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00:00The slaughter of the Somme battlefield in July 1916
00:05has gone down in history as one of the worst disasters of the First World War.
00:10New research shows that secret underground fortresses
00:15saved the lives of thousands of German defenders, a deadly shock.
00:20For the attackers, these hidden earthworks made the explosion.
00:25The expected easy British victory impossible
00:28and turned the battle...
00:30into a bloodbath.
00:35.
00:50On the 1st of July 1916, Britain...
00:55Britain's unique army of patriotic volunteers was destroyed for good.
01:01Expecting to walk into German trenches and break through enemy...
01:05the soldiers had been promised little or no resistance.
01:10From German troops whose dugouts and trenches had supposedly been obliterated.
01:15It was a tragic illusion.
01:18It was the beginning...
01:20of the Battle of the Somme in France, which lasted five months.
01:25The Newfoundland Regiment Memorial represents the northernmost tip of the...
01:30Ankara sector of the Somme battlefield.
01:33In the distance stands...
01:35the village of Beaumont-Amel, a German stronghold on the 1st of July 1916.
01:40when the British and Commonwealth infantry advanced.
01:45It was known to the attackers, far from being slaughtered in their trenches.
01:50The German infantry had survived in their deep dugouts and underground...
01:55fortresses.
01:56Friede Riedel has studied the battle from the German point of view.
02:00and has uncovered the secret of how the British were deceived.
02:05When the attack came on the 1st of July, as we know the English...
02:10the British have suffered the worst losses of their entire history.
02:1420,000...
02:15It wasn't dead on the 1st day.
02:16This was the result mostly of the fact that...
02:19most of the...
02:20the field constructions were actually underground.
02:24Andy Hawkins...
02:25and Julia Richardson...
02:27are archaeologists from the Durand Group.
02:30with the church of Beaumont-Amel in the background,
02:33they have come to examine one of the...
02:35massive craters left by the British mines of the Somme battlefield.
02:40This one had taken seven months to dig.
02:45Hawthorne mine exploded at 7.20 a.m. on the...
02:50the 1st of July, 1916...
02:5210 minutes before the British attack.
02:55The resultant craters began.
02:58The resultant crater was 20...
03:0020 meters deep and 120 meters wide.
03:04The explosion...
03:05then killed 30 German soldiers in the redoubt.
03:09Infantrymen of the...
03:10the British army...
03:11were convinced...
03:12that not a single defender...
03:14could have survived the...
03:15the previous week's bombardment...
03:17and the mine attack.
03:18Halfway across no...
03:20no man's land...
03:21the tragic truth...
03:22hit home.
03:25German machine guns began opening fire...
03:29cutting down...
03:30the lines of infantry...
03:31wave upon wave...
03:33called up in reserve...
03:35the Newfoundland regiment...
03:37barely made it out of the trenches.
03:41The Battle of the Somme...
03:43was the most controversial battle...
03:45of any in British military history.
03:48Two years earlier,
03:50in August 1914,
03:52the German Imperial Army swept through
03:55Belgium to attack France from the north.
03:58The Battle of the Marn was a turn
04:00when the units stationed in Paris
04:03were deployed by taxi to France.
04:05To attack the German right flank.
04:08The German Generals
04:10ordered a retreat.
04:11And as the units tried to outmaneuver
04:13each other as they moved north
04:15they left behind them a line of trenches.
04:18The Germans usually had
04:20the better high ground.
04:22And the British and French
04:23had no choice but to
04:25attack to dislodge them.
04:27As a line of trenches stretched from
04:30From the Alps to the North Sea, Britain found itself with too few troops.
04:35on the ground in France.
04:38At the end of 1914,
04:40Britain's War Minister, Lord Herbert Kitchener,
04:43began a massive campaign
04:45to persuade young British men
04:47to volunteer for the army.
04:50Hundreds of thousands, often whole villages together.
04:55They rallied to the flag.
04:57These PALS regiments were trained
05:00and sent to the front.
05:02They were the only army of volunteers
05:05They were motivated and well equipped
05:08and the French were happy to leave PALS.
05:10Parts of the front to them
05:12as the German army began a build-up in front of Verdun.
05:15Kitchener's volunteer army began arriving in France and Belgium
05:20to fight with technologies that were evolving fast.
05:24The machine
05:25the machine gun
05:26and high explosives
05:27were changing the face of war.
05:30Before the war, these weapons weren't known as machine guns, but…
05:35fast-repeat infantry rifles.
05:38So, although they had been…
05:40introduced, they were seen only as support for the traditional magazine-loaded repeat
05:45rifles that were being seriously considered.
05:49The first were…
05:50World War would probably have become a static war, even without machine guns.
05:55because the infantry already had massive firepower with these rifles.
06:00and they wanted to be betrayed.
06:01In February 1916, the German figures built the one more
06:14but to lure the French armies there and destroy their manpower.
06:19Using artillery, the desperate French chief of staff, Joseph Jean,
06:24asked his British counterpart to attack the Germans somewhere.
06:29to take the pressure off the Verdun front.
06:32General Douglas Haig's choice
06:34fell on the Somme area.
06:36The attack was planned meticulously.
06:39Although remotely from the battlefield itself.
06:44The Army High Command had no idea what the German engineers, and one in particular.
06:49were building.
06:54The surface and underground earthworks worked perfectly.
06:59I found a quote from Erwin Rommel, later the general
07:04and Field Marshal, a quote that illustrates this perfectly.
07:09It means
07:14that if we hide underground, we suffer fewer casualties.
07:19And in this, Captain Leiling was a brilliant exponent.
07:24And that was the best of all of us.
07:25And that was the best of all of us.
07:29On the German side, trenches were built.
07:34Built to specific and standardized models.
07:37And supported by well-placed
07:39artillery.
07:40Block.
07:41Block.
07:44houses and bunkers, like these in the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt.
07:49sheltered men and field artillery pieces from the bombardment by enemies.
07:54Tell me howitzers.
07:55.
07:59In the pre-1914 military theory, there was a clear distinction
08:04between field warfare and siege warfare.
08:07All the European nations had re-
08:09reinforced their frontiers with more or less strong defenses.
08:13Certainly,
08:14the two forms of warfare were very different when the fronts stabilized.
08:19this special form of siege warfare was introduced.
08:22Many of the weapons and
08:24.
08:24combat methods that were typical of siege warfare became daily practice in trenches.
08:29.
08:30.
08:31.
08:32.
08:33.
08:34.
08:35.
08:36.
08:39.
08:40.
08:41.
08:42.
08:44.
08:45.
08:46.
08:47.
08:48.
08:49.
08:50.
08:51.
08:52.
08:53.
08:54.
08:55.
08:56.
08:57.
08:58.
08:59.
09:00.
09:01.
09:02.
09:03.
09:04.
09:05.
09:06.
09:07.
09:08.
09:09.
09:10.
09:11.
09:12.
09:13.
08:49Hi, nice to meet you.
08:52Nice to meet you.
08:54Nice to meet you.
08:55Andy.
08:56Andy.
08:57Frederick, you know.
08:58The British and
08:59German front lines ran along the rolling hills of the Somme Valley.
09:04Mostly north to south.
09:06The Ankara sector ran from Beaumont.
09:09Amel to Tiepval, one of the villages that the British were expecting to take.
09:14On the first day of the battle.
09:16It was the site of ferocious fighting.
09:19Especially between the troops of the Württemberg division and the Irish.
09:24Infantry of the Ulster division.
09:26As the Somme battle dragged on over.
09:29After the summer and autumn of 1916.
09:32The battle around the village of Tiepval.
09:34And the Swabian redoubt.
09:36Entered the realm of the epic.
09:39In 1915.
09:41As an uneasy balance.
09:44of firepower settled in on the western front.
09:47Both sides began making.
09:49plans to break the deadlock.
09:51Despite what the British high command.
09:54might think.
09:55The German defences on the Somme.
09:57was stronger than.
09:59anywhere.
10:00Frida Riedel has studied the diet.
10:04various of German officers in the field.
10:06To find out what happened on the Somme front.
10:09And how the Germans took the attacking British by surprise.
10:14artillery officer Armin Stabler was in London on the 1st.
10:19August.
10:20He was a businessman.
10:23And when he began.
10:24to hear that war was in the air.
10:26He immediately left to go to fight.
10:29He rushed to Dover.
10:31where he got the 1st ship to cross the.
10:34And on the 2nd of August he was with his unit at Ludwigsberg.
10:39He was assigned to the 26th Field Reserver.
10:44He left me his diary.
10:49And a couple of hundred pictures.
10:54Friede is great.
10:59His great uncle Amin was an artillery officer during the Battle of the Somme.
11:04And left a diary and unique photographs of the German army's advance through France.
11:09And the start of trench warfare.
11:11His is just one of the sources Friede used.
11:14To identify the incredible underground earthworks in the area of the Earth.
11:19Ankhre River on the Somme Front.
11:21The war had started with mobile...
11:24Field artillery providing most of the firepower in support of attacking infantry.
11:29And cavalry.
11:30From the earliest days the power of modern artillery...
11:34...proved devastating.
11:36Leaving thousands of men dead on the battlefield.
11:39As the Germans adopted a defensive strategy and dug in...
11:44...the heavy artillery began playing a greater role.
11:47Here the Germans were...
11:49...disadvantaged.
11:50A weak point of the Germans emerged...
11:54...during the trench war.
11:56German field artillery had a shorter reign...
11:59...than the French artillery.
12:00In a war of movement this isn't really important.
12:04But in a static situation it was very important.
12:07But in a static situation it was very important.
12:09Apart from his great uncle's diary...
12:12...Friede Riedel has also...
12:14...used other German and allied sources in his research.
12:19...Furthermore I had other...
12:24...pictures by Armin Staveler that document the Somme battle.
12:27And above...
12:29...I recall this Captain Leiling...
12:31...from which I found out...
12:32...that it was he who built...
12:34...of these very solid fortifications.
12:38These reinforced...
12:39...underground fortresses...
12:41...in the area of the 10th reserve division.
12:44Another officer...
12:46...Quartermaster Cornelius Breuninger...
12:49...left behind hundreds of photographs...
12:51...of the trenches...
12:52...around the Somme battlefield.
12:54...that clearly show...
12:55...how the German dugouts...
12:57...were built to the highest standard.
12:59He was a witness to the secret underground fortress.
13:04Cornelius Breuninger...
13:06Cornelius Breuninger speaks of it in his diaries...
13:08...as an eyewish...
13:09...a witness.
13:10He was inside it...
13:12...and even described...
13:14...what he seeing...
13:15...as an eyewish...
13:16It covered 230 meters in length.
13:21Crazy, enormous.
13:26According to the report of an American officer I read, it could host up to a thousand men.
13:31I could take up to a thousand men.
13:36That underground fortress was just one structure that the German engineers built to...
13:41...to protect their troops from the massed guns of the British and French.
13:46For decades, the Germans had been planning for siege.
13:51Warfare.
13:56And we're sitting on what is the German...
14:01...front lines.
14:02Yes.
14:03And the British lines are just to our left.
14:06About 200 meters along the edge of the treeline.
14:11OK.
14:12So, from your research...
14:16...what was happening here at this time in terms of the Germans in preparation for...
14:21...of the defense of this area?
14:23We are approaching...
14:26...the most interesting secret of the Somme.
14:29OK.
14:30I...
14:31Absolutely.
14:32It's a...
14:33It's a...
14:34Sounds interesting.
14:35It was kept...
14:36...as a top secret...
14:38...until...
14:39...the...
14:40...the...
14:41...entire war.
14:42It was...
14:44...not mentioned in any...
14:46...the...
14:47...the...
14:48...the...
14:49...map...
14:50...and it was...
14:51...huge.
14:51subterranean fortress which had four
14:56entrance entrances from the valley of the
15:01yeah we are just approaching these four
15:03entrances and
15:06it was 230 meters
15:11right and 12 meters underground
15:17from Beaumont Amel southwards to Thiepval the
15:2020th century
15:21the 26th reserve division under the
15:23command of general von Stodden built
15:26some of the most formidable defences ever
15:28seen on the western front
15:38you
15:31they ran through the village of Saint
15:34Pierre d'Ivion on the anchor
15:36river where Cornelius Breuningen was
15:38stationed on the first of
15:41july 1916 the german units were waiting
15:44for the attack
15:45below
15:46ground
15:48the reasons why the
15:50charm
15:51would do this
15:56undercover fortresses you can keep them
16:01central functions near the front line
16:05there there was
16:06for instance a special device to hear the
16:10british
16:11telephone you could hear the british
16:14telephones for three
16:16kilometers that means everything what
16:20happened here
16:21was known to the germans
16:25according to freedom
16:26the underground fortress lies just a few
16:29meters under their feet
16:31if frida is right
16:34the massive un
16:36underground fortress of saint pierre d'ivion
16:38will have had four entrances
16:40of
16:41the
16:43the
16:45the
16:46the
16:47the
16:48the
16:49the
16:50the
16:51the
16:52the
16:53the
16:54the
16:55the
16:56the
16:57the
16:58the
16:59the
17:00the
17:01the
17:02the
17:03the
17:04the
17:05the
16:41the
17:08the
17:09the allied plan was for the French and British to attack along the
17:14road between Albert and Baphome on the 1st of July, 1916.
17:19After a week of massive artillery bombardment.
17:24The heavy guns were to switch from the first German line to the second at set times.
17:29As no resistance was anticipated, the British knew nothing of the...
17:34...deep German dugouts.
17:39The Kaiser had said, my soldiers aren't moles.
17:44But General von Soeden, with great foresight, realised that the Germans were numerically inferior.
17:49Which was true.
17:50In fact, during the battle...
17:54...of the Somme, the English attacked with 25 divisions.
17:57But the Germans defended with...
17:59...for just five.
18:02Horizontal fire from...
18:04...the old guns was not able to penetrate the trenches as the trajectory was too short.
18:09So all sides introduced the howitzer, which changed the...
18:14...in the face of the artillery barrage.
18:16Firing in a high trajectory, the...
18:19...shells landed vertically on the enemy position, penetrating the trenches and dugouts.
18:24The Germans, however, were quick to understand what the new weapon could do.
18:29...to their defences.
18:31This means that there was a clear...
18:34...disadvantage...
18:35...both in artillery pieces and...
18:39...in ammunition.
18:40And this numerical inferiority had to be...
18:44...compensated for by building very deep and well-designed underground bunkers.
18:49Tiefgehenden Feldstellungsbau.
18:51As the sun...
18:54...sets.
18:55Julia, Andy and Frieda...
18:57...retire to discuss the implications...
18:59...of the documents they have brought to study the secret fortress.
19:04The start of the redesign of the German trenches.
19:09It was an event which took place in 1915.
19:14The French...
19:15...not the British.
19:16The French were the enemy.
19:19...opposite...
19:20...the 26th through 7th division.
19:23Okay.
19:24And they attacked with...
19:26...one and a half division...
19:28...30,000...
19:29...men...
19:30...here...
19:31...in Serum.
19:32For the first time...
19:34...they used...
19:35...28 centimeter...
19:37...howitzers.
19:39...and...
19:40...every...
19:41...every dugout...
19:42...has been destroyed.
19:44The French gained no success.
19:46The French gained no success.
19:49Because...
19:50...the Germans had to...
19:52...to invest blood.
19:54...to throw back...
19:56...the enemy.
19:57In the months...
19:58...before the attack...
19:59...the British concentrated...
20:01...as many howitzers...
20:02...as were available...
20:03...on the Somme front.
20:04...and a week before the assault...
20:06...began pounding...
20:07...the German trenches.
20:09...methodically destroying them.
20:11A major effort...
20:12...was also spent...
20:13...identifying...
20:14...and demolishing...
20:15...enemy artillery...
20:16...to prevent it...
20:17...interfering...
20:18...with the onsite.
20:19...for the assault.
20:20So...
20:21...the disposition...
20:22...of the artillery...
20:23...was redesigned...
20:24...to place guns...
20:25...in hidden places...
20:26...in mountains...
20:27...woods...
20:28...villages...
20:29...so that the firing...
20:30...positions...
20:31...could not be seen.
20:32This way...
20:33...artillery...
20:34...was certainly...
20:34...not unbeatable...
20:35...but it was...
20:36...harder to identify...
20:37...and therefore...
20:38...difficult...
20:39...to destroy.
20:40So...
20:41...however much effort...
20:42...you put into...
20:43...an attack...
20:44...the enemy...
20:45...always had...
20:46...a minimal ability...
20:47...to resist the attack...
20:48...and stop it.
20:49...to bring.
20:50After the...
20:51...battle of...
20:52...Seres...
20:53...the Germans decided...
20:54...to stay...
20:55...for the...
20:56...sort...
20:58...and then...
20:59...the...
21:00...and...
21:01...and...
21:02...to stay...
21:03...and...
21:04...the...
21:05...to stay...
21:06...and...
21:07...and...
21:08...the...
21:09...and...
21:10...the...
21:11was a blind passage ending in the
21:16in the in the soil or in the in the chalk.
21:21Now the dugouts were 8 to 12 meters below ground.
21:25Cavs
21:26in the chalk with the accommodation of the soldiers no longer directly connected.
21:31the staircase and each with two or three exits.
21:36The key new features are the fact that the entrance is now on the side.
21:41facing the enemy so that no stray shadows can come directly in.
21:46Also the fact that it branches off from the dead tunnel and the multiple exits.
21:51So that there's less chance of people getting trapped inside.
21:54Whatever happens
21:56and on the surface, thousands of German soldiers survived the British bombardment.
22:01in their deep dugouts.
22:04Aerial photographs being used
22:06by the Allied forces showed that the German trenches had been obliterated all along.
22:11along the front.
22:12By the time Allied troops were in position to go over the top of their troops.
22:16the German front line trenches
22:17there was nothing left of the German front line trenches
22:20and the British
22:21In-
22:21Infantry
22:22expected little or no resistance.
22:24Here
22:25on the far right
22:26of the attack
22:27between Pomo Amel and Tiepval
22:29the first few minutes
22:31of the assault
22:32proved disastrous.
22:36It was a sunny early morning
22:41when the
22:41waves of khaki-clad soldiers of Kitchener's Volunteer Army.
22:46Walked across no man's land.
22:51The Hawthorne mine had been a warning to the Germans that the attack would be.
22:56The attack was about to begin.
22:58And a few minutes later, the defenders had occupied.
23:01What was left of their trenches and opened fire.
23:06The way machine guns were used had changed fundamentally over the first time.
23:11The first two years of the war.
23:13First, it was a heavy weapon depleted.
23:16It was deployed in batteries.
23:18Now, it was being distributed along the line.
23:21In support of infantry actions.
23:23The fast-firing infantry rifle.
23:26The rifle, with magazines of five or six rounds.
23:29Made the frontal charge the-
23:31that characterized the wars of the 19th century totally suicidal.
23:36From Thiepval to Beaumont-Amel, the British artillery and the massive horse.
23:41The Hawthorne mine seemed to have done nothing to the Germans.
23:4612,000 division.
23:5012,000 division.
23:51Yeah.
23:52Lost a hundred men.
23:53Yeah.
23:54It's a result of seven days.
23:56Nothing.
23:57It was just the same trace.
23:58Yeah.
23:59It was just the same trace.
24:00Yeah.
24:01Which were hit in the trenches because the trenches were empty throughout.
24:06the seven days.
24:07When the soldiers came out of their dugout.
24:11There was no trench left.
24:12There was no trench left.
24:13Normally, a little bit of the-
24:16barbed wire defense was still there, not everywhere.
24:21but in the the first trench was
24:26the British and Canadian infantry were cut
24:31down by enemy fire before they even got
24:34midway across no man's land
24:36cemeteries dotted here and there over the
24:39area today
24:41show where hundreds of men fell
24:44in all
24:45on the first day
24:46of the Somme battle
24:4820,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers
24:51died one unit made amazing progress
24:56the Ulster division was to take the
24:58village of Tepwal and the Swabian Redemption
25:01out a defensive structure to the west now
25:04occupied by a graveyard
25:06they rushed the 200 meters uphill
25:09between their trenches which ran up
25:11along where the tree line stops
25:13and the empty defensive structure
25:16the Ulster tower stands as a memorial
25:18to the exploiter
25:20however Tepwal
25:21and Beaumont-Amel stayed in German hands
25:26with their flanks exposed
25:28they were soon surrounded
25:29and forced to surrender
25:31the first day of the Somme battle
25:34was considered a great
25:36German defensive victory
25:40commanding the
25:4126th reserve division of the German army
25:44in the sector from Beaumont-Amel to
25:46the Tepwal
25:47was General Franz von Zorden
25:49a thorough of a
25:51officer who had the welfare of his men at heart
25:54he called in an engineering
25:56and genius
25:57Franz Leiling
25:58to assist in designing the tunnels and dugouts
26:01Captain Franz Leiling
26:03was known both to Cornelius Boininger
26:04was known both to Cornelius Boininger
26:06and Armin Staebler
26:08and is seen in these pictures with his dog
26:11he built no less than three underground fortresses along the front from
26:16Beaumont-Amel to St. Pierre d'Ivian
26:19one was in the medieval
26:21the cellars of the village
26:23another stretched under the British lines at Beaumont
26:26Amel
26:27but another was particularly large
26:31and secret
26:33first I tell you the source
26:36I got it
26:37from
26:38it's in a
26:39a design
26:40of a
26:41a
26:41American officer
26:42who
26:43entered
26:44this
26:45fortress
26:46underground
26:47underground
26:48fortress
26:49after the war
26:50and made this design
26:51and it is published
26:52and it is published
26:53in a
26:54in a
26:55war
26:56in a
26:57war
26:58guide
26:59it has
27:00a
27:01it has
27:02a
27:03a
27:05a
27:06a
27:07a
27:08a
27:09a
27:10a
27:11a
27:13a
27:14a
27:15a
27:17a
27:19a
27:20a
27:22a
27:23a
27:24a
27:25a
27:01four entrances leading from the
27:06slope of the Ancre Valley to the center of the
27:11system. One, two, three, four. They could not
27:16be seen by the British ground soldiers.
27:21And they could, you know, they could be seen by the
27:24airplanes.
27:26And what's absolutely interesting is
27:31the design of this fortress.
27:36Because I've never seen round passengers.
27:41Who are not round by chance.
27:46But round by design.
27:51When the Irish regiments swiftly conquered the
27:53Swabian redoubt.
27:55German soldiers
27:56appeared from nowhere.
27:58Trapping the attackers and swiftly retaking
28:01the position.
28:02The underground fortress built by Captain
28:05Franz Leiling.
28:06was the key to the German victory here, on
28:09the first day of the Somme battle.
28:11A deadly surprise for the assaulting troops.
28:16German machine gun crews jumped out of their
28:19underground dugouts and
28:21and cut down the British and French soldiers.
28:24For the first time.
28:26Tanks were deployed.
28:27But to little effect.
28:31south of the Albert to Bapaume road, the French made
28:34better progress than the British.
28:36exploiting their long-range artillery in a rolling barrage.
28:41that continued to rain shells on the enemy.
28:44Even when the infantry were advanced.
28:46advancing.
28:47They reached all their objectives on the first day.
28:51This field artillery, light artillery, was designed for mobile warfare.
28:56Where range was not very important
28:58because
28:59in that kind of war
29:00range wasima
29:01wasn't as important as mobility of guns and ammunition and the German
29:06field artillery was the best, but in the static conditions of trench warfare,
29:11the longer range of the French cannons make the difference.
29:14We are talking about thousands of guns.
29:16The layout of the anchor
29:21sector of the Somme battle is clear from these aerial images.
29:26Stretching from the Newfoundland Memorial to the Tiepval Monument.
29:31Further north, where the Memorial to the Newfoundland Regiment stands,
29:36the attacking infantry were also taken by surprise by the German machine.
29:41Guns, which they believed had been blown to pieces.
29:46Here too, under the village of Beaumont-Amel, Captain Liling had built
29:51an underground redoubt, which the massive Hawthorne mine did nothing to.
29:56To destroy.
29:57Here too, the German soldiers of Gen-
30:01General von Soden's division survived the bombardment, to take the British
30:06and Commonwealth troops by surprise.
30:10The battle entered.
30:11The war had its bloodiest phase, and the British continued pouring in infantry.
30:16Adopting the rolling barrage and better communications with supporting artillery.
30:21On the ground, hand-to-hand fighting became even more.
30:26Vicious.
30:27Infantry was used to fighting.
30:31With rifles and bayonets.
30:32Or with machine guns, which, at the time, fused soldiers.
30:36So, over the course of the spring of 1915, the hand grenade
30:41entered into common use.
30:43At first, most of the hand grenades were used.
30:46They were handmade.
30:47They were made in areas close to the front, using improvised designs.
30:51Initially, they were only thrown by sappers.
30:55In fact, in Germany.
30:56They were the specialists in anything technical or that had to do with equipment.
31:01They had to do with explosives.
31:02However, as I said during the first months of 1915,
31:06they became a new and practically common part of the infantry weaponry.
31:11It won't be done.
31:12It was, but then it was a month of the invader,
31:13the military had to do that,
31:13it was the duty to fight for their weapons.
31:14What was the duty to fight to make again,
31:15which was the duty to be a tough,
31:16that was the force of the infantry weaponry,
31:17and the war against the mission,
31:18which was the duty to fight for their own enemies.
31:19And one of the soldiers would run into ocher.
31:21So, I think that it will be done.
31:22But there was not really,
31:23but why there was a difficult time for the infantry.
31:24It will be done.
31:25It will be done.
31:27It will be done.
31:28It will be done.
31:29It will be done.
31:32You know.
31:33And one of the soldiers have become a tough force in.
31:35It will be done.
31:37With the battle of the song that starts
31:42on the 1st of July, 1916, the British Army entered up
31:47a painful learning curve.
31:50Command and control systems were
31:52improved, allowing troops on the ground
31:55to make important decisions
31:57rapidly, according to immediate needs.
32:01The British adopted
32:02the rolling barrage like the French,
32:04and better coordination with aerial.
32:07The Germans had invested time and effort into building
32:12dugouts and underground defences,
32:15reacting swiftly to the development
32:17of new heavy howitzers, fully exploiting
32:20their local tactical advice.
32:22Here, at La Boisselle,
32:27another 20,000-kilo British mine blew a hole in the Germans.
32:32The German lines, just two minutes before the attack.
32:37Okay, so here we are at the Loch Ngar crater.
32:42Which is the biggest one on the song.
32:47And you sort of just look down at the size of it,
32:50and just imagine.
32:52the amount of spoil that was thrown out of it.
32:57when it was detonated.
32:59Well that was the aim of this one,
33:01unlike the ones that...
33:02went underneath the target.
33:03This one was set back from the lines,
33:04mainly because the Germans were so active in there.
33:07they would have heard the mine being thrown through.
33:09Right.
33:10So it was set back slightly off the trenches.
33:12So the...
33:12the huge amount of spoil that went up
33:14would fill the trenches,
33:15and that would be...
33:16that would be the attack.
33:17It was set,
33:18I think it was two minutes before
33:19the attack on the 1st of July,
33:21to signal.
33:22two minutes before the attack.
33:23Yeah.
33:24And that's...
33:25it was two charges.
33:26I think the first...
33:27was 30...
33:2830 pounds.
33:29And the second was 24.
33:31So...
33:32does that sound about right?
33:3320,000 pounds.
33:34I thought that sounded a bit small.
33:35So...
33:3630...
33:3720,000 pounds.
33:38And 24,000 pounds.
33:39Yeah.
33:40And I think...
33:41I remember reading...
33:42a reference to the fact that they...
33:43they put too much,
33:44or more than they thought they needed,
33:45just because they were worried about.
33:47the amount of spoil.
33:48They wanted to have...
33:49the biggest effect that they could...
33:50to go across.
33:51It's...
33:52it's...
33:52called a Fugas mine.
33:53So...
33:54it covers...
33:55the target.
33:56Other mines...
33:57exploded just before the attack too.
33:59One...
34:00after the infantry had been...
34:02begun moving forward.
34:07According to...
34:07the documentation...
34:08presented by Friede...
34:09the circular shape...
34:11of the underground...
34:12fortress...
34:13proved...
34:14that it was built...
34:15by expert miners.
34:17the designers...
34:19because of the engineers...
34:20who made this...
34:22were experienced mining engineers.
34:27That's written in the literature, that's true.
34:32Yeah.
34:33And these mining engineers have
34:37experience with underground explosions.
34:42Methane.
34:42Gas explosions in the mines, and they know...
34:47What to do with explosion energy?
34:50Energy.
34:51Energy.
34:52And what they do is, if there's Hitler...
34:57A grenade hits and digs a hole in the system.
35:02And it explodes, for instance, here.
35:07The energy is led round, here round and here round.
35:12And the stone...
35:17Of this contraction, the stones...
35:20Are chalk, like...
35:22The rocks of Doha.
35:23The same...
35:24Yeah.
35:25Same layer.
35:26The same layer, yes?
35:27The same layer of chalk.
35:28The same layer of chalk.
35:29And the chalk has...
35:32A certain...
35:33A certain...
35:34Behaviour.
35:35However, the mystery...
35:37Of the location of the Lyling underground fortress...
35:40Lingers.
35:41And there are...
35:42discrepancies between Andy's and Frieda's documents.
35:47And let's just have a look now...
35:49Move on and look at Saint-Pierre-des-Vormes, which is what we will...
35:52Looking at earlier...
35:53As well.
35:54Yes.
35:55So, let's have a look at your plan.
35:57And I'll show you what we dragged out of the archives...
36:02We'll see where we can actually bring these two together.
36:04Yep.
36:05And this is...
36:06What...
36:07what is in the record as being
36:12under Saint-Pierre-du-Van.
36:14And as you can see, it's sort of
36:16Stes-Lillingsstolen.
36:17Lillingsstolen, yes.
36:19Stolen, down here.
36:21Okay.
36:22But it's completely straight.
36:24Okay, so there seems to be an element
36:27of confusion.
36:28It matches this image in certain...
36:32..in respects in terms of a group of entrances.
36:37Going into sort of dug out situations.
36:41And of course it...
36:42..it comes into the front line as well.
36:44Mm-hmm.
36:45Now what's interesting is when the...
36:47British...
36:48Because the British do get into it.
36:50Because they report it in their...
36:52..records.
36:53And they actually say that...
36:55..it's in...
36:57..a poor state of repair.
37:00Okay.
37:01And that's probably...
37:02partly due to bombardment.
37:03Because we're now talking sometime later.
37:05Mm-hmm.
37:06Right.
37:07So...
37:07..a poor state of repair.
37:08But once repaired...
37:09..would be able to hold at least...
37:12..a thousand men.
37:13Okay.
37:14Now what we see here...
37:16.
37:17you definitely couldn't hold a thousand men.
37:20Yes.
37:21Yes.
37:22So that's...
37:22That's something that's not quite sitting right with us, but one of the...
37:27Big issues is that there are...
37:30This entire slope was...
37:32...covered in dugouts.
37:34First trench line.
37:35Mm-hmm.
37:36Underground...
37:37The underground tunnel, it has a hundred meters.
37:40Mm-hmm.
37:41That's what Hauptmann...
37:42...the underground tunneling did...
37:43Often.
37:44Yeah, and that's...
37:45They did very often, and...
37:47There's...
37:48The beginning...
37:49Of this...
37:50Fortress.
37:51Yeah.
37:52So...
37:53So...
37:54And it has a direct connection to the...
37:57First trench...
37:58Yeah.
37:59Which was...
38:00Which was called...
38:01Leilin.
38:02Stollen.
38:03Mm-hmm.
38:04There we go.
38:05Yeah.
38:06So...
38:07It's possible...
38:07Right.
38:08That...
38:09That...
38:10In...
38:11Interpretation...
38:12Okay.
38:12That...
38:13These entrances...
38:14Which obviously come...
38:15Mm-hmm.
38:16Out on here...
38:17Aren't...
38:17Actually quite where...
38:18He's got them...
38:19Or...
38:20That...
38:21These four...
38:22Come off...
38:24Or...
38:25Come off...
38:26Or...
38:27That...
38:28Actually...
38:29What we're looking at there...
38:30Is more...
38:31More in here...
38:32Yes, yes...
38:33That...
38:32You know...
38:33I mean...
38:34The...
38:35The only way...
38:36As I think we said on the grave...
38:37Is...
38:38To get in and...
38:39Look at it.
38:40And that's the only way...
38:41You're gonna resolve...
38:42The reality...
38:43But...
38:44Nothing really says that...
38:45The two couldn't exist together...
38:46No...
38:47No...
38:48No...
38:49The unsung hero...
38:50Of the Somme battle...
38:51On the...
38:52German side, was a lowly captain and engineer. France liked it.
38:57The battle lasted from July to November.
39:021916 and British and French forces only managed.
39:07to make six miles progress.
39:11The British experienced the war.
39:12They exploded another mine under Hawthorne Ridge.
39:15This time, the infantry successfully
39:17broke through and occupied the village.
39:22During the course of the battle,
39:24the British learned the hard way how to handle
39:27modern warfare.
39:29The Germans, too, understood that outman
39:32and outgunned, their best solution would be
39:35to retreat to a shore.
39:37What a line.
39:38An even more solid line of defences.
39:41The Hinden
39:42the Jumperg Line.
39:45During this operation, the German Hiskermberg Ice
39:47ordered a number of deportations and the destruction of French villages.
39:52Armin Staebler and Cornelius Breuninger witness.
39:57These, and dissented, to no avail.
40:02This photo album is a precious treasure of history.
40:07And for example contains pictures of the first deportations of French civilians from the
40:12Somme area.
40:17My uncle took photographs showing women, children and old people.
40:22Being loaded onto a train.
40:27The Somme battle came to symbolize the life and death struggle.
40:32Of the German Empire.
40:34Every means was used to bring home the hero.
40:37The heroic nature of German resistance.
40:42Fritz Mühlbrecht represents the Battle of the Somme.
40:46This painting...
40:47Obviously also has a message.
40:49The troops are tired.
40:50Several are wounded.
40:52Even badly wounded.
40:53You can see this one may even be there.
40:55But they continue...
40:57To be resolved.
40:58This doggedness is symbolized by the man who was standing in the center.
41:02He is holding onto his rifle and saying, we may be exhausted but not defeated.
41:07This painting is by Rudolf Stark.
41:10He wasn't an artist.
41:11He was a...
41:12a career soldier.
41:13Or rather, he wanted to have this career.
41:17He was in the choir of the Bavarian army cadets.
41:20And then he was mobilized and entered...
41:22the cavalry.
41:23And fought for several years on the Eastern Front.
41:26And then...
41:27he became a pilot.
41:28He was a talented painter and only painted the...
41:32the events he lived through.
41:36In the 1918...
41:37spring offensive...
41:38the Germans broke through the lines here...
41:41and once again...
41:42recaptured all the terrain lost in 1916.
41:47it was their last bid to win the war.
41:50But having exhausted their resources...
41:52they were unable to keep up the impetus of attack.
41:56On the home...
41:57the British blockade was destroying Germany's social cohesion.
42:02and by 1916...
42:04rationing and requisitioning of materials...
42:06was...
42:07causing serious upheavals.
42:10The war...
42:11soon invaded...
42:12all sectors of life in Germany...
42:14becoming part of the family life...
42:16of everyone.
42:17the British blockade...
42:18the British blockade...
42:19was perceived as something very painful...
42:21due to the fact...
42:22that foodstuffs...
42:23were not reaching Germany.
42:24In 1915...
42:25the food supply situation...
42:27was still good.
42:28But in 1916...
42:29real famine...
42:30broke out...
42:31in Germany.
42:32it wasn't only food...
42:34that was lacking...
42:35but also clothes...
42:36because...
42:37all...
42:37the textile raw materials...
42:38were needed...
42:39for military equipment...
42:40and clothes.
42:42The summer of 1916...
42:44was a turning point...
42:45in the story of the old...
42:47world.
42:48Nothing...
42:49would ever be the same again.
42:52Captain Lyling...
42:55and Amin...
42:56were killed...
42:57later in the war...
42:58and...
42:59Cornelius Breuninger...
43:00fell into depression.
43:02hundreds of thousands...
43:04of men...
43:05on both sides...
43:06died...
43:07or were wounded...
43:08on the Somme.
43:12German...
43:13French...
43:14and British...
43:15villagers...
43:16literally...
43:17lost...
43:17an entire generation...
43:18of men.
43:19The suffering...
43:20at home...
43:21and on the front...
43:22changed forever...
43:23the structure...
43:24of European society.
43:27the underground war...
43:29was a hidden chapter...
43:31in the dark...
43:32history...
43:33of the so-called...
43:34war...
43:35to end wars.
43:37in the dark...
43:38in the dark...
43:39in the dark...
43:40in the dark...
43:41in the dark...
43:42in the dark...
43:43in the dark...
43:44in the dark...
43:45in the dark...
43:46in the dark...
43:47in the dark...
43:48in the dark...
43:49in the dark...
43:50in the dark...
43:51in the dark...
43:52in the dark...
43:53in the dark...
43:54in the dark...
43:55in the dark...
43:56in the dark...
43:57in the dark...
43:58in the dark...
43:59in the dark...
44:00in the dark...
44:01in the dark...
44:02in the dark...
44:03in the dark...
44:04in the dark...
44:05in the dark...
44:06You
44:11You
44:16You
44:21You
44:26You
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