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00:00Every evening at 8 p.m. for 96 years
00:05the Ypres fire brigade have bugled the last post in honor of the 55
00:10thousand men from the world over whose bodies still lie somewhere in the battle
00:15for us at Flanders.
00:20Between 1940 and 1950
00:25and 1918 this city saw three massive battles rage around it.
00:30And a constant daily routine of slaughter by the deadliest of weapons.
00:35From gas to flamethrowers and massive underground explosions.
00:40In a war fought from above the clouds to the depths of the earth.
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01:59who worked on these mines was Gethry Boothby, 21 years old.
02:04A second lieutenant in the British Army.
02:07In November, 1915,
02:09he was the first lieutenant in the British Army.
02:09He wrote this to his girlfriend, Edith.
02:12Darling, how are you?
02:14I'm in fine form, although in the trenches.
02:16Muddy from head to foot.
02:19The Army reported working two yards from our gallery,
02:22which meant yours truly lying on his toes.
02:24He saw his tummy in sodden clay for half an hour,
02:26and hearing nothing.
02:28Second scare that...
02:29The Bosch was breaking into our gallery,
02:31so I had to explore with much shaking at the knees.
02:34A revolver and no light.
02:37Here by the deep mine of...
02:391916, at St. Eloy, east of Ypres,
02:43Andy and Julia...
02:44Meet Hilda Verborven,
02:46a landscape archaeologist who is the local expert.
02:49on the mines of the area.
02:51She will be their guide to the massive...
02:54craters left by the explosions
02:56that were characteristic of this front.
02:59In order to see the way the war changed the landscape,
03:03we just...
03:04have to look at the aerial photographs of the past.
03:07Old pictures.
03:09And when you show the pictures to people,
03:12you see the impact they have on the people.
03:14Not only back then, but also today.
03:19When you see the total destruction,
03:22then you realize what it...
03:24really meant to be living through the war on the front.
03:29The St. Eloy tunnels were the first deep tunnels built by the British.
03:34and one of the officers leading the underground campaign
03:37was 2nd Lieutenant...
03:39Geoffrey Boothby,
03:40who wrote letters to his girlfriend, Edith.
03:43His story takes...
03:44takes us back to the dreaming spires of Oxford University.
03:47Professor Arthur Stockton...
03:49found this mysterious box in his father's home.
03:54This is an old cake box, I think.
03:57Chocolates maybe.
03:59And it had all these letters.
04:04in it.
04:06This is a...
04:07typical envelope.
04:09And here is one of the letters.
04:14from Geoffrey Boothby,
04:17to...
04:18my...
04:19my mother.
04:20as she later began.
04:22From training camp...
04:24the young Geoffrey Boothby wrote...
04:27mud...
04:28hot...
04:29b...
04:29desolation...
04:30and Tommy's...
04:31nothing else unless I include them...
04:32bugles...
04:33which go all...
04:34all night and day...
04:35mostly with wrong notes.
04:37More mud...
04:38greeted him...
04:39on his arrival on the front.
04:40Close to Ypres.
04:41Jeper in Flemish.
04:44Wipers to the British.
04:46Britain had been drawn into the war...
04:48when the German...
04:49army attacked France...
04:50in August 1914...
04:51through neutral Belgium.
04:54during the strategic retreat...
04:56of October 1914...
04:57a furious...
04:58battle...
04:59raged around Ypres.
05:01Today the spires of the Flemish city...
05:03have been...
05:04entirely rebuilt.
05:05100 years ago...
05:06the city...
05:07remained free...
05:08but...
05:09...
05:09was raised to the ground...
05:10by German guns.
05:12After the retreat...
05:13from the...
05:14the Germans...
05:15withdrew...
05:16100 km...
05:17and obviously...
05:18remained...
05:19where it was...
05:19easiest to resist.
05:20The front...
05:21that was created...
05:22during the race to the sea...
05:24was just the result...
05:25of chance.
05:26The Germans...
05:27occupied the...
05:28low...
05:29ridge...
05:30that overlooks...
05:31the city...
05:32leaving the defending...
05:33French and British...
05:34in the wet...
05:35lowlands.
05:36The bulge...
05:37in the line...
05:38became known...
05:39as the Ypres...
05:39salient...
05:40and periodically...
05:41became the scene...
05:42of the most...
05:43ferocious fight...
05:44The Menin Gate...
05:46memorial...
05:47is one of the city's...
05:48entrances.
05:49and his great uncle...
05:50was killed...
05:51near Ypres...
05:52and his body...
05:53never found...
05:54because I have a...
05:56great uncle...
05:57who was...
05:58killed...
05:59here...
05:59here...
06:00at Ypres...
06:01and...
06:02yeah...
06:03and...
06:04he's...
06:04commemorated...
06:05he was serving...
06:06with the...
06:07Royal Welsh...
06:08this is...
06:09panel 30...
06:0957...
06:10and...
06:11if you look...
06:12he is a Hawkins...
06:13he's a Hawkins...
06:14John...
06:15Thomas...
06:16Thomas John...
06:17Fighting from the...
06:18trenches...
06:19as a form of...
06:20warfare...
06:21neither army...
06:22had prepared for...
06:23the hastily...
06:24dug line...
06:24soon...
06:25became a...
06:26labyrinth of...
06:27mud...
06:28modern weapons...
06:29made frontal...
06:29attack...
06:30impossible...
06:31even...
06:32suicidal...
06:33if we look...
06:34at today's...
06:34wars...
06:35in the western...
06:36world...
06:37for example...
06:38in Afghanistan...
06:39or Iraq...
06:40we read...
06:41that...
06:42several...
06:43thousand...
06:44people...
06:45have...
06:46had...
06:47had...
06:48had...
06:49had...
06:50had...
06:51had...
06:52had...
06:53had...
06:54had...
06:55had...
06:56had...
06:57had...
06:58had...
06:59had...
07:00had...
07:01had...
07:22had...
07:26had...
07:27had...
07:28had...
07:29had...
07:30in conditions that they could not survive or come away from without wounds that would
07:34have changed.
07:35It's the course of their lives.
07:38The psychological stress must have been.
07:40The tunnel.
07:45The towns and mines of Ypres had an unlikely beginning in Manchester, England.
07:50It was there that civil engineer John Norton Griffith was overseeing.
07:55the digging of tunnels for sewers that ran under the city.
08:00He told the British government that the so-called clay kicking technique his men were using
08:04to do the damage.
08:05To dig those sewers could also be used to build tunnels under the German.
08:10lines and blow them up in early 1915 he was sent.
08:15with his own battered rolls-royce to recruit and train new units.
08:20of tunnelers.
08:21The miner sits over here and instead of using.
08:25An axe or a pick.
08:26A pickaxe.
08:27A pickaxe is he just uses his.
08:30His legs and his feet to dig into the clay and that was.
08:35A smoother way of digging.
08:36A faster way of digging.
08:37A faster way of digging.
08:38A faster way of digging.
08:40A better way of digging.
08:41results were better because it was quieter as well.
08:44And noise very.
08:45very important in mining because when
08:50the enemy heard you digging, it was very dangerous, they started mining.
08:55The Germans had been the first to explode a mine.
09:00Under a company of Indian soldiers and found that the particular territory
09:05of the terrain of the Belgian plain posed special problems.
09:10The terrain was wet and soft and often their vertical shafts would be
09:15crushed by the water pressure, so they took to using cement walls.
09:20Which was slow and laborious.
09:22Once in Belgium, British tunnelers began to
09:25put the new technique to work immediately with astounding results.
09:30The tunnels were built more quietly and faster.
09:33Although the Germans occupied
09:35the softer sandy high ground, the hard clay in the plain.
09:40Britain favored the British.
09:45At theζ‘ of the banks whose
09:50Tunnelers in France were attached infantry, such as Gethry Boothby.
09:55Whose letters give us a feel for the human tragedy that was war.
09:59He was a dentist.
10:00History student at Birmingham University and had joined the South Staffordshire Regiment
10:05as a young officer in the patriotic spirit fostered by Lord Kitchener's famous
10:10call to arms.
10:12Not till this evening have I realised what a terrible place the f-
10:15firing line is.
10:16I might be shot, or shelled, or gassed, or bombed.
10:20I may fall into a deserted trench and be left to drown.
10:24What if they blow a-
10:25What if aeroplanes start dropping hate?
10:28What if?
10:29But-
10:30Why continue?
10:31I could write a volume of what ifs.
10:33The moon does darken us.
10:35And as time goes on in his letters.
10:37He does-
10:38He does-
10:39He does-
10:40start off before he actually goes to the front, say-
10:45this is going to be the greatest adventure of my life.
10:49When he gets to-
10:50the front when he's-
10:51he's really in-
10:52in the firing line in the trenches and later in the-
10:55tunnels.
10:56Um, it-
10:57his mood does definitely darken us.
11:00Because of the-
11:01Because of the-
11:02especially the water and the cold and, uh, the narrow shot-
11:05crafts, imagine that you have to work over there for eight hours-
11:08Yeah.
11:09Uh-
11:10N-
11:11N-
11:12N-
11:13N-
11:14N-
11:15N-
11:16N-
11:17N-
11:18N-
11:19N-
11:20N-
11:21N-
11:22N-
11:23N-
11:24N-
11:25N-
11:26N-
11:27N-
11:28N-
11:29N-
11:30N-
11:31N-
11:32N-
11:33N-
11:34N-
11:35N-
11:36N-
11:37N-
11:38N-
11:39O-
11:40N-
11:41N
11:55N-
11:57N-
11:58N-
11:59N-
12:01was the enemy.
12:03He goes down with...
12:06...others of his company and they...
12:11...discover a German telephone type instrument.
12:16He knows it's German because it has the word unten at the bottom.
12:21And he realises that in fact...
12:26...the Germans have penetrated into the British...
12:31...tunnel.
12:32Three of us went down again, intent on bagging the instrument.
12:36Myself in the lead as I had an electric torch and rifle...
12:41...followed by a corporal, the RE officer bringing up the rear.
12:46These saps are four foot high by three...
12:51...so you haven't much room for fancy antics.
12:56And the one we were in had 18 inches of water in it.
13:01The water made a frantic noise around our legs.
13:03Well, we got round a slight bend leaning...
13:06...into the strait into which the Bosch gallery came at right angles...
13:11...and suddenly, as the penny horribles say...
13:14...a shot round...
13:16...lang out...
13:17...only it didn't ring...
13:19...in the confined...
13:21...space...
13:22...all we got for our money...
13:23...was a fight for...
13:24...bloop...
13:25...from...
13:26...from a revolver.
13:27Eventually, both sides prepared...
13:31...a blowout...
13:33...a blow up of the tunnel...
13:35...they...
13:36...sockpail...
13:37...explosives.
13:38And...
13:41...as he put it at the end...
13:42...ah...
13:43...we got off our blow first...
13:45...some...
13:46...a support...
13:47...what?
13:48Men were losing their lives...
13:49...by the hundreds...
13:50...on the surface.
13:51The characteristic of the Western Front was the terrible density of fire.
13:56This concentration of machine guns and artillery in a restricted space.
14:01The concentration of cannons and machine guns per kilometre of front, this certainly caused a stalemate.
14:06There were four low hills that thousands of men fought.
14:11Hill 60, Mount Sorrel, Hill 61.
14:16And Hill 62.
14:18These trenches are all that is left of the...
14:21...of the British defences on Hill 62.
14:24Generally you wouldn't see this...
14:26...the Wrigley tin used to support the trench edges.
14:29There's a number of other features there.
14:31The size of the...
14:33...the fact we don't have the fire step.
14:36Yes, because at the moment, whilst this particular level is...
14:41...quite low and you can see over.
14:44As soon as you come...
14:46...the weather round, it gets much deeper.
14:48But you wouldn't have your front line trenches that low.
14:51...would you?
14:52Ideally, you'd have been built up higher.
14:54Well, certainly.
14:55At least above your head.
14:56Yes.
14:57And that's why you need the fire step to actually get up.
15:01To enable you to...
15:03...see over the top.
15:04Yeah.
15:05So that you can...
15:06...engage the enemy.
15:07Ah, Julia, look.
15:08What have you got?
15:09We have a representation.
15:11...of a tunnel.
15:12Yeah.
15:13A nice...
15:14...concrete sided one.
15:15Yeah.
15:16Yeah.
15:17Actually, the height's not too bad.
15:19You said it was about...
15:20...maybe it's a bit higher than...
15:21Yeah.
15:21...five foot.
15:22Yeah.
15:23So that's your general size if you were swinging a pick.
15:24Yeah.
15:25Play kickers.
15:26About four foot three, I think.
15:27Yeah.
15:28Something like that.
15:29A pick was five...
15:30...five two.
15:31I've got a torch.
15:32Shall we go and have a look?
15:33Oh, let's have a look.
15:34Definitely.
15:35Shall we go first with your torch and I can fire?
15:36No.
15:36Okay.
15:41Yeah.
15:42Well, I've kept it fairly square.
15:46So it really gives you that impression.
15:48It certainly does, isn't it, coming in here?
15:50Yeah.
15:51In the water.
15:52The water definitely gives you that feel, doesn't it?
15:54And you start to feel that kind of...
15:56closing in sensation as well, the more...
15:58...the deeper you go in.
15:59Wow.
16:00Wow.
16:01We just imagine that they were the wooden panels.
16:06that they put in.
16:07It's not done too differently, really, is it?
16:08Well, it's not because they had to close what...
16:11we call close board.
16:12So...
16:13That's because of the wet clay, isn't it?
16:14Yes.
16:15It was a particular technique.
16:16that they developed for this area to stop the clay seeping in underneath...
16:19Yeah.
16:20...and collapsing the panels.
16:21Yeah, because the clay has no integral structure and so it just...
16:26when it gets wet, just becomes liquid and then just moves.
16:30So...
16:31it's essential that you boil all the way around.
16:34To give you that...
16:36protection.
16:37You can see here where there's a gap.
16:38Mm-hmm.
16:39Just here.
16:40All right.
16:41So you can see the earth.
16:42Other side of it.
16:43Coming through.
16:44Yeah.
16:46Joannaav,
16:48you know...
16:49You know,
16:50you can see your head tadi watching your headε.
16:51Oh yeah.
16:52Thank you Ta...
16:53With putting it on.
16:54That it would be it's easy and easy.
16:55To me, audience.
16:56Talk to me about a tiny soil document.
16:57Let me give you once in!
16:59Send my little tea tree,
17:13And just say that.
17:15And because the water table is so high, you know, that hydrate...
17:20sort of pneumatic and hydrate, the pressure is...
17:25I just do that all the time.
17:27Caterpillar Hill overlooks Hill 6...
17:30on the other side of the railway line to Ypres, a strategic viewpoint.
17:35In spring 1915, the British found that the clay under...
17:40Hill 60 was relatively dry and began an underground attack in that...
17:45direction with five tunnels.
17:47Every precaution was taken to keep the...
17:50operations secret from the Germans on the hill.
17:53The engineers worked from secondary...
17:55line trenches, which they shared with their infantry comrades.
17:59The tunnels were...
18:00tiny, sometimes just 90 cm high.
18:04They were designed...
18:05to rise slightly, so that they would not pierce the water table, which rose and...
18:10fell with the weather.
18:11The mines were packed with either 900 or...
18:151200 kilos of gun cotton.
18:17On the 17th of April 19...
18:201915, the mines were exploded by electric detonators.
18:25They blew open the German front line.
18:28The British...
18:30occupied Hill 60 with the loss of only seven men.
18:34However...
18:35the British did not take Caterpillar.
18:37A tactical mistake.
18:40A tactical mistake.
18:41A tactical mistake.
18:42A tactical mistake.
18:43A tactical mistake.
18:44A tactical mistake.
18:45Just four days after the explosion...
18:45the massive German advance west of Ypres began...
18:48with a chlorine gas attack against...
18:50French colonial regiments.
18:53They used chlorine gas.
18:55So...
18:56a chemical substance that did not need other modifications.
19:00Then, over time...
19:03other chemical substances were developed...
19:05chemical substances that were based on by-products of the painting...
19:10industry...
19:11which was very advanced in Germany.
19:13The chlorine fuel...
19:15fumes bonded with water in the eyes and lungs...
19:18to make hydrochloric acid.
19:20literally burning the victim's eyes and innards.
19:23It was another of the growing...
19:25number of horrors of the war...
19:27to be unleashed against soldiers...
19:28on both sides.
19:30So chemical weapons developed in a variety of ways.
19:35In the end...
19:36firing shells...
19:37loaded with chemical substances...
19:38became the preferred...
19:40method...
19:41and the number of chemical munitions...
19:43produced by the Germans...
19:44increased...
19:45during the war.
19:46From chemical...
19:47from chemical munitions...
19:48he had on German...
19:49during the war...
19:50the British pulled back...
19:52from hill 60...
19:53under fire...
19:54from...
19:55the German caterpillar...
19:56and under the pressure...
19:57of the German gas attacks.
19:59The German engineers...
20:00proceeded to build...
20:01bunkers...
20:02and pillboxes...
20:03to defend...
20:04the strategic height...
20:05better...
20:05to the east...
20:06of Ypres...
20:07stood the remains...
20:08of the castle of Hoche...
20:10it had been destroyed...
20:11in 1914...
20:12and the British...
20:13had dug in...
20:14around it...
20:15turning it into...
20:16a formidable redoubt...
20:17a German bunker...
20:18close by...
20:19however...
20:20kept soldiers...
20:21in the defensive position...
20:22on edge...
20:23once the German attack...
20:24on...
20:25in the Ypres salient...
20:26of April 1915...
20:27was over...
20:28the British...
20:29high command...
20:30decided to push...
20:31back...
20:32the German line...
20:33as far as possible...
20:34Tunnelers began...
20:35digging a 60 meter...
20:36tunnel...
20:37in order to place...
20:38a massive charge...
20:39of a new...
20:40explosive...
20:41ammonal...
20:42under the enemy...
20:43bunker...
20:44it exploded...
20:45at 7pm...
20:46on the 19th...
20:47of July 1915...
20:48creating...
20:49a 6 meter...
20:50a deep crater...
20:51British infantry...
20:52occupied...
20:53the westward rim...
20:54and...
20:55entrenched...
20:56only to be...
20:57pushed back...
20:5810 days later...
20:59by a massive...
21:00German...
21:00counter-attack...
21:01using...
21:02slamethrowers...
21:03once again...
21:04the mine...
21:05had worked...
21:06its miracle...
21:07but the line...
21:08could not be held...
21:09once again...
21:10the Germans...
21:11dug into the crater...
21:12which had become...
21:13a perfect...
21:14defense...
21:15explosive...
21:16structure...
21:17In June 1916...
21:18the German...
21:19WΓΌrttemberg...
21:20the French Corps...
21:21attempted to gain...
21:22possession...
21:23of three hills...
21:24held by the British...
21:25...
21:25named Mount Sorrel, Hill 61, and Hill 62.
21:30Now, the British Empire was pouring soldiers into the war.
21:34Here, it was...
21:35It was the Canadians who bore the brunt of the fighting.
21:39Four German tunnels...
21:40...stretched under the no-man's land...
21:42...and exploded under the trenches occupied by...
21:45...the Canadian infantry, after a heavy artillery barrage.
21:50Resistance was minimal.
21:52Once again, the effectiveness of mining...
21:55...was proved.
21:57Eventually, the Canadian Corps counterattacked...
22:00...after massive artillery bombardment...
22:02...and retook the positions.
22:05Everyone getsι» Imperialmen from the sea.
22:06We all used it for carrying control of the Indian forces.
22:15erstedes
22:17Costaque
22:18In the thicket, the copper weight, the gold weight.
22:20There was also no deeper US hatte.
22:24It was a groundbreaking was buds endedorf.
22:26There was no functions with wΓΌnsenges.
22:30Before he topped with threats.
22:31This isprinted, all brought in mirting.
22:34It's just we are concentrating on our own problems and our own issues.
22:39He talks about having just...
22:44...nearly been shot by a sniper's bullet or something like that.
22:49And, you know, he's jocular about that, but obviously...
22:54...it was shocking to him.
22:56On the Ypres Plain, the so-called Blue...
22:59...Clay was perfect for clay kicking and proved relatively stable.
23:04However, when the British decided to go deep, they too encountered the treacherous...
23:09...wet layers.
23:10The British devised a system using cylindrical steel shafts...
23:14...known as tubbing, it allowed the British to go much deeper into the Flanders...
23:19...in mud, where their enemy thought tunneling was impossible.
23:22I can't steal the tub.
23:24Yes.
23:25Uh-huh.
23:26I hope it's the right word.
23:27That's close enough.
23:28Steal rings.
23:29Okay.
23:30Yes, steal the rings.
23:29Yes, yes.
23:30Um...
23:31Different segments...
23:32Yeah.
23:33Uh-huh.
23:34Which...
23:34...have been placed one on top of the other.
23:35Uh-huh.
23:36And so, the shaft...
23:38...they're, uh...
23:39sink into the ground, just to get through those difficult layers.
23:44And once they reached a stable dry clay layer...
23:49They started reusing woodland, for example, to dig tunnels.
23:54In a traditional sense.
23:57Gethry Boothby sent his...
23:59A photograph to Edith before he was transferred to the Royal Engineers and moved north...
24:04to a new part of the front.
24:06This is from Edith to Geoffrey.
24:09Dated the 29th of March, 1916, from Beechcroft...
24:14One Beach Lanes, Birmingham.
24:16Geoff, dearest, I've got your photo in front of me just...
24:19Now, and I can hardly take my eyes off it, even to write to you.
24:23I didn't know any...
24:24Anything could make anybody so happy.
24:26I'm afraid I can't describe to you what I think about it.
24:29You just have to imagine it.
24:32I've been doing nothing but think...
24:34And dream dreams about it, ever since I got it.
24:38She was delighted.
24:39But as she wrote her reply, he was writing to her in more somber tones.
24:44Nearly all my friends in the Staffords have been killed in the fighting around Ypres.
24:49A few weeks ago.
24:50It's a horribly sad thing how many friendships can be made and broken.
24:54Even by this war.
24:56In March, 1916, when these mines...
24:59This is one of the four?
25:02No, one of the six that was putted.
25:04Three have remained.
25:06Three have remained.
25:07Um...
25:09So this one shows for the very first time...
25:14How deep British injuries can enter.
25:17Can go.
25:18Can go.
25:19In 1916, Jethry Boothby was sent to the Ypres salient to...
25:24Participate in the first experiment with a deep tunnel.
25:27A prelude to the...
25:29massive tunneling offensive that was to come.
25:31The British Tunnelers of the 177th...
25:34Royal Engineers Boothby's new unit dug under the village.
25:39of Saint-Γlouis.
25:40As you go deeper, you need to have more explosions.
25:43Yeah.
25:44And what we see, I think, is a transition from gun cotton into...
25:49A substance called aminol, which is based on ammonium nitrate.
25:52So it's an...
25:53It's...
25:54Predominantly 95% ammonium nitrate, 96% ammonium nitrate.
25:59TNT flake inside it and aluminium to give it sort of the oxygen and
26:04the fuel that it needs and that you can produce.
26:09In thousands and thousands of pounds.
26:11The explosions were not only to attack...
26:14enemy trenches, but also to create better defences.
26:18Mine craters...
26:19...made excellent fortified defence positions.
26:22This area was...
26:24...covered by shallow mines, not compared to...
26:29...to the ones south, which are deep mines.
26:34Maybe this one, this crater is caused by a mine that...
26:39...was already bigger, deeper than ever before.
26:43Crater like this.
26:44This one exploded in no man's land.
26:48But...
26:49It was always a matter of trying to...
26:54...conquer it as the first.
26:56Yeah.
26:57Get to the...
26:58To the lake.
26:59Yeah.
26:59Yes.
27:00The rush.
27:01And as soon as they got in...
27:03...and...
27:04...consolidated with the crater, they started digging tunnels.
27:09Towards the enemy...
27:10...front line.
27:11Yeah.
27:12Just to get closer and...
27:14...closer again.
27:15The main danger underground was the enemy.
27:18The main danger underground was the enemy.
27:20Over time, a detection system was devised.
27:23A sensitive...
27:24...stethoscope that magnified vibrations in the earth.
27:27Called a geophone.
27:29This instrument used two wooden discs with a layer of...
27:34...bicar and mercury to amplify vibrations in the earth.
27:39By moving the discs around, the listener could hear the direction...
27:44...of the vibrations.
27:45So, the source of the potential enemy threat.
27:49Tunnelers of all nations used small explosive...
27:54...charges called camouflage...
27:56...to blow up enemy attack tunnels.
27:58Using...
27:59...sand bags to tamp the small mine.
28:01Ensuring all the explosive energy...
28:04...bluw upwards.
28:09Hilde Verborven is an archaeologist...
28:11...specialised in the impact of conflict...
28:14...in the impact of conflict.
28:14on the landscape she uses British and German trench maps to identify
28:19the entrances to the tunnels to gain a glimpse of what life was like for those
28:24men who worked for days on end underground.
28:29We started from the trench maps that date back to 1914 in order to be able
28:34to identify the location of craters.
28:39The shafts were not indicated on the maps, but we went to look in other archives to find them.
28:44Just as we did with this map. It's a British map from 1917.
28:49And it shows where the entrance to the tunnels and the stairs were.
28:54Today we can't find entrances to the tunnels anymore.
28:59The tunnels are underground, and the tunnels are also underground.
29:04But what we can do is to locate where the tunnels and shafts are using these old
29:09maps.
29:14Sootheby was moved to Railway Wood to the north.
29:17These maps of the trenches
29:19and galleries around Railway Wood
29:21give us a clear indication of the tunnels
29:24Jethrie Bale.
29:24To the connecting point.
29:29There was a constant war going on.
29:34Between the tunnellers, essentially blowing up each other's tunnels.
29:38But this was not...
29:39It was one of the various battles of Ypres.
29:44It was a sort of daily thing that was going on.
29:47Boothby was due to go on leave.
29:49In May 1916, a year and a half since he had seen Edith.
29:54He was awoken at 7 a.m. of the 28th of April 1916.
29:59By a soldier pulling at his sleeve.
30:03One of his...
30:04Comrades picks up the story.
30:06They went to the mine together.
30:08Your son in front...
30:09With a corporal.
30:10With another officer a little way behind.
30:13No sooner...
30:14...had your son got to the face...
30:15...that the enemy blew their mine...
30:17...and buried your son.
30:19...and the corporal.
30:20While the shock blew the other officer away.
30:24Death was of course instantaneous.
30:29By mid-1916...
30:33By mid-1916...
30:34...the British engineers...
30:35...had so improved their techniques...
30:37...that they could plan a long...
30:39...term campaign to break the deadlock on the surface.
30:43It was the start...
30:44...of what would be the Messines Ridge campaign.
30:47And it would last for months.
30:50In 1917...
30:51...a new general...
30:52...on the northern sector...
30:53...of the western...
30:54...in front...
30:55...herbert Plumer...
30:56...believed he could break through the lines.
30:58The hard...
30:59...the harsh lessons...
31:00...of the Somme...
31:01...had been learned.
31:02And the plan was to attack...
31:03...on a narrow front...
31:04...with flexible support from heavy artillery.
31:09The Allies relied on an accurate survey...
31:11...of the enemy artillery positions...
31:13...and...
31:14...with a barrage of massed heavy guns...
31:16...and machine guns...
31:17...in support of the Australian...
31:19...and New Zealanders...
31:20...attacking uphill.
31:23They...
31:24...would be backed up...
31:25...by a new weapon...
31:26...the tank.
31:27We're here...
31:28...and the Messines...
31:29...the German ridge.
31:30That was a very important ridge...
31:31...that the Germans held.
31:32The British lines...
31:33The British lines...
31:34...which we're doing...
31:35...just behind that cemetery...
31:36...that we can see there.
31:37So very close.
31:38So part of a...
31:39...was a major battle.
31:40It took 18 months to plan.
31:41It involved 19 mines...
31:43...that went off.
31:44Right.
31:44There was a 17-day...
31:46...artillery barrage...
31:47...before these mines...
31:49...was set.
31:50So out of the 19...
31:52...they were all set...
31:53...around...
31:54...a 10-minute period...
31:55...but they weren't set off...
31:56...in line.
31:57Okay.
31:58They were set off randomly.
31:59In the months before...
32:01...the engineers had discovered...
32:02...that the blue clay...
32:04...that ran under the ridge...
32:05...was perfect...
32:06...for clay kicking.
32:07And Plumer ordered...
32:09...no less than 22 mines...
32:11...to be dug.
32:12Most of them had already...
32:14...been begun.
32:15But now...
32:16...they were to become...
32:17...operational...
32:18...it was impeccable.
32:19It was imperative...
32:20...that the British...
32:21...win the underground war.
32:23Both sides...
32:24...knew that the other...
32:25...was digging.
32:26When it became clear...
32:27...that the Germans...
32:28...were on the...
32:29...look...
32:29...out for British mines...
32:31...the deadly game...
32:32...of cat and mouse...
32:33...under the...
32:34...the pock-marked surface...
32:35...of no man's land...
32:36...began.
32:37The Australian...
32:38...and British...
32:39...diggers...
32:40...tunnelled...
32:41...on different levels...
32:42...to distract the Germans.
32:44The water table...
32:46...was a constant threat...
32:47...as tunnels...
32:48...flooded...
32:49...and had to be evacuated.
32:53The Germans...
32:54...discovered one mine...
32:55...already laid...
32:56...which the British...
32:57...abandoned.
32:58The...
32:59...and...
33:00...the petite...
33:01...douve...
33:02...farm mine.
33:03The British...
33:04...engineers...
33:05...continued...
33:06...to build tunnels...
33:07...in every direction...
33:08...to try to dupe...
33:09...the Germans...
33:09...who were forced...
33:10...to dig through...
33:11...the softer...
33:12...upper layers...
33:13...of sand...
33:14...down...
33:14...from onwards...
33:15...and under...
33:16...the British...
33:17...galleries.
33:18Work was as silent...
33:19...and as secret...
33:19...as possible.
33:20They used...
33:21...sophisticated...
33:22...drilling...
33:23...and excavating...
33:24...machine...
33:24...as they often...
33:25...had to consolidate...
33:26...the side...
33:27...of the tunnel...
33:28...with concrete.
33:29...so if we walk...
33:31...up here...
33:32...uh-huh...
33:33...now...
33:34...we're roughly...
33:35...in the area...
33:36...of the German lines...
33:37...they would have...
33:38...probably followed...
33:39...roughly...
33:39...the track of the road...
33:40...here...
33:41...now...
33:42...having...
33:43...sort of...
33:44...had a little look...
33:44...some of the statistics...
33:45...for this particular...
33:46...mine...
33:47...yeah...
33:48...the...
33:49...it was...
33:49...started...
33:50...in January 16...
33:51...and finished in June 16...
33:52...right...
33:53...the...
33:54...Royal Engineers...
33:55...dug...
33:56...520 metres...
33:58...through the...
33:59...and ended up...
34:00...underneath this...
34:01...position...
34:02...at about...
34:03...27 metres...
34:04...and laid...
34:06...then...
34:07...something like...
34:08...42...
34:09...1,000 kilograms...
34:10...so a huge...
34:11...charge...
34:12...of charge...
34:13...yeah...
34:14...and it was...
34:14...the...
34:15...explosive...
34:16...used by the...
34:17...the British...
34:18...uh-huh...
34:19...which is a very...
34:20...powerful...
34:21...uh...
34:22...explosive...
34:23...uh...
34:24...gives...
34:24...very big...
34:25...lifting effect...
34:26...so being so far...
34:27...deep down...
34:28...you needed...
34:29...something like...
34:30...aminal...
34:29...to really...
34:30...produce the effect...
34:31...yeah...
34:32...yeah...
34:33...the German...
34:34...frontal...
34:34...the British...
34:35...line stood on...
34:36...the forward slope...
34:37...of the hill...
34:38...looking over...
34:39...the city of Ypres...
34:40...and the British...
34:41...only a third...
34:42...of the defending troops...
34:43...the rest...
34:44...were located...
34:45...in an intermediate...
34:46...of the...
34:47...the British...
34:48...bombardment...
34:49...in the days...
34:50...before the Battle...
34:51...of the Messines...
34:51...was so heavy...
34:52...and so accurate...
34:53...that the trenches...
34:54...and machine gun posts...
34:55...were all...
34:56...almost obliterated...
34:57...British...
34:58...aircraft...
34:59...flew overhead...
35:00...to spot...
35:01...the German...
35:01...artillery batteries...
35:02...which were shelled...
35:06...the tunneling...
35:10...campaign...
35:11...in...
35:12...prep...
35:11preparation for the 1917 attack had begun more than a year before.
35:16The Ypres salient was to have been the ideal jumping off point for a massive break.
35:21The British thrust aimed at capturing the Belgian ports of Ostend and Sebrugge.
35:26But had to be postponed for a year while the Somme offensive continued.
35:31It was an underground war, which the Allies won.
35:36General Plumer had ordered 22 tunnels to be dug under the German defensive.
35:41Running from a position south of the Messin ridge at Plogstert wood.
35:46To the northernmost mine under the Caterpillar and Hill 60.
35:51At 3 10 a.m.
35:56On the 7th of June, 1917, the mines exploded.
36:01Killing outright 10,000 German soldiers of the Bavarian and...
36:06Wittenberg divisions.
36:07The largest of all the...
36:11Wittenberg craters was this at Spanbrook Moorland, which was so powerful...
36:16But it also killed a handful of British soldiers as they advanced.
36:19A few seconds to...
36:21Poole early.
36:22Today, it is known as the Pool of Peace.
36:25Just the...
36:26shock effect of something this size going off underneath and behind your lines.
36:31Absolutely.
36:32You know, they must have just been terrified.
36:34Yeah.
36:35Those that survived, of course.
36:36On both sides as well.
36:37Yeah.
36:38We always think about, well, we talk about the effect on the German troops.
36:41But the British troops waiting to attack, they probably never witnessed anything like this either.
36:46Not as large.
36:47Equally as terrifying.
36:48Yeah.
36:49And not necessarily trusting that the...
36:51That spoil heap wasn't going to collapse on them as well.
36:53Yeah.
36:54Yeah.
36:55So both sides terrified, yeah.
36:56And the blasts were so big along this ridge that they were heard in London.
37:01That's how big this was.
37:04Hill 60 was blown up again.
37:06This time by the Australian engineers.
37:10The Germans had...
37:11discovered the tunnels, but too late.
37:16Under the accurate British rolling barrage, which moved slowly just ahead of the...
37:21advancing infantry, the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops moved forward.
37:26And captured first the German front line, and then, to everyone's surprise...
37:31the second line too.
37:33In just six hours, the...
37:36German defences were ripped apart.
37:40British troops...
37:41Bypassed pockets of resistance, such as these pillboxes, while German counter...
37:46attacks were stopped in the open by accurately aimed artillery barrages.
37:51The nineteen mines of Messines delivered...
37:56a decisive blow against the German lines.
37:59And for the first time in...
38:01the war, they were exploded at the start of a coordinated attack.
38:05Troops...
38:06troops were ready to fully exploit the temporary advantage.
38:11Trial laughter...
38:13The German officers and soldiers were...
38:15The German officers were...
38:16determined to counter-attack and recover lost ground, but for once the British
38:21were prepared.
38:23Both sides learned from the experience.
38:26The Germans developed a new line of defense and more flexible tactics.
38:31And the British believed they had found the answer to the problems of trench
38:36warfare.
38:37Firepower had increased decisively.
38:41While mobility had remained the same, conditioned by the speed of the soldiers walking, and
38:46this was
38:46integrated by logistics with heavy transport and eventually by tanks, which still took
38:51a couple of years to become a decisive weapon.
38:54And another important factor
38:56was the concentration of this firepower in a very limited sector of the front.
39:01However, in the
39:06the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, which
39:11the Supreme Commanders hoped would break the deadlock once and for all.
39:16Magic formula failed.
39:18Heavy rain and the destruction of ancient drainage
39:21systems turned the battlefield into a quagmire where even tunneling
39:26was impossible.
39:27The Germans counter-attacked.
39:29And in Spring
39:3118
39:3218
39:33Reconquered all the terrain they had lost in the Battle of Messines.
39:35In an
39:36affair
39:3718
39:3818
39:3918
39:4018
39:4118
39:4218
39:4318
39:4418
39:4518
39:4618
39:4718
39:4818
39:4918
39:5018
39:5118
39:5218
39:5418
39:5518
39:5618
39:5718
39:5818
39:5918
40:0018
39:3618
39:3719
39:3819
39:3918
39:4018
39:4119
39:4219
39:4119
39:4219
39:4319
39:4719
39:4819
39:4919
39:5020
39:5119
39:5221
39:5319
39:5420
39:5520
39:5621
39:57the germans may have been stronger in some specific single sectors of the front but all to get
40:02there they were always generally weaker
40:07america's entry into the war in 1917 would make victory impossible
40:12for the germans the heavily cratered landscape of the flanders
40:17plane also hides secret dangers not all the mines
40:22exploded and some have been lying in their dark and humid mine chambers
40:27for nearly a century to be honest
40:32we can just hope that nothing will ever happen with them and that there will never be any consequences
40:37we will have to wait and see what the future brings
40:41i know
40:42that there is a farm a farm that's been built above a probable mine and that is in the area
40:47of the peckham mine let's hope that most of the explosive has been removed
40:52but we can never be sure of that and it will be impossible to find
40:57out the area around ypres has been scoured
41:02like the lives of the men who fought there and of their loved ones
41:06even
41:08even
41:10even
41:12even
41:14even
41:16even
41:18even
41:20even
41:22even
41:24even
41:26even
41:28even
41:30even
41:31even
41:07even
41:35even
41:36even
41:37even
41:38even
41:39even
42:07Please don't let us wonder what we shall think of one another when we do meet.
42:12The other frightens me. Besides, sufficient for the day is the goodness thereof.
42:17Isn't it? Your madness gives me the most...
42:22This wonderful sensation of happiness. I hope that it is absolutely immortal.
42:27Goodnight dear one. I still have to say goodnight to my photo.
42:32Yours, Edith.
42:37My name is Edith.
42:42The tragic notes of the last post ring out over the gate which
42:47faces eastwards where some of the bloodiest fighting of the four-year conflict took place.
42:52The tragic notes of the last post ring.
42:57The tragic notes of the last post ring.
43:02The tragic notes of the last post ring.
43:07The last shell fell on Ypres on 14 October 1918.
43:12Five hundred thousand soldiers of both sides.
43:17And many are still unaccounted for today.
43:20One hundred years.
43:22Five hundred years later.
43:27Five hundred years later.
43:32Five hundred years later.
43:33Five hundred years later.
43:35Five hundred years later.
43:37Five hundred years later.
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