Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00In 1916, a series of cataclysmic events overtook this pastoral landscape.
00:11These are the now quiet fields of the Somme in northern France, and around here was fought
00:16what was probably the bloodiest campaign in British military history.
00:21The Battle of the Somme began in the sweltering heat of July 1916 and ended four and a half
00:27months later, bogged down in a sea of mud.
00:57When war was declared on August 4, 1914, the Minister for War, Lord Kitchener, asked every
01:03man to do his duty.
01:04In response, more than a million men volunteered.
01:08The Battle of the Somme would be unique in the way it brought the nation's youth together.
01:12The country was caught up in a wave of patriotic fervor.
01:16Everyone wanted to be part of the war that would be all over by Christmas.
01:22In the first three months of the war, some 52,000 northern miners joined up, this despite
01:28the fact that the industry was a reserved occupation, exempting them from military service.
01:35They were tough, young men, the backbone of the British laboring class, used to hardship
01:40and ready for anything.
01:42Men from all walks of life joined up, and for many reasons, some for patriotism, others
01:47for the grand adventure, but for a great many it was simply to escape poverty and the drab
01:52routine of working class life.
01:54Together they formed the nucleus of Kitchener's new volunteer army.
02:05For many young men, the exotic lure of France was too tempting to resist.
02:09In the public imagination, it was seen as a country where the wine flowed freely and
02:13where the chance of a romantic encounter was a real possibility.
02:21A sense of common identity marked Kitchener's army, much of the recruitment relying heavily
02:25on bonds of friendship and locality.
02:28They became known as the Powell's Battalions.
02:30The men recruited into the Tyneside Irish and Tyneside Scottish were typical of the
02:35mood which swept the country.
02:44The Tyneside Scottish should appeal for anyone with a claim to Scottish ancestry to come
02:48and join their ranks.
02:49They were granted the right to wear Glengarry bonnets and to maintain a pipe band.
02:56Their motto?
02:57Harder than hammers.
03:00The enthusiastic volunteers who made up the Powell's Battalions were soon incorporated
03:04into the existing old county regiments.
03:07There was a chronic lack of equipment and ammunition for the new recruits, and only
03:11a handful of retired officers and men to train them, much of their knowledge and methods
03:15out of date.
03:16Border and territorial units had suffered heavy casualties in the first few months of
03:20the war, and the men of the new army were now needed urgently for duty at the front.
03:26The men presented an inspiring spectacle as they swung down the roads, all in the best
03:30of physical condition, marching with a fine spree.
03:34We had a ripping crossing, we came on three boats, we had a great send-off and a great
03:38reception.
03:39Cheerio, I'm coming back alright, anyway I have that feeling.
03:44The front-line trenches now ran from the North Sea to the Swiss border.
03:48In an attempt to break through, the Allies planned a joint offensive on the Somme for
03:52the summer of 1916.
03:54But in February, near the city of Verdun, the Germans attacked in great strength.
03:59This meant the Somme would now be a mainly British attack, with the town of Baupom as
04:03their main objective.
04:04As far as the French were concerned, political and military, it's going to be the first time
04:10when the British play a proper, fair share of the burden of fighting on the Western Front.
04:20And that could only be, geographically, where it would be most useful to the French, immediately
04:28adjacent to them, a circumstance which would be much more under the control of the French
04:34than if an assault, a major offensive, were to have been launched in Flanders.
04:40And the fact that it's accelerated by Verdun, or made still more necessary by Verdun, should
04:48not obscure us from understanding that it's part of the First World War's first great
04:57Allied offensive.
05:01The Somme is a quiet agricultural area of northern France.
05:05Here the sites of many dugouts and trench lines can still be identified by the chalk
05:10marks that still scar the fields.
05:14Till now, this had been a relatively quiet sector of the Front.
05:17The French had occupied the trenches here with only an occasional skirmish to disturb
05:22the peace.
05:25Albert is the capital of the Somme region, a large town lying less than a mile behind
05:30the front line.
05:31It became known as Albert to the Tommies.
05:34The tower of the Basilica, with its figure of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, could
05:39be seen from almost every part of the battlefield.
05:44It was used as an observation post by the British and was constantly shelled by the
05:49Germans, leaving the figure hanging at a precarious angle.
05:56The troops who marched beneath the Virgin's outstretched arms had a saying, that when
06:00she fell, the war would end.
06:05The battle plan committed 32 British and French divisions, preceded by a massive five-day
06:10artillery bombardment, the biggest to date.
06:131,537 British guns and 100 French 75mms had poured 1.5 million shells onto the German
06:21lines.
06:22They had become the king of the battlefield.
06:26Bad weather had delayed the start of the attack for 24 hours, which meant that the final barrage
06:31was less than had been planned.
06:33The attack would launch 100,000 British troops in an assault along a 13-mile-long front.
06:39There was to be a diversionary assault on the village of Goncourt in the north, but
06:44the main assault would be further south, centred on the line of the Albert-Ã -Bapon road.
06:50The Germans had spent two years perfecting their defences.
06:54They had deep, shell-proof dugouts bristling with hundreds of carefully-sighted machine-gun
06:58posts.
06:59The problem the British faced lay in the fact that they didn't have enough heavy guns to
07:04destroy them.
07:06The poet Siegfried Sassoon watched the bombardment of the German trenches.
07:10It was a struggle of giants hurling thunderbolts.
07:14One couldn't imagine anything living in that hell.
07:18Near Albert, at the village of La Boiselle, there was a major breach of security on the
07:23eve of the attack, June the 30th.
07:26Contrary to direct orders, a Tyneside Scottish staff officer telephoned a good-luck message
07:30to the battalions in the front line.
07:33This was to have tragic results.
07:35The message was intercepted by a German listening post.
07:38They now knew the Allied attack would come the following morning.
07:47At 7.30 it began with the explosion of several large mines.
07:51In many places, the lines of troops marching in extended order, as if on parade.
07:57At 7.30am, the hurricane of shells ceased as suddenly as it had begun.
08:03Our men at once clumbered up the steep shafts.
08:06A series of extended lines of infantry were seen moving forward from the British trenches.
08:12They came on at a steady pace, as if expecting to find nothing alive in our trenches.
08:18In front of the village of La Boiselle, Major General Ingerville Williams committed his
08:22entire 34th Division to the assault.
08:26This rare aerial photograph, taken on the 1st of July, shows La Boiselle with its system
08:31of trenches and the craters left by the mines.
08:34The plan was for the Tyneside Scottish to attack the village, with the Tyneside Irish
08:38in close support.
08:40Here the troops were ordered to advance at a steady walk, even to light up their pipes
08:44and cigarettes.
08:47As they moved down the slope towards their own front line, they were suddenly hit by
08:51intense machine gun and artillery fire.
08:54It was here that the Tyneside Irish suffered their worst casualties.
09:00Just before it started, we heard the larks paw things.
09:03That was the worst thing.
09:05Waiting for your turn to go over.
09:07To get on the step ready to follow on.
09:10A whole lot went across, you see, and they were falling down long before they ever got
09:13there.
09:14Then it was your turn.
09:16You got the word to charge.
09:18I didn't know what to think.
09:20Just look for a safe place to cross.
09:23One lad had a bandolier with mils bombs.
09:26A lump of his side was blown out and his hand was off.
09:29He kept begging, will no bugger kill me?
09:31Will no one finish me?
09:33He didn't know what to do or say.
09:41Keeping in line in extended order, men began to fall one by one.
09:46Our officer said we were alright.
09:49All the machine guns were firing over our heads.
09:52This was so that we were past our own front line and started across no man's land.
09:58Then the machine guns began to slaughter.
10:00Men fell on every side screaming.
10:03Those who weren't wounded did not attend to them.
10:05Almost press on regardless.
10:06Hundreds lay on the German barbed wire, which was not all destroyed.
10:11Their bodies formed a bridge for others to pass over and into the German front line.
10:15At the village of Free Corps, the King's own Yorkshire Light Infantry ran into carefully
10:20sighted German machine gun nests which had taken advantage of every fold and hollow in
10:25the ground.
10:26As the Yorkshiremen attacked over no man's land, they were caught in the crossfire and
10:31cut down.
10:33This experience was typical of what happened to so many battalions that day.
10:38On their right flank, the 10th West Yorks suffered the same fate.
10:42They attacked Free Corps village at a point known as the Triple Tumber, a German stronghold
10:47and already the scene of much bitter fighting.
10:52Two waves of the West Yorks passed beyond the first lines unhindered, but they failed
10:56to clear out the remaining Germans.
10:59As they moved past, the enemy emerged from their dugouts and opened fire on them from
11:03behind.
11:06Caught between the guns, the West Yorks suffered 710 casualties, the worst battalion losses
11:12in the history of the British Army.
11:16Among them was the poet Victor Ratcliffe.
11:20For tiny hopes like flowers of spring will come, though death and ruin hold the land.
11:26Though storms may roar, they may not break the wing of the earthed lark, whose song is
11:30ever bland.
11:32Fell year unpitiful, slow days of scorn.
11:36Your kind shall die and sweeter days be born.
11:42The day had gone badly.
11:44There were 57,740 casualties, almost 20,000 of them dead.
11:51On most of the front, the Allied assaults on the German line had been a disaster.
11:56Only minor footholds had been gained.
11:59The Tyneside Scottish and Irish together had suffered 80% losses.
12:04The planned advance along the Albert to Baphom Road had been swept away by the weight of
12:09German machine gun fire.
12:21The only Allied success on the 1st of July was in the southern sector of the Somme Front,
12:33the village of Montauban.
12:35Here the British, with the help of French artillery, broke through the German lines.
12:39This was achieved by two divisions of the 13th Corps, who seized all their objectives,
12:44taking the village by the end of the day.
12:47The 18th Corps, led by General Congreve, were confident that they had the Germans on
12:51the run.
12:52He requested permission from his chief, General Rawlinson, to continue the advance.
12:57This was refused.
12:59This is Bazintan Ridge, viewed from the position known as Triangle Point.
13:04Here the British had watched on July 1st as German troops retreated in confusion over
13:09the ridge, leaving a gaping hole in their line.
13:13This gave the cavalry the opportunity to pursue the Germans as had been planned.
13:18But instead Rawlinson stood the cavalry down at 3.30 that afternoon, allowing the enemy
13:23time to escape.
13:25He ordered Congreve not to advance, but to stay put.
13:30It's argued that Rawlinson's failure to exploit the successes of the right flank was a blunder,
13:35which cost thousands of lives.
13:38Though the Allies now held Montauban, they faced difficult terrain between their position
13:43and the Germans up on Bazintan Ridge.
13:46From their defensive positions, the Germans could command a clear view of the British
13:50movements.
13:51Behind their front line, they'd taken advantage of the so-called Horseshoe of Woods.
13:57The British would now have to attack the German flanks, the village of Comte Almaison on the
14:02left and Trones Wood on the right.
14:05These objectives would have to be taken if a breakthrough was to be achieved.
14:10Here in front of Comte Almaison, Lieutenant George Butterworth, fighting with the Durham
14:14Light Infantry, took part in the attack.
14:18Friend of fellow composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, he was considered one of the greatest talents
14:22of his generation.
14:23Nearby, Siegfried Sassoon, known to his men as Mad Jack, led a grenade assault on Quadrangle
14:30Trench, a notorious German stronghold.
14:33I went across from our bombing post to where Wood Trench ended, as there was a Bosch sniper.
14:38The others fired at the parapet, so they didn't see me coming.
14:42When I got there, I chucked four mils bombs into their trench, and to my surprise, fifty
14:46or sixty ran away like hell into Mamet's Wood.
14:51Our Lewis guns stayed on them all the way, and I think they suffered.
15:00At Bailiff Wood on the 9th of July, Lieutenant Butterworth led his men against the German
15:04machine guns in Comte Almaison.
15:06A desperate bombing fight followed.
15:09For his part in the action, Butterworth was awarded the Military Cross.
15:14Next day, the Wood was used as a jumping off point for attacks against Comte Almaison by
15:18the 17th and 21st Divisions.
15:20It fell the following day.
15:23Nearby at Mamet's Wood, the 38th Welsh Division faced a bitter battle, which would cost them
15:29dearly.
15:30It took two weeks of desperate fighting before this blood-soaked place finally fell.
15:36At the second attempt to take the Wood, the Welsh crossed this valley, only to be caught
15:40by intensive machine gun fire.
15:43From their position inside the Wood, German machine gunners dominated the southern approach.
15:49The Welshmen finally gained a foothold, and doggedly proceeded to take control of all
15:53but the northeast corner of the Wood.
16:03General Rawlinson realised that if a success was ever to be achieved on the Somme, the
16:07German second-line defences crossing the Basantau Ridge at the top of this valley had to be
16:12taken, and quickly.
16:14He now ordered in heavy artillery and thousands of fresh troops.
16:23They had to negotiate the newly won ground under intensive enemy fire, christening the
16:28place Happy Valley with the true sense of soldierly irony.
16:34On the right flank, Troon's Wood changed hands with grim regularity, but its capture was
16:38vital to the success of the main attack planned for July the 10th.
16:43This would be a daring feat of arms by any standards, an uphill advance in darkness over
16:48a thousand yards of no-man's land.
16:50The Commander-in-Chief General Haig knew it was risky, and his doubts increased when
16:54informed that part of the Wood was still in German hands.
16:58The French were also doubtful, causing the main assault to be postponed for four days.
17:04The German commander, General Sixt von Ammann, used the time to reorganise his men.
17:09He planned to launch a major counter-attack, hurriedly bringing in several divisions of
17:14elite stormtroopers drafted in from the Verdun front.
17:22It was now that the German Commander-in-Chief General von Falkenhayn issued a chilling order,
17:28one destined to shape the course of the battle.
17:31The enemy must not be allowed to advance except over corpses.
17:37Not an inch of ground was to be yielded to the British without a counter-attack.
17:43On the morning of July the 14th, here along the foot of Basentaur Ridge, four British
17:48divisions assembled in total darkness, as near as possible to the enemy trenches.
17:53Then came an intense 30-minute hurricane bombardment.
17:58This time the Germans had no warning of the attack.
18:02British gunnery was fast improving, and the troops were close enough to rush the German
18:07trenches.
18:08At a quarter to four, 22,000 Allied troops left their assault positions in no-man's-land
18:15and headed for the German line on the Basentaur Ridge.
18:19The assault was an unqualified success.
18:22The ridge was taken with a minimum of British casualties.
18:26The captured ground included what became the famous crucifix corner.
18:31A shell-scarred statue still stands, having survived this attack and several later battles.
18:42The next objective was Longval village.
18:44It was a key objective if any further advance was to be made on the right flank.
18:50It was the Scots of the 9th Division who'd been given the job of taking the ruins.
18:55They attacked up this track to reach the ruins of Longval, pushing the Germans before them.
19:02The cavalry were now ordered to spearhead the advance beyond the Basentaur Ridge.
19:06Strangely, the infantry were then forbidden to pursue the retreating Germans from the
19:11key position of Highwood.
19:14At this stage, the British could have occupied Highwood, but missed another golden opportunity.
19:20The cavalry were in fact losing valuable time as they negotiated the trenches and shell
19:25holes around Montauban.
19:27Their delayed arrival allowed the Germans to regain the initiative and filter back to
19:31retake Highwood.
19:36Later that evening, the cavalry squadrons of the 10th Deccan Horse and the 7th Dragoons
19:41prepared to take the wood.
19:43In support was an infantry battalion of the Queen's Regiment and the South Staffordshires.
19:48But as they advanced over this open ground, they were caught by heavy German machine gun
19:53fire from the edge of the wood.
19:56The attack failed, and with it the hope that Highwood could be taken quickly.
20:00It would take another two months and many thousands of lives before it was captured.
20:06The failure also heralded the demise of the cavalry as an effective fighting force when
20:10pitted against the weapons of 20th century warfare.
20:15At Longval village, the South Africans of the 9th Division had succeeded in chasing
20:19the Germans out of Delville Wood.
20:22They included a unit of the South African Scottish, some of whom had fought against
20:26the British in the Boer War.
20:28Now they fought side by side.
20:31Allied attempts to dig in around the edge of the wood were frustrated by tree roots,
20:35frequent German shelling and counterattacks.
20:38At this stage, the Germans reinforced their lines with yet more troops and powerful artillery.
20:45The Allies were soon to get a taste of their devastating firepower.
20:50The German plan was simple.
20:52At one blow, a wedge was to be driven between the British and the French in the area between
20:57Delville Wood and Trones Wood.
21:00The first step was to oust the British from Longval village and Delville Wood.
21:07On July the 18th, British soldiers in Longval managed to link up with their South African
21:12comrades in the shattered remnants of the wood, but their triumph was short-lived.
21:18At eight o'clock, the enemy guns opened up and the Longval sector was subjected to intense
21:23and unrelenting shell fire.
21:26The German front-line troops watched the destruction.
21:33The wood was a wasteland of shattered trees, charred and burning stumps, craters thick
21:38with mud and blood and corpses, corpses everywhere, in places that were piled four deep.
21:46Worst of all was the crying of the wounded.
21:49It sounded like the cattle ring at a spring fair.
21:54Later that afternoon, at a quarter to four, the German stormtroopers attacked the handful
21:58of South Africans who'd survived, only to be driven off once more.
22:03Meanwhile, the surviving Scots of the 9th Division, though hungry and desperate, were
22:08far from defeated.
22:10They charged down Longval's main street in wild pursuit of the Germans, who outnumbered
22:15them four to one.
22:17Not for nothing did the Germans call them the Ladies from Hell.
22:22By nightfall, the line had stabilized in the Longval sector.
22:26The brave stand by the 9th Division in Longval had probably saved the entire campaign.
22:31As they were relieved, the enormous price they'd paid became clear.
22:35They'd suffered more than 7,500 casualties, among them the South African Brigade, which
22:41had lost 2,200 dead out of a force of 3,000.
22:46The Battle of the Somme was to claim many more thousands of lives as it ground on for
22:51a further four months.
22:52It had now become a war of attrition.
22:56In the days long gone by when the first SAI took part in a battle arboreous, mid Delville
23:03Woods trees with a vertical breeze, I don't recollect feeling glorious.
23:10When a pal fell down dead, with no top to his head, we may have used language censorious,
23:16but whatever we said, as we looked at our dead, uncertain, we never said glorious.
23:25Put plainly, Haig's policy of attrition now called for the simple expedient of killing
23:30as many of the enemy as possible, this by throwing huge numbers of men against the German
23:35lines.
23:37Ultimately, whoever sustained the least casualties would succeed.
23:41It was a grim prospect for the remaining months of the war.
23:45The sun is setting over Albert, banners of the richest and palest hues float out.
23:51They ravish the eye and melt the heart.
23:54I turn from them to look over to the east.
23:57All along the horizon, gun flashes quiver as if some fearful Aurora Borealis were continually
24:01appearing.
24:03Every now and then huge explosions send up pillars of smoke as though the internal fires
24:06of the earth had broken through.
24:09It is an inferno.
24:11Can anything live in that?
24:13Heaven on one side, hell on the other.
24:17One should not hope to come out of that alive.
24:23By mid July, two weeks into the Battle of the Somme, the British High Command had failed
24:28to achieve the hoped for breakthrough in the German lines.
24:31More ground had been gained while the casualty lists rose alarmingly.
24:36The huge losses meant that many more troops would be needed to achieve the objective of
24:40taking the town of Baphom.
24:43Their immediate goal was to take control of the Poisiers-Longval Ridge and High Wood.
24:48In the sweltering heat of July, the fighting took on a new and sinister phase.
24:53It would now be a war of attrition.
24:58The military, the state of weaponry at the time, the massed forces of industrial powers
25:05arrayed against each other in equal powers, that decreed the way the war was going to
25:12be fought.
25:13That it would be a mincing machine in which each side would have to attack across an exposed
25:22no man's land in order to batter at their defences, reduce their will as well as their
25:30men and their material so that they would give in.
25:35That's the role that the British and the French had to play in the First World War.
25:41Where is the flank that could be turned?
25:45There's no flank.
25:46How might surprise have been earned by this circumstance?
25:50Yes, it's occasionally assayed by use of attack at night, by the use of gas and also
25:59by mine warfare.
26:01But with regard to decisive surprise, there's very little opportunity and the war was fought
26:10as it had to be fought and we have to recognise that in terms of human tragedy, the scale
26:18is grim.
26:21The full appalling effect of modern warfare now descended on the Somme, with the use of
26:25weapons and tactics of mass destruction.
26:29The Germans matched Britain's policy of attrition with determined counter-attacks.
26:34Every inch of ground was contested and fighting at close quarters dominated the battle.
26:40On the right flank, a gap had opened up between the French and British.
26:44The only way it could be closed was by taking the village of Guillemont.
26:48On the left, Poisiers became a pivot on which the British advance was now turning north
26:53and east.
26:55This once peaceful village was now a central part of the German defences, its approaches
27:01guarded by a strong point known as Fort Gibraltar.
27:05Its capture was vital if the village was to be taken.
27:09The British attack would be from the south of Poisiers, spearheaded by the Australians.
27:14They were noted for their more relaxed approach to military discipline.
27:19Fresh to the Somme, they'd already established a formidable reputation at Gallipoli.
27:24Often regarding their British counterparts with disdain, the Gallipoli veterans would
27:28ask, have you been fighting, or have you been in France?
27:33The answer would soon become apparent.
27:36On July the 23rd, the Australian 1st Division attacked Poisiers Trench and the old German
27:41lines beyond.
27:42The land here had been pulverised by innumerable shells, turning it into a featureless wasteland.
27:48The ground shook and trembled, and the concussion made our ears ring.
27:52It's strange how men creeped together for protection.
27:55Then we saw the barrage smoke move forward, whistles blew, and we hopped into Fritz with
27:59a yell.
28:01The brigade successfully stormed most of their objectives from the flank, including Fort
28:05Gibraltar.
28:07The worst fighting east of Poisiers centred on the maze of German trench lines running
28:12across this stretch of ground.
28:15As the Australians advanced, they came under intense machine gun fire.
28:20Morkay Farm was to become notorious among the Australians as one of the worst killing
28:24grounds on the Somme.
28:32Here as elsewhere, artillery dominated the battlefield, each side relying on its use
28:37to destroy men and defences before an attack.
28:41The heavy guns were constantly on the move, testing the gunner's physique and morale to
28:45the limit.
28:46As the battle progressed, so too did the quality of Allied gunnery.
28:52Fritz came at us from the front, we lined the parapet like an excited crowd and blazed
28:56like hell at them, knocking them over like rabbits.
28:59One Bosch was getting away, apparently only slightly wounded, when one of our shells burst
29:03on him as though aimed, and he went up into pieces.
29:06We cheered and laughed as though it was the funniest thing in the world.
29:11This is the site of Munster Alley Trench, which ran between Poisiers and the village
29:16of Martinpuis.
29:17By late July, it was still in enemy hands.
29:20It lay between the British and Australian lines, so its capture was vital.
29:26The 23rd Division, including the Durham Light Infantry, were ordered to attack.
29:31Among them was 2nd Lieutenant George Butterworth.
29:34His platoon bombed the Germans back 100 yards and succeeded in halting their attack up Munster
29:39Alley, but at 4.30 that afternoon, he was killed.
29:44His loss was deeply mourned by the men he commanded.
29:48The condition of the battlefield prevented any attempt to get his body out, so his platoon
29:52buried him near the spot where he fell in Munster Alley.
29:56His grave was later destroyed by gunfire and his body never recovered.
30:00His name is now listed on the walls of the Thiepval Memorial, one of more than 75,000
30:06posted as missing on the Somme.
30:09On the night of the 4th of August, the Australians finally captured Poisiers Ridge.
30:14They had been subjected to a bombardment of unrelenting intensity.
30:19My battalion has been in for eight days, and they're sticking it still.
30:23Incomparable heroes all.
30:25We are lousy, stinking, ragged, unshaven, sleepless.
30:30My tunic is rotten with other men's blood.
30:33One feels that on a battlefield such as this, one can never survive, or that if the body
30:40holds, the brain must go forever.
30:44For the horrors one sees and the never-ending shock of the shells is more than can be borne.
30:49Courage does not count here.
30:51It's nerve.
30:53Once that goes, one becomes a gibbering maniac.
30:57Gallipoli veterans say that the peninsula was a picnic to this push.
31:03Only 40% of the men engaged on the Somme campaign were involved in actual combat.
31:08The constant heavy shell fire had caused severe damage to the network of roads.
31:13It was an endless task to repair and reconstruct them.
31:18The burden of road maintenance fell upon the Royal Engineer and Pioneer Battalions.
31:23As the front line advanced, so the infantry's demand for ammunition and supplies increased.
31:29Big guns had to be moved forward to cover the next advance, an exhausting and difficult
31:33business on tracks ill-prepared to stand their weight.
31:38At this stage of the battle, many of the troops were now showing signs of fatigue.
31:43The endless round of time in and out of the line took its toll.
31:47Any chance to remind themselves of normality was welcomed.
31:51Anything to take their thoughts away from the dreadful conditions that surrounded them.
31:56As the casualty lists rose, they occasionally provided the less seriously wounded soldiers
32:01with the rare chance of home leave.
32:10I didn't want to give my mother a shock by just walking in the ever-open door.
32:14I took the footpath that ran next to the railway and the colliery line.
32:18Long before I reached the bridge, I saw somebody waving.
32:21It was my mother.
32:23She must have left, just as she was.
32:25No coat, no shawl.
32:27She still had her carpet slippers on.
32:30She was still panting for breath and utterly exhausted.
32:32She collapsed.
32:34Our only greeting was made sitting on the wet grass.
32:37I carried her all the way home.
32:41This reunion with normality was often brief, and then it was time to return to the front.
32:48The village of Millencourt was a favourite resting place behind the lines for British troops.
32:53This graffiti was scratched into a farmyard wall by a soldier waiting to go back into action.
32:59It was one of the last evenings before going up again.
33:03We assembled in the orchard at dusk.
33:05The air was still, and in the distance the rumble of far-off shellfire.
33:10We sang a chorus or two to weld us into a unity of mood.
33:14The moon rose in the sky.
33:17Over the subdued chatter of many voices, the adjutant was playing to himself, meditating in music.
33:24The talk ceased, and men turned from their comrades to listen until there was dead silence.
33:30When he had finished, there was a pause for a second or two before the applause began,
33:36enough of a gap to show that the listeners had been with him into a foreign land.
33:43This is the scene at Guillemont on August the 9th, when the Germans defeated another British attack.
33:49During the fighting, Captain Noel Chavasse, a Liverpool Scottish medical officer, went out to search for wounded.
33:55It was here in a quarry on the edge of the village that Chavasse sustained a splinter wound in his side.
34:01Despite this, he carried a man over 500 yards to safety, winning the first of two VCs.
34:07He was the only man in the Great War to achieve this distinction.
34:13Some of the medical staff not in combat units acted as stretcher-bearers.
34:18Among them were pacifists unwilling to fight, but prepared to do all in their power to help save lives.
34:25There would be no instant victories now.
34:28Just the slow fight towards the Thiepval Ridge on the north flank, and to Guillemont in the east.
34:33Poissières had finally been taken, but at great cost.
34:37More Australians died here than on any other battlefield of the war.
34:59The policy of attrition now became total.
35:02Of all the Somme's sinister places, none was more dreaded than the village of Guillemont.
35:07Each body was covered inches deep by a black fur of flies, which flew up into your mouth, eyes and nostrils.
35:13I once fell and put my hand right through the belly of a man.
35:16It was days before I got the smell out of my nails.
35:19Both sides were suffering as the relentless death and mutilation continued.
35:24You can no longer call this war.
35:27This is mere murder.
35:29All my previous experiences are child's play compared with this massacre,
35:34and that is much too mild a description.
35:37Throughout August, the battle continued on the left flank beyond the Poissières Ridge towards Thiepval.
35:42Moké Farm, a German strongpoint known to the attackers as Mucky Farm, stood in their way.
35:48The Germans had turned it into a fortress.
35:51These aerial photographs, taken only a few weeks apart, show the devastation caused by the British artillery.
35:59The next objective was Thiepval Ridge.
36:01On the 3rd of September, the 49th Division were ordered to take it.
36:06As the troops moved into their assault trenches on the fringe of Thiepval Wood,
36:10their orders were to attack a position known as the Pope's Nose,
36:14so called after the Protestant 36th Ulster Division had been annihilated here on the 1st of July.
36:21The story was to be repeated as units of the Duke of Wellington's regiment crossed these fields.
36:28The Dukes fought their way through the enemy trenches until they ran out of bombs.
36:32The Germans then seized the initiative to attack on three sides.
36:36As the Dukes withdrew across no man's land, they were struck by concentrated machine gun fire.
36:42Many of these men were killed within a few yards of safety.
36:46As night fell, the Thiepval Ridge remained in enemy hands.
36:51As the battle bogged down, the Allies now introduced a new weapon.
36:57The tank was especially developed to break the deadlock of no man's land on the Somme.
37:02On the 15th of September, the tanks were sent into action along an 8-mile front
37:08between Courcelette and Fleur to spearhead an assault by ten divisions.
37:12The tanks attacked from the direction of Poissiers and Delville Wood.
37:16Of the 32 tanks to reach the starting point, only 24 actually advanced.
37:21Of these, only nine were of any use.
37:24The rest had broken down or got stuck.
37:27The 2nd Canadian Division was sent in to attack the trenches around Courcelette,
37:32but their progress was halted by Germans in this heavily fortified sugar beet factory.
37:38It guarded the approach to the village, posing a major obstacle for the troops.
37:42As the situation grew critical, the one surviving tank in the sector
37:46came down this road heading towards the now-wrecked factory,
37:50much to the relief of the Canadians pinned down in shell holes.
37:54The tanks didn't have it all their own way.
37:57Moving so slowly, at only 2 miles an hour,
38:00they made easy targets for the German artillery.
38:03While their effect on the German troops had been significant,
38:06the cost in crews had been high.
38:09The Germans fought to the death to hold on to Courcelette.
38:12Casualty figures on both sides had been appalling.
38:16Among them, Private George Ritchie, aged just 16.
38:20He was the youngest soldier to die on the Somme.
38:24In the 1920s, when this road was being widened,
38:27the bodies of more than 300 men were found,
38:30testimony to the carnage here.
38:34But perhaps the most sinister killing ground of them all was High Wood.
38:38Many thousands of men were committed to its capture.
38:41Its evil reputation was legendary among the troops.
38:48These aerial photographs show how the wood
38:51was progressively destroyed in just a few weeks.
38:54At the north-east corner of High Wood,
38:57the Black Watch and Cameron Highlanders had been driven back
39:00on the 13th of March.
39:03They were brought back on the 3rd and the Northamptonshires
39:06on the 9th of September.
39:09This, despite the detonation of two huge mines.
39:12The craters remain, now filled with water.
39:15Of all the woods on the Somme battlefield,
39:18no other could match High Wood for death and destruction.
39:21The bodies of at least 8,000 men
39:24still lie buried in its depths.
39:29As yet more troops were needed,
39:32to fill the gaps.
39:35Their experiences at Gallipoli had helped turn them
39:38into hardened veterans.
39:41They were sent into action here,
39:44in the area known as the Switch Line
39:47between High Wood and Delville Wood.
39:50They proved themselves amongst the most courageous
39:53and tenacious of any troops on the battlefield.
39:56This is their memorial, standing on the site
39:59of Delville Wood to assault the village of Fleur.
40:02Once again the tanks were effective.
40:05One broke through the German defences and fought its way
40:08into the village, followed by jubilant British troops.
40:11The use of the tanks had caused chaos among the German defenders
40:14and proved that at last the stalemate of no man's land
40:17could be broken.
40:20Next into the line came the elite regulars of the British Army.
40:23Guards of the 6th Division were ordered into the attack
40:26One of their number was Raymond Asquith,
40:29son of the Prime Minister.
40:32He was hit and was carried to an aid post where he later died.
40:35This battlefield had little respect
40:38for class or standing.
40:41David Henderson, son of the Labour Party leader
40:44also lay dead, killed fighting
40:47with the London Rifles at High Wood.
40:50The fighting was far from over.
40:54High Command resolved to seize the high ground to the east.
40:57They needed to take the Tilwa Ridge
41:00and the villages of Morval and Ganchy before the autumn rains.
41:03The attack fought over this devastated landscape
41:06was launched on the 25th of September
41:09and became known as the Battle of Morval.
41:12It was considered a great success
41:15with many of the objectives south-east of the Albert-Bapom Road taken.
41:18The British would now have to maintain their advantage
41:21and attempt to push on towards Ganchy
41:24and secure the right flank.
41:27The ultimate objective of Bapom still lay stubbornly outside their reach.
41:30On the left flank
41:33the 18th and 49th Divisions attacked Thiepval Ridge
41:36as elsewhere on the front
41:39the devastation here had been quite complete.
41:42Moquet Farm had fallen, so had Thiepval Village
41:45but it would take several days of fierce fighting
41:48to ensure that Thiepval Ridge was entirely in British hands.
41:51There was now evidence that German morale was at a low ebb.
41:54No doubt you have heard
41:57of the fall of Thiepval.
42:00For us it was absolutely crushing.
42:03In my view, every soldier from private to general
42:06had the feeling that Germany had lost the First Great Battle.
42:12At this stage the British moved into the low-lying land on the right flank
42:15losing the advantage of the high ground.
42:18Some military thinking suggests that this was a mistake
42:21which shook the confidence of the troops in the decisions of its command.
42:24To add to the general misery
42:27heavy rain began to fall
42:30gradually turning the devastated battlefield into a quagmire.
42:33The troops were constantly urged into the attack
42:36in an attempt to achieve their objectives
42:39before winter finally set in.
42:42The advance on the right flank eventually bogged down
42:45while the dubious honour of taking Le Transloy and Guidecourt
42:48fell to the Canadians.
42:51But the appalling conditions eventually brought the fighting to a halt
42:54as weapons and equipment clogged with mud.
42:57This was as far as the Canadians got.
43:00It was as far as anyone got.
43:03They were also on the front line on the left flank
43:06where they continued their attack north beyond Courcelette.
43:10The Canadians broke out wire
43:13as they attempted to seize Regina Trench on the 8th of October.
43:16The assault falters.
43:19The attackers searched frantically for a gap.
43:22It was then that 20-year-old piper James Richardson
43:25stood up to play in full view of the enemy.
43:28Inspired by his example
43:31the Canadians rallied, then charged.
43:34Some tore through the German defences with bare hands.
43:37He was killed when the Germans later counterattacked.
43:40On the 11th of October the Canadian 4th Division
43:43went over to attack the still untaken Regina Trench.
43:46Within minutes most of them were killed.
43:49God forbid anyone from seeing what I saw.
43:52The wire was intact.
43:55The boys were caught like crows on a dike.
43:58Some were still alive out there.
44:01One lad alternated between screaming with pain
44:04Dominating the road to Beaupom
44:07stands an ancient Neolithic burial mound
44:10known as the Butte de Wollencourt.
44:13From its chalk-covered dome the Germans could observe for miles around.
44:16Ringed with three lines of trenches
44:19and fortified with machine gun posts
44:22the attacking troops had already discovered
44:25the defences on the Butte were near impregnable.
44:28The job of capturing it was given to the Durham Light Infantry.
44:31The constant shelling had exposed the white flint
44:34which lay just beneath the surface
44:37adding to the ghostly aspect of the place.
44:40Harry Crudders of the 6th Battalion was one of the first to attack.
44:43Immediately the first wave made off
44:46were met by terrific fire
44:49and crumbled up like snow in summer.
44:52We held on and the 9th Durhams reached a quarry on the left of the Butte.
44:55Our tug was positioned with a gun
44:58and the opposing troops.
45:01The Durhams made perfect targets as they struggled through the mud.
45:04This was one of several occasions
45:07when the British gained a foothold on the Butte
45:10only to be driven off again by the Germans
45:13who were concealed in a network of deep tunnels.
45:16The final act of the Somme campaign
45:19centred on an attack of the Ancre Valley
45:22to take Beaumont-Hamel and Beaucourt.
45:26As winter approached temperatures fell
45:29adding to the discomfort of the troops.
45:32The Royal Naval Division included two brigades of reservists.
45:35These sailors now found themselves part of the army
45:38though they retained their naval rank.
45:41The Ancre Valley had flooded with the relentless shelling
45:44and hundreds of craters overlapped
45:47filling with water which quickly froze.
45:50Before the war the river Ancre had meandered its way down to Albert
45:53providing the locals with many pools where they would fish.
45:56Now the valley was devastated by the weight of artillery fire
45:59which had been directed onto it.
46:02MUSIC
46:20When the Royal Naval Division attacked in front of Station Road
46:23the German machine guns opened up with devastating effect.
46:33EXPLOSIONS
46:41The Hawke and Nelson battalions were virtually annihilated.
46:44Of the 435 sailors who went into action with the Hawke battalion
46:49419 became casualties.
46:56In what was virtually the last act of the Battle of the Somme
46:59the 51st Highland Division attacked the village of Beaumont-Hermel
47:02and the dreaded Wye Ravine.
47:05It was notorious as one of the most heavily defended places on the front.
47:10The Germans had burrowed deep underground
47:13sheltering hundreds of troops against the British artillery.
47:16Much desperate fighting took place around here
47:19with the Scots emerging victorious.
47:23MUSIC
47:29With the onset of winter the fighting on the Somme ground to a halt.
47:33The Allies had advanced a mere seven miles at the furthest point
47:37during the four and a half month campaign.
47:40The price was a death toll of more than a million men on all sides.
47:47Those who survived were exhausted.
47:50German commander General Ludendorff admitted his army was utterly worn out.
47:55He correctly predicted that if the war lasted
47:58defeat was inevitable.
48:07Some historians claim the Battle of the Somme as a British victory
48:12but in winning it a generation was lost.
48:20MUSIC
48:50.