1 00:00:00,392 --> 00:00:03,470 (contemplative music) 2 00:00:03,470 --> 00:00:05,220 It's now 100 years 3 00:00:05,220 --> 00:00:07,093 since the end of the First World War, 4 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:10,040 a conflict that claimed the lives 5 00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:12,523 of over three quarters of a million British men. 6 00:00:13,660 --> 00:00:18,660 Now featuring rare and previously unseen personal testimony 7 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,263 alongside newly restored archive film, 8 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,930 this groundbreaking three-part series will tell the story 9 00:00:25,930 --> 00:00:27,803 of the Great War as never before, 10 00:00:29,490 --> 00:00:31,870 from the suffering and sacrifice experienced 11 00:00:31,870 --> 00:00:34,250 by the men on the front line. 12 00:00:34,250 --> 00:00:37,570 The corpses there, they all had rats nests 13 00:00:38,570 --> 00:00:43,080 in the cage of the chest, and when you disturbed them, 14 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:44,943 the rats ran out of the chest. 15 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,060 You can't forget a thing like that. 16 00:00:49,060 --> 00:00:50,140 To the dramatic change 17 00:00:50,140 --> 00:00:52,133 in women's lives on the home front. 18 00:00:53,140 --> 00:00:56,637 I felt, when I was working on munitions, I really felt, 19 00:00:56,637 --> 00:00:59,100 "Well, I haven't got any brothers to go and fight. 20 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:00,640 I'm doing the next best thing." 21 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,153 And I was quite pleased to be able to do it. 22 00:01:05,570 --> 00:01:07,940 In this film, we'll hear from those 23 00:01:07,940 --> 00:01:09,933 who survived the horrors of the Somme. 24 00:01:11,230 --> 00:01:13,713 We met a hurricane of bullets. 25 00:01:15,490 --> 00:01:19,210 They actually, they whizzed by my ears, 26 00:01:19,210 --> 00:01:21,690 you know, ping, ping, ping, ping, 27 00:01:21,690 --> 00:01:26,313 ping, ping, flying by my ears like that. 28 00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:28,640 And from those who were left 29 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,093 with physical and mental scars. 30 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:36,403 They amputated my foot through the ankle. 31 00:01:39,250 --> 00:01:42,450 I'd make no bones about it, I really cried 32 00:01:42,450 --> 00:01:45,373 my eyes out when I saw the result. 33 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,410 This is the story of the tragedy 34 00:01:49,410 --> 00:01:52,097 and turmoil of Britain's Great War. 35 00:02:02,913 --> 00:02:05,413 (light music) 36 00:02:09,489 --> 00:02:14,489 {\an8}(men laughing) (horse hooves clopping) 37 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,460 In 1916, after more than a year of stalemate 38 00:02:22,460 --> 00:02:25,850 on the Western Front, Allied commanders planned 39 00:02:25,850 --> 00:02:28,750 a major new offensive against the German Army. 40 00:02:28,750 --> 00:02:30,901 It would take place along a 16-mile stretch 41 00:02:30,901 --> 00:02:35,510 of the River Somme, and if all went according to plan, 42 00:02:35,510 --> 00:02:37,593 result in a decisive victory. 43 00:02:38,550 --> 00:02:42,080 It was supposed to be a joint offensive with France, 44 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:43,880 but in February, the Germans attacked 45 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,880 the city of Verdun over 150 miles away, 46 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:50,940 and many French divisions were diverted there 47 00:02:50,940 --> 00:02:53,900 where they would suffer enormous casualties. 48 00:02:53,900 --> 00:02:56,490 As a result, the main responsibility 49 00:02:56,490 --> 00:02:59,540 for the Somme offensive fell to the British, 50 00:02:59,540 --> 00:03:03,220 led by new Commander in Chief Sir Douglas Haig. 51 00:03:03,220 --> 00:03:05,670 They were so confident victory, 52 00:03:05,670 --> 00:03:08,930 they allowed film cameras to record the event. 53 00:03:08,930 --> 00:03:11,180 They would capture one of the most infamous 54 00:03:11,180 --> 00:03:13,583 and costly battles of the entire war. 55 00:03:16,430 --> 00:03:19,860 People said that Haig was wrong 56 00:03:19,860 --> 00:03:22,600 in making us go fight the enemy. 57 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,057 Dammit, we couldn't sit there forever, 58 00:03:25,057 --> 00:03:27,850 we had to get on with the job. 59 00:03:27,850 --> 00:03:32,770 The French had been badly, been nearly knocked out, 60 00:03:32,770 --> 00:03:37,133 and we gotta get on with the job and kill the Germans. 61 00:03:38,438 --> 00:03:41,021 (somber music) 62 00:03:49,177 --> 00:03:53,320 We had a duty, we were told by our senior officers, 63 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,660 to do our best to prevent this country 64 00:03:57,500 --> 00:04:00,163 being taken over by some enemy. 65 00:04:00,163 --> 00:04:02,913 (boots marching) 66 00:04:06,060 --> 00:04:08,335 Well, we wanted to fight the Germans anyway, 67 00:04:08,335 --> 00:04:13,033 blinking old Kaiser and his son, we use to hate them people. 68 00:04:14,970 --> 00:04:18,490 We were younger, you see, the men, you were younger, 69 00:04:18,490 --> 00:04:20,763 you were full of excitement, I suppose. 70 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,151 All together, now, 71 00:04:30,151 --> 00:04:34,646 ♪ It's a long way to Tipperary ♪ 72 00:04:34,646 --> 00:04:39,126 ♪ It's a long way to go ♪ 73 00:04:39,126 --> 00:04:43,673 ♪ It's a long way to Tipperary ♪ 74 00:04:43,673 --> 00:04:48,673 ♪ To the sweetest girl I know ♪ 75 00:04:48,993 --> 00:04:53,993 ♪ Goodbye, Piccadilly, farewell, Lester Square ♪ 76 00:04:57,736 --> 00:05:02,490 ♪ It's a long, long way to Tipperary ♪ 77 00:05:02,490 --> 00:05:07,165 ♪ But my heart's right there ♪ 78 00:05:07,165 --> 00:05:11,359 ♪ It's a long way to Tipperary ♪ 79 00:05:11,359 --> 00:05:14,692 ♪ It's a long way to go ♪ 80 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:17,370 Arriving at the front 81 00:05:17,370 --> 00:05:20,100 were the latest recruits to Secretary of State for War, 82 00:05:20,100 --> 00:05:22,750 Lord Kitchener's Volunteer Army, 83 00:05:22,750 --> 00:05:25,613 which by then numbered around two and a half million men. 84 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:30,270 Many were in one of the new so-called 85 00:05:30,270 --> 00:05:33,650 Pals Battalions, made up of volunteers 86 00:05:33,650 --> 00:05:36,803 from the same town, village, or workplace. 87 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,707 Young people like myself would say, 88 00:05:41,707 --> 00:05:44,687 "We'll show those Germans, we'll push them back home!" 89 00:05:56,690 --> 00:06:01,387 It was the thoughts of really young men 90 00:06:01,387 --> 00:06:03,223 who didn't know any better. 91 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,890 Others had lied about their age to be there. 92 00:06:10,066 --> 00:06:12,733 I was 16, but I said I was 18. 93 00:06:14,590 --> 00:06:17,410 I told them I was 18, but I was only 16. 94 00:06:24,340 --> 00:06:28,640 So patriotic, that's why, it was just so patriotic. 95 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:29,713 That was appealing those days. 96 00:06:31,829 --> 00:06:35,120 And I went to the Battle of the Somme 97 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,380 so that where I was sent to, the Battle of the Somme 98 00:06:39,430 --> 00:06:41,233 to a place called Thiepval. 99 00:06:47,860 --> 00:06:49,290 Some of Kitchener's recruits 100 00:06:49,290 --> 00:06:51,370 preparing for Battle on the Somme 101 00:06:51,370 --> 00:06:54,550 already knew what it was like to go over the top, 102 00:06:54,550 --> 00:06:58,820 having fought at Luce in 1915 where 16,000 men 103 00:06:58,820 --> 00:07:00,683 were killed in two weeks of fighting. 104 00:07:05,340 --> 00:07:08,023 I thought to myself, when we went on the Somme, 105 00:07:08,900 --> 00:07:12,715 I thought, "Oh, well, nevermind if my time comes, 106 00:07:12,715 --> 00:07:16,343 let's hope it's a bullet, let's hope it's sudden. 107 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,140 If I've got to go, I've got to go, 108 00:07:20,140 --> 00:07:22,957 let's hope it's sudden," that's the way wanted. 109 00:07:24,135 --> 00:07:29,135 And I never, I always dreaded losing and arm or a leg. 110 00:07:35,460 --> 00:07:37,010 Well, we knew we were in for. 111 00:07:38,610 --> 00:07:41,695 We were there to do a job, we couldn't get out of it, 112 00:07:41,695 --> 00:07:45,003 but we were told to do a job and we did it. 113 00:07:54,570 --> 00:07:56,730 I might've been afraid, I expect I was afraid 114 00:07:56,730 --> 00:08:01,730 the second time, yes, no doubt about it, we were afraid, 115 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:04,653 young fellows, 18, 19, married men 116 00:08:04,653 --> 00:08:06,810 with a couple of kids going over the top, 117 00:08:06,810 --> 00:08:09,623 like that, and they're crying their eyes out, 118 00:08:10,940 --> 00:08:13,390 wondering what's happening to the people at home. 119 00:08:15,190 --> 00:08:17,440 At home Britain's children 120 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:19,130 were having to come to terms with the fact 121 00:08:19,130 --> 00:08:21,063 that their fathers were away fighting. 122 00:08:24,210 --> 00:08:27,090 but their pride in having seen their dad in uniform 123 00:08:27,090 --> 00:08:30,813 before he left was a memory that gave comfort to some. 124 00:08:33,995 --> 00:08:36,300 I can remember mum took us out 125 00:08:36,300 --> 00:08:41,300 {\an8}for the days to Dover Castle and we were so thrilled 126 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,870 {\an8}about it because we could look out 127 00:08:44,870 --> 00:08:48,710 of some slits in the wall, right? 128 00:08:48,710 --> 00:08:50,640 And we were told to look across 129 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:53,790 and we could see France, there, 130 00:08:53,790 --> 00:08:58,790 and then of course we had to see dad drilling the men. 131 00:09:01,432 --> 00:09:05,170 (flutes whistling) 132 00:09:05,170 --> 00:09:10,170 We were naturally over the moon to stand there 133 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,960 and see our dad, but then as a child, you would, 134 00:09:16,770 --> 00:09:21,213 wouldn't you, you think your dad's the one and only! 135 00:09:23,350 --> 00:09:26,017 (bells chiming) 136 00:09:28,350 --> 00:09:29,740 When first I started school, 137 00:09:29,740 --> 00:09:32,770 my first teacher was Mr. Brown. 138 00:09:32,770 --> 00:09:37,210 And he was very nice, we all adored him 139 00:09:37,210 --> 00:09:39,190 because we'd never had a male teacher before. 140 00:09:39,190 --> 00:09:41,480 It'd always been female teachers, you know? 141 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:43,180 So we were thrilled to bits. 142 00:09:43,180 --> 00:09:45,120 And the first day he went through the register 143 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:46,940 and he was going through all the names 144 00:09:46,940 --> 00:09:49,562 and he said, "Oh, we have a Maud!" 145 00:09:49,562 --> 00:09:51,464 ("Come Into the Garden, Maud") 146 00:09:51,464 --> 00:09:55,724 ♪ Come into the garden, Maud ♪ 147 00:09:55,724 --> 00:10:00,724 ♪ For the black bat, night, has flown ♪ 148 00:10:00,985 --> 00:10:03,120 ♪ Come into the garden, Maud ♪ 149 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,540 He said, "Stand up Maud," so I stood up 150 00:10:05,540 --> 00:10:07,370 and he cooked his finger to come here. 151 00:10:07,370 --> 00:10:09,520 And he says, "I'm a singer, you know? 152 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:13,067 And that's my favorite song, 'Come Into the Garden, Maud,'" 153 00:10:13,067 --> 00:10:15,050 and he says, "You're the first one 154 00:10:15,050 --> 00:10:18,520 I've ever come across that had that name." 155 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,720 So he says, "That'll be our song, won't it?" 156 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,930 And, oh, of course, I was thrilled to bits. 157 00:10:24,930 --> 00:10:29,793 And every time he wanted me to come up. he used to sing, 158 00:10:29,793 --> 00:10:31,601 ♪ Come into the garden, Maud ♪ 159 00:10:31,601 --> 00:10:33,471 And then of course, there! (chuckling) 160 00:10:33,471 --> 00:10:38,133 Then the next thing, he was called up and he went away. 161 00:10:40,187 --> 00:10:41,530 (artillery firing) 162 00:10:41,530 --> 00:10:43,803 On the 24th of June, 1916, 163 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,520 the Allies launched a massive artillery bombardment 164 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,483 on the Somme in an attempt to destroy German defenses. 165 00:10:52,780 --> 00:10:56,090 In seven days, over a million and a half shells 166 00:10:56,090 --> 00:10:57,763 were fired at the enemy lines. 167 00:10:58,970 --> 00:11:00,990 We were all convinced that this was 168 00:11:00,990 --> 00:11:04,373 the push which was to enter the war. 169 00:11:11,711 --> 00:11:12,963 We were certainly very impressed 170 00:11:12,963 --> 00:11:14,340 with the thunder of the guns 171 00:11:14,340 --> 00:11:18,893 because it started all at once, and terrific, 172 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:25,120 and it went on and on and on, thunder, thunder, thunder. 173 00:11:26,369 --> 00:11:29,286 (artillery firing) 174 00:11:31,260 --> 00:11:33,070 With a practiced ear, you could pick out 175 00:11:33,070 --> 00:11:36,653 the individual types of gun firing. 176 00:11:37,843 --> 00:11:39,564 (artillery firing) 177 00:11:39,564 --> 00:11:42,303 Well, at times it was indescribable. 178 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,230 You might get about 12 guns, battery, 179 00:11:47,230 --> 00:11:49,090 I don't know what they called the artillery, 180 00:11:49,090 --> 00:11:51,180 all firing at the same time. 181 00:11:51,180 --> 00:11:53,259 Another time it'd be one after the other. 182 00:11:53,259 --> 00:11:56,176 (artillery firing) 183 00:11:59,770 --> 00:12:01,990 Tens of thousands of shells 184 00:12:01,990 --> 00:12:05,683 had been sent over to the German line. 185 00:12:07,028 --> 00:12:11,583 And the day before we were supposed to go over the top, 186 00:12:12,770 --> 00:12:17,770 an officer, a ranking officer got on his horse 187 00:12:19,260 --> 00:12:24,060 and said to us, "Tomorrow, lads, tomorrow, men, 188 00:12:24,060 --> 00:12:27,640 you'll go and take the German trench. 189 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,600 I say that because I know you'll take the trench. 190 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,400 There's no trench there, there's no wire there, 191 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:39,360 it'll all be pounded by our guns, and you can just 192 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,707 walk over and carry your guns as you would carry a bag." 193 00:12:48,260 --> 00:12:49,430 (shells exploding) 194 00:12:49,430 --> 00:12:51,750 At 7:30 AM, the men 195 00:12:51,750 --> 00:12:54,103 would go over the top toward the German lines. 196 00:12:55,130 --> 00:12:58,863 As the time approached, they made their final preparations. 197 00:12:59,890 --> 00:13:02,623 We moved up into the front line trench, 198 00:13:04,890 --> 00:13:08,050 every man was given a packet of Woodbines, 199 00:13:10,070 --> 00:13:13,693 stupid thing to say, but I was smoking (mumbling) 200 00:13:16,294 --> 00:13:18,210 sort of, oh, we'll see about that, I don't know why, 201 00:13:18,210 --> 00:13:22,970 but it doesn't matter, and zero hour was 7:30, 202 00:13:22,970 --> 00:13:26,733 it was a lovely morning, and over the top we went! 203 00:13:33,084 --> 00:13:38,084 They just shouted, "Come on lads," said the sergeant. 204 00:13:38,110 --> 00:13:43,110 And that's, you get over the top the best you could. 205 00:13:46,180 --> 00:13:49,270 Well, the one next to you would be about a yard away 206 00:13:49,270 --> 00:13:52,567 from you, two yards away on the other side of you, 207 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,040 and you'd move straightforward in a line. 208 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:01,350 You're not holding each other's arms, you just move forward. 209 00:14:01,350 --> 00:14:03,020 In the south where German 210 00:14:03,020 --> 00:14:05,530 defenses were at their weakest, 211 00:14:05,530 --> 00:14:08,420 the artillery bombardment was most successful 212 00:14:08,420 --> 00:14:10,923 and Allied infantry faced the least resistance. 213 00:14:12,839 --> 00:14:17,600 Actually, we had a very good day. 214 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:22,600 The advances on our right were held up 215 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,780 and somebody else on our left was held up. 216 00:14:26,780 --> 00:14:30,440 And that's why we had to stop, really. 217 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,190 Otherwise, some idiot said we would have walked 218 00:14:33,190 --> 00:14:36,130 straight through to Berlin, but we couldn't. 219 00:14:38,467 --> 00:14:41,000 But elsewhere, the bombardment failed 220 00:14:41,970 --> 00:14:44,690 and the Germans emerged from deep dugouts 221 00:14:44,690 --> 00:14:47,821 and waited with rifles and machine guns ready. 222 00:14:47,821 --> 00:14:50,321 (guns firing) 223 00:14:57,084 --> 00:14:58,992 (machine gun firing) 224 00:14:58,992 --> 00:15:01,909 (shells exploding) 225 00:15:03,742 --> 00:15:06,292 I was one of the first to get up over on the top. 226 00:15:09,010 --> 00:15:13,402 We met a hurricane a hurricane of bullets. 227 00:15:13,402 --> 00:15:16,485 (machine gun firing) 228 00:15:17,796 --> 00:15:22,180 They actually, they whizzed by my ears, ping, ping, 229 00:15:22,180 --> 00:15:27,180 ping, ping, ping, ping, flying by my ears like that. 230 00:15:33,133 --> 00:15:37,216 We were able to see the infantry going forward. 231 00:15:41,470 --> 00:15:44,003 In some cases they didn't get very far, 232 00:15:46,070 --> 00:15:47,816 they were just wiped out. 233 00:15:47,816 --> 00:15:50,733 (shells exploding) 234 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,090 If you were quick enough you dropped down 235 00:15:55,090 --> 00:15:57,824 when the German's opened fire, the bullets were going 236 00:15:57,824 --> 00:16:01,580 over the top of you, but there was a good many 237 00:16:01,580 --> 00:16:03,413 wounded before they got dropped. 238 00:16:06,810 --> 00:16:10,307 Some of the chaps were lying around, 239 00:16:10,307 --> 00:16:15,190 arms off or in pain and so on. 240 00:16:15,190 --> 00:16:19,380 Some fellow would give him a fag or something, 241 00:16:19,380 --> 00:16:22,740 but you couldn't help the poor soul. 242 00:16:22,740 --> 00:16:24,190 You couldn't help him at all. 243 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:28,390 Tommy Gay had gone 244 00:16:28,390 --> 00:16:30,540 over the top together with his best friend. 245 00:16:32,370 --> 00:16:35,270 From the time we went up over the top, 246 00:16:35,270 --> 00:16:39,833 went over together that morning, I never saw him anymore. 247 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,493 No, I never saw my, his name was Johnny Jupp. 248 00:16:45,802 --> 00:16:48,885 (somber piano music) 249 00:16:52,064 --> 00:16:55,240 Never saw him anymore, must have had 250 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,563 the bullet right away, yeah. 251 00:17:05,580 --> 00:17:06,413 The British suffered 252 00:17:06,413 --> 00:17:09,910 over 57,000 casualties that day, 253 00:17:09,910 --> 00:17:12,603 including over 19,000 men killed. 254 00:17:13,700 --> 00:17:15,530 It remains the most costly day 255 00:17:15,530 --> 00:17:17,280 in the history of the British Army. 256 00:17:27,579 --> 00:17:31,490 They were just put down on stretchers, 257 00:17:31,490 --> 00:17:36,490 pieces of fencing, pieces of wood, just put down, left, 258 00:17:36,497 --> 00:17:39,957 and all the stretcher bearers went to get some more. 259 00:17:52,631 --> 00:17:55,330 Some of the men were calling their mothers, 260 00:17:55,330 --> 00:17:58,340 some were calling for girlfriends 261 00:17:58,340 --> 00:18:01,903 or wives, it was enormously sad. 262 00:18:04,663 --> 00:18:07,477 I remember once, I said to one, 263 00:18:07,477 --> 00:18:10,827 "Have you a mother and father?" 264 00:18:10,827 --> 00:18:15,070 And he said, "I haven't got a mother, she dead." 265 00:18:15,070 --> 00:18:17,394 But I had said to him, "Well, 266 00:18:17,394 --> 00:18:21,811 you'll be with her in a few minutes, so don't worry." 267 00:18:24,368 --> 00:18:26,618 That was all I said to him. 268 00:18:28,146 --> 00:18:30,979 There wasn't anything else to say. 269 00:18:37,669 --> 00:18:41,740 How can you describe seeing a mere handful of men 270 00:18:41,740 --> 00:18:44,793 come where were used to seeing, 271 00:18:53,770 --> 00:18:55,573 seeing a valiant in battalion? 272 00:19:06,719 --> 00:19:11,719 And we weren't the only ones who felt sick. 273 00:19:15,930 --> 00:19:18,500 The colonials were sitting in the front 274 00:19:18,500 --> 00:19:21,293 of what was left of their men, sobbing. 275 00:19:24,860 --> 00:19:28,553 There were so few, so few men left. 276 00:19:32,900 --> 00:19:35,880 Well, I must have been the luckiest man on earth 277 00:19:37,510 --> 00:19:40,827 to walk out with all that machine gun fire 278 00:19:40,827 --> 00:19:43,807 and not one of those bullets got my name on it. 279 00:19:43,807 --> 00:19:45,993 I must be the luckiest man on earth! 280 00:19:47,217 --> 00:19:50,413 Absolutely, the luckiest man in the world! 281 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,250 The first day of the Battle of the Somme 282 00:20:02,250 --> 00:20:05,670 was a national tragedy, but it was only 283 00:20:05,670 --> 00:20:08,990 the beginning of a long and bloody struggle, 284 00:20:08,990 --> 00:20:11,260 as along the battlefront most of the Allied 285 00:20:11,260 --> 00:20:14,128 objectives still lay in German hands. 286 00:20:14,128 --> 00:20:17,211 (somber piano music) 287 00:20:20,570 --> 00:20:22,970 Joining those already at the front 288 00:20:22,970 --> 00:20:25,163 were more of Kitchener's Volunteer Army, 289 00:20:26,110 --> 00:20:29,340 among them many inexperienced young officers 290 00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:31,790 who would soon be leading their men over the top. 291 00:20:32,770 --> 00:20:37,770 When I was 19, I was posted to France 292 00:20:39,070 --> 00:20:42,420 and there had been tremendous casualties. 293 00:20:42,420 --> 00:20:44,880 And I was obviously a replacement. 294 00:21:03,790 --> 00:21:08,790 An officer in my time, a second lieutenant in my time, 295 00:21:09,410 --> 00:21:13,593 his term of fighting was no more than six weeks. 296 00:21:14,630 --> 00:21:17,993 Six weeks before he was killed or wounded. 297 00:21:21,020 --> 00:21:23,753 But casualties, they were in enormous. 298 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,870 It was a little bit sad, but there was a hell 299 00:21:29,870 --> 00:21:32,510 of a war going on, you got to get along with it 300 00:21:33,420 --> 00:21:37,020 as you went, despite, might be wounded 301 00:21:37,020 --> 00:21:38,720 or killed at any moment, yourself. 302 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,990 The hun was throwing things at you all day long 303 00:21:42,990 --> 00:21:45,570 and all night long, very often, 304 00:21:45,570 --> 00:21:48,463 and I didn't think you gave it much thought. 305 00:21:49,322 --> 00:21:52,239 (artillery firing) 306 00:21:55,220 --> 00:21:58,090 Throughout the summer of 1916, 307 00:21:58,090 --> 00:22:02,040 Allied forces on the Somme went over the top time and again, 308 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:03,580 as they fought for the objectives 309 00:22:03,580 --> 00:22:05,413 they'd previously failed to take. 310 00:22:06,725 --> 00:22:09,370 First of all, you're looking 311 00:22:09,370 --> 00:22:13,543 at your watch and you just see zero hour. 312 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:18,330 Then you look, you see that your men, 313 00:22:18,330 --> 00:22:21,650 the men that you're going to go over the top with are, 314 00:22:21,650 --> 00:22:25,773 left and right, are equipped and ready to go. 315 00:22:30,721 --> 00:22:33,475 (whistle blowing) 316 00:22:33,475 --> 00:22:37,225 And then you encouraged them, right and left, 317 00:22:38,110 --> 00:22:40,584 to go with you, all go together. 318 00:22:40,584 --> 00:22:43,860 (shells exploding) 319 00:22:43,860 --> 00:22:48,860 So you sort of shepherded them over as well as you could. 320 00:22:49,070 --> 00:22:52,890 That's the only description I could give you. 321 00:22:52,890 --> 00:22:54,870 You were a shepherd, (chuckling) yes. 322 00:22:56,861 --> 00:22:59,778 (artillery firing) 323 00:23:01,630 --> 00:23:06,020 Your one ambition is to get to the German wire 324 00:23:06,020 --> 00:23:10,370 safe and sound, get there before the Germans got you. 325 00:23:15,693 --> 00:23:18,776 (machine gun firing) 326 00:23:19,660 --> 00:23:23,120 We knew where to go to shift Jerry 327 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:26,377 out of his trench, where that were, aye. 328 00:23:33,912 --> 00:23:36,480 Sergeant would shout, "Get down, get down." 329 00:23:37,633 --> 00:23:42,633 Aye, you'd go down, you'd get in a buck of a bloody thistle 330 00:23:43,285 --> 00:23:45,763 for shelter if you, (chuckling) aye. 331 00:23:51,187 --> 00:23:55,243 You went out and you saw men dropping right and left. 332 00:23:57,310 --> 00:24:00,290 If you knew them as you would, 333 00:24:00,290 --> 00:24:03,573 you felt for them very much, very much. 334 00:24:05,469 --> 00:24:06,302 (shells exploding) 335 00:24:06,302 --> 00:24:10,200 As you went out, sort of climbing barbed wire, 336 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:14,930 my clothes was all ripped up like rags, sort of thing. 337 00:24:14,930 --> 00:24:19,166 Climate barbed wire here, barbed wire there, you know? 338 00:24:19,166 --> 00:24:20,720 And then, what was I saying? 339 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:25,720 I was in a hell of a state, just in rags, I was in rags. 340 00:24:26,642 --> 00:24:29,018 (shells exploding) 341 00:24:29,018 --> 00:24:30,460 The bayonets were always there 342 00:24:30,460 --> 00:24:35,460 to be used if necessary, when I say if necessary, 343 00:24:38,340 --> 00:24:43,213 what I mean to say, if you got close enough to use them. 344 00:24:44,394 --> 00:24:46,360 (artillery exploding) 345 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:50,610 I'll tell you something, when we'd be in a fight, 346 00:24:52,740 --> 00:24:55,670 there's more lads putting bullets 347 00:24:55,670 --> 00:24:59,023 into the enemy instead of the bayonet. 348 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,703 We weren't supposed to do that, you know? 349 00:25:05,131 --> 00:25:09,330 But there's a Jerry below and he was standing solid 350 00:25:09,330 --> 00:25:13,620 or I thought he was on the move, aye, no, 351 00:25:13,620 --> 00:25:17,623 just pull the trigger and don't even go. 352 00:25:18,845 --> 00:25:21,345 (guns firing) 353 00:25:23,940 --> 00:25:28,763 It made you never forget, no never, not even to this day. 354 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:35,360 Just to think you shot a man, you know, for nothing at you, 355 00:25:39,230 --> 00:25:43,390 that was how I used to always look at it. 356 00:25:43,390 --> 00:25:46,410 And then again, there was, "Well, if I don't get him, 357 00:25:46,410 --> 00:25:50,677 he'll get me and my life's worth a hell of a lot to me." 358 00:25:52,150 --> 00:25:55,120 That's how we were, all young and daft, aye. 359 00:26:01,770 --> 00:26:04,210 On the Somme, what was supposed 360 00:26:04,210 --> 00:26:07,000 to have been a swift and decisive victory 361 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,623 had turned into a brutal battle of attrition. 362 00:26:11,150 --> 00:26:13,960 Life was cheap, two-a-penny. 363 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:18,330 It didn't matter how many men were killed or wounded, 364 00:26:18,330 --> 00:26:23,330 {\an8}as long as they're attained a German trench, 365 00:26:23,550 --> 00:26:27,200 which inevitably, and it happened many a time, 366 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,560 we held it for half a dozen hours 367 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,550 till they came back at us about twice 368 00:26:32,550 --> 00:26:34,500 or three times in number and drove us 369 00:26:34,500 --> 00:26:36,303 back to where we originally started. 370 00:26:54,220 --> 00:26:56,837 We were sent away again, and were were topped 371 00:26:56,837 --> 00:27:01,837 in the third time in succession, you know, in succession. 372 00:27:01,980 --> 00:27:04,310 And of course, our object then, 373 00:27:04,310 --> 00:27:07,280 was to take the town of Guillemont. 374 00:27:12,230 --> 00:27:16,040 When we got there, the Germans had returned 375 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:20,809 a little bit and one of them came along and, 376 00:27:20,809 --> 00:27:25,410 just on his own, one German on his own had come back. 377 00:27:25,410 --> 00:27:27,940 And there was half a dozen of us lads 378 00:27:29,940 --> 00:27:31,720 hiding in a shell hole. 379 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,890 We were in the shell hole huddled together 380 00:27:35,380 --> 00:27:36,940 so we shouldn't be seen much. 381 00:27:36,940 --> 00:27:40,330 And when the German come up to me 382 00:27:40,330 --> 00:27:45,330 and he almost stabbed me, he was a good mind to do me in. 383 00:27:53,020 --> 00:27:55,600 He got his bayonet on the end of his rifle 384 00:27:55,600 --> 00:28:00,600 and nearly stuck it into me, but it touched my chest, 385 00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:04,486 certainly, but he never stabbed me. 386 00:28:04,486 --> 00:28:06,953 And of course, I went cold, naturally. 387 00:28:11,940 --> 00:28:14,320 but then he didn't stab me. 388 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:18,191 He took the full five of us out of the shell hole 389 00:28:18,191 --> 00:28:21,933 and put us in a compound behind the German line. 390 00:28:24,670 --> 00:28:29,563 But that was a bad feeling, a very bad feeling, yeah! 391 00:28:35,340 --> 00:28:37,710 The Allies captured the village of Guillemont 392 00:28:37,710 --> 00:28:39,873 on the 6th of September, 1916. 393 00:28:41,770 --> 00:28:44,393 The Battle of the Somme had entered its third month. 394 00:28:47,385 --> 00:28:51,846 ♪ Keep the home fires burning ♪ 395 00:28:51,846 --> 00:28:56,360 ♪ Though your heart is yearning ♪ 396 00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:01,360 ♪ When the lads are far away they dream of home ♪ 397 00:29:05,593 --> 00:29:10,237 ♪ There a silver lining ♪ 398 00:29:10,237 --> 00:29:14,718 ♪ Through the dark clouds shining ♪ 399 00:29:14,718 --> 00:29:18,393 ♪ Keep the dark clouds right away ♪ 400 00:29:18,393 --> 00:29:21,893 ♪ Till the boys come home ♪ 401 00:29:23,830 --> 00:29:27,830 ("Keep the Home Fires Burning") 402 00:29:31,250 --> 00:29:35,570 We hoped, we wanted a blighty wound, 403 00:29:35,570 --> 00:29:38,890 as much as anything, we got to that stage, 404 00:29:38,890 --> 00:29:41,483 that if we got a blighty wound, 405 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,993 blighty is an Indian word, as you probably know, 406 00:29:47,660 --> 00:29:52,660 home, blighty being home, the best we could hope for 407 00:29:53,330 --> 00:29:55,575 was a wound that would take us home. 408 00:29:55,575 --> 00:29:58,492 (shells exploding) 409 00:30:01,950 --> 00:30:05,860 All my life, I've had hunches and they've come through. 410 00:30:07,427 --> 00:30:12,030 And I said to my friend, what a nice morning 411 00:30:12,030 --> 00:30:14,353 for a cushy blighty and home. 412 00:30:23,510 --> 00:30:28,510 I've no idea what came down or how it came down, 413 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:35,840 but I just had a one stifting burn and I went like a poker. 414 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,383 And when I came to, 415 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,690 I had noticed that I was hit behind the heel, 416 00:30:49,690 --> 00:30:53,410 which took the sole clean away. 417 00:31:01,245 --> 00:31:04,500 The doctors had a look at me and I said 418 00:31:04,500 --> 00:31:08,433 that I did not want to lose my foot if possible, 419 00:31:09,530 --> 00:31:14,530 but it was hopeless, the foot had to go and that was that. 420 00:31:17,420 --> 00:31:21,630 They put me on a table with a mattress. 421 00:31:21,630 --> 00:31:23,993 I think it was in the kitchen that they did it, 422 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:30,240 and at least, let me say, they had the chloroform 423 00:31:30,950 --> 00:31:35,053 in those days, and it was done. 424 00:31:37,610 --> 00:31:41,063 I'd been warned by somebody who knew 425 00:31:41,063 --> 00:31:45,270 that if, when you go first time into the theater, 426 00:31:45,270 --> 00:31:50,270 so many nurses who attend their first operation 427 00:31:50,620 --> 00:31:55,410 would faint when the first incision's made. 428 00:31:55,410 --> 00:31:59,840 But if you make a point of looking over there 429 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:01,740 when they're doing the incision there, 430 00:32:03,541 --> 00:32:05,930 and then turn your head afterwards, 431 00:32:05,930 --> 00:32:10,930 if you don't see the first incision made you're all right. 432 00:32:11,430 --> 00:32:15,743 But if you see the blood oozing out, you're done for. 433 00:32:16,620 --> 00:32:20,673 And I found I've never fainted in the theaters. 434 00:32:24,050 --> 00:32:27,870 They amputated my foot through the ankle 435 00:32:30,990 --> 00:32:35,990 and I can assure that was no easy job. 436 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,573 And afterwards it was extremely painful. 437 00:32:41,630 --> 00:32:45,660 I can assure you if I ever howled in my life, 438 00:32:45,660 --> 00:32:50,660 when I came out I howled then, I make no bones about it, 439 00:32:51,410 --> 00:32:55,393 I really cried my eyes out when I saw the results. 440 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,440 Jock was sent back to Britain 441 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:02,440 where amputees and other wounded men 442 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,653 were becoming a common site on the streets. 443 00:33:06,090 --> 00:33:09,580 For those sent home for treatment or convalescence, 444 00:33:09,580 --> 00:33:11,530 there was often a chance of reconciliation 445 00:33:11,530 --> 00:33:14,313 with loved ones, even if only temporary. 446 00:33:15,420 --> 00:33:19,230 In 1916, my dad was wounded, 447 00:33:19,230 --> 00:33:23,763 I don't know how, but he came home on leave. 448 00:33:25,950 --> 00:33:29,100 {\an8}And I remember him sitting there 449 00:33:29,100 --> 00:33:34,100 {\an8}and making a fuss of me and singing at a gramophone 450 00:33:37,100 --> 00:33:40,390 with a blooming great big horn, blue, 451 00:33:40,390 --> 00:33:42,830 and he put this record on 452 00:33:42,830 --> 00:33:46,863 and then he was then singing to me. 453 00:33:47,850 --> 00:33:51,120 And when I tell them how beautiful you are, 454 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,190 they'll never believe me, that from this great big world, 455 00:33:55,190 --> 00:33:58,600 you've chosen me, yeah, to me, 456 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,133 that was absolutely wonderful. 457 00:34:01,006 --> 00:34:06,006 ♪ And when I told them how wonderful you are ♪ 458 00:34:09,426 --> 00:34:11,850 I don't know how long he was home, but it was lovely 459 00:34:13,050 --> 00:34:17,066 having him home, because he went back again. 460 00:34:17,066 --> 00:34:20,399 ♪ They don't believe me ♪ 461 00:34:21,930 --> 00:34:23,888 (artillery firing) 462 00:34:23,888 --> 00:34:27,590 (shells exploding) 463 00:34:27,590 --> 00:34:30,420 As autumn approached, British casualties 464 00:34:30,420 --> 00:34:33,133 on the Somme totaled around 200,000 men. 465 00:34:35,410 --> 00:34:38,260 Progress remained slow, but the army 466 00:34:38,260 --> 00:34:40,670 was about to unleash a secret weapon 467 00:34:40,670 --> 00:34:43,220 that would help to change the course of the battle. 468 00:34:44,410 --> 00:34:48,880 I was out in a trench out there with some others 469 00:34:49,820 --> 00:34:54,030 and I could hear a purr-purr going on. 470 00:34:54,030 --> 00:34:55,847 And I thought, "What's that noise?" 471 00:34:56,980 --> 00:34:59,853 It's getting louder and louder, and I stood 472 00:34:59,853 --> 00:35:04,280 on the first step and I could see something moving 473 00:35:05,404 --> 00:35:08,200 what we call in Scotland a steam road roller 474 00:35:09,210 --> 00:35:12,053 with a big funnel on it, a big, heavy thing. 475 00:35:13,290 --> 00:35:16,370 And I said, "Look," and they started looking. 476 00:35:16,370 --> 00:35:18,087 Someone got up in the parapet. 477 00:35:18,087 --> 00:35:21,420 (tank tracks squeaking) 478 00:35:22,436 --> 00:35:26,270 And we could see these things moving and behind them 479 00:35:26,270 --> 00:35:30,120 there were probably four or five or six shoulders 480 00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:34,883 running behind with their bayonets fixed. 481 00:35:39,310 --> 00:35:42,170 An armored crawler, that's what I called them. 482 00:35:45,620 --> 00:35:48,360 Of course when we got in them and got moving around 483 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:53,360 with them, well, we knew exactly what they were for. 484 00:35:57,053 --> 00:35:59,970 And the armaments, when we got inside 485 00:35:59,970 --> 00:36:03,737 and we saw the armaments, we said, 486 00:36:03,737 --> 00:36:07,207 "Well, this is, this is really it." 487 00:36:16,630 --> 00:36:19,083 We never deviated the tanks for anything. 488 00:36:23,318 --> 00:36:26,670 We had to go through previous dead, 489 00:36:26,670 --> 00:36:29,853 and dead that you'd killed. 490 00:36:30,770 --> 00:36:34,337 If they fell in your way, you had to go over them. 491 00:36:40,210 --> 00:36:45,160 All feelings of humanity leaves you when you're fighting, 492 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:49,270 you say to yourself, "Well, it's either him or me, see? 493 00:36:51,130 --> 00:36:56,130 So I got to get him first," that's it, that's what you said. 494 00:36:56,980 --> 00:37:01,770 So you've got no feelings of humanity right then. 495 00:37:01,770 --> 00:37:03,823 Afterwards, yes, perhaps. 496 00:37:09,270 --> 00:37:10,580 The tank was one of the most 497 00:37:10,580 --> 00:37:13,003 significant military advances of the war, 498 00:37:14,310 --> 00:37:16,930 but there were advances in medicine, too, 499 00:37:16,930 --> 00:37:19,670 including development in blood transfusions, 500 00:37:19,670 --> 00:37:21,363 x-rays, and prosthetics. 501 00:37:22,260 --> 00:37:25,710 However, in the days before antibiotics, 502 00:37:25,710 --> 00:37:29,550 many wounds became infected as bullets and shrapnel 503 00:37:29,550 --> 00:37:32,880 carried the filth of the battlefields into the body, 504 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,203 leading to gangrene, amputation, and death. 505 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:39,829 Oh, that smell of gangrene, that's a thing 506 00:37:39,829 --> 00:37:43,533 you'll never forget, a terrible smell. 507 00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:47,650 I think anybody who's ever smelled it would know that 508 00:37:50,140 --> 00:37:52,840 you get it so quickly when there's an infection about. 509 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:59,393 When I heard them mention gangrene, I was terrified. 510 00:38:00,890 --> 00:38:04,650 They took my leg off from the ankle, 511 00:38:04,650 --> 00:38:08,860 two, four, six inched below the knee, 512 00:38:10,261 --> 00:38:14,550 and that was a big one, and I can assure 513 00:38:14,550 --> 00:38:19,367 it was sore, so very sore and I felt it. 514 00:38:19,367 --> 00:38:22,290 And I had, once again, I did a hell of a lot 515 00:38:22,290 --> 00:38:25,633 of crying, the good, hefty stuff. 516 00:38:26,768 --> 00:38:29,351 (somber music) 517 00:38:34,495 --> 00:38:37,828 Dressing time was an ordeal with orders. 518 00:38:39,072 --> 00:38:42,072 The bandages that I had on had dried 519 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:48,213 and they had to be pulled away. 520 00:38:50,234 --> 00:38:55,234 And much of the dressing adhered to the skin. 521 00:39:00,740 --> 00:39:03,850 Throughout his ordeal, the woman responsible 522 00:39:03,850 --> 00:39:07,443 for Jock's care was known to him only as Nurse Sutherland. 523 00:39:09,930 --> 00:39:13,130 She was my nurse and she certainly 524 00:39:13,130 --> 00:39:15,573 looked after me in every way. 525 00:39:17,184 --> 00:39:20,930 It wasn't a case of attraction like a dresser case, 526 00:39:20,930 --> 00:39:25,483 she was good at her job, very good at her job. 527 00:39:26,700 --> 00:39:31,700 She'd never spoke hardly except words of comfort, 528 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:36,163 and I did nothing else but cry. 529 00:39:38,390 --> 00:39:42,870 And being a soldier, and being 20 or 21, 530 00:39:42,870 --> 00:39:47,870 I didn't want to be more or less a child that cried, now, 531 00:39:48,830 --> 00:39:52,313 but cry I did, and plenty of it. 532 00:39:59,620 --> 00:40:03,130 Back on the Somme the first tanks went into action 533 00:40:03,130 --> 00:40:06,090 on the 15th of September, 1916, 534 00:40:06,090 --> 00:40:08,463 during the battle of Flers-Courcelette. 535 00:40:11,150 --> 00:40:14,450 Although the early models were prone to mechanical failure 536 00:40:14,450 --> 00:40:16,700 and the army was unsure how best to use them, 537 00:40:17,570 --> 00:40:20,970 they still took the Germans completely by surprise. 538 00:40:20,970 --> 00:40:24,463 They'd never seen anything like it before, 539 00:40:25,830 --> 00:40:30,612 but when they saw we was armed with the small guns 540 00:40:30,612 --> 00:40:35,612 and machine guns, they gave up right away. 541 00:40:38,150 --> 00:40:42,670 It's surprising, we hadn't time to get on top 542 00:40:42,670 --> 00:40:46,353 of their trench before they was out with our arms up, yeah. 543 00:40:53,012 --> 00:40:56,970 And we passed them over to the infantry 544 00:40:56,970 --> 00:41:00,880 to take back to base, and the rest, 545 00:41:03,850 --> 00:41:08,160 we could see some of the machine gunners 546 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,600 had got away and we could see them 547 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,570 silhouetted against the skyline 548 00:41:14,570 --> 00:41:16,510 with the machine guns on their shoulders, 549 00:41:16,510 --> 00:41:21,510 going like hell back to the second and third lines, 550 00:41:26,830 --> 00:41:28,870 we did a job that the infantry 551 00:41:28,870 --> 00:41:32,250 had been trying to do for two years, 552 00:41:32,250 --> 00:41:36,020 and they'd lost hundreds and thousands trying to do it 553 00:41:37,580 --> 00:41:42,580 and couldn't, and we did it in half an hour, so, you see? 554 00:41:49,310 --> 00:41:51,020 With the help of the tank, 555 00:41:51,020 --> 00:41:52,980 the Battle of the Somme finally ended 556 00:41:52,980 --> 00:41:55,720 on the 18th of November, 1916, 557 00:41:55,720 --> 00:41:58,470 when the Allies captured the village of Beaumont-Hamel. 558 00:41:59,450 --> 00:42:01,870 In four-and-a-half months of fighting, 559 00:42:01,870 --> 00:42:06,870 British and Empire casualties totaled almost 420,000 men. 560 00:42:06,870 --> 00:42:09,800 They'd advanced just six miles, 561 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,723 but they dealt a devastating blow to the German Army. 562 00:42:13,740 --> 00:42:16,613 But for some, the horrors weren't over yet. 563 00:42:26,420 --> 00:42:29,983 I arrived at Beaumont-Hamel. 564 00:42:31,430 --> 00:42:36,430 Then I was told to bury, to collect the newly killed dead, 565 00:42:36,540 --> 00:42:40,403 which I did, I took the stretcher bearers. 566 00:42:42,210 --> 00:42:46,020 Unfortunately, the stretcher bearers, a good number of them 567 00:42:46,020 --> 00:42:48,650 were related to the ones who were dead. 568 00:42:48,650 --> 00:42:50,983 And this was a bit upsetting. 569 00:42:52,810 --> 00:42:57,810 Then I was told to go back into the No Man's Land, 570 00:42:58,333 --> 00:43:03,333 or rather what was No Man's Land, and bury the old dead. 571 00:43:04,460 --> 00:43:08,880 That is, the dead of the Newfoundland Regiment 572 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:12,509 who had been killed there on July the first. 573 00:43:12,509 --> 00:43:15,092 (somber music) 574 00:43:18,837 --> 00:43:23,240 The first one I saw, the first one I came across 575 00:43:24,380 --> 00:43:27,750 with his hair growing, hair growing out of his, 576 00:43:27,750 --> 00:43:29,203 still growing from his face, 577 00:43:31,540 --> 00:43:34,163 when I touched it, the rats ran out. 578 00:43:36,900 --> 00:43:40,363 There was nothing left of the body except bone. 579 00:43:42,740 --> 00:43:45,040 It seemed to be such a terrible waste of life. 580 00:43:50,530 --> 00:43:52,660 After all they'd been through, 581 00:43:52,660 --> 00:43:54,520 many of those who fought at the Somme 582 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,063 remained traumatized by their experiences. 583 00:44:02,097 --> 00:44:07,097 It affects the nerves, the noise, and everything, 584 00:44:09,110 --> 00:44:11,810 it gradually affects the nerves, 585 00:44:11,810 --> 00:44:14,670 and if you're a nervous person or your nerves 586 00:44:14,670 --> 00:44:17,573 are anyways bad at all, it's going to affect you. 587 00:44:18,877 --> 00:44:21,794 (shells exploding) 588 00:44:25,830 --> 00:44:30,483 It makes you feel bad in yourself, real bad. 589 00:44:32,580 --> 00:44:37,533 You begin to do like this, and I never did that before. 590 00:44:40,510 --> 00:44:43,320 I couldn't believe myself at the time. 591 00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:46,970 I couldn't believe it, that felt my nerves 592 00:44:46,970 --> 00:44:50,933 would carry me, but no, it broke my nerve. 593 00:44:56,330 --> 00:44:58,240 Cases of shell shock were identified 594 00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:02,163 as early as 1914 and ranged in their severity. 595 00:45:03,850 --> 00:45:08,510 At the Battle of the Somme, as many as 40% of all casualties 596 00:45:08,510 --> 00:45:12,020 were also suffering from some form of the condition. 597 00:45:12,020 --> 00:45:15,520 We were on the Somme for the whole of the time. 598 00:45:17,183 --> 00:45:21,240 You couldn't help being a bit frightened, I think, 599 00:45:21,240 --> 00:45:26,180 but you couldn't show it, gotta bottled it up. 600 00:45:26,180 --> 00:45:31,053 That's why it put a great strain on the ones nervous system. 601 00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:44,720 I was troubled for a good many years by a difficulty 602 00:45:45,970 --> 00:45:50,970 in speaking, it was hardly a stammer, it was stuttering. 603 00:45:52,830 --> 00:45:55,040 But I didn't sleep till three or four o'clock 604 00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:56,673 in the morning and used to go up 605 00:45:56,673 --> 00:45:59,050 through the ceiling and down again, 606 00:45:59,050 --> 00:46:03,788 but that was the after effects 607 00:46:03,788 --> 00:46:08,323 of being shelled for 19 months and so on. 608 00:46:11,410 --> 00:46:15,050 while some bore mental scars, others were left 609 00:46:15,050 --> 00:46:17,563 to deal with life-changing physical injuries. 610 00:46:18,750 --> 00:46:21,403 To the public, they were heroes. 611 00:46:22,607 --> 00:46:25,880 Now, if we went out with some of the boys, 612 00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:29,010 about a dozen of the boys, wounded boys, 613 00:46:29,010 --> 00:46:31,980 we all went in a bus and we went 614 00:46:31,980 --> 00:46:34,803 into the movies, we got in for nothing. 615 00:46:36,530 --> 00:46:41,120 You were always a bit of a, how would you put it, 616 00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:44,670 an eye catcher, they would always 617 00:46:44,670 --> 00:46:47,413 stop in the street and look at you. 618 00:46:48,306 --> 00:46:50,556 Or some people would come up and talk to you. 619 00:46:51,636 --> 00:46:54,770 And then sometimes you'd get packets 620 00:46:54,770 --> 00:46:57,670 of cigarettes or chocolates or things like that. 621 00:47:01,471 --> 00:47:03,690 While he was recuperating, 622 00:47:03,690 --> 00:47:05,330 Jock heard news of the woman 623 00:47:05,330 --> 00:47:07,773 who looked after him, Nurse Sutherland. 624 00:47:08,990 --> 00:47:11,840 She was, I think she was retiring, 625 00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:16,234 so I wrote her and I said to her 626 00:47:16,234 --> 00:47:21,234 I'd come out there, if I come in with my friend, 627 00:47:22,170 --> 00:47:24,573 we'd come down, we'd come and see her. 628 00:47:25,670 --> 00:47:30,670 But about a week before we'd shoot to leave, 629 00:47:30,970 --> 00:47:35,460 I had a letter saying that she had died. 630 00:47:35,460 --> 00:47:40,460 I don't know the cause or anything, but she eventually died. 631 00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:47,983 I missed her a lot. 632 00:47:55,140 --> 00:47:58,890 In Fifeshire, school girl Maud Cox was waiting 633 00:47:58,890 --> 00:48:01,523 for news from her favorite teacher, Mr. Brown. 634 00:48:03,260 --> 00:48:05,470 They used to send postcards to the school, you know, 635 00:48:05,470 --> 00:48:07,713 to say where he was and the way he was getting on. 636 00:48:07,713 --> 00:48:11,653 And then one day the headmaster, Mr. Trustee, 637 00:48:13,220 --> 00:48:15,470 the hall bell rang and we all had to go 638 00:48:15,470 --> 00:48:19,380 into the assembly hall and he put a big map 639 00:48:19,380 --> 00:48:23,730 on the board and he told us, he says, 640 00:48:23,730 --> 00:48:25,840 "Now, Mr. Brown and the fiancees 641 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,320 of Ms. Jesse and Ms. Jean McCloud, 642 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:30,040 they'd all been killed at a place 643 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,300 called the Somme in France." 644 00:48:32,300 --> 00:48:35,790 And he pointed out on the map and put a cross on it. 645 00:48:35,790 --> 00:48:39,930 And he said, "Now, I want you all 646 00:48:39,930 --> 00:48:43,100 to say a prayer for the dead 647 00:48:43,100 --> 00:48:45,640 and then we'll sing the first verse, 648 00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:48,490 'Oh God Our Help in Ages Past' 649 00:48:48,490 --> 00:48:51,597 and I want you all to walk very quietly home." 650 00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:54,070 But I didn't go quietly home, 651 00:48:54,070 --> 00:48:56,250 I rushed home crying on the road. 652 00:48:56,250 --> 00:48:58,590 And mother said, "What was wrong?" 653 00:48:58,590 --> 00:49:02,250 I said, "Mr. Brown's been killed. 654 00:49:02,250 --> 00:49:07,250 He'll never sing 'Come Into the Garden, Maud' anymore." 655 00:49:07,710 --> 00:49:09,927 And she was comforting, but she says, 656 00:49:09,927 --> 00:49:12,130 "But he's not the only one, you know?" 657 00:49:12,130 --> 00:49:15,900 And you know, I took a long while 658 00:49:15,900 --> 00:49:20,373 to be comforted 'cause he was such a nice man. 659 00:49:20,373 --> 00:49:22,992 ("Come into the Garden, Maud") 660 00:49:22,992 --> 00:49:27,214 ♪ Come into the garden, Maud ♪ 661 00:49:27,214 --> 00:49:32,214 ♪ For the black bat, night, has flown ♪ 662 00:49:32,340 --> 00:49:36,231 ♪ Come into the garden, Maud ♪ 663 00:49:36,231 --> 00:49:40,639 ♪ I am here at the gate alone ♪ 664 00:49:40,639 --> 00:49:44,472 ♪ I am here at the gate alone ♪ 665 00:49:49,292 --> 00:49:51,959 (ominous music) 666 00:50:06,684 --> 00:50:09,670 On the south point, a priest once, 667 00:50:09,670 --> 00:50:13,860 a Catholic priest, he was talking about Hell. 668 00:50:13,860 --> 00:50:17,170 I says, "Don't talk to me about Hell, father." 669 00:50:17,170 --> 00:50:18,690 I says, "I've been through Hell once, 670 00:50:18,690 --> 00:50:21,593 I don't want to go through it again." 671 00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:35,290 In the sitting room, mom had this great big picture 672 00:50:35,290 --> 00:50:40,290 on the wall of dad in his uniform, head and shoulders. 673 00:50:41,110 --> 00:50:46,110 And she just turned it around the other way 674 00:50:48,540 --> 00:50:53,500 probably because it upset her to see it 675 00:50:53,500 --> 00:50:56,450 every time she went in the room, you see?