
they went down in the soil
and disappeared, it was so bad.'

1371
01:16:11,609 --> 01:16:13,327
<i>That's it.</i>

1372
01:16:14,445 --> 01:16:18,916
'Well, you had to ascertain
whether a man was alive or not.

1373
01:16:18,949 --> 01:16:24,251
If he was dead,
then he was no trouble, medically.'

1374
01:16:24,288 --> 01:16:27,462
<i>-(FLIES</i> BUZZING)
-'l can't put that any clearer.'

1375
01:16:27,500 --> 01:16:29,423
<i>Keep him level!</i>

1376
01:16:30,753 --> 01:16:32,426
<i>Give us some room!</i>

1377
01:16:32,463 --> 01:16:35,933
'I felt some pain, I suppose,
about an hour later.

1378
01:16:35,966 --> 01:16:39,641
I'd got these thigh boots on
and the bullet had gone in sideways,

1379
01:16:39,678 --> 01:16:41,976
all the way down the leg,
in, out, in, out,

1380
01:16:42,098 --> 01:16:44,977
and hit the ankle bone
and turned upside-down.'

1381
01:16:45,101 --> 01:16:47,980
<i>- All right, sir?
- Oh, God!</i>

1382
01:16:49,021 --> 01:16:51,991
<i>Jesus! (GRUNTS)</i>

1383
01:16:52,024 --> 01:16:55,198
'The sergeant major brought me
a dixie of hot tea,

1384
01:16:55,319 --> 01:16:58,198
which was just what I needed,
it went down beautifully.'

1385
01:16:59,323 --> 01:17:02,327
'And casualties started coming back,
walking casualties,

1386
01:17:02,451 --> 01:17:05,170
men with their arms smashed up,
legs trawling,

1387
01:17:05,204 --> 01:17:08,834
and they got back to different dressing
stations the best way they could.'

1388
01:17:08,874 --> 01:17:11,673
'The walking wounded,
they were coming down in droves.

1389
01:17:11,794 --> 01:17:14,843
Some were holding one another,
some were walking on their own,

1390
01:17:14,880 --> 01:17:17,383
a light wound in the hand or arm,
some were hobbling along,

1391
01:17:17,508 --> 01:17:20,853
some were looking quite cheerful
as they'd been free of something.'

1392
01:17:20,970 --> 01:17:23,018
<i>- Hello, Mum!
-(CHUCKLES)</i>

1393
01:17:23,139 --> 01:17:26,234
'My officer had said,
"Are you all right, Kane?"

1394
01:17:26,350 --> 01:17:28,819
And I said,
"Oh, yes, sir, I can still walk."

1395
01:17:28,853 --> 01:17:31,527
He said, "But you've been hit
in the back of the head,"

1396
01:17:31,564 --> 01:17:35,068
and he handed me quite a dose of rum.'

1397
01:17:35,192 --> 01:17:37,866
I got a whack on the tin pot.
I thought my head were coming off.

1398
01:17:37,903 --> 01:17:41,703
'The worst cases were those
who were shot through the chest.

1399
01:17:41,824 --> 01:17:44,828
Well, the difficulty of breathing,
you see,

1400
01:17:44,869 --> 01:17:48,874
you only had field dressings,
which every man carried.'

1401
01:17:48,998 --> 01:17:51,877
<i>- Yeah, we'll have a better look at it.
- Who's waiting, boys?</i>

1402
01:17:51,917 --> 01:17:55,217
'You got a bottle of iodine
and they'd tip it in the hole.

1403
01:17:55,337 --> 01:17:58,056
Oh, the pain was terrific.'

1404
01:17:58,090 --> 01:18:00,434
<i>Well done.</i>

1405
01:18:00,551 --> 01:18:02,929
<i>How about that for luck, chum?</i>

1406
01:18:03,053 --> 01:18:04,726
<i>They shot right through it.</i>

1407
01:18:08,017 --> 01:18:10,236
'I was not in very good shape at all,

1408
01:18:10,352 --> 01:18:13,526
and I was getting somewhere near
the end of my tether.

1409
01:18:13,564 --> 01:18:15,737
I don't think
I could go on much longer.

1410
01:18:15,858 --> 01:18:19,738
Every soldier, I suppose,
had this breaking strain.'

1411
01:18:22,948 --> 01:18:25,076
<i>The medics will be waiting for you.</i>

1412
01:18:25,117 --> 01:18:27,245
<i>Well clone, lads. Well clone.</i>

1413
01:18:27,286 --> 01:18:29,584
<i>That's it.</i>

1414
01:18:29,705 --> 01:18:34,757
'We had some remarkable doctors
who worked day and night

1415
01:18:34,793 --> 01:18:39,924
in various stations on the British front
looking after the wounded.'

1416
01:18:41,091 --> 01:18:43,560
- Nice cup of Rosie Lee.
- You all right, Jack?

1417
01:18:43,594 --> 01:18:46,598
'They seemed never to need any sleep

1418
01:18:46,722 --> 01:18:50,317
so, what they hadn't got in numbers,
they made up in effort.'

1419
01:18:50,434 --> 01:18:52,812
<i>We need a shell dressing.</i>

1420
01:18:54,104 --> 01:18:56,448
'Both my officers, all my sergeants

1421
01:18:56,482 --> 01:18:59,406
and three-quarters of my men
were killed or wounded.'

1422
01:18:59,443 --> 01:19:02,287
- Blighty wound.
-'Their ranks were made up

1423
01:19:02,404 --> 01:19:06,284
with lads of 18 from England
who'd been pushed out of factories.'

1424
01:19:06,325 --> 01:19:08,453
<i>- Easy. That's it.
-(COUGHS)</i>

1425
01:19:08,494 --> 01:19:10,997
<i>(SQUAWKING)</i>

1426
01:19:11,121 --> 01:19:14,170
<i>Bloody birds! Get off! Go on!</i>

1427
01:19:14,291 --> 01:19:15,964
<i>Go on, then.</i>

1428
01:19:16,001 --> 01:19:19,426
'My mob were helping
the battalion to bury these,

1429
01:19:19,463 --> 01:19:22,683
only little kids, they were,
17 or 18 years of age.'

1430
01:19:22,800 --> 01:19:27,101
<i>"In sure and certain hope
of the resurrection to eternal life</i>

1431
01:19:27,137 --> 01:19:29,356
<i>through our Lord Jesus Christ."</i>

1432
01:19:33,269 --> 01:19:35,863
'A lot of those kids,
that was their first action

1433
01:19:35,980 --> 01:19:38,699
-and they never knew any more.'
- Bring 'em over there!

1434
01:19:38,816 --> 01:19:40,659
'So we'd wrapped 'em up in blankets,

1435
01:19:40,693 --> 01:19:44,448
dug a little shallow grave
and put them in there.'

1436
01:19:45,656 --> 01:19:49,377
'I was putting a dressing on a German,
and he was very, very shaky

1437
01:19:49,493 --> 01:19:51,837
and fearful of what
we were going to do to him.'

1438
01:19:51,870 --> 01:19:54,123
'But they were more frightened
than we were

1439
01:19:54,164 --> 01:19:56,667
and we were frightened,
I don't mind telling you.'

1440
01:19:56,709 --> 01:19:59,337
'Mostly, they were just boys,
as we were.

1441
01:19:59,378 --> 01:20:02,552
They seemed glad to be captured,
they were out of it.'

1442
01:20:02,673 --> 01:20:04,175
<i>- Is this yours?
- Mine.</i>

1443
01:20:04,300 --> 01:20:05,973
<i>- This is his.
- Ah, it's yours.</i>

1444
01:20:06,010 --> 01:20:07,728
<i>Put it in your pocket.</i>

1445
01:20:07,845 --> 01:20:09,563
'There was a little German fella.

1446
01:20:09,680 --> 01:20:11,978
I gave him a cigarette
and he was terrified,

1447
01:20:12,016 --> 01:20:14,360
and I was very sorry for him,
really, you know.

1448
01:20:14,393 --> 01:20:16,066
He was only about 16.

1449
01:20:16,186 --> 01:20:18,905
And we had a chinwag
and I just took his pocket watch.

1450
01:20:19,023 --> 01:20:22,027
You know, it was a normal thing.
We used to rob them, you see.'

1451
01:20:22,151 --> 01:20:24,404
<i>Right, let's go. Pick him up!</i>

1452
01:20:24,528 --> 01:20:28,499
'Yes, they were underfed
and they were in very poor shape.'

1453
01:20:28,532 --> 01:20:30,660
<i>Come on now, lads. Pick him up.
Come on!</i>

1454
01:20:30,701 --> 01:20:33,705
'And, funnily enough, five or six
German prisoners came along

1455
01:20:33,829 --> 01:20:37,208
and they helped carry me
and I got another six watches

1456
01:20:37,249 --> 01:20:40,002
because I robbed these fellas
who helped me down.'

1457
01:20:40,044 --> 01:20:42,888
'Every time we captured prisoners,

1458
01:20:42,921 --> 01:20:47,017
a number of German prisoners would
immediately take up stretcher duty.

1459
01:20:47,051 --> 01:20:50,396
Now, I'm sure the Geneva Convention
never required them to do that.'

1460
01:20:50,429 --> 01:20:52,773
<i>- There you go, lads.
- I've got him. Steady.</i>

1461
01:20:52,890 --> 01:20:55,359
<i>- Feet up.
- You're all right, chum. That's it.</i>

1462
01:20:55,392 --> 01:20:58,191
<i>- Come.
- Keep going.</i>

1463
01:20:58,228 --> 01:21:00,697
'I took about a dozen prisoners
back with me,

1464
01:21:00,731 --> 01:21:03,450
who were all unarmed
and I just had my old gun.'

1465
01:21:03,567 --> 01:21:06,195
'In some cases, there were
a whole lot of Germans

1466
01:21:06,236 --> 01:21:08,364
without even a Tommy with them.'

1467
01:21:08,405 --> 01:21:14,538
'Oh, they were really cowed they were,
yes, they were very subdued.'

1468
01:21:14,578 --> 01:21:16,251
<i>Come along now!</i>

1469
01:21:16,372 --> 01:21:20,593
'I slept next to a German man
who'd been wounded in the arm...

1470
01:21:22,378 --> 01:21:25,882
...and, to my amazement,
he started talking to me in English.

1471
01:21:25,923 --> 01:21:29,598
And he said he'd been
a waiter at the Savoy.'

1472
01:21:32,888 --> 01:21:36,313
'I mean, I don't think
the average British soldier ever had

1473
01:21:36,433 --> 01:21:39,733
any deep feelings
regarding revenge against a German.

1474
01:21:39,770 --> 01:21:41,772
He admired him and respected him.'

1475
01:21:41,814 --> 01:21:43,942
<i>Go on, show him.</i>

1476
01:21:43,982 --> 01:21:48,829
'As the war went on, I felt as much
sympathy for them as I did for myself.'

1477
01:21:48,946 --> 01:21:51,574
'The German, I always thought,
was a good fighter.

1478
01:21:51,615 --> 01:21:55,119
I'd sooner have him on my side
than on the opposite side.'

1479
01:21:55,160 --> 01:21:57,754
'Some of the Germans thought
we ought to be fighting

1480
01:21:57,788 --> 01:21:59,836
with them against
the French and Russians,

1481
01:21:59,957 --> 01:22:02,801
but none of them thought
we ought to be fighting each other.'

1482
01:22:02,835 --> 01:22:05,930
<i>- Keep</i> on moving forward!
-'You see, the German had been

1483
01:22:05,963 --> 01:22:07,840
an unknown horde

1484
01:22:07,965 --> 01:22:11,811
with their coal-scuttle helmets,
and then we met them.'

1485
01:22:11,927 --> 01:22:14,851
'Well, the German soldier,
he was a very nice fella as a rule.

1486
01:22:14,972 --> 01:22:17,771
I think he was really a barber
or a shopkeeper or something

1487
01:22:17,808 --> 01:22:19,981
and, the same as us,
he was stuck in uniform.'

1488
01:22:20,102 --> 01:22:22,355
<i>- You're too tall.
- Get you next time, Jerry!</i>

1489
01:22:22,479 --> 01:22:24,982
'We got on very well together, actually,

1490
01:22:25,107 --> 01:22:27,485
and they used to mix in with us.'

1491
01:22:27,609 --> 01:22:30,203
<i>- Want your hat back?
- Give it him back!</i>

1492
01:22:30,320 --> 01:22:33,665
<i>- What do you reckon?
-'They were decent sort of family people</i>

1493
01:22:33,782 --> 01:22:36,331
and thought
a great deal of their children.'

1494
01:22:36,452 --> 01:22:38,625
<i>- Let's try yours.
-(RIPPLES OF LAUGHTER)</i>

1495
01:22:38,662 --> 01:22:41,506
'They didn't seem to bear
any malice against us.

1496
01:22:41,623 --> 01:22:44,502
They'd had to do what they were told,
like us.'

1497
01:22:45,836 --> 01:22:48,180
<i>Go on, go on tracking.</i>

1498
01:22:48,213 --> 01:22:50,682
'I couldn't speak German, but some could

1499
01:22:50,799 --> 01:22:53,348
and the Germans,
some of them could speak English.

1500
01:22:53,469 --> 01:22:55,517
Anyhow, we could understand each other.'

1501
01:22:55,554 --> 01:22:58,478
'The general agreement
when we were talking to Germans

1502
01:22:58,515 --> 01:23:02,861
was how useless war was
and why did it have to happen?'

1503
01:23:02,895 --> 01:23:05,068
<i>- Taking our photos.
- Hey! Here!</i>

1504
01:23:05,189 --> 01:23:07,817
'When you're passing bodies
all day long,

1505
01:23:07,858 --> 01:23:10,862
it's bound to have an effect
on whoever it is, isn't it?'

1506
01:23:10,903 --> 01:23:14,157
'This big, fat German
was lying in a street, you know,

1507
01:23:14,198 --> 01:23:16,872
-his stomach was all gassed up.'
<i>-(FLIES</i> BUZZING)

1508
01:23:16,992 --> 01:23:19,586
'His intestines were lying out
on his belly

1509
01:23:19,703 --> 01:23:22,206
and somebody had stuck
a pipe in his mouth!

1510
01:23:22,247 --> 01:23:24,875
Yeah, we all told him t0 get up!
(CHUCKLES)'

1511
01:23:25,417 --> 01:23:27,340
<i>Jerries come through this way.</i>

1512
01:23:27,377 --> 01:23:30,881
'German troops were very brave
and very stubborn.'

1513
01:23:30,923 --> 01:23:34,598
'The Germans fought rearguard actions
almost back to the Rhine

1514
01:23:34,718 --> 01:23:38,848
and regiment after regiment
was smashed up and cut about.'

1515
01:23:38,889 --> 01:23:41,859
'We had an idea that
they were beginning to crack.'

1516
01:23:41,892 --> 01:23:45,613
-(SHOUTING <i>IN</i> GERMAN)
-'l'd say that they were, if anything,

1517
01:23:45,729 --> 01:23:47,072
rather despondent.

1518
01:23:47,105 --> 01:23:48,573
They knew they had lost the war.'

1519
01:23:48,690 --> 01:23:52,570
'We, as front-line soldiers,
knew they were giving up.'

1520
01:23:52,611 --> 01:23:57,242
'Quite frankly, the Germans were
fed up with the whole thing.'

1521
01:23:57,366 --> 01:24:01,041
'And, gradually, that is how
the war itself came to an end.'

1522
01:24:01,078 --> 01:24:06,209
'I got the impression that most of
the German soldiers couldn't care less

1523
01:24:06,250 --> 01:24:08,548
who won, as long as the war finished.'

1524
01:24:08,585 --> 01:24:12,761
'Of course, that's what everybody was
thinking about then. We'd had enough.'

1525
01:24:12,881 --> 01:24:15,634
'And after a time,
perhaps, nobody cared.'

1526
01:24:15,759 --> 01:24:18,262
<i>All right, boys, here it comes.</i>

1527
01:24:18,303 --> 01:24:21,603
<i>- We're in the pictures! (LAUGHS)
- Shush.</i>

1528
01:24:21,723 --> 01:24:23,976
'There was a fella in
the war called Rumour,

1529
01:24:24,101 --> 01:24:27,071
he knows everything, you see,
and Mr Rumour told us that

1530
01:24:27,104 --> 01:24:29,983
the Germans were also
negotiating for an armistice.'

1531
01:24:30,107 --> 01:24:32,280
'There was a huge poster.

1532
01:24:32,317 --> 01:24:35,742
"All hostilities will cease
on the Western Front

1533
01:24:35,779 --> 01:24:40,250
at 11 o'clock on 11th November, 1918."

1534
01:24:40,284 --> 01:24:42,628
So we said to each other,
"What day is it?"

1535
01:24:42,744 --> 01:24:45,964
And somebody discovered
it was November 11th!'

1536
01:24:46,081 --> 01:24:47,298
<i>Smile for the camera!</i>

1537
01:24:47,416 --> 01:24:49,919
'Then we had to shine our boots
and clean our buttons.

1538
01:24:49,960 --> 01:24:52,839
- We knew the war was over then...'
-(CHEERING)

1539
01:24:52,963 --> 01:24:56,263
'..and we were quite confident that
we would be there when it ended.'

1540
01:24:56,300 --> 01:25:00,806
'This proclamation was read out,
stating that the hostilities would cease

1541
01:25:00,929 --> 01:25:05,480
from 11 that morning, and actually
there wasn't a cheer of any kind raised

1542
01:25:05,517 --> 01:25:07,190
when that was read out.'

1543
01:25:07,311 --> 01:25:11,111
'At 11 o'clock, the noise
of the gunfire just rolled away,

1544
01:25:11,148 --> 01:25:13,526
like a peal of thunder in the distance.'

1545
01:25:13,650 --> 01:25:17,154
<i>(GUNFIRE AND SHELL FIRE FADES)</i>

1546
01:25:21,325 --> 01:25:23,373
<i>(INDISTINCT CHATTER)</i>

1547
01:25:26,204 --> 01:25:29,799
'Never heard it being quiet.
Now it was dead silent.'

1548
01:25:30,709 --> 01:25:34,054
'You were so dazed that you could
stand up straight and not be shot.'

1549
01:25:34,171 --> 01:25:35,844
'It was eerie.'

1550
01:25:37,341 --> 01:25:39,719
'There was a feeling of
relief and gladness,

1551
01:25:39,843 --> 01:25:42,687
I suppose, but no celebration.'

1552
01:25:42,721 --> 01:25:45,474
'The staff officer shut his watch up
and said,

1553
01:25:45,515 --> 01:25:48,064
"I wonder what
we're all going to do next."'

1554
01:25:48,185 --> 01:25:50,688
'There was no demonstration of any kind,

1555
01:25:50,729 --> 01:25:53,858
nobody said a word,
everybody just slumped away.'

1556
01:25:54,733 --> 01:25:58,203
'The only way we could have celebrated
as regards to a liquid

1557
01:25:58,236 --> 01:26:00,159
would have been tea, that's all.'

1558
01:26:00,197 --> 01:26:03,326
'It was one of
the flattest moments of our lives.

1559
01:26:03,367 --> 01:26:05,495
We just couldn't comprehend it.'

1560
01:26:06,912 --> 01:26:10,542
'We had that sort of feeling as though
we'd been kicked out of a job.'

1561
01:26:10,666 --> 01:26:13,886
'To some of us, it was practically
the only life we'd known.

1562
01:26:14,002 --> 01:26:16,380
What was one going to do next?'

1563
01:26:16,505 --> 01:26:19,008
'It was just like being made redundant.'

1564
01:26:19,049 --> 01:26:21,893
'That was very much
the feeling of everyone.'

1565
01:26:21,927 --> 01:26:25,227
'We were thoroughly upset,
we'd all got no work to go to.

1566
01:26:25,347 --> 01:26:27,065
"I don't want to go back."'

1567
01:26:27,182 --> 01:26:32,063
'There was no cheering, no singing,
we were drained of all emotion.

1568
01:26:32,187 --> 01:26:36,533
We were too far gone,
too exhausted to enjoy it.'

1569
01:26:36,566 --> 01:26:40,446
'All things come to an end
and even a drama can go on too long.

1570
01:26:41,571 --> 01:26:44,745
It didn't end with a whimper,
but something very much like one.'

1571
01:27:00,882 --> 01:27:02,555
'I was very happy to leave.

1572
01:27:02,592 --> 01:27:04,720
I'd had enough, you know.

1573
01:27:04,761 --> 01:27:07,765
After a time, it begins to wear on one,
you know.'

1574
01:27:07,889 --> 01:27:11,109
"'Thank goodness the bloody thing
is over," that was all.'

1575
01:27:11,226 --> 01:27:15,902
'As far as I was concerned, I was out
of it and now the next step in life.'

1576
01:27:15,939 --> 01:27:18,909
'The first thing we did was write home,
say we were all right,

1577
01:27:18,942 --> 01:27:21,445
making sure we got the date
on the envelope right.'

1578
01:27:21,486 --> 01:27:24,581
'To someone like myself,
who was interested in nature,

1579
01:27:24,614 --> 01:27:27,288
after the horrors
that man had made of the battlefront,

1580
01:27:27,409 --> 01:27:30,413
I was immensely delighted to find
shell holes in which I picked

1581
01:27:30,454 --> 01:27:32,582
lilies of the valley and larkspur.

1582
01:27:32,622 --> 01:27:36,126
And I pursued Cambervvell Beauties
and swallowtail butterflies

1583
01:27:36,168 --> 01:27:38,091
along the banks of the Aisne River.'

1584
01:27:38,128 --> 01:27:40,301
'We went to Boulogne.

1585
01:27:40,338 --> 01:27:42,432
By the way, we came home with full pack.

1586
01:27:42,466 --> 01:27:46,471
The only thing we left behind was
the bullets, we had to discard those,

1587
01:27:46,511 --> 01:27:48,684
but we still kept our rifle.

1588
01:27:48,805 --> 01:27:50,853
We went over to Folkestone,

1589
01:27:50,974 --> 01:27:56,105
and there were long trestle tables
with very kind ladies.

1590
01:27:56,146 --> 01:28:01,277
They gave you a sausage roll, or a bun,
and a cup of tea and that was welcome.'

1591
01:28:01,318 --> 01:28:05,664
'We entrained to Victoria
and there we broke up.'

1592
01:28:05,781 --> 01:28:08,830
'We went to the barracks
and we just dumped rifles,

1593
01:28:08,867 --> 01:28:14,124
bayonets and everything and there were
a lot of suits on display, hats, shoes.

1594
01:28:14,164 --> 01:28:18,670
You could tell her which one you wanted,
style and colour and they measured you.'

1595
01:28:19,836 --> 01:28:23,340
'I was horrified by what I saw
when I came back here

1596
01:28:23,465 --> 01:28:25,513
and when one tried to get a job.'

1597
01:28:25,634 --> 01:28:29,013
'There was mass unemployment.
I thought, "This isn't much of a life."'

1598
01:28:29,137 --> 01:28:32,186
'It was a difficult thing to realise
you're of no commercial value.'

1599
01:28:32,307 --> 01:28:36,403
'It was a shame, the way ex-servicemen
were treated. You weren't wanted.

1600
01:28:36,520 --> 01:28:39,820
Some places said,
"No ex-servicemen need apply,"

1601
01:28:39,856 --> 01:28:42,860
and that was the sort of attitude
you were up against.'

1602
01:28:42,984 --> 01:28:46,033
'One of my pals was killed
and, when I went home,

1603
01:28:46,154 --> 01:28:48,498
the first thing that I did
was go to his mother,

1604
01:28:48,532 --> 01:28:51,752
who, if she'd had a frying pan,
she'd have hit me.

1605
01:28:51,868 --> 01:28:54,337
Her son had been killed
and I'd come back alive.

1606
01:28:54,371 --> 01:28:56,044
She was very bitter.'

1607
01:28:56,164 --> 01:28:57,837
'The first night I came home,

1608
01:28:57,874 --> 01:29:02,550
I got into my old bed, the first bed
I'd laid in since ljoined the army.

1609
01:29:02,671 --> 01:29:05,265
When Mother brought my cup
of tea up in the morning,

1610
01:29:05,382 --> 01:29:07,259
she found me fast asleep on the floor.'

1611
01:29:07,384 --> 01:29:09,182
'People never talked about the war.

1612
01:29:09,219 --> 01:29:12,063
It was a thing that had
no conversational value at all.

1613
01:29:12,180 --> 01:29:14,899
Most people were
absolutely disinterested.'

1614
01:29:14,933 --> 01:29:19,609
'When I got home, my father and
my mother didn't seem interested.

1615
01:29:19,729 --> 01:29:22,528
They hadn't any conception
of what it was like.'

1616
01:29:22,566 --> 01:29:26,412
'And there was no reason why any one of
us millions should have been favoured

1617
01:29:26,528 --> 01:29:29,532
with a "thank you very much"
for having got a little bit muddy

1618
01:29:29,573 --> 01:29:31,450
and out of touch with good manners.'

1619
01:29:31,575 --> 01:29:36,752
'And on occasions when I did talk about
it, my father would argue points of fact

1620
01:29:36,788 --> 01:29:39,962
that he couldn't have known about,
because he wasn't there.'

1621
01:29:40,083 --> 01:29:43,087
'Every soldier I've spoken to
experienced the same thing.

1622
01:29:43,128 --> 01:29:45,927
We were a race apart from the civilians,

1623
01:29:46,047 --> 01:29:49,301
and you could speak to your comrades,
and they understood

1624
01:29:49,426 --> 01:29:52,305
but, the civilians,
it was just a waste of time.'

1625
01:29:52,429 --> 01:29:55,729
'However nice and sympathetic they were,

1626
01:29:55,765 --> 01:29:58,564
attempts of well-meaning people
to sympathise

1627
01:29:58,602 --> 01:30:03,108
reflected the fact that
they didn't really understand at all.'

1628
01:30:03,148 --> 01:30:06,778
'I think the magnitude
was just beyond their comprehension.

1629
01:30:06,902 --> 01:30:10,281
They didn't understand
that people that you'd known

1630
01:30:10,405 --> 01:30:14,000
and played football with
were just killed beside you.

1631
01:30:14,117 --> 01:30:19,499
My friend who enlisted with me lay there
like a sack of rags until he went black

1632
01:30:19,623 --> 01:30:21,796
before anybody troubled to bury him.'

1633
01:30:21,917 --> 01:30:25,296
'They knew that people came back
covered with mud and lice,

1634
01:30:25,420 --> 01:30:28,469
but they'd no idea of
the strain of sitting in a trench

1635
01:30:28,506 --> 01:30:30,975
and waiting for something
to drop on one's head.'

1636
01:30:31,092 --> 01:30:34,642
'You couldn't convey
the awful state of things,

1637
01:30:34,763 --> 01:30:37,858
the way you lived like animals
and behaved like animals.

1638
01:30:37,974 --> 01:30:42,821
People didn't seem to realise
what a terrible thing war was.'

1639
01:30:42,854 --> 01:30:47,485
'l think they felt that the war
was one continual cavalry charge.

1640
01:30:47,609 --> 01:30:50,158
They hadn't any conception.
And how could they?'

1641
01:30:50,195 --> 01:30:52,994
'Well, it started off
in a reasonable manner,

1642
01:30:53,031 --> 01:30:55,625
it was people fighting
on horseback with swords,

1643
01:30:55,659 --> 01:30:57,832
but it developed
into something ghastly.

1644
01:30:57,953 --> 01:31:00,832
People don't realise
the potential of military equipment.

1645
01:31:00,956 --> 01:31:04,051
A man's life wasn't worth
anything at the end of the war.'

1646
01:31:04,167 --> 01:31:06,295
'We were none of us heroes, you know.

1647
01:31:06,336 --> 01:31:09,340
We didn't like this business
of being killed at all.'

1648
01:31:09,381 --> 01:31:12,180
'When we were talking among ourselves,
we used to say,

1649
01:31:12,217 --> 01:31:14,720
"Christ! They won't have
any more wars like this!"'

1650
01:31:14,844 --> 01:31:19,190
'How did we endure it? The answer
must be partly the fear of fear,

1651
01:31:19,307 --> 01:31:21,355
the fear of being found afraid.

1652
01:31:21,476 --> 01:31:24,150
Another is belief in human beings,
your colleague,

1653
01:31:24,187 --> 01:31:26,030
and there's no letting him down.'

1654
01:31:26,064 --> 01:31:30,535
'There may be right on both sides,
but I think war is horrible.

1655
01:31:30,568 --> 01:31:33,367
Everything should be done to avoid war.'

1656
01:31:34,364 --> 01:31:37,083
'I still can't see
the justification for it.

1657
01:31:37,200 --> 01:31:39,248
It was all really rather horrible.

1658
01:31:39,369 --> 01:31:44,000
I think history will decide, in the end,
that it was not worthwhile.'

1659
01:31:46,543 --> 01:31:50,389
'The only thing that really did annoy me
was, when I went back to work

1660
01:31:50,505 --> 01:31:53,349
after I'd got demobilised,
I went down the stores,

1661
01:31:53,383 --> 01:31:56,683
and the bloke behind the counter
was a bloke who I knew.

1662
01:31:56,720 --> 01:31:59,894
He said, "Where have you been?
On nights?"'

1663
01:32:44,309 --> 01:32:47,984
(MAN WHISTLING
MADEMOISELLE FROM ARMENTIERES)

1664
01:33:00,950 --> 01:33:02,998
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1665
01:33:03,119 --> 01:33:05,121
♪ Parlez-vous

1666
01:33:05,163 --> 01:33:07,131
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1667
01:33:07,248 --> 01:33:09,125
♪ Parlez-vous

1668
01:33:09,167 --> 01:33:11,261
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1669
01:33:11,294 --> 01:33:13,342
♪ She hasn't been kissed in 40 years

1670
01:33:13,463 --> 01:33:15,841
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1671
01:33:17,467 --> 01:33:19,595
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1672
01:33:19,636 --> 01:33:21,309
♪ Parlez-vous

1673
01:33:21,429 --> 01:33:23,682
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1674
01:33:23,807 --> 01:33:25,480
♪ Parlez-vous

1675
01:33:25,600 --> 01:33:27,648
♪ Our top kick in Armentiéres

1676
01:33:27,685 --> 01:33:29,813
♪ Broke the spell of 40 years

1677
01:33:29,938 --> 01:33:32,657
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1678
01:33:33,858 --> 01:33:36,111
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1679
01:33:36,152 --> 01:33:38,029
♪ Parlez-vous

1680
01:33:38,154 --> 01:33:40,156
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1681
01:33:40,281 --> 01:33:42,033
♪ Parlez-vous

1682
01:33:42,158 --> 01:33:44,126
♪ You didn't have to know her long

1683
01:33:44,160 --> 01:33:46,458
♪ To know the reason men go wrong

1684
01:33:46,496 --> 01:33:48,999
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1685
01:33:50,500 --> 01:33:52,628
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1686
01:33:52,669 --> 01:33:54,512
♪ Parlez-vous

1687
01:33:54,629 --> 01:33:56,723
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1688
01:33:56,840 --> 01:33:58,513
♪ Parlez-vous

1689
01:33:58,633 --> 01:34:00,806
♪ She's the hardest working girl in town

1690
01:34:00,844 --> 01:34:02,846
♪ She makes her living upside-down

1691
01:34:02,971 --> 01:34:05,394
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1692
01:34:11,187 --> 01:34:13,235
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1693
01:34:13,356 --> 01:34:15,074
♪ Parlez-vous

1694
01:34:15,191 --> 01:34:17,364
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1695
01:34:17,485 --> 01:34:19,158
♪ Parlez-vous

1696
01:34:19,195 --> 01:34:21,539
♪ She sold her kisses
for ten francs each

1697
01:34:21,573 --> 01:34:23,575
♪ Soft and juicy, as sweet as a peach

1698
01:34:23,700 --> 01:34:26,169
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1699
01:34:27,704 --> 01:34:29,832
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1700
01:34:29,873 --> 01:34:31,875
♪ Parlez-vous

1701
01:34:31,916 --> 01:34:34,010


1702
01:34:34,043 --> 01:34:35,716


1703
01:34:35,753 --> 01:34:38,051
♪ Madame, you've got a daughter fair

1704
01:34:38,089 --> 01:34:40,091
♪ To wash a soldier's underwear

1705
01:34:40,216 --> 01:34:42,560
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1706
01:34:44,345 --> 01:34:46,393
♪ I didn't care what came of me

1707
01:34:46,431 --> 01:34:48,229
♪ Parlez-vous

1708
01:34:48,266 --> 01:34:50,519


1709
01:34:50,560 --> 01:34:52,278


1710
01:34:52,395 --> 01:34:54,523
♪ I didn't care what came of me

1711
01:34:54,564 --> 01:34:56,692
♪ So I went and joined the infantry

1712
01:34:56,733 --> 01:34:59,236
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1713
01:35:33,811 --> 01:35:35,939
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1714
01:35:35,980 --> 01:35:37,903
♪ Parlez-vous

1715
01:35:37,941 --> 01:35:39,989


1716
01:35:40,109 --> 01:35:41,952
♪ Parlez-vous

1717
01:35:41,986 --> 01:35:44,114
♪ Went in her bed, she sure was fun

1718
01:35:44,155 --> 01:35:46,123
♪ Working her arse like a Maxim gun

1719
01:35:46,157 --> 01:35:48,785
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1720
01:35:50,286 --> 01:35:52,334
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1721
01:35:52,455 --> 01:35:54,298
♪ Parlez-vous

1722
01:35:54,415 --> 01:35:56,463
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1723
01:35:56,501 --> 01:35:58,299
♪ Parlez-vous

1724
01:35:58,419 --> 01:36:00,467
♪ I had more fun than I could tell

1725
01:36:00,505 --> 01:36:02,633
♪ Beneath the sheets with
Mademoiselle

1726
01:36:02,674 --> 01:36:05,143
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1727
01:36:06,803 --> 01:36:08,851
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1728
01:36:08,972 --> 01:36:10,815
♪ Parlez-vous

1729
01:36:10,932 --> 01:36:12,980
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1730
01:36:13,017 --> 01:36:14,815
♪ Parlez-vous

1731
01:36:14,852 --> 01:36:16,980
♪ She'd give a wink and cry, "Oui, oui!

1732
01:36:17,021 --> 01:36:18,989
♪ Let's see what you can do with me!"

1733
01:36:19,107 --> 01:36:21,610
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1734
01:36:23,027 --> 01:36:25,325
♪ They say they mechanised the war

1735
01:36:25,446 --> 01:36:26,948
♪ Parlez-vous

1736
01:36:26,990 --> 01:36:29,334
♪ They say they mechanised the war

1737
01:36:29,450 --> 01:36:31,168
♪ Parlez-vous

1738
01:36:31,286 --> 01:36:33,334
♪ They say they mechanised the war

1739
01:36:33,371 --> 01:36:35,465
♪ So what the hell are we marching for?

1740
01:36:35,498 --> 01:36:38,172
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1741
01:36:56,185 --> 01:36:58,233
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1742
01:36:58,354 --> 01:37:00,197
♪ Parlez-vous

1743
01:37:00,231 --> 01:37:02,359
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1744
01:37:02,483 --> 01:37:04,030
♪ Parlez-vous

1745
01:37:04,068 --> 01:37:06,366
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1746
01:37:06,404 --> 01:37:08,372
♪ She hasn't been kissed for 4O years

1747
01:37:08,489 --> 01:37:11,038
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1748
01:37:12,535 --> 01:37:14,754
♪ The officers get all the steak

1749
01:37:14,871 --> 01:37:16,418
♪ Parlez-vous

1750
01:37:16,539 --> 01:37:18,712
♪ The officers get all the steak

1751
01:37:18,750 --> 01:37:20,377
♪ Parlez-vous

1752
01:37:20,501 --> 01:37:22,549
♪ The officers get all the steak

1753
01:37:22,670 --> 01:37:24,889
♪ And all we get is a belly ache

1754
01:37:24,922 --> 01:37:27,425
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1755
01:37:29,052 --> 01:37:31,180
♪ You might forget the gas and shells

1756
01:37:31,220 --> 01:37:32,893
♪ Parlez-vous

1757
01:37:33,014 --> 01:37:35,267
♪ You might forget the gas and shells

1758
01:37:35,391 --> 01:37:36,938
♪ Parlez-vous

1759
01:37:37,060 --> 01:37:39,279
♪ You might forget the groans and yells

1760
01:37:39,395 --> 01:37:41,568
♪ But you never forget the mademoiselles

1761
01:37:41,606 --> 01:37:44,075
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1762
01:38:02,126 --> 01:38:04,128
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1763
01:38:04,253 --> 01:38:06,221
♪ Parlez-vous

1764
01:38:06,255 --> 01:38:08,303
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1765
01:38:08,424 --> 01:38:10,301
♪ Parlez-vous

1766
01:38:10,426 --> 01:38:12,394
♪ Many and many a married man

1767
01:38:12,428 --> 01:38:14,430
♪ Wants to go back to France again

1768
01:38:14,472 --> 01:38:16,975
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1769
01:38:18,601 --> 01:38:20,820
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1770
01:38:20,937 --> 01:38:22,280
♪ Parlez-vous

1771
01:38:22,397 --> 01:38:24,775
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1772
01:38:24,899 --> 01:38:26,617
♪ Parlez-vous

1773
01:38:26,734 --> 01:38:28,907
♪ Just blow your nose and dry your tears

1774
01:38:28,945 --> 01:38:30,913
♪ We'll all be back in a few short years

1775
01:38:30,947 --> 01:38:33,496
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1776
01:38:35,118 --> 01:38:37,120
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1777
01:38:37,245 --> 01:38:38,622
♪ Parlez-vous

1778
01:38:38,746 --> 01:38:41,169
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1779
01:38:41,290 --> 01:38:42,917
♪ Parlez-vous

1780
01:38:42,959 --> 01:38:45,132
♪ I fell in love with her at sight

1781
01:38:45,253 --> 01:38:47,301
♪ And wet myself for half the night

1782
01:38:47,338 --> 01:38:49,807
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1783
01:38:51,509 --> 01:38:53,603
♪ Mademoiselle from Armentieres

1784
01:38:53,636 --> 01:38:55,309
♪ Parlez-vous

1785
01:38:55,346 --> 01:38:57,815


1786
01:38:57,849 --> 01:38:59,647


1787
01:38:59,684 --> 01:39:01,778
♪ You might forget the gas and shell

1788
01:39:01,811 --> 01:39:03,688
♪ You never forget the mademoiselle

1789
01:39:03,813 --> 01:39:06,316
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous

1790
01:39:07,817 --> 01:39:09,819
♪ You might forget the gas and shell

1791
01:39:09,944 --> 01:39:11,992
♪ You'll never forget the mademoiselle

1792
01:39:12,113 --> 01:39:14,616
♪ Hinky dinky, parlez-vous ♪