1 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:34,160 This film contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting 2 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,800 I gave every part of my youth to do a job 3 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,160 and to go through a savage war. 4 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:48,520 It was a different war from year to year, and one's reactions 5 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:50,280 were completely different. 6 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:54,720 The intensity changed so much that anybody who'd been out in 1914 7 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:56,680 and went home and came back in 1917, 8 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,880 wouldn't recognise it as the same war. 9 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:02,520 I can only say one thing, I wouldn't have missed it. 10 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,440 It was terrible at times, but I wouldn't have missed it. 11 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,080 Oh, yes, if I could have my time again, I'd go through it 12 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:11,640 all over again because I enjoyed the service life. 13 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,440 I could only say that I have never been so excited in my life, 14 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:18,880 this was like a boy going to the play the first time. 15 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,920 I never realised there was anything unusual about it. 16 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,280 There was a job to be done and you just go on and did it. 17 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,280 We were all instilled with the idea that this was war 18 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,960 and that we've got to kill the Germans, and this is how we looked 19 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:33,400 at the thing. 20 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,920 I don't regret having experienced it. 21 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,360 I wish I hadn't, but I don't regret it because I'm safe. 22 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:40,800 HE LAUGHS 23 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,000 There were good times and bad times in France. 24 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,040 But you took the rough with the smooth. 25 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,920 I was twice wounded and gassed, but it was just war and you made 26 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:50,600 the best of it. 27 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,960 Just took it in its stride, like everybody else. 28 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,720 We were glad to be in it and we expected it to be rough, 29 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,880 and it WAS rough, but we didn't complain. 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,160 There was no real excitement about it. 31 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,640 You'd seen death so many times, you'd seen wounded so many times, 32 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:06,200 blood didn't excite you. 33 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:10,240 We were professionals and to us it was just a job of work. 34 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:14,640 It would be a fallacy to say that one enjoyed it, 35 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:17,680 but one got afterwards a nice, warm inner feeling that 36 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,160 one had been some use. 37 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,520 It didn't affect me very much because I wasn't 38 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,200 sufficiently open in the ways of the world, I was only a kid, 39 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,040 like other blokes there. 40 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,040 It was more like a great big game to be enjoyed, 41 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,600 apart from the actual killing and all that sort of thing. 42 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:34,080 It made me a man. 43 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:35,440 Yes, it did. 44 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,800 I don't think I should have ever been the man I am if it 45 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:39,680 hadn't been for having to serve. 46 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,760 You'd learn to look after yourself. 47 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,760 Whereas in your civilian life, your mother did all the chores. 48 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,040 You've got to learn how to cook for yourself, 49 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,600 darn your own socks, sew on your own buttons 50 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:53,320 and all the things like that. 51 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,000 It was just a day's work. 52 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,400 I knew that I was not alone, I knew I wasn't fighting the war 53 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,880 by myself and that what happened to other people might happen to me. 54 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:03,720 I had no regrets at all. 55 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,360 But, you see, I had no wife, no girl, no nothing. 56 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:08,560 No regrets, no horrors... 57 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:13,400 ..because if you survive that, you can survive anything. 58 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,040 We was aware that there was sort of a nasty feeling 59 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:27,960 between England and Germany. 60 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,720 We knew of the Kaiser's ambition to expand his empire 61 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,080 and all that sort of thing. 62 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,840 During that summer, there was a lot of talk about trouble 63 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,160 going on in the Balkans, but we were a long way 64 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,600 from the Balkans and it didn't worry us at all. 65 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,840 It was that Serbia business, wasn't it? 66 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,120 Serbia, when that chap was shot. 67 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,040 I was paying attention to politics and I realised 68 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,560 that there was going to be trouble between England and Germany. 69 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,760 It was a lovely August the 4th morning. 70 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,800 We were all seated around the table and we were starting 71 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,960 the Rugby football dinner with the German team. 72 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,480 There was a German here, next to him was an Englishman, 73 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:06,760 and next to him was a German, and so on and so on. 74 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,000 And a runner arrived into the middle of this dinner 75 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,360 with extraordinary news of outbreak of war. 76 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,280 There was a big placard - "War declared on Germany." 77 00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:18,480 We didn't know what we ought to do. 78 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:20,480 Whether we got to seize a knife off the table 79 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,200 and plunge it into the German or what! 80 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,280 But, after a little bit of discussion, we decided 81 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:30,080 that as far as we were concerned, the war was going to start tomorrow, 82 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,320 and the party proceeded. 83 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,080 I'm proud of being a British hero. I mean, I think we're as good 84 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:39,440 a country as any in the world 85 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:41,960 and you've got to be prepared to fight for that. 86 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:43,640 There's no doubt about it - 87 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,400 in the First World War, we prepared for war. 88 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,000 The empire was strong, we weren't afraid of anyone. 89 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,120 Everybody bought little buttons and white flags and sang songs, 90 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,080 there was no feeling of despair about it at all. 91 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,560 England couldn't possibly lose, no matter how many Germans pushed 92 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,320 how many Englishmen into the Channel, that they'd get no further. 93 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:05,480 We couldn't possibly lose. 94 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,560 We were brought up to think that one Englishman was worth ten Germans. 95 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,120 I thought that any enemy of England was an enemy of mine 96 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:14,760 and I wanted to be in it. 97 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,200 Oh, 6 months or 12 months, it would be all over 98 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:19,200 and Bob's your uncle. 99 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,600 I went with a friend of mine to Shepherd's Bush Empire 100 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,400 to see the picture show there and they showed the fleet 101 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,320 saving the high seas and played "Britons never shall be slaves", 102 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,840 and one feels that little shiver run up their back and you know 103 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:32,520 you've got to do something. 104 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,120 A friend of mine said to me, "We're going to join up." 105 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,520 It was from the patriotic point of view, 106 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:42,440 and from the general excitement of the whole affair, I suppose. 107 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,600 I didn't believe in war to that extent, but I was prepared 108 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,600 to do my part. 109 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,840 You see, in those days, men weren't to think for themselves, 110 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:54,440 they just had to do what they were told and that's all there was to it. 111 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,560 Oh, my mother was very aggrieved about it. 112 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,840 But, you know, a young man, you decide you're going to go. 113 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:04,480 At lunchtime, I left the office, went along to Armoury House 114 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,720 and there was a queue of about 1,000 people trying to enlist. 115 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,840 Everybody thought it would be a civilised war 116 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:12,120 and wanted to be fit enough to go. 117 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,680 Two of us decided to join up together, and when we told 118 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,880 the boss we were going to start training on Monday, 119 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:18,200 he was very annoyed. 120 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,760 He didn't make any promise at all that our jobs would be there 121 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:22,120 when we got back. 122 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,440 My mother, she said, "You wait until you're 19." 123 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,840 See, that was the age in those days, 19 to 35. 124 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:31,080 Well, it was supposed to be. 125 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:32,920 We were all lads together, you know, 126 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:34,360 full of excitement 127 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:35,880 and all this kind of thing. 128 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:37,240 I mean, I just wanted 129 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:38,640 to have a go at Jerry. 130 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,240 I just thought that I'd like to go and fight for the country. 131 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,080 This was the thing, you were proud of your country 132 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:45,760 and you'd do the best you could for it. 133 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,480 And this was what most of the young people thought of doing 134 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,000 in those days. 135 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,280 My mother, she said to me, "Look, we could stop you doing this 136 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:54,800 "because of your age." 137 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,360 I said, "Yes, I know you could, Mother, but I'm sure you won't." 138 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:00,040 Which they never did. 139 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,280 I just felt that all the young fellows of that age 140 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:04,600 were volunteering 141 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:06,680 and I thought it was my job to do the same. 142 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,440 I was desperately keen and a whole heap of us were. 143 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:11,280 I said, "Direct enlistment, please." 144 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:12,720 They were highly delighted 145 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,000 and pushed me in as quick as lightning. 146 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,720 Lots of the lads were joining the local regiments, 147 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:19,600 like the Bucks and the Middlesex. 148 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:21,720 Lads that I knew and had been to school with, 149 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:23,520 played football and cricket with, 150 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,000 we joined up, hoping for the best. 151 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,480 We were good friends, comrades 152 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:32,480 and it was a relief from rather boring jobs at home, you see. 153 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,600 I was walking down the Camden Town high street, 154 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:39,640 when two young ladies approached me, "Why aren't you in the Army?" 155 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:41,440 I said, "I'm only 17." 156 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:43,280 "Oh, they all say that here." 157 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,720 And to my amazement, she put her hand in her bag 158 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,760 and I put my hand up to sort of safeguard myself, 159 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,400 and this white feather finished up my nose. 160 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,520 As we marched to the station, some of the chaps had bowler hats, 161 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,760 some had straw hats, some had the regulation peaked Army cap. 162 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,080 Some would have tunics, some would be dressed 163 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,480 with their ordinary jackets with a pair of Army trousers. 164 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:09,880 Some had Army boots, some didn't. 165 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,440 And we really were a motley throng. 166 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:14,800 Some of them were obviously chaps who had hoped to live 167 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,560 in some comfort and brought suitcases with clothes with them, 168 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:18,960 which they never saw again. 169 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:20,800 We had to all get our hair cut. 170 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:22,040 "How would you like it, sir?" 171 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,240 And you'd say, "Short back and sides." 172 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,440 But the answer was, straight over the top 173 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,200 with horse clippers, and we looked more like convicts than soldiers. 174 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:32,360 As soon as war broke out, there was a call made 175 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:34,440 for all ex-soldiers to rejoin, 176 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,080 and they made them sergeants straight away. 177 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:40,080 So you got a lot of instructors that way. 178 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,120 The people who really carried us through was the old sweats 179 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:47,280 who'd had previous war experience and gave us a lot of wise advice 180 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,520 as to what to look for and what to dodge. 181 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,760 We were ordered down onto the parade ground and then we were allotted 182 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,200 to different platoons. 183 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,760 When they came to us, they were weedy, sallow, 184 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,960 skinny, frightened children. 185 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,880 The refuse of our industrial system and they were in very poor condition 186 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,040 and had to be made into soldiers. 187 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,880 Many of us had given our wrong ages to join the Army. 188 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,360 The agent walked down the lines and gave an order, 189 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:21,640 "Every man under the age of 19 should take two paces forward." 190 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,040 Nobody moved. 191 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,840 I was a lad of 17 and they'd probably say I wasn't 19, 192 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:30,280 which you had to be to join up. 193 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,560 But he says, "How long do you want to sign on for?" 194 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:36,720 Everyone else was joining up so I called into the recruitment office 195 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,560 and he said to me, "How old are you?" I said, "17, sir." 196 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:42,760 Well, he said, "Go outside and come back and say you are 18." 197 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,720 So of course, I went outside and said we were 18. 198 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:47,520 I was straight up there. 199 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,120 The Sergeant said, "How old are you?" 200 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:51,400 I said, "I'm 18 and one month." 201 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,600 He said, "Do you mean 19 and one month? 202 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,520 So I thought for a moment, I said, "Yes, sir." 203 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:57,400 He said, "Right, sign here, please." 204 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,880 He asked me how old I was and I said I was 16 in March. 205 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:02,520 He said, "You're too young, 206 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,040 "you better go outside and have a birthday." 207 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,160 I was 16 years old in 1917 208 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,920 and I was six foot two tall and my father allowed me to go. 209 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,000 So I entered my age as 19 years old, 210 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,360 three years older than what I really was. 211 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,760 I was 15 years, just 2½ years short of 18, 212 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,240 and I got before this medical officer, who said, 213 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,720 "All right, you pass." 214 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:33,520 I had just turned 17 at the time and I went up to Whitehall 215 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,280 and enlisted in the 16th Lancers. 216 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,560 I was 15 and I thought I'd have a better chance 217 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:41,280 than when I were 14. 218 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:45,040 So I walked into the barracks and just said, "I'm 18," 219 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:46,480 and that was it. 220 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,760 My parents wrote to the commanding officer and asked for me, 221 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:51,480 as I was underage, to be released. 222 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:55,240 And he said, "Your parents want you back - do you want to go?" 223 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:56,680 I said no. 224 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,080 The chaplain asked me my age, and I said I was 16. 225 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,760 He said, "Much too young. Would you like me to pray for you?" 226 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,440 The clothing came piecemeal into the quartermaster stores. 227 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,440 One lad said, "These boots don't fit me." 228 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,120 And the quartermaster said, "There isn't such a thing as boots 229 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,320 "that don't fit in the Army, it's your feet that don't 230 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:25,640 "fit the boots." 231 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,440 Some men would find a tunic to fit them or perhaps 232 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:30,880 a pair of trousers. 233 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,000 And so it went on for nearly a fortnight. 234 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:35,440 Just one uniform. 235 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,480 I was in the Army nearly four years, I only had one uniform. 236 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,240 We were all issued with these famous puttees, 237 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:45,520 which were news to all of us, and I personally could never quite 238 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:47,960 master the putting on of puttees. 239 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:52,000 The main reason for puttees were to support the legs in marching. 240 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,600 I was issued with a kilt but nothing to wear underneath it, 241 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,000 and I was given a slip of paper to say, 242 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,080 "This man has not been issued with underpants." 243 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:03,560 I was given strict instructions that I couldn't ride on top 244 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:06,520 of the tram car, had to ride downstairs. 245 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,880 Now, the pack was for everything that you own. 246 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:16,080 The overcoat had to be folded very, very neatly and tightly. 247 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,320 There was a needle, thread, spare buttons, knife, 248 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:26,400 fork, spoon, razor, shaving brush, toothbrush and also a half-pint mug. 249 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:31,600 One spare shirt and one spare pair of socks, and that was your kit. 250 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,000 The Army razor with which we were issued was absolutely useless, 251 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,120 but it came in handy for cutting up meat and so forth. 252 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,120 The toothbrush, that came in handy for cleaning buttons. 253 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,720 But one of the peculiarities about the Army was that, 254 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:46,360 though it was a crime to have dirty buttons, 255 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:48,520 you were never issued with the materials to clean 256 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,000 the buttons, you had to buy them yourself. 257 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,880 We were awakened by the bugle, which sounded Reveille. 258 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:57,680 Wash, shave, pack your bed up and pack your kit. 259 00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:02,000 About half past six, and you would have an hour, PT before breakfast. 260 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,160 Press-ups and physical exercises, arms upward stretch. 261 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,680 They knew you were fresh and they tried to take it by stages, 262 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:12,480 there wasn't any bullying or anything like that. 263 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,240 Breakfast consisted of bread, butter, 264 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,240 one rasher of Lance Corporal Bacon. 265 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,960 It was streaky bacon, it had one stripe in it. 266 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,640 Well, there was jam and they seemed to make nothing 267 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:26,520 but plum and apple, you know? 268 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:29,720 If you got any other kind, it was a celebration event. 269 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,360 There were the Bruce Bairnsfather cartoons depicting that, 270 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,520 handing him a tin of plum and apple jam. 271 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:38,480 "When the 'ell is it going to be strawberry?" 272 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,320 It was wonderful, that jam. 273 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,760 Tickler's, the jam manufacturers, 274 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,880 they must have made millions of tins of P&A, plum and apple. 275 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,520 # Oh, oh, oh, it's a lovely war 276 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,160 # What do we want with eggs and ham 277 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,600 # When we've got bags of Tickler's Jam? # 278 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:01,240 And then it would be parade time and the Sergeant would take over 279 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,280 and you'd have a whole morning of marching 280 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:06,600 and you would learn all commands, 281 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:09,720 such as "about turn" and all that sort of thing. 282 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,240 Having been in the Boy Scouts, it was dead easy to me. 283 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:15,520 When you get the order "right dress", 284 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,240 you turn your head only, to the right. 285 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,360 Some of them managed to turn left, 286 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,360 which didn't exactly please the drill Sergeant. 287 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,560 We were all youngsters, we'd come from 288 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,000 fairly sheltered lives and so forth. 289 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,200 This Sergeant of ours was the loudmouth shouting type. 290 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:36,960 Coming up against military discipline was a shock, 291 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:41,160 being chased around from pillar to post by disciplinarian NCOs. 292 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,200 Some of the sergeants were shockers. 293 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,440 They would cause a lot of trouble if you were out of step 294 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,280 or if you didn't keep time, or if you didn't handle 295 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,000 your rifle properly. 296 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,280 They were always having a go at you. 297 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,600 Most of them were all right, the shouting meant nothing, 298 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:57,440 but some of them never lost it. 299 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:02,280 One night I'd gone to bed and this pot was brought round to my bed 300 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,280 and they said, "Oh, you want to do a piss?" 301 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,440 So I did the business in the pot. 302 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,000 They'd rested this big, huge pot 303 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,880 which contained gallons, on the door. 304 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:17,080 And when this Sergeant came along to see that everybody 305 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:19,400 was in bed, this thing turned up and he was drenched 306 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:21,520 from top to bottom in fluid! 307 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,720 HE LAUGHS 308 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,680 First of all, I was full of enthusiasm. 309 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,640 But after about the first week, I wished I hadn't done it. 310 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,120 Because the discipline was so strict that I was beginning to get 311 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,000 a little bit nervous as to what was in store. 312 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,400 We weren't out dancing, anything like that. 313 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,080 We were getting ready for a war. 314 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:44,600 The thing was, you were in the Army, you had to do as you were told. 315 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,600 You had one master, or dozens, but you just had to get on with it 316 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:49,960 and that was it. 317 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,040 I did find that right through the Army, 318 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,760 if you behaved yourself, you'd nothing much to fear. 319 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,680 This was quite a new world to us. 320 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,040 I mean, you can imagine. I came out of civilian life, 321 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,240 like all the others did, and we weren't in a position 322 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:03,280 to argue or object. 323 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,800 It was just a matter of doing what we were told. 324 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:07,120 I liked it. 325 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,720 I liked to be told what I had to do because there was a reason 326 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,800 for doing it, and later on I realised that was the best training 327 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:16,360 you could have. 328 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,600 The first week, our route march would be ten miles, 329 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,600 the second week it would be 12, and so on and so on. 330 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:26,840 It intensified, because it's of the utmost importance 331 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,520 that the infantry soldiers could march with a full kit. 332 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,320 What you had to carry was 109 lbs. 333 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,800 The marching was easy for me, but quite a lot of chaps 334 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,280 who were in sedentary jobs found it pretty hard. 335 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:45,400 It numbed and cramped my muscles on my thighs and calves 336 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,280 until they hurt very much indeed. 337 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:50,360 Oh, those Army boots. 338 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:51,800 I could have cried. 339 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:57,160 My feet and ankles with those heavy Army boots after civilian shoes. 340 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,880 So to get your boots made pliable, you used to urinate in them 341 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:02,920 and leave it overnight. 342 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:07,480 Quite a lot of men were clerks or they worked in shops, 343 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:11,680 and the very nature of their calling didn't make for fitness. 344 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:14,960 Well, they sent me to hospital and they gave me the cure 345 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:19,920 for hookworm and I found that I could stand the drill after that. 346 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:22,600 They used to march us all round the West End. 347 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,680 Crowds used to foregather, and some of the poor, deluded ones 348 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,920 fell for the con trick and lined up behind us 349 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,440 and we used to march them all down to Chelsea barracks, 350 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:33,840 where they got signed up. 351 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,400 Lunch would consist of inedible stew. 352 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,400 Now, you must remember the chaps in the cookhouse were by no means 353 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:45,840 experienced cooks, but anybody can make a stew, 354 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:47,600 and that's what they did. 355 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:52,440 Sometimes we got a bit of plum duff and milk puddings and tapioca rice. 356 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,080 It was the good old-fashioned, plain stuff 357 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:56,640 that I was brought up on. 358 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:58,880 I had no complaint about it. 359 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:03,880 In the afternoon, it could be a lecture on Vickers machine guns. 360 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,240 We used to strip the machinegun right down 361 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:09,080 and put it together again. 362 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,640 And, luckily, I seemed to cotton on to that quite quickly. 363 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,560 We were always told the man's best friend is his rifle, 364 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:17,200 and it was. 365 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:21,560 Our rifle was a short Lee-Enfield, a very good rifle indeed. 366 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:23,320 A real sturdy rifle. 367 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:27,440 You had your ammunition pouches on both sides of the chest, 368 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:29,560 to counterbalance the weight of the pack, 369 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:34,320 and those pouches carried 150 rounds of .303 ammunition. 370 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,880 We were supposed to hold the rifle up in one hand, 371 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,360 but I could never hold a rifle properly. 372 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:42,000 My right wrist wouldn't hold it up. 373 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,880 I'd never fired a rifle in my life, but on the first day we went 374 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:46,200 onto the rifle range, 375 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,680 and it was amazing the bull's-eyes I was getting. 376 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:52,320 So, the next thing, I was made a first-class rifleman. 377 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,680 Above all, we learned rapid-fire. 378 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,160 Ten rounds, get those ten rounds onto the target in one minute. 379 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,240 It was known as "the mad minute". 380 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,560 I'd never seen a dead man or anything of that kind, 381 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,200 and I wondered, if it came to my shooting a man, 382 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:08,160 whether I would be able to do this. 383 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,040 Plunge the bayonet into the sack, shout like hell. 384 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,280 And they would tell you where to put your bayonet. 385 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:15,680 Either into his left shoulder, his right shoulder, 386 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:17,720 in the chest or in the body. 387 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:19,840 We was told to make as much noise as we could. 388 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:21,920 I think that was to frighten the enemy. 389 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,440 It didn't seem to me to be a likely thing to do, but we used to shout. 390 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,480 When you train as a division, there's 12 battalions, 391 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,480 there's roughly 12,000 men who are on the move, 392 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,240 and you're a very small cog in a big wheel. 393 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,200 Saturday mornings we were let off, but we had to do 394 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:39,800 sometimes barrack duties. 395 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,120 And then, on Sundays, we were all marched down to church. 396 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:45,720 It didn't matter what religion you were, you all had to go, 397 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,200 and that was it. 398 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,720 Hardly a day passed without the shout 399 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:50,960 around the barrack-room, 400 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,240 "Has anybody here had any experience with horses? 401 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,720 "Can anybody here play any musical instruments? 402 00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:58,240 "Anybody had an experience at so and so?" 403 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,720 So gradually, the thousand men who were joined up 404 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:06,120 as a motley throng, now became a transport man, a bandsman, 405 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:08,000 signalman and so on. 406 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,040 You didn't want to mess about on the parade ground 407 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,320 with heavy packs on the route marches. 408 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,920 Most of us wanted to go across and do some scrapping. 409 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,400 After good food, fresh air and physical exercise, 410 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,120 they changed so that their mothers wouldn't have recognised them. 411 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:26,280 They put on an average of one stone in weight and one inch in height. 412 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,520 Although we hated the sight and sound of our disciplinary sergeants, 413 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:33,160 this reflects greatly to their credit because they knocked us 414 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,760 into shape as regards to marching and foot drills. 415 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,120 But far more than that, they were handsome, 416 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:42,400 ruddy, upstanding, square-shouldered young men 417 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,960 who were afraid of nobody, not even the Sergeant Major. 418 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,480 After the six weeks, we were informed we were going 419 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:49,880 to be posted overseas. 420 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,800 They said, "You're leaving tomorrow morning for an unknown destination." 421 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,240 You were never told where you were heading for. 422 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,320 I just wanted to fight the Germans, and as far as that was concerned, 423 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,000 it didn't matter tuppence to me where we went. 424 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,920 And when we pushed them through this crash programme 425 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:06,640 of military training, 426 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:08,640 they were pushed off to France in batches. 427 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,680 Before we left, the officer said, "well, you haven't had time 428 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,040 "to be made sergeants, so we'll give you a couple of stripes." 429 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,600 So they made us corporals, and in less than no time 430 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,440 we were marched down to the station. 431 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,520 In my mind I wondered, "Shall I ever come back?" 432 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:26,520 I didn't think I would at the time. 433 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,720 I didn't worry about it. 434 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,280 Oh, they were all full of euphoria, they were all glad they were going. 435 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,040 Nobody was crying. 436 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,160 I wrote a postcard when I was in the train 437 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:38,960 and chucked it out of the window, hoping that it would be delivered 438 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:40,320 to my family. 439 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,040 We arrived at Folkestone in the evening. 440 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,560 We embarked on one of the old Thames pleasure boats. 441 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:50,560 Well, pretty crowded, but of course there's only 21 mile 442 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,080 from Dover to Calais on the boat. 443 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,000 There were talks by officers to us as to how to behave ourselves 444 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,000 on foreign soil, and that we've got to respect other people's 445 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,120 modes of conduct. 446 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:04,760 The biggest number of casualties were NCOs, 447 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,120 and we weren't all too keen about this. 448 00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:10,560 So I went into the lavatory and my stripes came off 449 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,080 and they disappeared through the porthole. 450 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,040 And with that, I went back on deck as a private. 451 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:21,760 As our horses were brought down the gangways, 452 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,600 I noticed the expression on the men's faces. 453 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:27,320 There were no cheerful, smiling faces coming down 454 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:28,840 that gangway at all. 455 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,280 It was beautiful weather, very warm, 456 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,880 and every village and town we went through, people rushed out, 457 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,000 bottles of wine, yards of French bread, flowers. 458 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,520 The land flowed in every single aspect. 459 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,600 There were farmers going about their business, 460 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:46,400 the most lovely country. 461 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,160 If we passed a field of carrots, we used to raid the field 462 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,480 and walk along munching the carrots and turnips. 463 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:00,560 I was dead scared that the war would be over 464 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:01,920 before I got out to it. 465 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:03,480 When I got out to France, 466 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,960 I was terribly pleased, really keen. 467 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,400 You just marched and marched until roughly 20 miles 468 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,040 from the trenches. 469 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,640 We knew we were getting close to the line because the gunfire 470 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:17,720 was becoming more noisy. 471 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,280 I remember the first shell, I was delighted. 472 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,520 We went through towns, villages that were absolutely derelict. 473 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:29,880 So we never knew where we were, except that we were in Belgium. 474 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,600 The devastation was something I never could have imagined. 475 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,440 The whole place gave one the most eerie sensation. 476 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,640 There was stunted trees, torn to shreds with shellfire 477 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,400 and there was shell holes all over the place. 478 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,200 We were relieving men of the 28th division, 479 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,480 and as they passed us, we would say, "What's it like up there?" 480 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,720 The reply invariably came back, "Bloody awful, mate." 481 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:02,120 The old sweats coming back got their tails up all right, 482 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,760 but I didn't know what to expect, just hadn't a clue. 483 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,080 It was deadly warfare, you were facing the Germans. 484 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:14,560 Follow me. 485 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:18,680 You got the order, "load". 486 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,480 You put nine in your magazine and one up the spout 487 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,160 and you put the safety catch on, 488 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,800 and you always went into the line prepared to use 489 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:28,360 your rifle immediately. 490 00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:32,760 That's when you got rigid orders, no talking whatsoever, 491 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:34,320 keep your head down. 492 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,280 Single file, no smoking. 493 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,440 The captain would then direct you right to the front trenches. 494 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,240 Before a man goes into the trenches, he usually carries 495 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:49,800 a roll of barbed wire or a bag of bombs, besides his own equipment. 496 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,400 That's the way to get the stuff up to the front line. 497 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,080 Now, a guide would always be sent out. 498 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,680 Extend this part of the trench over there. 499 00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:59,120 What, that way? That's it. 500 00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:00,800 The trenches in France were a maze. 501 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,400 If you didn't have a guide, you could very soon get lost. 502 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,000 Smile, so your mother thinks I'm looking after you. 503 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:10,200 Coming up, coming up! 504 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,440 The trenches weren't in one straight line. 505 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,800 They were built on what they call a Travis System. 506 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,600 The Travis would break up the shellfire 507 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,800 and stop it spreading right along the trench. 508 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:27,480 There was a front line of trenches 509 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:29,760 and then there was a second line of trenches. 510 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,920 The support line would be about 50 yards or more behind the front line. 511 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,480 In between, there would be communication trenches 512 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,800 so that they could move through if the front line 513 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,480 was under jeopardy. 514 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,720 First impression I got of the trenches was they were 515 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,680 very much lived in. 516 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:47,600 We had to take them as we found them. 517 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,120 You would see an overcoat hanging from a wooden peg. 518 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:54,680 You would see a mess tin with some tea in it. 519 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,680 A dugout, which had a piece of blanket in it, 520 00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:59,760 a bed made of sandbags. 521 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,720 Our world was divided by no-man's-land, 522 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,440 a sort of Iron Curtain, 523 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,200 beyond which were bogey men who would kill you if they ever saw you. 524 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,240 As you look through your periscope, all you could see were hundreds 525 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:16,000 of shell holes, your barbed wire and the German barbed wire. 526 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,800 You could see dead bodies hanging on the barbed wire 527 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,720 and they may have been there for a long, long time. 528 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,640 It was one of the most desolate looking places in the world. 529 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,880 You never saw a sign of life, and yet you knew very well that, 530 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:33,160 within shouting range, there were hundreds and hundreds of men. 531 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,760 A platoon of about 50 men would have about 100 yards 532 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:39,120 of front line trenches as their responsibility. 533 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:41,280 There were signs all over the trenches, 534 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,720 Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street and all that sort of thing, 535 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:46,400 telling you where water points were 536 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,840 and which was the most dangerous part of the land 537 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:50,920 with regard to snipers. 538 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,480 You had to be extremely careful because a bullet could go 539 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,160 through one layer of sandbags quite easily. 540 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,640 I was talking to a bloke one day and, pop, 541 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,800 his head was bashed in like an egg. 542 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,960 He just happened to be in a place where a sniper could get an aim. 543 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,960 We used to do a four-day stint in a line. 544 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:12,280 We took with us sufficient food to last the four days. 545 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:15,480 Go on, lads, give our love to Jerry. 546 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:16,880 Mind yourselves out there. 547 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,840 Your day would start before dawn when NCOs would go round 548 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,760 this 100 yards and make sure everybody was alive. 549 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,240 Of a day in the trenches, you had two hours on, four off. 550 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,320 A third of the people were on sentry duty, 551 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,040 a third working and a third sleeping. 552 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:33,760 We just slept where we were. 553 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,280 No beds, just flopped down on the ground. 554 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,760 Been to the pictures, mate! 555 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,800 The trench was very wet and, wherever possible, we would try 556 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:43,320 and get above the water. 557 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:45,880 We were able to dig out the side of the trench 558 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,320 and that was when we used to steal our sleep 559 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,720 on the two-on and four-off stretch. 560 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,520 And then you'd have your couple of hours on the parapet 561 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,240 and then rest again. 562 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,280 If nothing untoward happened, there would be perhaps 563 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,800 two or three sentry groups in the whole company's front. 564 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:03,880 EXPLOSIONS BOOM IN DISTANCE 565 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:14,680 It was a job to keep awake. 566 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,520 Woe betide you if you were caught asleep. 567 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,520 If you are so tired, you can sleep standing up, 568 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,240 which I've done many times. 569 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:28,600 The first thing you did when you got into the line was to have a brew-up. 570 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:30,880 There was one thing about the Vickers gun, 571 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:32,600 it being a water-cooled weapon, 572 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,960 if you were continuously firing, you'd find that the water 573 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,720 would be boiling. You could disconnect the tube 574 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:39,160 and make a cup of tea. 575 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,960 The water came up in two-gallon petrol cans. 576 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,320 And we could taste the petrol in it because they couldn't 577 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,120 wash it completely out. 578 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,120 In every bay was a little fireplace. 579 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:55,400 You used tiny slivers of wood because if you made smoke 580 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,400 in the front line, over would come a shell. 581 00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:58,600 I fancy a brew. 582 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,960 But save a drop of that tea to shave with. 583 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,320 Because we had to shave in the front line. 584 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,000 We used to put a lot of tins out on the parapet 585 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,280 if it rained. You daren't touch any of the other water. 586 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,000 We were scooping water out of shell holes, 587 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,000 there might have been dead bodies underneath. 588 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,000 We thought as long as we boiled it for a long time, 589 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,040 all the green stuff would come off the top. 590 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,640 Nice and gentle. Anyway, we'd made tea with it. 591 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:22,920 That's how I got my dose of dysentery. 592 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,400 Of course, there was no sanitary arrangements. 593 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,560 They'd dig a trench and stick a pole across, 594 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,160 and you'd get about seven or eight chaps on the pole. 595 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,280 God, to have a clear-out was terrible. 596 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:34,840 FLIES BUZZ 597 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,200 People used to go to the toilet with no privacy. 598 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,480 Being rather a shy nature, if I had pissed with somebody, 599 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:41,880 I felt a bit nervous. 600 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,720 But when you were in the Army, you got quite used to it. 601 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,280 Of course, it didn't matter a damn because there was no women 602 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:48,640 or anything like that. 603 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,160 The flies used to crawl over your bottom. 604 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:52,440 Most unpleasant. 605 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,240 And no such thing as toilet rolls. 606 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:56,320 You had to wipe your behind with your hand. 607 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,720 Your hands might have been in all sorts of things, 608 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:00,320 but you never washed. 609 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:01,920 Well, you heard a terrific shout... 610 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:03,520 MEN SHOUT AND YELL, LOUD THUD 611 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:06,320 ..and the pole had snapped and the poor men 612 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,640 who were sitting on the bar fell down in the muck! 613 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:10,400 MEN LAUGH 614 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,280 There was always the humorous side of the war. 615 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,280 We had to put rifles down for them to hang onto, 616 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,960 and they came out like slimy rabbits and nobody wanted to go near them. 617 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,160 We had no spare clothes at all and you were living for weeks 618 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,000 without washing or getting a bath. 619 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,880 I personally became really badly infested and chatty, 620 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,440 as we used to call it, with these lice. 621 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,800 Oh, lice was a dreadful problem. 622 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,200 They were funny little things, like little monster sort of things, 623 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,160 with six legs, and they used to feed ten times a day. 624 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:45,760 You had to kill the bloody things. 625 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:48,040 My favourite way was burning them. 626 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,880 You would run the seams over the lighted candle 627 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,400 and you could hear the eggs going pop, pop, pop, pop. 628 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:55,040 POPPING 629 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,560 The sooner you got the shirt back again, the heat of the body 630 00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,400 hatched the eggs that you'd missed. 631 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,280 And we was just as lousy the next day. 632 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:09,120 Each man prepared his own breakfast. 633 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,800 Bread and jam was about 16 men to a loaf of bread. 634 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:16,680 There'd be a little bit of bacon which would suffice 635 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:18,720 for half a dozen men. 636 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,920 You'd put your rasher of bacon in your mess tin lid, 637 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:26,280 put a few more sticks on your fire and you would fry your bacon. 638 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,160 And then soak up the fat with a piece of biscuit 639 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,200 and then there you are with the breakfast. 640 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,800 Dinner time was mostly bully beef cut up and stewed, 641 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,720 along with all sorts of vegetables from tins. 642 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,880 Magonoghie's tinned stew was mixed up with the bully beef. 643 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,200 I've gone into French dugouts and eaten biscuits 644 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,760 which had been left by the troops two years previously, 645 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:49,920 and tasted the green mould in them, but it didn't do me any harm. 646 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,200 This was how it was. Anything's good, you know, when you're hungry. 647 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,520 And you were always hungry. HE LAUGHS 648 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,440 But any given moment, we could expect to be shelled. 649 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,480 SHELL WHIZZES AND BANGS 650 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,760 You had very little protection against that. 651 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,440 One would hear a mild pop as the gun fired five miles away. 652 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,240 And in the five or six seconds it took to come, 653 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,400 you can pass through quite a number of psychological changes. 654 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:23,640 I can't remember anything more nerve-racking 655 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,440 than the continuous shelling, without stop, went on day and night. 656 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,720 But we were always told that you never heard the shell that hit you 657 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,560 because most of them travelled faster than sound. 658 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:37,640 But you could literally feel your heart pounding against the ground. 659 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,120 The emotional strain was absolutely terrific. 660 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,320 Although a shell might burst 50 yards away, 661 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,000 you might find a fragment of jagged iron, 662 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,040 really red hot and weighing half a pound, 663 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,200 arriving in your trench. 664 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,600 You see people blown to little bits. 665 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:53,880 I've actually had to put a man in a sandbag. 666 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,000 Every now and again, there would be a great roar 667 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,000 like an aeroplane coming in to land... 668 00:32:58,000 --> 00:32:59,200 LOUD BANG 669 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,600 ..and in a fifth of a second, your resolution would break 670 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,400 and you'd throw yourself down into the mud 671 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,600 and the other ones would laugh at you. 672 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,400 The shrapnel shell would burst in the air and spray bullets 673 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:09,920 on the troops below. 674 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,040 As if they were from a shotgun. 675 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,280 The bullets came down, whistling like all the hobs of hell. 676 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,720 Another one of the annoyances we had was the Germans 677 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,280 were very active with mining. 678 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,200 We crouched down underneath the front parapet 679 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:31,640 to dodge the debris falling, 680 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,240 and I got the men to open up rapid fire to prevent the Germans 681 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:38,680 from getting into that crater where they could bomb us. 682 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,480 If the front line gets damaged, it's got to be repaired. 683 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:43,120 Well, the people who are in the line, 684 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:44,800 they've got to get on with it. 685 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,080 I had in my mind that we expected big gunfire to light amongst 686 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:52,280 all us cavalry and absolutely swipe us off the face of the Earth. 687 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:57,840 I shouted, "Gallop!" like that. 688 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,040 They dropped 'em all at once, the horses. 689 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,480 Oh, a heck of a mess. 690 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,360 The horses were laying down, with their intestines hanging out, 691 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,280 and men with matter hanging out of theirs. 692 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,680 "And that, boys," they said, "the bloody Germans!" 693 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:14,560 To lose a horse was like losing a friend. 694 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,240 The Brigadier turned to our captain and he says, 695 00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:19,160 "See that the boy has two or three days' rest. 696 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:20,720 "When a boy likes an animal like that, 697 00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:23,080 "there's not a lot wrong with him." 698 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,600 Over the whole of the front line, there was a smell. 699 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,760 It wasn't a complicated smell, 700 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,680 it was the smell of decaying corpses. 701 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:32,800 Nasty, sickly smell. 702 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:34,320 You never forgot that smell. 703 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:36,800 FLIES BUZZ 704 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:38,360 It was the smell of death. 705 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:42,440 If you've ever smelt a dead mouse, it was like that, but hundreds 706 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,320 and hundreds of times worse. 707 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:47,520 It seemed to cling to everything. 708 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,040 When you was having your food, you could taste it. 709 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:55,880 The awful stench and bits of human bodies laying about, 710 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,360 it became an everyday thing. 711 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,440 We thought, well, it'll be you too next, what does it matter? 712 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,520 Wherever there was a grave or a body, there were rats. 713 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:08,680 They were all big fat ones 714 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,240 and we knew where they got the fat from. 715 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:16,400 Unpleasant animals, because of the filtration into the graves. 716 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,640 They used to feed on the dead and come in the dugouts, 717 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,120 pick up scraps in there. 718 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,040 I woke up in the bottom of the trench 719 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,400 and felt something warm on my face. 720 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,280 And a little heart going bang, bang, bang. 721 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,840 The devil scratched my face with the claws of his hind feet 722 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:31,960 as he took off. 723 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:34,280 We used to try and shoot them, hit them, kill them, 724 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:35,720 chase them, do anything. 725 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:37,200 GUNSHOTS AND BANGING, RATS SQUEAK 726 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,160 Then you've got gas. 727 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,160 We saw this green cloud coming towards us. 728 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,120 Just rolling slowly along the ground. 729 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:45,640 They'd shout "gas"... MEN SHOUT 730 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:47,760 ..and you had to take your mask out and stick it on 731 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,240 in two, three seconds. 732 00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:53,400 Yes, it was phosgene gas, later on there was mustard gas. 733 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:55,240 That was very effective. 734 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:58,280 I never saw a slightly gassed man. 735 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,280 If you couldn't get your gas mask, you were to pee on your handkerchief 736 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,440 and stuff this round your nose and mouth. 737 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:05,840 I don't mind admitting that I didn't think much of the 738 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,760 urinating on the handkerchief, so I went into one of 739 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,160 the trench's latrines and I stuck my head in a bucket. 740 00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,320 But I'll tell you, I couldn't hold my breath any more, 741 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:17,200 came up, took a good breath of air, down again. 742 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,280 We were very soon enveloped in this thick, 743 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,000 yellow, filthy cloud. 744 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,160 The more we tried to get rid of the sting in our eyes, 745 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:25,760 the worse it got. 746 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,880 And I thought deeply of what the effect of blindness 747 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:31,480 was going to be. 748 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:35,280 The extraction of clotted blood and the injection of saline 749 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,360 could alleviate a lot of the trouble. 750 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,280 And as I was gassed myself, I can speak from experience. 751 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,080 In the winter time, as the weather deteriorated, 752 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:48,160 so the trenches got more and more sodden with water 753 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:50,360 until they just became ditches. 754 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,960 The water was swirling about our feet and rising higher 755 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,280 and higher until it reached our chests. 756 00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,080 Our difficulty was frostbite. 757 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:02,680 Our gumboots filled with water, and in the mornings we could not 758 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:06,320 split them off because they were frozen to our feet. 759 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,440 When you're talking about trench feet, 760 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:09,960 you're talking about gangrene. 761 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:14,120 Send him straight down the line, hack the legs off. 762 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:15,920 Give us a hand with that, will you? 763 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,920 When the water had soaked into the earth, the floors of the trenches 764 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:24,640 were just paved with liquid mud, and that became like glue. 765 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,600 It was a curious sucking kind of mud. 766 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:31,080 Very disgusting indeed, very tenacious. 767 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:32,680 It stuck to you. 768 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:36,120 If one had to go to the rear for rations, 769 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,440 well, that was just a nightmare journey. 770 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,120 Slithering about. 771 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,320 When it was pouring with rain and on slippery duck boards, 772 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,680 the language was really edifying. 773 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,360 You heard words that you never dream existed. 774 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,440 And if you slipped off the duck boards, you just sank into the mud 775 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,520 of decomposed bodies of humans and mules, 776 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:56,760 and that was the end of you. 777 00:37:56,760 --> 00:38:00,000 The boy, he was in the middle of this huge sea of mud, struggling, 778 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:01,560 and we couldn't do a thing. 779 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:03,000 There was no hope of getting to him. 780 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,680 The look on the lad's face, and he was a mere boy, 781 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,640 was really pathetic. COUGHING AND SPLUTTERING 782 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,160 I've seen men sinking into the mud and dying in the slime. 783 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,720 I think it absolutely finished me off. 784 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,600 It was supposed to be quiet and then you might get 785 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,400 some drunken German saying, "I'm going to give them hell today," 786 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:22,000 and opened up with all his batteries 787 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:23,920 and catch hundreds of people in the line-up. 788 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,320 And that was what they called holding the line. 789 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,960 We were in conditions that isolated us completely from civilisation. 790 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:35,160 We got so generate, so isolated living in this mud. 791 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:38,760 And you could sympathise with how a rabbit must feel 792 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,880 because we were hunted by mankind, just the same as a rabbit. 793 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,280 You knew your lives were in one another's hands 794 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,840 and it united you very closely and you didn't let anything 795 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:48,760 interfere with that. 796 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,080 You knew what was going on within your vision. 797 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,880 Beyond that, you hadn't got a clue. HARMONICA PLAYS 798 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:57,440 You didn't care how the war was going, whether we were winning. 799 00:38:57,440 --> 00:38:59,400 You weren't bothered with that at all. 800 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:02,280 You lived like tramps, you didn't polish any buttons, 801 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,840 you wore any uniformed bits that you liked and nobody worried. 802 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,840 All they were concerned with was that you were fit to fight. 803 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:10,920 If nothing's happening, you chat about life, 804 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,080 where he came from and you came from. 805 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:14,320 Everything was friendly. 806 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:16,440 There was a terrific lot of kindness in a way, 807 00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:17,840 to each person. 808 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,720 When the war was not very active, it was really rather fun 809 00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:22,240 to be in the front line. 810 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,560 It was not very dangerous, the sort of outdoor camping holiday 811 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:30,160 with the boys, with a slight spice of danger to make it interesting. 812 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,720 We used to raid the trenches and get a prisoner if possible. 813 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:37,440 And a typical trench raid would be perhaps eight in passing. 814 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:40,920 If you was going to make a raid, somebody would cut 815 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,080 a passage through the wire at night-time. 816 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:47,840 The only way to do it was silently... 817 00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:52,080 ..to rush it, and that was the arrangement. 818 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:54,280 We would bomb and bayonet the Germans coming out 819 00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,800 on their hands and knees out the dugout, we'd smack them 820 00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,280 over the head and throw in a couple of bombs. 821 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:06,040 And there were three ways of getting rid of him. 822 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,040 One was to knife him, garrotte him or to bayonet him. 823 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:12,120 Quietest was the quick wrap around the throat 824 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:13,560 and knife into the back. 825 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:19,600 I threw a revolver at poor little Rudolph, 826 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:20,880 he was only about 18. 827 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:22,400 I hit him in the face with it. 828 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:24,960 He screamed and came back at me, and that's when I got him. 829 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,280 Got him with a Very pistol. 830 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:29,040 Well done, chaps! Good raid! 831 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,560 I always had a full flask and I gave him a drink. 832 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:33,440 I felt very sorry for him. 833 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,440 He said, "Danke schoen, das ist gut," and died. 834 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:47,000 And it was a very successful raid, they got two prisoners, I think, 835 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,160 which was all they all wanted. 836 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,960 By the way, the men who were captured on the trench raid 837 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:56,800 were the first Germans I saw on the Western Front. 838 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,880 A lot of the German troops, they were very good, very friendly. 839 00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:03,560 In fact, some of those Bavarians were dammed good, decent people. 840 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,760 The snipers would fire but not hit anybody, 841 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:06,920 know what I mean? 842 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:10,960 They put up a sign - "Gott mit uns." 843 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:12,640 God is with us. 844 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:15,600 And we put a sign up in English - "We've got mittens too!" 845 00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:18,120 We don't know if the Germans enjoyed that joke or not. 846 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,120 There was a wounded German, he was a Wartenberger, I think. 847 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,280 We did what we could for him, we gave him a bit of food 848 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,840 and that sort of thing, and he was cursing the Prussians. 849 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,920 The Saxons were in front of us and they gave us the warning 850 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:34,360 that there were going to be relieved by the Prussians. 851 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:37,280 And they said to us, "Give them hell." 852 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,400 They hated the Prussians. 853 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,240 The Prussians were cruel bastards. 854 00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:45,360 Hurry up! This way. Schnell, schnell! 855 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:47,520 Watch yourself. Come along! 856 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,480 The Bavarians or the Saxonians, 857 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:51,760 they were the more civilised of the Germans. 858 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:53,480 Part English, if anything. 859 00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,400 After a four-day spell in the front line, 860 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:03,000 we were relieved and we had to march back to the billets 861 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,240 a few miles behind the lines. 862 00:42:05,240 --> 00:42:08,640 We were going for a supposed one-week's rest. 863 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:10,640 Everybody was dead whacked. 864 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,400 We were all pretty knocked up. 865 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,480 We extricated ourselves from the mud 866 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,400 to what was, somewhat ironically, called rest. 867 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,920 In the front line itself, you didn't criticise people 868 00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:23,440 and if you had a chap who was a bit dicky, 869 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:25,800 you would keep an eye on him, just like in a family. 870 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,320 But when you got out of the line, you'd want nothing to do 871 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:29,680 with those people at all. 872 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:31,800 I mean, you can't call it comradeship exactly, 873 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:33,200 it was the way you did it. 874 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:35,920 Come and get your mail! Welcome back! 875 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:39,640 The thing which always struck me as being absolutely stupid 876 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:43,920 was the next morning, every man had to be spick and span, 877 00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:45,440 not a trace of mud on him. 878 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:50,840 You'd brush off clothes or dry them off the best way you could 879 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:52,240 and clean your boots. 880 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:54,760 In other words, smarten yourself up. 881 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,720 THEY PLAY It's A Long Way To Tipperary 882 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:09,440 The men would always appear the same - 883 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:13,160 cheerful and, in the circumstances, happy as they could be, 884 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,040 making the best of everything. 885 00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,480 You know, in true British fashion. 886 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,640 What? The Cockney wit was prevalent and we were all lads together, 887 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,640 you know, we didn't care about it. 888 00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:29,600 We'd make a fuss about nothing, the little things that didn't matter 889 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:32,720 really, because it was something to fill the time in. 890 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:35,360 We used to have to make our own amusements. 891 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:36,600 Bloody bastard! 892 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:38,200 You laughed at the slightest things. 893 00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:41,320 I think probably it was the general tension of the atmosphere 894 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:43,400 that used to make us like that, you know? 895 00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:48,840 My mother sent me a parcel with a plum pudding, of all things, 896 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,360 and had no thought of not being able to cook it, 897 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:52,920 so we used it as a rugby ball. 898 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,320 We had this regimental sports day. 899 00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:59,800 And I won't say I was the only sober one, 900 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,880 but most of them were merry about it. 901 00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:09,080 MEN LAUGH AND SHOUT 902 00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:13,240 I mean, you took part in everything because you had to fill 903 00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:15,520 your time in, you know. 904 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:17,480 Otherwise all you did was sit about and smoke. 905 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:19,400 CHILDREN LAUGH 906 00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:24,880 The only time we saw the artillery was when we was out of rest. 907 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:26,520 Fire! 908 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,440 They would be, say, two miles behind the line. 909 00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:35,240 Fire! 910 00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:37,960 We wanted to neutralise enemy batteries, so we were registering 911 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:39,720 our batteries on his. Fire! 912 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:43,920 We used to know the line and elevation 913 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:45,680 because it was done by aircraft. 914 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,920 It was pretty ghastly, but the idea was to kill as many German gunners 915 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:52,160 as you could. 916 00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:53,360 Ready! 917 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:56,800 Fire! 918 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,960 There was no motorised transport for guns. 919 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:08,600 The guns used to be brought up by horses. 920 00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:10,160 Eight horses to each gun team. 921 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:11,800 Four horses to each wagon team. 922 00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:13,240 About 60 horses. 923 00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:17,480 The gunners made a filthy noise, jingling and jingling 924 00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:19,400 and the horses making noises both ends. 925 00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:21,480 And it was always of great concern for those of us 926 00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:23,040 who were going into battle. 927 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,640 Heave! MEN GRUNT, HORSES BRAY 928 00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:28,560 Heave! 929 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:35,560 Each company officer paid his own company. 930 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:39,040 Now, it was generally the first morning after we were out 931 00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,680 of the line, you got five francs. 932 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:44,400 A franc was worth 10p, so 50p was your pay 933 00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:46,520 for a fortnight, 50p. 934 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:49,400 Now, that's a week of riotous living. 935 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,680 Every town of any size at all had a brothel 936 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:56,160 and that was where most of these boys learned a little bit 937 00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,520 more about life than they would ever have done in normal civil life. 938 00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,320 So although they were young in years, it wasn't long 939 00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:04,840 before they were quite worldly men. 940 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:07,160 One of the lads said, "Let's go and have a look 941 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,720 "in the White Star. It's like a pub." 942 00:46:09,720 --> 00:46:12,280 I'd led a very sheltered life. 943 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,960 And they were beautiful girls with just a piece of lace on, 944 00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:20,080 and, oh, my word, I'd never seen anything like it before! 945 00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:23,200 There was I, a young lad, knowing nothing about this, and off we go, 946 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,280 and these men were going up to see the girls. 947 00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:28,560 I was very keen. I said to one of these fellas, 948 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:30,160 "I've only got a sixpence." 949 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:32,680 He said, "That's no good, it's a shilling." 950 00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:35,400 That was my first experience of a brothel. 951 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:38,360 Anyway, we looked in there for a couple of minutes, 952 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,240 when four or five naked girls came running down the corridor. 953 00:46:41,240 --> 00:46:43,400 We turned tail and ran! 954 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:45,440 It was an eye-opener to me. 955 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:47,720 There she stood, great, big woman, 956 00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:50,160 with this little cane in her hand and she belted my backside 957 00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:51,600 as if I was a little schoolboy. 958 00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:53,840 Pelted Sergeant this and pelted Sergeant the other, 959 00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:55,440 thump, thump, thump, thump, thump! 960 00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:57,760 HE LAUGHS 961 00:46:57,760 --> 00:46:59,240 Oh, gambling? 962 00:46:59,240 --> 00:47:00,800 People were gambling all day long. 963 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,320 The Canadians and the Australians used a gamble terrific 964 00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:04,680 amounts of money. 965 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:06,240 More money than any of us seen. 966 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:11,640 The beer was very thin indeed. 967 00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:15,960 It was one and nine stuff - one pint, nine piddles. 968 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:19,040 Friday was always the issue day for cigarettes 969 00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:21,800 and the cigarettes were Three Witches, 970 00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:25,280 which soon became Three Bitches or Red Hue Tsars. 971 00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:29,320 I think they were made from stable returns. 972 00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:33,120 But generally, in good-sized villages, you could get Woodbines 973 00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:39,120 and Player's, and they were far preferable to the issue cigarettes. 974 00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:41,800 Of course, we were always bartering with the Frenchmen. 975 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:43,720 We used to barter some of our under-clothing 976 00:47:43,720 --> 00:47:45,720 and get a loaf of bread with it. 977 00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:49,200 We used to swap our British cigarettes for their French wine. 978 00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:52,600 It could be just as tiring out of the line as in the line 979 00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:54,280 and it was sometimes worse. 980 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:56,160 If you were chosen for fatigue, 981 00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,040 you'd have to go on the working party. 982 00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:03,080 You collected stores from a big dump three or four miles back. 983 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:05,600 Enormous bundles of sandbags, 984 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,040 many made-up duck boards and, worst of all, barbed wire. 985 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:11,920 It was always hard work. 986 00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:15,320 You were a bonny labouring boy more than you were a fighter. 987 00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,280 All the chaps were very tired, but it made no difference. 988 00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:20,120 And they were mentally tired out. 989 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:22,160 They'd just come out of a trench tour for a rest 990 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:24,520 and this was the kind of rest they were getting. 991 00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:30,000 You would be carrying stuff up on a light railway. 992 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:33,800 Yes, they laid a narrow gauge, light railway track. 993 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:37,480 It was the simplest of things, just platforms on wheels, 994 00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:39,600 driven by light locomotives. 995 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:49,440 Light railways were always a blooming nuisance 996 00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:52,320 because they were always coming off the track. 997 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:56,040 And they lost control of this truck going down a slight incline 998 00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:58,200 and it would barge into the one in front, 999 00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:02,360 which scattered the duck boards all over the place. 1000 00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:05,640 We used to take our mess tins up to the engine driver 1001 00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:08,840 and get some boiling water for our brew-up of tea. 1002 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:13,200 And another. 1003 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:19,760 The Germans could see the steam and smoke from the steam engine. 1004 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:22,320 So then it was mostly petrol engines 1005 00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:24,720 which used to run up to the trenches. 1006 00:49:27,480 --> 00:49:30,320 The light railway only went as far as the communication trench, 1007 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:32,920 and then we had to push the thing along by hand. 1008 00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:38,920 Somebody came along and said, "This is it, we're going 1009 00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:40,440 "to be home by Christmas! 1010 00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:42,040 "We'll just go down the road 1011 00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:44,320 "and look in a field there, you'll see." 1012 00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:46,520 Wouldn't tell us why. Anyway, we went down. 1013 00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:49,720 They were on the roadside covered with tarpaulin sheets. 1014 00:49:49,720 --> 00:49:53,440 You could see nothing except a square outline. 1015 00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:56,200 And then the officer said, "These are supposed to be hush-hush." 1016 00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:59,120 When we asked what it was, the simple reply was "tanks". 1017 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:02,920 Knowing the shortage of water, we naturally assumed water tanks 1018 00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,160 and thought that we were getting reserve supplies. 1019 00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:07,480 It was one of the best-kept secrets. 1020 00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:09,760 We were delighted because these wonderful machines 1021 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:11,040 were going to win the war. 1022 00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:14,400 Soon everybody would be home again. 1023 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:16,360 Of course, it didn't happen like that. 1024 00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:23,120 We were taken out of the line and had intensive training. 1025 00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:27,240 Plunge the bayonet into the sack, shout like hell. 1026 00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:30,680 It was to get used to plunging them into somebody's body. 1027 00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:33,320 Then we fired our rifles on the rifle range. 1028 00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:42,760 Firing rifle grenades is a specialist job. 1029 00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:46,320 But they were clumsy. 1030 00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:49,200 I didn't like them much. 1031 00:50:50,720 --> 00:50:54,680 Forced marching, marching without a rest and also a frontal attack, 1032 00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:57,000 right flank attack, left flank attack, 1033 00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:59,240 both flanks attack, night attack, 1034 00:50:59,240 --> 00:51:01,680 and we wondered what the devil all this training was for. 1035 00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:04,480 BAGPIPES PLAY 1036 00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:07,560 The corps commander said that he had just received instructions 1037 00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:11,520 to go ahead with an operation to break through the German lines. 1038 00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:16,160 Suddenly we were called to parade with full marching order, 1039 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:18,880 and we had to go back up the front, and we'd only been out of the line 1040 00:51:18,880 --> 00:51:20,240 a couple of days. 1041 00:51:20,240 --> 00:51:23,920 We could see streams of supplies, mostly ammunition columns, 1042 00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:26,160 going up toward the front. 1043 00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,440 We didn't have a lot of notice, but we knew it was going 1044 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:29,840 to be a big advance. 1045 00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:45,080 So batteries pushed forward, 1046 00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:47,280 forward positions filled up with ammunition. 1047 00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:49,720 Let's get these ladders up. 1048 00:51:49,720 --> 00:51:53,560 As the great push drew nearer, the line livened up. It began to get 1049 00:51:53,560 --> 00:51:56,120 much more dangerous and not nearly so much fun. 1050 00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:58,880 And we learnt that a bayonet charge was to be made 1051 00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:01,880 on German machine gunners. 1052 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,720 "I wish it to be impressed on all ranks, the importance 1053 00:52:04,720 --> 00:52:07,320 "of the operations about to commence. 1054 00:52:07,320 --> 00:52:09,960 "The Germans are now outnumbered and outgunned 1055 00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:12,120 "and will soon go to pieces if every man goes 1056 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:14,160 "into the fight determined to get through 1057 00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:16,160 "whatever the local difficulties may be. 1058 00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:19,120 "I am confident that the brigade will distinguish itself in this, 1059 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:20,480 "its first battle. 1060 00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:23,960 "Let every man remember that all England is watching him." 1061 00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:27,520 We marched all through the night, and it got so bad that officers 1062 00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:31,120 at the side were pushing men back into line who were straggling out, 1063 00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:34,560 and your legs just seemed to go automatically forward. 1064 00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:36,960 I had a feeling that we were walking in our sleep. 1065 00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:38,680 More men were brought into the line, 1066 00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:41,560 regiments were crowded up closer together. 1067 00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:45,520 We were filling up the trenches, packed in like sardines. 1068 00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:49,280 Our captain was a splendid man. He would never bark an order at you, 1069 00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:51,800 he would give an order in a conversational way. 1070 00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:53,840 "We don't know exactly how far this trench is, 1071 00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:56,600 "but between 200 and 300 yards. 1072 00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:59,640 "I will go over with the first wave and you will be in the second wave. 1073 00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:02,960 "And as soon as the curtain fire starts, we'll move. 1074 00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:05,360 "Now, go along and tell your men to be ready." 1075 00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:08,080 And this is the sort of order we got. 1076 00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:11,040 I had two assorted companies, both ignorant of what their conduct 1077 00:53:11,040 --> 00:53:12,680 would be when they got into action. 1078 00:53:12,680 --> 00:53:15,440 So Captain Neville thought it might be helpful if he could furnish 1079 00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:18,080 each platoon with a football and allow them to kick it forward 1080 00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:19,400 and follow it. 1081 00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:21,720 I think myself that it did help them enormously, 1082 00:53:21,720 --> 00:53:23,520 it took their minds off it. 1083 00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:26,680 We had an extra bandolier of ammunition around our necks, 1084 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:29,160 and if you didn't have a shovel, you had a pick. 1085 00:53:29,160 --> 00:53:32,160 We got in the trenches and we waited for zero hour. 1086 00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:34,800 All the watches were synchronised. 1087 00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:37,080 I was what's called a first bayonet man, 1088 00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:39,320 which meant that I carried the rifle with the bayonet 1089 00:53:39,320 --> 00:53:40,760 in the attacking position, 1090 00:53:40,760 --> 00:53:43,000 and the rest of the men carried bags of bombs. 1091 00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,960 And we were warned to be ready to advance at any moment. 1092 00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:51,040 "Any moment" was quite a long time coming and, of course, that added 1093 00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:52,960 to the tension that we were feeling. 1094 00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:58,280 My platoon had been told to go out and test the fire. 1095 00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:01,040 We had to get out and walk towards the enemy. 1096 00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:05,480 We went about 200 yards and then they called us back again. 1097 00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:09,280 There was to be no preliminary bombardment the days beforehand, 1098 00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:13,080 there was only one short, sharp barrage just before the battle. 1099 00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:17,680 You've got to have the artillery preparation 1100 00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:19,360 to smash their wire down. 1101 00:54:19,360 --> 00:54:20,600 Fire! 1102 00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:24,560 I ordered fire on possible enemy assembly and forming-up positions. 1103 00:54:24,560 --> 00:54:28,840 The bombardment started and the ground shook. 1104 00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:35,000 And we could see the hundreds and hundreds of gun flashes. 1105 00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:37,640 Ready, fire! 1106 00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:50,360 As soon as the bombardment started, the German retaliation came. 1107 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,280 For four hours, we had to sit there and take everything 1108 00:54:56,280 --> 00:54:57,880 they slung at us. 1109 00:54:59,240 --> 00:55:02,000 And first of all, a large number of tanks went in. 1110 00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:05,080 We could hear them rumbling and rattling. 1111 00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:07,640 320 tanks crawling along. 1112 00:55:07,640 --> 00:55:10,480 We waited for the signal to move off. 1113 00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:15,120 Already, everybody was anxious to go, but we waited and waited. 1114 00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:19,200 We got no sleep at all that night, owing to the noise 1115 00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:23,760 of our artillery barrage, which was continuous, the whole time. 1116 00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:26,240 We was asked to hand over any personal belongings 1117 00:55:26,240 --> 00:55:29,440 to our company officer, such as photographs and letters 1118 00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:32,000 that we valued. 1119 00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:35,080 I heard soft voices talking to one another quietly, 1120 00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:37,960 and I wondered - how many are going to live to see the sun rise? 1121 00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:40,720 In a man's pay book, there was provision for making a valid will 1122 00:55:40,720 --> 00:55:43,160 if they were going into action for the first time. 1123 00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:45,440 I didn't bother with it, I had nothing to leave anybody. 1124 00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:47,160 HE LAUGHS 1125 00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:49,880 The fellow next to you, he was your best friend. 1126 00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:52,320 You perhaps didn't know him the day before. 1127 00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:54,480 And then an hour to go, they were the longest 1128 00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:57,080 and the shortest hours in life. 1129 00:55:57,080 --> 00:55:59,360 We had unlimited time for thinking, 1130 00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:02,400 and I know I found myself thinking much more deeply 1131 00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:05,000 than I had ever thought before. 1132 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:06,920 Some people might be incapable of thinking, 1133 00:56:06,920 --> 00:56:09,240 they might have regarded the situation as being such 1134 00:56:09,240 --> 00:56:10,880 that they were incapable of thought. 1135 00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:12,800 I don't think there was any feeling of fear, 1136 00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:15,080 it was just that we were doing a job 1137 00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:17,120 and if it came, it came. 1138 00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:21,520 We realised that, sooner or later, we were going to get the chop. 1139 00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:23,800 You were either going to be killed or wounded. 1140 00:56:23,800 --> 00:56:26,880 I was not in the least frightened being killed, 1141 00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:30,560 but I was terrified lest I should lose an arm or a leg. 1142 00:56:30,560 --> 00:56:33,600 Waiting for an hour for an attack is not a very pleasant thing. 1143 00:56:33,600 --> 00:56:37,680 We sort of chatted away, trying to keep the spirits up, you see. 1144 00:56:37,680 --> 00:56:41,240 We told dirty stories and made crude remarks. 1145 00:56:41,240 --> 00:56:44,000 We had 1,000 guns massed on a mile front behind us. 1146 00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:46,240 Well, you can imagine all this stuff coming over you, 1147 00:56:46,240 --> 00:56:48,200 we had the German stuff coming the other way. 1148 00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:52,000 The noise rose to a crescendo such as I'd never heard before. 1149 00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:53,960 You wouldn't hear a word. 1150 00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:57,920 The shells were passing over you probably three foot, four foot. 1151 00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:01,640 And the air, it was an inferno, and your line was another inferno. 1152 00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:03,840 Reason was completely blasted out of it. 1153 00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:07,080 The bombardment created a sort of hysterical feeling. 1154 00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:09,400 All of a sudden, one of our fellas started crying, 1155 00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:12,200 really screaming and crying. The officer in charge telling 1156 00:57:12,200 --> 00:57:15,800 the Sergeant, "Find that man and shoot him, shoot him!" 1157 00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:18,200 It's difficult to explain the reaction of a man 1158 00:57:18,200 --> 00:57:20,640 when he is in a big bombardment. 1159 00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:24,240 He thought that this man's screaming and crying would be a danger 1160 00:57:24,240 --> 00:57:25,960 to the rest of the men. 1161 00:57:25,960 --> 00:57:28,280 As soon as it was light, we were given a ration of rum, 1162 00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:30,560 any amount of it, as much as you can drink. 1163 00:57:30,560 --> 00:57:32,800 And we got the order to fix bayonets. 1164 00:57:32,800 --> 00:57:34,680 Fix bayonets! Fix bayonets! 1165 00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:36,240 Bayonets fixed! 1166 00:57:36,240 --> 00:57:40,280 It was a beautiful day, the way it dawned after a rainy night. 1167 00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:41,600 A beautiful day. 1168 00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:45,600 Five minutes to go, I remember those lads standing there, dead silent, 1169 00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:47,080 couldn't make a noise. 1170 00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:49,680 I was more frightened sitting, waiting to start. 1171 00:57:49,680 --> 00:57:52,360 I was very frightened then, very frightened indeed. 1172 00:57:52,360 --> 00:57:55,800 And an officer shouted along the line, "Is everybody ready?" 1173 00:57:55,800 --> 00:57:58,680 And I called out, "I can't get my bayonet on my rifle, sir." 1174 00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:01,000 And he said, "Damn you, mate, hurry up." 1175 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,160 I sent back a message to brigade headquarters 1176 00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:04,600 to say we were all ready. 1177 00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:06,840 But unfortunately a slight mistake occurred. 1178 00:58:06,840 --> 00:58:09,760 The first thing they knew was a terrific tremor on the ground. 1179 00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:12,680 We blew a mine, which should have been under the German trenches 1180 00:58:12,680 --> 00:58:14,240 but it wasn't. 1181 00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:20,120 It was in no-man's-land, and that gave the Germans five minutes 1182 00:58:20,120 --> 00:58:22,200 to occupy the crater, which they did. 1183 00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:28,400 Sergeant Moore, he was standing behind the trench with a revolver 1184 00:58:28,400 --> 00:58:31,400 in his hand and he said, "Any boy goes back, I shoot them." 1185 00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:34,640 So that if we didn't go one way, we wouldn't go the other. 1186 00:58:34,640 --> 00:58:37,040 There wasn't a reluctance to go over the top, 1187 00:58:37,040 --> 00:58:38,640 not with people I were with. 1188 00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:40,200 Fire! 1189 00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:43,200 Fire! 1190 00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:46,280 They put a curtain of shells over you and you advanced. 1191 00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:49,280 That was the theory, I think. 1192 00:58:49,280 --> 00:58:51,000 Fire! Fire! 1193 00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,800 I realised this was the moment of the assault. 1194 00:58:53,800 --> 00:58:55,440 And then zero hour. 1195 00:58:55,440 --> 00:58:58,360 Somebody shouted, "There they go!" BAGPIPES PLAY 1196 00:58:58,360 --> 00:59:00,920 To the left were the London Scottish, running forward. 1197 00:59:00,920 --> 00:59:03,400 I gave the order of "up the ladders, over the top". 1198 00:59:03,400 --> 00:59:05,520 WHISTLE BLOWS 1199 00:59:06,600 --> 00:59:09,480 And after this, you lived in a world of noise, 1200 00:59:09,480 --> 00:59:11,360 simply noise for hours. 1201 00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:17,320 As soon as you get over the top, fear has left you. 1202 00:59:17,320 --> 00:59:20,160 You didn't run, there was no shouting nor cheering, 1203 00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:22,120 everybody was deadly quiet. 1204 00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:25,120 Just as I stepped into no-man's-land, somebody was shot 1205 00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:28,200 through the head and his skull was splintered. 1206 00:59:28,200 --> 00:59:30,840 It wasn't a good send-off, I can assure you. 1207 00:59:30,840 --> 00:59:36,520 The barrage proceeded into the enemy lines in steps of 100 yards 1208 00:59:36,520 --> 00:59:37,880 at a time. 1209 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:40,280 Fire! 1210 00:59:40,280 --> 00:59:43,120 The line of British troops, fixed bayonets, walking quite steadily 1211 00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:44,840 behind the barrage. 1212 00:59:44,840 --> 00:59:46,560 It is a sight I shall never forget. 1213 00:59:46,560 --> 00:59:49,520 To start with, we'd had the odd machinegun firing, 1214 00:59:49,520 --> 00:59:53,040 but remarkably little, and it seemed almost too good to be true. 1215 00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:57,000 We then realised the Germans had been containing their fire 1216 00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:59,840 until they saw how far the attack was developing. 1217 00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:03,440 Unknown to us, there was 10 to 20 German machine guns. 1218 01:00:03,440 --> 01:00:05,640 Then all hell broke loose. 1219 01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:08,800 And, my God, he really opened up and he let us have it. 1220 01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:10,360 It just swept us. 1221 01:00:10,360 --> 01:00:12,280 MACHINE-GUNFIRE 1222 01:00:12,280 --> 01:00:14,240 MEN SHOUT 1223 01:00:16,080 --> 01:00:17,800 Keep moving, laddie! 1224 01:00:22,560 --> 01:00:25,320 MEN SCREAM AND SHOUT 1225 01:00:27,080 --> 01:00:30,280 Machinegun bullets came at us like hailstones. 1226 01:00:30,280 --> 01:00:33,320 I didn't realise that it was swish, swish with bullets. 1227 01:00:33,320 --> 01:00:36,000 I looked round and people were dropping all round you. 1228 01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:39,200 I mean, they just faded away on either side of you. 1229 01:00:39,200 --> 01:00:42,720 And I thought, what are they shooting at me for? 1230 01:00:42,720 --> 01:00:46,280 I hadn't gone more than a few yards before I was shot in the thigh. 1231 01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:48,760 There was a captain alongside me with his revolver out 1232 01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:50,440 and, all of a sudden, he dropped. 1233 01:00:50,440 --> 01:00:52,560 And then another chap, he was hit in the leg, 1234 01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:57,200 but he continued with great bounds, hopping on one leg. 1235 01:00:57,200 --> 01:01:00,320 When the bullets hit the tank, the metal flakes were whirling 1236 01:01:00,320 --> 01:01:02,560 around like razor blades inside the tank. 1237 01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:05,080 You could see men dropping, but you didn't take any notice. 1238 01:01:05,080 --> 01:01:07,200 If you didn't get hit, you just carried on. 1239 01:01:07,200 --> 01:01:09,720 I suddenly found myself with a terrible pain in my left hand 1240 01:01:09,720 --> 01:01:12,680 as if someone had caned me, and I found a big hole in it. 1241 01:01:12,680 --> 01:01:16,080 A man was running across the front of me and he was shot to the body 1242 01:01:16,080 --> 01:01:20,520 because the contents of his wallet were flung out forward of me. 1243 01:01:20,520 --> 01:01:22,840 I felt a terrific bang on my right arm 1244 01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:25,760 and the blood started running off the end of my hand. 1245 01:01:25,760 --> 01:01:28,080 I just didn't think that this German machinegun would 1246 01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:30,320 trouble to even fire at me, but the next thing I felt 1247 01:01:30,320 --> 01:01:34,000 a shock of quite a number of bullets hitting the right side of my body. 1248 01:01:34,000 --> 01:01:37,760 A hare crossed my path with eyes bulging in fear, 1249 01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:41,000 but I felt that it couldn't have been half as frightened as I was. 1250 01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:43,480 You could see your mates going down right and left, 1251 01:01:43,480 --> 01:01:46,160 and you were face-to-face with the stark realisation 1252 01:01:46,160 --> 01:01:47,600 that this was the end of it. 1253 01:01:47,600 --> 01:01:50,720 The two in front of me went down wounded in the head and chest. 1254 01:01:50,720 --> 01:01:53,360 Those bloody bullets got me in the leg and blew a great big hole 1255 01:01:53,360 --> 01:01:56,320 in the back. It didn't hurt. 1256 01:01:56,320 --> 01:01:58,480 Life was very, very hazardous indeed 1257 01:01:58,480 --> 01:02:00,640 and we proceeded in this fashion, some getting hit 1258 01:02:00,640 --> 01:02:02,080 and others carrying along. 1259 01:02:02,080 --> 01:02:04,160 You hadn't got time to deliberate upon things. 1260 01:02:04,160 --> 01:02:06,720 Machinegun bullets might be coming over, but they weren't 1261 01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:09,440 hitting you and you just go on. 1262 01:02:09,440 --> 01:02:12,440 They say your past comes up when you think you're going to die, 1263 01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:15,080 but I hadn't got very much past at 19. 1264 01:02:15,080 --> 01:02:17,360 And when I saw these bullets coming along, 1265 01:02:17,360 --> 01:02:19,640 all I thought was - am I going to live? 1266 01:02:19,640 --> 01:02:21,760 Of course, if the thing hits you fair and square 1267 01:02:21,760 --> 01:02:24,320 and you die immediately, you don't feel anything at all, 1268 01:02:24,320 --> 01:02:26,160 nothing to it. 1269 01:02:26,160 --> 01:02:28,800 First wave were all absolutely wiped out. 1270 01:02:28,800 --> 01:02:30,720 Everybody was either killed or wounded. 1271 01:02:30,720 --> 01:02:33,200 There were so many dead laying about, it was hard to avoid 1272 01:02:33,200 --> 01:02:34,520 treading on them. 1273 01:02:34,520 --> 01:02:37,120 I was trying to step over them and the sergeant behind me said, 1274 01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:39,040 "Go on, you mustn't take any notice of that, 1275 01:02:39,040 --> 01:02:40,680 "you keep going." 1276 01:02:40,680 --> 01:02:43,280 And we were literally walking over the dead bodies 1277 01:02:43,280 --> 01:02:44,680 of our comrades. 1278 01:02:44,680 --> 01:02:47,880 The carnage is just indescribable. 1279 01:02:47,880 --> 01:02:50,880 I had in my path about 2,000 dead, British and German. 1280 01:02:50,880 --> 01:02:54,400 An attempt to clear any dead man from our path was impossible 1281 01:02:54,400 --> 01:02:58,160 because of the shelling and we ploughed over the lot. 1282 01:02:58,160 --> 01:03:01,240 Any shell bursting within a few yards of the tank 1283 01:03:01,240 --> 01:03:03,520 seemed to lift it up in the air 1284 01:03:03,520 --> 01:03:07,160 and you felt a tremendous back pressure. 1285 01:03:07,160 --> 01:03:09,720 The noise of battle when you're out in the middle of it 1286 01:03:09,720 --> 01:03:13,160 is so terrific that you don't hear any individual shots even. 1287 01:03:13,160 --> 01:03:16,000 And we had to stop in front of the German wire. 1288 01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:18,720 It was quite impossible to advance any further because of the 1289 01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:21,280 barbed wire and the machinegun posts, which were about 1290 01:03:21,280 --> 01:03:22,680 50 yards further on. 1291 01:03:22,680 --> 01:03:24,880 The wire in front of us was quite uncut, 1292 01:03:24,880 --> 01:03:26,760 despite the intense bombardment. 1293 01:03:26,760 --> 01:03:28,680 You couldn't see anything but this wire, 1294 01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:30,920 it seemed to be acres and acres of it. 1295 01:03:30,920 --> 01:03:33,400 It was just black with rust. 1296 01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:35,920 I don't think a rabbit could have got through it. 1297 01:03:35,920 --> 01:03:38,960 Then our own artillery started dropping shells amongst us. 1298 01:03:42,240 --> 01:03:43,960 SCREAMING 1299 01:03:44,960 --> 01:03:47,360 Obviously they hadn't got their range or they didn't know 1300 01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:49,360 where we were. 1301 01:03:49,360 --> 01:03:52,640 I heard the first shrapnel shell burst above my head. 1302 01:03:52,640 --> 01:03:55,120 There was a terrific whiz, that was the disappearance 1303 01:03:55,120 --> 01:03:57,000 of my steel helmet. 1304 01:03:57,000 --> 01:03:58,800 I never found it again. 1305 01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:02,000 I got a bit off the cheek of my backside, a piece in my hip, 1306 01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:05,200 a piece in my leg, then a piece right through my leg. 1307 01:04:05,200 --> 01:04:07,720 The fellow to my left took the full blast of the shell 1308 01:04:07,720 --> 01:04:10,040 and had half his head blown away. 1309 01:04:10,040 --> 01:04:13,120 Bullets were catching us and shrapnel was coming down overhead 1310 01:04:13,120 --> 01:04:16,200 and we had all the German artillery banging away at us 1311 01:04:16,200 --> 01:04:18,040 and our own artillery going over. 1312 01:04:18,040 --> 01:04:19,840 The shells were exploding all round you 1313 01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:22,480 and it was a real good old battle and it got hold of you, sort of. 1314 01:04:22,480 --> 01:04:24,960 BAGPIPES PLAY 1315 01:04:24,960 --> 01:04:29,040 One had no sanity at all because the inferno was so blasting 1316 01:04:29,040 --> 01:04:31,200 that you had no time to think. 1317 01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:36,160 That din, that numbing din seemed to stop one doing the things 1318 01:04:36,160 --> 01:04:39,600 that one would normally do, no matter how well-intentioned one was. 1319 01:04:41,120 --> 01:04:42,640 You don't look, you see. 1320 01:04:42,640 --> 01:04:44,240 You don't hear, you listen. 1321 01:04:44,240 --> 01:04:46,480 You taste the top of your mouth, your nose is filled 1322 01:04:46,480 --> 01:04:48,160 with fumes and death. 1323 01:04:48,160 --> 01:04:51,360 The veneer of civilisation has dropped away. 1324 01:04:51,360 --> 01:04:54,800 I was literally blown about 12 or 14 yards and all that I could hear 1325 01:04:54,800 --> 01:04:57,400 was the cries and screams from the survivors, 1326 01:04:57,400 --> 01:04:59,920 sometimes in two, sometimes in three parts. 1327 01:04:59,920 --> 01:05:02,520 Legs, arms all strewn all over the place 1328 01:05:02,520 --> 01:05:05,040 and that arid smell of explosion. 1329 01:05:05,040 --> 01:05:09,680 Well, all my romantic ideas of war completely vanished. 1330 01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:12,800 A shell had hit this man, it knocked off his left arm, 1331 01:05:12,800 --> 01:05:14,440 knocked off his left leg, 1332 01:05:14,440 --> 01:05:16,760 his left eye was hanging on his cheek 1333 01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:19,080 and he's calling out for Nanny. 1334 01:05:19,080 --> 01:05:21,200 His bleeding eye was hanging on, pulsing. 1335 01:05:22,680 --> 01:05:24,440 So I shot him. 1336 01:05:24,440 --> 01:05:27,000 I had to, I had to shoot him. 1337 01:05:27,000 --> 01:05:31,040 He'd have died in any case and it put him out of his misery. 1338 01:05:31,040 --> 01:05:32,640 HE SOBS: It hurt me. 1339 01:05:34,840 --> 01:05:36,720 I knew there was no hope of getting any orders 1340 01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:38,840 because there was nobody to give any. 1341 01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:42,320 All officers was killed and wounded, and most of the NCOs. 1342 01:05:42,320 --> 01:05:43,960 I jumped into this big shell hole. 1343 01:05:43,960 --> 01:05:46,720 You dropped down anywhere, shell holes, anywhere at all 1344 01:05:46,720 --> 01:05:49,880 just to take cover until the barrage lifted. 1345 01:05:49,880 --> 01:05:52,800 I'm not one of those heroes who want to take the German army on my own, 1346 01:05:52,800 --> 01:05:55,280 so I went to work and I got down behind the lip 1347 01:05:55,280 --> 01:05:57,280 of a big shell hole. 1348 01:05:57,280 --> 01:06:00,200 Fortunately, I was able to drop into a shell hole. 1349 01:06:00,200 --> 01:06:02,840 Used to call them shell hole droppers, they would drop down 1350 01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:04,360 into a shell hole 1351 01:06:04,360 --> 01:06:07,320 because of the barrage and seeing a few men killed. 1352 01:06:07,320 --> 01:06:09,400 It's a pity they didn't all drop into shell holes. 1353 01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:11,720 Before the barrage lifted, they were dead. 1354 01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:13,160 SCREAMING 1355 01:06:13,160 --> 01:06:16,200 And the bullets were hitting the back of the shell hole where I was. 1356 01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:17,600 It was raining bullets. 1357 01:06:17,600 --> 01:06:19,280 I don't know how I got missed. 1358 01:06:19,280 --> 01:06:22,680 From behind the lip of this shell hole, the dirt was spraying down 1359 01:06:22,680 --> 01:06:24,280 the back of my neck. 1360 01:06:24,280 --> 01:06:26,840 There were three chaps in the shell hole and one of them said, 1361 01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:28,760 "They're firing into a bloody shell hole." 1362 01:06:28,760 --> 01:06:31,600 We looked round to see the bullets go right through his head. 1363 01:06:31,600 --> 01:06:33,000 So that was the end of that. 1364 01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:36,400 A sergeant came down into the shell hole on top of us 1365 01:06:36,400 --> 01:06:38,240 and he was dead, he got it through the neck. 1366 01:06:38,240 --> 01:06:41,040 Anyway, he had a lovely pair of field glasses round his neck 1367 01:06:41,040 --> 01:06:43,600 and I nabbed them. Because things were so scarce, 1368 01:06:43,600 --> 01:06:46,360 if there was anything like that, you'd collar it. 1369 01:06:46,360 --> 01:06:50,520 Jerry slapped shell after shell into us until one shell penetrated 1370 01:06:50,520 --> 01:06:52,320 the forward part of the tank. 1371 01:06:52,320 --> 01:06:54,680 What happened then, I cannot tell you but I believe 1372 01:06:54,680 --> 01:06:56,400 there was an explosion. 1373 01:06:56,400 --> 01:06:59,360 These were fully trained soldiers, we always had the rifles loaded, 1374 01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:01,800 but we stuck in the extra five rounds to make it 1375 01:07:01,800 --> 01:07:03,520 a ten for rapid-fire. 1376 01:07:03,520 --> 01:07:06,640 The Germans got up in their own trenches and fired at us. 1377 01:07:06,640 --> 01:07:10,320 In my opinion, they were very brave, very brave men indeed. 1378 01:07:10,320 --> 01:07:13,840 There was a German standing up on his parapet and flinging bombs. 1379 01:07:13,840 --> 01:07:15,680 So I shot him. 1380 01:07:15,680 --> 01:07:18,640 They officer gave us orders, "Open immediate rapid-fire." 1381 01:07:18,640 --> 01:07:22,440 We all opened up as fast as we could go and continually fired. 1382 01:07:22,440 --> 01:07:24,680 It was a real mad minute, I'll tell you. 1383 01:07:24,680 --> 01:07:26,880 They stood up and I was picking the Germans off 1384 01:07:26,880 --> 01:07:29,000 because I was a sniper. 1385 01:07:29,000 --> 01:07:31,760 I was trying to pick a shot and something hit me 1386 01:07:31,760 --> 01:07:34,280 between the eyes like a sledgehammer. 1387 01:07:34,280 --> 01:07:35,880 I dissolved into unconsciousness 1388 01:07:35,880 --> 01:07:38,720 with no pain, but with millions of golden stars 1389 01:07:38,720 --> 01:07:40,680 in a dark blue heaven. 1390 01:07:40,680 --> 01:07:42,720 After I'd used up a whole lot of bullets, 1391 01:07:42,720 --> 01:07:45,160 I got down, I says, "You have a go, Bill." 1392 01:07:45,160 --> 01:07:48,600 He didn't even fire a shot, he was killed immediately. 1393 01:07:48,600 --> 01:07:50,160 That's how things were. 1394 01:07:50,160 --> 01:07:52,720 You felt aggrieved, it was a pal of yours. 1395 01:07:52,720 --> 01:07:57,280 But you took it casually because I suppose you become battle hardened. 1396 01:07:57,280 --> 01:08:00,360 We kept up rapid-fire there as long as our rifles would work. 1397 01:08:00,360 --> 01:08:02,040 They got too hot to fire any more. 1398 01:08:02,040 --> 01:08:04,360 Fat was pouring out the woodwork of the rifles, 1399 01:08:04,360 --> 01:08:06,560 the muzzles were beginning to extend. 1400 01:08:06,560 --> 01:08:09,040 Then we got an order from the captain, we must make 1401 01:08:09,040 --> 01:08:13,280 a barricade of the dead, the German dead and our own dead. 1402 01:08:13,280 --> 01:08:16,560 My captain, at that time, was anxious to go on and keep it up, 1403 01:08:16,560 --> 01:08:18,760 but I'm afraid he died. 1404 01:08:18,760 --> 01:08:20,920 I had three men loading up these rifles with me 1405 01:08:20,920 --> 01:08:22,440 and I peppered the whole line. 1406 01:08:22,440 --> 01:08:26,400 And judging by the shouts and screams, I took a very good toll. 1407 01:08:26,400 --> 01:08:29,720 There was machinegun spraying on the lip of our shell hole. 1408 01:08:29,720 --> 01:08:31,960 I waited until the belt of that gun had fired 1409 01:08:31,960 --> 01:08:34,240 and immediately carried on the advance. 1410 01:08:34,240 --> 01:08:37,560 The sergeant said, "Follow me." 1411 01:08:37,560 --> 01:08:39,360 I managed to crawl under the wire - 1412 01:08:39,360 --> 01:08:42,120 a lot of us got through in that way - and gathered together 1413 01:08:42,120 --> 01:08:44,320 on the German side of the wire. 1414 01:08:44,320 --> 01:08:47,080 All the shells screamed over our heads onto the German posts 1415 01:08:47,080 --> 01:08:48,480 and then suddenly stopped. 1416 01:08:48,480 --> 01:08:50,800 "Come on, lads, give them hell," and we just got up 1417 01:08:50,800 --> 01:08:52,560 and rushed forward. 1418 01:08:52,560 --> 01:08:55,240 In the bayonet charge, the majority of us always 1419 01:08:55,240 --> 01:08:58,280 had a round up the spout, besides the magazine. 1420 01:08:58,280 --> 01:09:00,840 There was a feeling of exultation that with a rifle, bayonet 1421 01:09:00,840 --> 01:09:03,520 and a couple of Mills bombs in your pocket, we were going to be able 1422 01:09:03,520 --> 01:09:06,160 to get stuck into the bastards that had been killing our mates. 1423 01:09:06,160 --> 01:09:08,640 And we went like hell, straight into the Germans. 1424 01:09:09,680 --> 01:09:12,440 SCREAMING AND RAPID GUNFIRE 1425 01:09:16,840 --> 01:09:19,440 And we fired at anything that moved. 1426 01:09:19,440 --> 01:09:21,560 I dropped down on my knees and the sergeant fired 1427 01:09:21,560 --> 01:09:24,320 over my shoulder and hit the German. 1428 01:09:24,320 --> 01:09:26,440 He was on the ground but still firing, so he went up 1429 01:09:26,440 --> 01:09:27,600 and killed him. 1430 01:09:27,600 --> 01:09:29,960 There was only one method of bayonet fighting, that is to 1431 01:09:29,960 --> 01:09:32,120 shove your bayonet in as hard as you could. 1432 01:09:32,120 --> 01:09:34,600 There was this German on the floor of the trench, 1433 01:09:34,600 --> 01:09:36,080 and the poor bugger was dead scared. 1434 01:09:36,080 --> 01:09:38,440 So one of them wondered whether to stick him or shoot him, 1435 01:09:38,440 --> 01:09:40,800 the German jumped out away to my left, another one 1436 01:09:40,800 --> 01:09:43,280 on the right, so I pinned this German down, then shot 1437 01:09:43,280 --> 01:09:46,520 the German on the left, worked my bolt, put another one 1438 01:09:46,520 --> 01:09:49,480 up the spout, and shot the German who was running away on the right. 1439 01:09:49,480 --> 01:09:52,160 Quite a number of Germans came in a rush and we shot them, 1440 01:09:52,160 --> 01:09:53,640 one by one. 1441 01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:55,160 We probably killed the lot. 1442 01:09:55,160 --> 01:09:59,400 Some chap said, "Poor old Dick got it," and I looked around and saw him 1443 01:09:59,400 --> 01:10:01,560 lying with the top of his head off. 1444 01:10:01,560 --> 01:10:04,760 On their right flank came a German with a canister on his back, 1445 01:10:04,760 --> 01:10:07,240 squirting this liquid fire out of the hose. 1446 01:10:07,240 --> 01:10:10,120 I looked towards jets of flame coming across the trench. 1447 01:10:10,120 --> 01:10:11,800 We'd never heard of flame-throwers. 1448 01:10:11,800 --> 01:10:13,520 Burnt 23 of our chaps to death. 1449 01:10:13,520 --> 01:10:15,920 I plonked one into his chest, but it didn't stop him, 1450 01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:18,520 he must have had an armour-plated waistcoat on. 1451 01:10:18,520 --> 01:10:21,400 I got a bang in the arm and found I was bleeding. 1452 01:10:21,400 --> 01:10:23,520 But I could bomb pretty well with my left arm 1453 01:10:23,520 --> 01:10:25,320 as I could with my right. 1454 01:10:25,320 --> 01:10:27,840 Somebody threw a Mills bomb, and it burst behind him, 1455 01:10:27,840 --> 01:10:30,120 and he wasn't armour-plated behind him, he went down. 1456 01:10:30,120 --> 01:10:32,400 One German came running out of this trench, 1457 01:10:32,400 --> 01:10:35,240 screaming his head off, he nearly knocked me over. 1458 01:10:35,240 --> 01:10:37,720 Three Germans came out with their hands up, 1459 01:10:37,720 --> 01:10:39,960 and they were young chaps about our own age, 1460 01:10:39,960 --> 01:10:41,840 about 19 or 20. 1461 01:10:41,840 --> 01:10:45,080 If Jerries came up with their hands up, we just waved them on, 1462 01:10:45,080 --> 01:10:47,720 we didn't fire at them, obviously. 1463 01:10:47,720 --> 01:10:50,120 Prisoners were a nuisance! 1464 01:10:50,120 --> 01:10:52,320 We were shooing them back, you know, get rid of them. 1465 01:10:52,320 --> 01:10:56,160 The only Germans we were really fighting were the machine gunners. 1466 01:10:56,160 --> 01:10:58,240 They were firing belt after belt after us, 1467 01:10:58,240 --> 01:10:59,760 and they never stopped firing. 1468 01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:02,600 The bloody cartridge cases were piled up in a heap. 1469 01:11:02,600 --> 01:11:04,960 They'd got all their best men on machine guns, 1470 01:11:04,960 --> 01:11:06,440 and they fought to the death. 1471 01:11:06,440 --> 01:11:09,200 The cog opened, and there was three Jerries there in front 1472 01:11:09,200 --> 01:11:11,320 of the machinegun, and of course the bloody gun 1473 01:11:11,320 --> 01:11:15,520 was pointing at me, and I just swung the Lewis gun, I opened fire first. 1474 01:11:16,640 --> 01:11:18,280 It was split-second stuff. 1475 01:11:18,280 --> 01:11:20,600 Thankfully, I moved on. 1476 01:11:20,600 --> 01:11:23,360 As the war progressed, it was inevitable that we developed 1477 01:11:23,360 --> 01:11:26,080 the animal characteristic of killing. 1478 01:11:26,080 --> 01:11:28,160 Well, we've got some young Lincolnshire lads, 1479 01:11:28,160 --> 01:11:29,520 you know, the 18-year-olds. 1480 01:11:29,520 --> 01:11:31,680 The machine gunners were putting their hands up - 1481 01:11:31,680 --> 01:11:33,480 it didn't make any difference. 1482 01:11:33,480 --> 01:11:34,640 They were killed. 1483 01:11:36,360 --> 01:11:38,800 And I'm afraid there was a little bit of slaughter going on, 1484 01:11:38,800 --> 01:11:41,080 until we got in some sort of order. 1485 01:11:41,080 --> 01:11:45,120 Everybody was screaming, laying down, moaning and groaning, 1486 01:11:45,120 --> 01:11:48,120 and eventually there was silence. 1487 01:11:48,120 --> 01:11:50,560 I found a German officer with his lung hanging out. 1488 01:11:50,560 --> 01:11:52,720 He was still alive, but he wasn't conscious. 1489 01:11:52,720 --> 01:11:56,720 You could see his lung was expanding and contracting as he was breathing. 1490 01:11:56,720 --> 01:11:59,640 It was the nearest I ever came to shooting a man point-blank, 1491 01:11:59,640 --> 01:12:01,960 but we had to go on. 1492 01:12:01,960 --> 01:12:04,360 One dead German leaning against a shell wall, 1493 01:12:04,360 --> 01:12:07,160 he was a handsome bloke, he reminded me of my father. 1494 01:12:07,160 --> 01:12:11,720 A shell had dissected him nicely, it had taken the whole of the front 1495 01:12:11,720 --> 01:12:15,520 of his chest down to his stomach, neatly cut aside. 1496 01:12:15,520 --> 01:12:18,480 What a fantastic exhibition of anatomy. 1497 01:12:20,520 --> 01:12:23,440 The real shooting was over in about ten minutes. 1498 01:12:23,440 --> 01:12:27,280 There was about 100 of us coming out, instead of 600 who'd gone over, 1499 01:12:27,280 --> 01:12:29,240 and a band came to meet us. 1500 01:12:29,240 --> 01:12:31,040 It was a wonderful feeling. 1501 01:12:31,040 --> 01:12:32,440 "I've been in a battle! 1502 01:12:32,440 --> 01:12:35,560 "And I'm so very proud about it." 1503 01:12:35,560 --> 01:12:36,960 Hang on. 1504 01:12:39,200 --> 01:12:40,720 You got it? Yeah. 1505 01:12:40,720 --> 01:12:43,000 And if you'd anybody wounded or killed... 1506 01:12:43,000 --> 01:12:44,640 FLIES BUZZ 1507 01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:48,280 ..if you didn't get them out straight away, they went down 1508 01:12:48,280 --> 01:12:51,520 in the soil and disappeared, it was so bad. 1509 01:12:51,520 --> 01:12:52,960 That's it. 1510 01:12:54,360 --> 01:12:58,840 Well, you had to ascertain whether a man was alive or not. 1511 01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:03,960 If he was dead, then he was no trouble - medically. 1512 01:13:03,960 --> 01:13:05,840 I can't put that any clearer! 1513 01:13:06,880 --> 01:13:08,480 Keep him level. 1514 01:13:09,800 --> 01:13:11,360 Give me some room! 1515 01:13:11,360 --> 01:13:14,280 I felt some pain, I suppose about an hour later. 1516 01:13:14,280 --> 01:13:17,920 I'd got these thigh boots on, and the bullet had gone in sideways, 1517 01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:21,480 all the way down the leg, in, out, in, out, and hit the ankle bone 1518 01:13:21,480 --> 01:13:22,920 and turned upside down. 1519 01:13:24,760 --> 01:13:27,160 Oh, God! 1520 01:13:27,160 --> 01:13:28,440 Jesus! 1521 01:13:30,080 --> 01:13:33,280 The Sergeant Major brought me a dixie of hot tea, 1522 01:13:33,280 --> 01:13:36,880 which was just what I needed, it went down beautifully. 1523 01:13:36,880 --> 01:13:39,840 And casualties started coming back, walking casualties, 1524 01:13:39,840 --> 01:13:43,280 men with their arms smashed up, legs trawling, and they got back 1525 01:13:43,280 --> 01:13:45,800 to different dressing stations the best way they could. 1526 01:13:45,800 --> 01:13:48,360 The walking wounded, they were coming down in droves. 1527 01:13:48,360 --> 01:13:51,280 Some were holding one another, and some were walking on their own, 1528 01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:53,800 a light wound in the hand or arm, but some were hobbling along, 1529 01:13:53,800 --> 01:13:55,720 and some were looking quite cheerful as 1530 01:13:55,720 --> 01:13:57,680 they'd been free of something. 1531 01:13:57,680 --> 01:13:59,000 Hello, Mum! 1532 01:14:00,360 --> 01:14:02,640 My officer had said, "Are you all right, Kane?" 1533 01:14:02,640 --> 01:14:04,880 And I said, "Oh, yes, sir, I can still walk." 1534 01:14:04,880 --> 01:14:08,200 And he said, "But you've been hit in the back of the head." 1535 01:14:08,200 --> 01:14:11,040 And he handed me quite a dose of rum. 1536 01:14:13,120 --> 01:14:18,000 The worst cases were those who were shot through the chest. 1537 01:14:18,000 --> 01:14:21,160 Well, the difficulty of breathing, you see, you only had 1538 01:14:21,160 --> 01:14:24,480 field dressings, which every man carried. 1539 01:14:24,480 --> 01:14:26,400 Yeah, we'll have a better look at it. 1540 01:14:26,400 --> 01:14:27,800 Who's waiting, boys? 1541 01:14:27,800 --> 01:14:30,440 You got a bottle of iodine and they'd tip it in the hole. 1542 01:14:30,440 --> 01:14:33,080 Oh, the pain was terrific. 1543 01:14:33,080 --> 01:14:34,400 Well done. 1544 01:14:37,120 --> 01:14:39,920 How about that for luck, chum? Shot right through it. 1545 01:14:43,000 --> 01:14:47,040 I was not in very good shape at all, and I was getting somewhere near 1546 01:14:47,040 --> 01:14:50,200 the end of my tether, I don't think I could go on much longer. 1547 01:14:50,200 --> 01:14:54,480 Every soldier, I suppose, had this breaking strain. 1548 01:14:57,640 --> 01:14:59,880 The medics will be waiting for you. 1549 01:14:59,880 --> 01:15:02,280 Well done, lads, well done. 1550 01:15:02,280 --> 01:15:04,000 That's it. 1551 01:15:04,000 --> 01:15:08,600 We had some remarkable doctors who worked day and night 1552 01:15:08,600 --> 01:15:13,280 in various stations on the British front, looking after the wounded. 1553 01:15:14,760 --> 01:15:16,120 Nice cup of Rosie Lee. 1554 01:15:16,120 --> 01:15:17,680 You all right, Jack? 1555 01:15:17,680 --> 01:15:21,480 They seemed never to need any sleep, so what they hadn't got in numbers 1556 01:15:21,480 --> 01:15:23,360 they made up in effort. 1557 01:15:23,360 --> 01:15:25,160 We need a shell dressing. 1558 01:15:27,160 --> 01:15:30,960 Both my officers, all my sergeants and three quarters of my men 1559 01:15:30,960 --> 01:15:33,200 were killed or wounded. 1560 01:15:33,200 --> 01:15:36,920 Their ranks were made up with lads of 18 from England 1561 01:15:36,920 --> 01:15:39,080 who'd been pushed out of factories. 1562 01:15:39,080 --> 01:15:40,720 Easy, that's it. 1563 01:15:41,840 --> 01:15:43,280 BIRDS SQUAWK 1564 01:15:43,280 --> 01:15:45,320 Bloody birds! Get out of it! 1565 01:15:45,320 --> 01:15:46,680 Go on! 1566 01:15:47,840 --> 01:15:51,720 My mob were helping the battalion to bury these... 1567 01:15:51,720 --> 01:15:55,400 ..only little kids, they were, 17 or 18 years of age. 1568 01:15:55,400 --> 01:15:58,400 In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life 1569 01:15:58,400 --> 01:16:00,120 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1570 01:16:04,880 --> 01:16:07,440 A lot of those kids, it was their first action, 1571 01:16:07,440 --> 01:16:09,600 and they never knew any more. 1572 01:16:09,600 --> 01:16:12,520 So we'd wrapped them up in blankets, dug a little shallow grave 1573 01:16:12,520 --> 01:16:13,840 and put them in there. 1574 01:16:16,840 --> 01:16:19,800 I was putting a dressing on a German, and he was very shaky 1575 01:16:19,800 --> 01:16:22,520 and fearful of what we were going to do to him. 1576 01:16:22,520 --> 01:16:24,600 But they were more frightened than we were. 1577 01:16:24,600 --> 01:16:26,800 And we were frightened, I don't mind telling you! 1578 01:16:26,800 --> 01:16:29,760 Mostly, they were just boys, as we were. 1579 01:16:29,760 --> 01:16:32,680 They seemed glad to be captured, they were out of it. 1580 01:16:32,680 --> 01:16:33,800 Is this yours? 1581 01:16:33,800 --> 01:16:35,920 Mein. This is his. Ah, it's yours. 1582 01:16:35,920 --> 01:16:37,920 Put it in your pocket. 1583 01:16:37,920 --> 01:16:40,320 There was a little German fella, I gave him a cigarette, 1584 01:16:40,320 --> 01:16:43,440 and he was terrified, and I was very, very sorry for him, 1585 01:16:43,440 --> 01:16:45,720 really, you know. He was only about 16. 1586 01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:48,320 And we had a chinwag, and I just took his pocket watch, 1587 01:16:48,320 --> 01:16:49,880 you know, it was a normal thing. 1588 01:16:49,880 --> 01:16:51,440 We used to rob them, you see? 1589 01:16:51,440 --> 01:16:52,760 Right, let's go. 1590 01:16:53,760 --> 01:16:57,520 Yes, they were underfed, and they were in very poor shape. 1591 01:16:57,520 --> 01:16:58,840 Come on, come on now, lads. 1592 01:16:58,840 --> 01:17:00,160 Pick him up. Come on! 1593 01:17:00,160 --> 01:17:02,840 And funnily enough, five or six German prisoners came along, 1594 01:17:02,840 --> 01:17:06,000 and they helped carry me, and I got another six watches, 1595 01:17:06,000 --> 01:17:08,880 because I robbed these fellas who helped me down. 1596 01:17:08,880 --> 01:17:12,920 Every time we captured prisoners, a number of German prisoners 1597 01:17:12,920 --> 01:17:15,400 would immediately take up stretcher duty. 1598 01:17:15,400 --> 01:17:18,440 Now, I'm sure the Geneva Convention never required them to do that. 1599 01:17:18,440 --> 01:17:19,760 There you go, lads. 1600 01:17:19,760 --> 01:17:21,480 I've got him. Steady. 1601 01:17:22,800 --> 01:17:24,080 You're all right, chum. 1602 01:17:24,080 --> 01:17:25,600 That's it. Keep going. 1603 01:17:25,600 --> 01:17:28,480 I took about a dozen prisoners back with me, 1604 01:17:28,480 --> 01:17:30,960 they were all unarmed and I just had my old gun. 1605 01:17:30,960 --> 01:17:34,160 In some cases, there were a whole lot of Germans without even 1606 01:17:34,160 --> 01:17:36,320 a Tommy with them. 1607 01:17:36,320 --> 01:17:41,920 Oh, they were really cowed, they were, yes, very subdued. 1608 01:17:43,880 --> 01:17:48,680 I slept next to a German man who'd been wounded in the arm, 1609 01:17:48,680 --> 01:17:53,240 and to my amazement he started talking to me in English. 1610 01:17:53,240 --> 01:17:55,520 And he said he'd been a waiter at the Savoy. 1611 01:17:59,080 --> 01:18:02,720 I mean, I don't think the average British soldier ever had 1612 01:18:02,720 --> 01:18:05,920 any deep feelings regarding revenge against the German. 1613 01:18:05,920 --> 01:18:07,640 He admired him and respected him. 1614 01:18:08,760 --> 01:18:10,120 Go on, show him. 1615 01:18:10,120 --> 01:18:12,720 As the war went on, I felt as much sympathy for them 1616 01:18:12,720 --> 01:18:14,560 as I did for myself. 1617 01:18:14,560 --> 01:18:17,000 The German I always thought was a good fighter. 1618 01:18:17,000 --> 01:18:19,960 I'd sooner have him on my side than on the opposite side. 1619 01:18:19,960 --> 01:18:22,800 I think some of the Germans thought we ought to have been fighting 1620 01:18:22,800 --> 01:18:26,400 with them against the French and the Russians, but none of them 1621 01:18:26,400 --> 01:18:28,200 thought we ought to be fighting each other. 1622 01:18:28,200 --> 01:18:29,560 Keep on moving forward! 1623 01:18:29,560 --> 01:18:33,760 You see, the German had been an unknown horde 1624 01:18:33,760 --> 01:18:36,280 with their coal-scuttle helmets, and then we met them. 1625 01:18:36,280 --> 01:18:38,960 Well, the German soldier, he was a very nice fellow as a rule. 1626 01:18:38,960 --> 01:18:41,240 You know, I think he was really a barber or a shopkeeper 1627 01:18:41,240 --> 01:18:44,440 or something, and, the same as us, he was stuck in uniform. 1628 01:18:44,440 --> 01:18:47,520 You're too tall. Get you next time, Jerry! 1629 01:18:47,520 --> 01:18:50,120 We got on very well together, actually, and they used to 1630 01:18:50,120 --> 01:18:51,400 mix in with us. 1631 01:18:51,400 --> 01:18:53,280 Want your hat back? 1632 01:18:53,280 --> 01:18:54,960 Here, give it him back! 1633 01:18:54,960 --> 01:18:57,800 They were decent, sort of family people 1634 01:18:57,800 --> 01:19:00,760 and thought a great deal of their children. 1635 01:19:02,400 --> 01:19:05,640 They didn't seem to bear any malice against us. 1636 01:19:05,640 --> 01:19:08,080 They'd had to do what they were told, like us. 1637 01:19:09,800 --> 01:19:11,800 Go on, go on tracking... 1638 01:19:11,800 --> 01:19:14,680 I couldn't speak German, but some could, and the Germans, 1639 01:19:14,680 --> 01:19:16,320 some of them could speak English. 1640 01:19:16,320 --> 01:19:18,240 Anyhow, we could understand each other. 1641 01:19:18,240 --> 01:19:21,040 The general agreement when we were talking to Germans 1642 01:19:21,040 --> 01:19:25,400 was how useless war was and why did it have to happen. 1643 01:19:28,080 --> 01:19:30,440 When you're passing bodies all day long, 1644 01:19:30,440 --> 01:19:33,720 it's bound to have an effect on whoever it is, isn't it? 1645 01:19:33,720 --> 01:19:35,720 This big fat German was lying in a street... 1646 01:19:35,720 --> 01:19:36,880 FLIES BUZZ 1647 01:19:36,880 --> 01:19:39,240 ..you know, his stomach was all gassed up, 1648 01:19:39,240 --> 01:19:41,920 his intestines lying out on his belly. 1649 01:19:41,920 --> 01:19:44,720 And somebody had stuck a pipe in his mouth! 1650 01:19:44,720 --> 01:19:47,760 Yeah, we all told him to get up! HE CHUCKLES 1651 01:19:49,120 --> 01:19:52,920 German troops were very brave and very stubborn. 1652 01:19:52,920 --> 01:19:56,240 The Germans fought rearguard actions almost back to the Rhine, 1653 01:19:56,240 --> 01:19:59,960 and regiment after regiment was smashed up and cut about. 1654 01:19:59,960 --> 01:20:03,520 We had an idea that they were beginning to crack. 1655 01:20:05,440 --> 01:20:08,120 I would say that they were, if anything, rather despondent. 1656 01:20:08,120 --> 01:20:09,920 They knew they had lost the war. 1657 01:20:09,920 --> 01:20:13,640 We, as front-line soldiers, knew they were giving up. 1658 01:20:13,640 --> 01:20:18,000 Quite frankly, the Germans were fed up with the whole thing. 1659 01:20:18,000 --> 01:20:21,760 And, gradually, that is how the war itself came to an end. 1660 01:20:21,760 --> 01:20:24,800 I got the impression that most of the German soldiers 1661 01:20:24,800 --> 01:20:28,800 couldn't care less who won as long as the war finished. 1662 01:20:28,800 --> 01:20:31,200 Of course, that's what everybody was thinking about then - 1663 01:20:31,200 --> 01:20:33,000 we'd had enough. 1664 01:20:33,000 --> 01:20:36,480 And after a time, perhaps nobody cared. 1665 01:20:36,480 --> 01:20:38,240 All right, boys, here it comes. 1666 01:20:38,240 --> 01:20:39,760 We're in the pictures! 1667 01:20:40,840 --> 01:20:43,360 There was a fella in the war called Rumour, 1668 01:20:43,360 --> 01:20:46,320 he knows everything, you see, and Mr Rumour told us 1669 01:20:46,320 --> 01:20:49,680 that the Germans were also negotiating for an Armistice. 1670 01:20:49,680 --> 01:20:51,640 There was a huge poster, 1671 01:20:51,640 --> 01:20:56,360 "All hostilities will cease on the Western Front at 11 o'clock 1672 01:20:56,360 --> 01:20:59,360 "on the 11th of November 1918." 1673 01:20:59,360 --> 01:21:01,640 So we said to each other, "What day is it?" 1674 01:21:01,640 --> 01:21:05,920 And somebody discovered it was November the 11th! 1675 01:21:05,920 --> 01:21:09,080 And then we had to shine our boots, clean our buttons, 1676 01:21:09,080 --> 01:21:11,640 we knew the war was over then, and we were quite confident 1677 01:21:11,640 --> 01:21:13,960 that we would be there when it ended. 1678 01:21:13,960 --> 01:21:18,200 This proclamation was read out, stating that the hostilities 1679 01:21:18,200 --> 01:21:21,720 would cease from 11 that morning, and actually there wasn't 1680 01:21:21,720 --> 01:21:24,880 a cheer of any kind raised when that was read out. 1681 01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:29,080 At 11 o'clock, the noise of the gunfire just rolled away, 1682 01:21:29,080 --> 01:21:31,280 like a peal of thunder, in the distance. 1683 01:21:31,280 --> 01:21:34,520 SHELLFIRE AND GUNFIRE FADES OUT 1684 01:21:39,040 --> 01:21:42,000 BIRDSONG, SOLDIERS CHATTER 1685 01:21:43,040 --> 01:21:44,680 Never heard it being quiet. 1686 01:21:44,680 --> 01:21:47,480 Now it was dead silent. 1687 01:21:47,480 --> 01:21:50,480 You were so dazed that you could stand up straight and not be shot. 1688 01:21:50,480 --> 01:21:51,920 It was eerie. 1689 01:21:53,760 --> 01:21:56,360 There was a feeling of relief and gladness, 1690 01:21:56,360 --> 01:21:58,880 I suppose, but no celebration. 1691 01:21:58,880 --> 01:22:01,680 The staff officer shut his watch up and said, 1692 01:22:01,680 --> 01:22:04,320 "I wonder what we're all going to do next." 1693 01:22:04,320 --> 01:22:07,800 There was no demonstration of any kind, nobody said a word, 1694 01:22:07,800 --> 01:22:10,360 everybody just slumped away. 1695 01:22:10,360 --> 01:22:12,800 The only way we could have celebrated as regards 1696 01:22:12,800 --> 01:22:16,160 to a liquid would have been tea, that's all. 1697 01:22:16,160 --> 01:22:18,720 It was one of the flattest moments of our lives. 1698 01:22:18,720 --> 01:22:20,960 We just couldn't comprehend it. 1699 01:22:22,600 --> 01:22:24,800 We had that sort of feeling as though we'd been kicked 1700 01:22:24,800 --> 01:22:26,040 out of a job. 1701 01:22:26,040 --> 01:22:29,480 For some of us, it was practically the only life we'd known. 1702 01:22:29,480 --> 01:22:31,560 What was one going to do next? 1703 01:22:31,560 --> 01:22:33,720 It was just like being made redundant. 1704 01:22:33,720 --> 01:22:36,560 That was very much the feeling of everyone. 1705 01:22:36,560 --> 01:22:39,720 We were thoroughly upset, we'd all got no work to go to. 1706 01:22:39,720 --> 01:22:41,680 "I don't want to go back." 1707 01:22:41,680 --> 01:22:46,680 There was no cheering, no singing - we were drained of all emotion. 1708 01:22:46,680 --> 01:22:51,160 We were too far gone, too exhausted to enjoy it. 1709 01:22:51,160 --> 01:22:55,240 All things come to an end, and even a drama can go on too long. 1710 01:22:55,240 --> 01:22:58,400 It didn't end with a whimper, but something very much like one. 1711 01:23:14,080 --> 01:23:17,440 I was very happy to leave. I'd had enough, you know? 1712 01:23:17,440 --> 01:23:20,920 After a time, it begins to wear on one, you know? 1713 01:23:20,920 --> 01:23:23,680 "Thank goodness the bloody thing is over," that was all. 1714 01:23:23,680 --> 01:23:25,880 But so far as I was concerned, I was out of it, 1715 01:23:25,880 --> 01:23:27,880 and now the next step in life. 1716 01:23:27,880 --> 01:23:30,800 The first thing we did was write home, say we were all right, 1717 01:23:30,800 --> 01:23:33,120 making sure we got the date on the envelope right. 1718 01:23:33,120 --> 01:23:35,840 To someone like myself, who was interested in nature, 1719 01:23:35,840 --> 01:23:38,480 after the horrors that man had made of the battlefront, 1720 01:23:38,480 --> 01:23:42,360 I was immensely delighted to find shell holes in which I picked 1721 01:23:42,360 --> 01:23:46,240 lilies of the valley and larkspur, and I pursued Camberwell Beauties 1722 01:23:46,240 --> 01:23:49,920 and swallowtail butterflies along the banks of the Aisne river. 1723 01:23:49,920 --> 01:23:51,720 We went to Boulogne. 1724 01:23:51,720 --> 01:23:53,760 By the way, we came home with full pack, 1725 01:23:53,760 --> 01:23:56,360 the only thing we left behind was the bullets, 1726 01:23:56,360 --> 01:23:58,160 we had to discard those. 1727 01:23:58,160 --> 01:23:59,880 But we still kept our rifle. 1728 01:23:59,880 --> 01:24:04,720 We went over to Folkestone, and there were long trestle tables 1729 01:24:04,720 --> 01:24:08,040 with very kind ladies, and they gave you a sausage roll 1730 01:24:08,040 --> 01:24:12,520 or a bun and a cup of tea, and that was very welcome. 1731 01:24:12,520 --> 01:24:16,520 We entrained to Victoria, and there we broke up. 1732 01:24:16,520 --> 01:24:19,440 We went to the barracks, and we just dumped rifles, 1733 01:24:19,440 --> 01:24:22,080 bayonets and everything, and there were a lot of suits 1734 01:24:22,080 --> 01:24:24,400 on display, hats, shoes. 1735 01:24:24,400 --> 01:24:26,920 You could tell her which one you wanted, style and colour, 1736 01:24:26,920 --> 01:24:28,360 and they measured you. 1737 01:24:29,760 --> 01:24:33,000 I was horrified by what I saw when I came back here 1738 01:24:33,000 --> 01:24:34,840 and when one tried to get a job. 1739 01:24:34,840 --> 01:24:37,040 There was mass unemployment, and I thought, 1740 01:24:37,040 --> 01:24:38,600 "This isn't much of a life." 1741 01:24:38,600 --> 01:24:40,720 It was a most difficult thing to realise you're of 1742 01:24:40,720 --> 01:24:42,080 no commercial value. 1743 01:24:42,080 --> 01:24:44,440 It was a shame, the way ex-servicemen were treated. 1744 01:24:44,440 --> 01:24:45,760 You weren't wanted. 1745 01:24:45,760 --> 01:24:49,040 Some places said, "No ex-servicemen need apply," 1746 01:24:49,040 --> 01:24:51,640 and that was the sort of attitude you were up against. 1747 01:24:51,640 --> 01:24:55,840 One of my pals was killed, and when I went home, the very first thing 1748 01:24:55,840 --> 01:24:58,160 that I did was go to his mother, who, 1749 01:24:58,160 --> 01:25:00,440 if she'd had a frying pan, she'd have hit me. 1750 01:25:00,440 --> 01:25:02,840 Her son had been killed and I'd come back alive. 1751 01:25:02,840 --> 01:25:04,600 She was very bitter. 1752 01:25:04,600 --> 01:25:07,600 The first night I came home, I got into my old bed, 1753 01:25:07,600 --> 01:25:10,840 the first bed I'd laid in since I joined the Army. 1754 01:25:10,840 --> 01:25:13,080 When mother brought my cup of tea up in the morning, 1755 01:25:13,080 --> 01:25:15,160 she found me fast asleep on the floor. 1756 01:25:15,160 --> 01:25:17,000 People never talked about the war. 1757 01:25:17,000 --> 01:25:19,920 It was a thing that had no conversational value at all. 1758 01:25:19,920 --> 01:25:22,680 Most people were absolutely disinterested. 1759 01:25:22,680 --> 01:25:24,880 When I got home, my father and my mother 1760 01:25:24,880 --> 01:25:27,360 didn't seem in the least interested in what had happened, 1761 01:25:27,360 --> 01:25:29,360 they hadn't any conception of what it was like. 1762 01:25:29,360 --> 01:25:30,480 SOLDIER WHISTLES TUNE 1763 01:25:30,480 --> 01:25:32,680 And there was no reason why any one of us millions 1764 01:25:32,680 --> 01:25:34,880 should have been favoured with a thank you very much 1765 01:25:34,880 --> 01:25:38,880 for having got a little bit muddy and out of touch with good manners. 1766 01:25:38,880 --> 01:25:41,200 And on occasions when I did talk about it, 1767 01:25:41,200 --> 01:25:44,800 my father would argue points of fact that he couldn't possibly have known 1768 01:25:44,800 --> 01:25:46,640 about because he wasn't there. 1769 01:25:46,640 --> 01:25:49,360 Every soldier I've spoken to experienced the same thing. 1770 01:25:49,360 --> 01:25:52,200 We were a race apart from the civilians, 1771 01:25:52,200 --> 01:25:54,200 and you could speak to your comrades, 1772 01:25:54,200 --> 01:25:56,920 and they understood, but the civilians, 1773 01:25:56,920 --> 01:25:58,760 it was just a waste of time. 1774 01:25:58,760 --> 01:26:02,480 However nice and sympathetic they were, attempts of 1775 01:26:02,480 --> 01:26:06,680 well-meaning people to sympathise reflected the fact that they 1776 01:26:06,680 --> 01:26:08,760 didn't really understand at all. 1777 01:26:08,760 --> 01:26:12,520 I think the magnitude was just beyond their comprehension, 1778 01:26:12,520 --> 01:26:16,560 they didn't understand that people that you'd known and played football 1779 01:26:16,560 --> 01:26:19,000 with were just killed beside you. 1780 01:26:19,000 --> 01:26:22,600 My friend who enlisted with me, and he just lay there like a sack 1781 01:26:22,600 --> 01:26:27,000 of rags until he went black, before anybody troubled to bury him. 1782 01:26:27,000 --> 01:26:29,760 They knew that people came back covered with mud and lice, 1783 01:26:29,760 --> 01:26:32,880 but they'd no idea of the strain of sitting in a trench 1784 01:26:32,880 --> 01:26:36,200 and waiting for something to drop on one's head. 1785 01:26:36,200 --> 01:26:38,680 You couldn't convey the awful state of things, 1786 01:26:38,680 --> 01:26:42,000 the way you lived like animals and behaved like animals. 1787 01:26:42,000 --> 01:26:47,000 People didn't seem to realise what a terrible thing war was. 1788 01:26:47,000 --> 01:26:51,320 I think they felt that the war was one continual cavalry charge. 1789 01:26:51,320 --> 01:26:54,120 They hadn't any conception - how could they? 1790 01:26:54,120 --> 01:26:56,240 Well, it started off in a reasonable manner, 1791 01:26:56,240 --> 01:26:58,880 it was people fighting on horseback with swords, 1792 01:26:58,880 --> 01:27:01,080 but it developed into something ghastly. 1793 01:27:01,080 --> 01:27:04,360 People don't realise the potential of military equipment. 1794 01:27:04,360 --> 01:27:07,000 A man's life wasn't worth anything at the end of the war. 1795 01:27:07,000 --> 01:27:09,240 We were none of us heroes, you know - we didn't 1796 01:27:09,240 --> 01:27:12,200 like this business of being killed at all. 1797 01:27:12,200 --> 01:27:14,040 When we were talking amongst ourselves, 1798 01:27:14,040 --> 01:27:17,200 we used to say, "Christ, they won't have any more wars like this." 1799 01:27:17,200 --> 01:27:18,760 How did we endure it? 1800 01:27:18,760 --> 01:27:21,600 The answer must be partly the fear of fear, 1801 01:27:21,600 --> 01:27:23,760 the fear of being found afraid. 1802 01:27:23,760 --> 01:27:26,480 Another is belief in human beings, your colleague, 1803 01:27:26,480 --> 01:27:29,000 and there's no letting people down. 1804 01:27:29,000 --> 01:27:32,960 There may be right on both sides, but I think war is horrible. 1805 01:27:32,960 --> 01:27:35,880 Everything should be done to avoid war. 1806 01:27:35,880 --> 01:27:38,760 I still can't see the justification for it. 1807 01:27:38,760 --> 01:27:41,040 It was all really rather horrible. 1808 01:27:41,040 --> 01:27:43,560 I think history will decide, in the end, 1809 01:27:43,560 --> 01:27:45,600 that it was not worthwhile. 1810 01:27:48,000 --> 01:27:51,640 The only thing that really did annoy me was when I went back to work, 1811 01:27:51,640 --> 01:27:54,760 after I'd got demobilised, I went down the stores, 1812 01:27:54,760 --> 01:27:57,840 and the bloke behind the counter was a bloke who I knew. 1813 01:27:57,840 --> 01:27:59,840 He said, "Where have you been? 1814 01:27:59,840 --> 01:28:01,440 "On nights?" 1815 01:28:59,040 --> 01:29:02,880 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous 1816 01:29:02,880 --> 01:29:07,000 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous? 1817 01:29:07,000 --> 01:29:10,720 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres She hasn't been kissed in 40 years 1818 01:29:10,720 --> 01:29:14,800 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1819 01:29:14,800 --> 01:29:19,080 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous 1820 01:29:19,080 --> 01:29:22,880 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous 1821 01:29:22,880 --> 01:29:26,760 # Our top kick in Armentieres broke the spell of 40 years 1822 01:29:26,760 --> 01:29:29,600 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1823 01:29:31,080 --> 01:29:34,680 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous 1824 01:29:34,680 --> 01:29:38,840 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous 1825 01:29:38,840 --> 01:29:42,960 # You didn't have to know her long to know the reason men go wrong 1826 01:29:42,960 --> 01:29:45,720 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1827 01:29:47,240 --> 01:29:50,520 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous 1828 01:29:50,520 --> 01:29:54,600 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres Parlez vous 1829 01:29:54,600 --> 01:29:56,680 # She's the hardest working girl in town 1830 01:29:56,680 --> 01:29:58,800 # She makes her living upside down 1831 01:29:58,800 --> 01:30:00,880 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1832 01:30:06,880 --> 01:30:08,800 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1833 01:30:08,800 --> 01:30:10,520 # Parlez vous 1834 01:30:10,520 --> 01:30:12,920 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1835 01:30:12,920 --> 01:30:14,480 # Parlez vous 1836 01:30:14,480 --> 01:30:15,640 # She sold her kisses 1837 01:30:15,640 --> 01:30:16,800 # For ten francs each 1838 01:30:16,800 --> 01:30:17,840 # Soft and juicy 1839 01:30:17,840 --> 01:30:19,000 # As sweet as a peach 1840 01:30:19,000 --> 01:30:21,320 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1841 01:30:22,760 --> 01:30:25,000 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1842 01:30:25,000 --> 01:30:26,520 # Parlez vous 1843 01:30:26,520 --> 01:30:28,800 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1844 01:30:28,800 --> 01:30:30,320 # Parlez vous 1845 01:30:30,320 --> 01:30:32,320 # Madame, you've got a daughter fair 1846 01:30:32,320 --> 01:30:34,160 # To wash the soldiers' underwear 1847 01:30:34,160 --> 01:30:37,040 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1848 01:30:38,880 --> 01:30:41,120 # I didn't care what came of me 1849 01:30:41,120 --> 01:30:42,240 # Parlez vous 1850 01:30:42,240 --> 01:30:44,600 # I didn't care what came of me 1851 01:30:44,600 --> 01:30:46,040 # Parlez vous 1852 01:30:46,040 --> 01:30:48,040 # I didn't care what came of me 1853 01:30:48,040 --> 01:30:50,320 # So I went and joined the infantry 1854 01:30:50,320 --> 01:30:52,840 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1855 01:31:26,120 --> 01:31:28,240 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1856 01:31:28,240 --> 01:31:29,640 # Parlez vous 1857 01:31:29,640 --> 01:31:32,000 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1858 01:31:32,000 --> 01:31:33,640 # Parlez vous 1859 01:31:33,640 --> 01:31:35,360 # Went in her bed, she sure was fun 1860 01:31:35,360 --> 01:31:36,600 # Working her arse 1861 01:31:36,600 --> 01:31:37,840 # Like a Maxim gun 1862 01:31:37,840 --> 01:31:40,960 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1863 01:31:41,960 --> 01:31:44,040 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1864 01:31:44,040 --> 01:31:45,560 # Parlez vous 1865 01:31:45,560 --> 01:31:47,960 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1866 01:31:47,960 --> 01:31:49,320 # Parlez vous 1867 01:31:49,320 --> 01:31:51,000 # I had more fun than I could tell 1868 01:31:51,000 --> 01:31:53,120 # Beneath the sheets with Mademoiselle 1869 01:31:53,120 --> 01:31:55,880 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1870 01:31:57,760 --> 01:32:01,400 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlez vous 1871 01:32:01,400 --> 01:32:05,280 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlez vous 1872 01:32:05,280 --> 01:32:07,200 # She did a wink and cried, "Oui, oui! 1873 01:32:07,200 --> 01:32:09,440 # "Let's see what you can do with me" 1874 01:32:09,440 --> 01:32:12,200 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1875 01:32:13,360 --> 01:32:15,640 # They say they mechanised the war 1876 01:32:15,640 --> 01:32:17,120 # Parlez vous 1877 01:32:17,120 --> 01:32:19,400 # They say they mechanised the war 1878 01:32:19,400 --> 01:32:20,960 # Parlez vous 1879 01:32:20,960 --> 01:32:23,080 # They say they mechanised the war 1880 01:32:23,080 --> 01:32:25,240 # So what the hell are we marching for? 1881 01:32:25,240 --> 01:32:28,080 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1882 01:32:44,960 --> 01:32:47,880 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1883 01:32:47,880 --> 01:32:48,960 # Parlez vous 1884 01:32:48,960 --> 01:32:51,560 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1885 01:32:51,560 --> 01:32:53,000 # Parlez vous 1886 01:32:53,000 --> 01:32:54,880 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1887 01:32:54,880 --> 01:32:56,840 # She hasn't been kissed for 40 years 1888 01:32:56,840 --> 01:32:59,320 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1889 01:33:00,720 --> 01:33:03,400 # The officers get all the steak 1890 01:33:03,400 --> 01:33:04,480 # Parlez vous 1891 01:33:04,480 --> 01:33:07,400 # The officers get all the steak 1892 01:33:07,400 --> 01:33:08,600 # Parlez vous 1893 01:33:08,600 --> 01:33:10,640 # The officers get all the steak 1894 01:33:10,640 --> 01:33:12,520 # And all we get is a belly ache 1895 01:33:12,520 --> 01:33:15,400 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1896 01:33:16,560 --> 01:33:17,840 # You might forget 1897 01:33:17,840 --> 01:33:20,040 # The gas and shells, parlez vous 1898 01:33:20,040 --> 01:33:21,560 # You might forget 1899 01:33:21,560 --> 01:33:24,080 # The gas and shells, parlez vous 1900 01:33:24,080 --> 01:33:25,160 # You might forget 1901 01:33:25,160 --> 01:33:26,320 # The groans and yells 1902 01:33:26,320 --> 01:33:27,360 # But you never forget 1903 01:33:27,360 --> 01:33:28,640 # The mademoiselles 1904 01:33:28,640 --> 01:33:31,080 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1905 01:33:48,520 --> 01:33:51,040 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1906 01:33:51,040 --> 01:33:52,120 # Parlez vous 1907 01:33:52,120 --> 01:33:54,760 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1908 01:33:54,760 --> 01:33:55,800 # Parlez vous 1909 01:33:55,800 --> 01:33:57,640 # Many and many a married man 1910 01:33:57,640 --> 01:33:59,760 # Wants to go back to France again 1911 01:33:59,760 --> 01:34:02,760 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1912 01:34:04,080 --> 01:34:06,880 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1913 01:34:06,880 --> 01:34:07,920 # Parlez vous 1914 01:34:07,920 --> 01:34:10,640 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1915 01:34:10,640 --> 01:34:11,680 # Parlez vous 1916 01:34:11,680 --> 01:34:13,920 # Just blow your nose and dry your tears 1917 01:34:13,920 --> 01:34:15,960 # We'll all be back in a few short years 1918 01:34:15,960 --> 01:34:18,640 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1919 01:34:20,080 --> 01:34:22,600 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1920 01:34:22,600 --> 01:34:23,640 # Parlez vous 1921 01:34:23,640 --> 01:34:26,120 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres 1922 01:34:26,120 --> 01:34:27,200 # Parlez vous 1923 01:34:27,200 --> 01:34:29,560 # I fell in love with her at sight 1924 01:34:29,560 --> 01:34:31,600 # Wet myself for half the night 1925 01:34:31,600 --> 01:34:34,080 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1926 01:34:35,680 --> 01:34:39,280 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlez vous 1927 01:34:39,280 --> 01:34:43,240 # Mademoiselle from Armentieres, parlez vous 1928 01:34:43,240 --> 01:34:45,360 # You might forget the gas and shell 1929 01:34:45,360 --> 01:34:47,240 # You never forget the mademoiselles 1930 01:34:47,240 --> 01:34:49,960 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous 1931 01:34:51,320 --> 01:34:53,000 # You might forget the gas and shell 1932 01:34:53,000 --> 01:34:55,240 # But you'll never forget the mademoiselles 1933 01:34:55,240 --> 01:34:56,840 # Hinky dinky, parlez vous. #