- 7 weeks ago
For educational purposes
Episode 2 "The Great War" tells the story of the VC through the first World War. Half of all VCs awarded to date were done so between 1914 and 1919.
From the Western Front, through the Somme to Gallipoli, such was the variety of battle that every facet of human bravery was exposed.
Stories featured include that of Noel Chavasse, one of only three men to win the VC twice, Boy Cornwell, the youngest recipient, and Billy Leefe-Robinson who shot down a Zeppelin over London to national acclaim.
Episode 2 "The Great War" tells the story of the VC through the first World War. Half of all VCs awarded to date were done so between 1914 and 1919.
From the Western Front, through the Somme to Gallipoli, such was the variety of battle that every facet of human bravery was exposed.
Stories featured include that of Noel Chavasse, one of only three men to win the VC twice, Boy Cornwell, the youngest recipient, and Billy Leefe-Robinson who shot down a Zeppelin over London to national acclaim.
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00:13To be continued...
00:42The Victoria Cross is 150 years old this year.
00:47Yet nearly half of all the VCs ever awarded were given during just four of those years
00:53in a single conflict, the First World War.
00:55It began on a blisteringly hot day in August 1914.
01:01It ended in the mud and rain on November 11th 1918.
01:07By then, over 630 Victoria Crosses had been awarded.
01:13One of the men featured in this film was someone I knew quite well.
01:17Jackie Smythe won his VC in 1915, leading troops of the Indian Army in France.
01:24In his book, he says that many people have asked him what sort of men win the VC.
01:30He replies, any sort.
01:33Because courage is an unpredictable thing.
01:36No one knows quite how much they have and quite what it will enable them to do.
01:42It's well put, and I think the VCs in this film illustrate it perfectly.
01:49From the trenches of the Western Front to Gallipoli,
01:53in the air and at sea,
01:55they won their VCs in all ways imaginable.
01:58One of them, indeed, was just a boy.
02:02All of them showed courage beyond the call of duty.
02:06All showed they were willing to sacrifice themselves for their comrades.
02:14It is August 23rd, 1914.
02:17Three weeks into the First World War,
02:19but the British Army is yet to fire a shot.
02:24Machine gunners of the Royal Fusiliers
02:27are setting up defences on a bridge in Belgium.
02:31In command is Lieutenant Maurice Dees,
02:35a 24-year-old Irish Catholic in his first battle.
02:40Did you see anything yet?
02:41Nothing yet, sir.
02:42The machine gunner is Private Sidney Godley,
02:45a 25-year-old professional soldier from South London,
02:50an ex-ironmonger with a fondness for sport and drink.
02:54This is also his first battle.
03:00A little Belgian boy and girl came up on the bridge
03:02and bought us some food.
03:04Monsieur, monsieur, come on, come on.
03:07All right.
03:10We was thoroughly enjoying what they'd bought
03:12and I was talking to them as best as I could.
03:14Then the Germans started shelling.
03:16Come on!
03:17Come on!
03:19I told them they'd best scarper and they took off.
03:30These men are directly in the path of the invading German army
03:34and are hopelessly outnumbered.
03:38Come on!
03:40Before the day is out,
03:42Dees and Godley will earn the first two Victoria Crosses of the Great War.
03:53One of them will not live to receive it.
03:56The other will not get his for another five years.
04:08November 1914, the earliest VCs of the war are announced.
04:16The first goes to Lieutenant Maurice Dees.
04:21The second to Private Sid Godley.
04:24Like every Victoria Cross since the medal began,
04:28they are published in the London Gazette,
04:30Britain's official newspaper of record.
04:34On the 23rd of August 1914 at Mons in Belgium,
04:39a bridge was being defended by a single company of royal fusiliers.
04:44Lieutenant Dees was seriously wounded during the attack.
04:48But he remained on the bridge
04:49and continued to lead and encourage his men.
04:55When all except himself were killed or wounded,
04:59Private Godley held the enemy back
05:00for two hours single-handed under heavy fire.
05:05He successfully covered the retreat of his comrades.
05:10But he himself was taken prisoner.
05:23Sid's last act of defiance was to smash his gun to pieces
05:27and throw it into the canal before retreating.
05:32The Germans eventually caught up with him
05:35and hauled him back.
05:43Maurice Dees died on the bridge
05:46along with many of his men.
05:57And Sid would spend the rest of the war
06:00in a German prison camp.
06:05It would be nearly five years
06:07before he would set foot in England again.
06:14By the end of 1914,
06:17the tiny professional army
06:19of which Godley and Dees were part
06:21was a spent force.
06:23New blood was needed.
06:27And thousands in Britain answered the call.
06:32Future winners of the Victoria Cross were gathering.
06:42During the next four years,
06:44more VCs would be won
06:46and more lives lost
06:48than at any time before or since
06:50in Britain's history.
06:59The war is scaling up.
07:03From all over Britain and the Empire,
07:06new troops flood in.
07:08Among them,
07:1029-year-old Noel Chavast,
07:13a medical officer with the Liverpool Scottish,
07:17who arrived in France
07:18in November 1914.
07:24Chop, chop, Geordie,
07:25there's still more to come.
07:27Dissatisfied with the way
07:28medical services are organised,
07:31he sets out on his own path.
07:33At present,
07:34I'm busy building a hospital
07:35in the trenches.
07:37It's a new scheme of my own
07:38and approved of by most of the men.
07:40Come on then, Doc.
07:41Morning.
07:42Stretch her in the corner, please,
07:43on the wall, if you can.
07:44There simply needs to be
07:45some shelter for the wounded
07:46behind every trench.
07:48The dressing station proper
07:49is often so far away.
07:52But I do not intend
07:53to run any unnecessary risks.
07:55My blood is not heroic.
08:03Chavast will be the only man
08:05to win two VCs in the Great War.
08:15But the services of some
08:16are not required.
08:19Not yet, at least.
08:20Jack Cornwell
08:21is a tea delivery boy
08:23from East London,
08:24but at 14,
08:25he's too young to serve.
08:28Not in carky yet, young Cornwell?
08:29Well, I have tried, Mr. Escort,
08:31but he won't have me
08:32on account of my age.
08:33The next birthday shall be in.
08:35You mark my words.
08:36Good for you, Dad.
08:39Within a year,
08:40Cornwell will join the Royal Navy
08:42with the rank of
08:44boy first class.
08:48He'll become the youngest
08:50VC of the Great War,
08:51one of the three youngest
08:53of all time.
08:58Jackie Smythe is 21,
09:01a junior officer
09:02in the Indian Army
09:04and armed
09:06with a self-help book
09:07on courage.
09:10Just before the war,
09:11I was given a book
09:12called Right and Wrong Thinking.
09:14It helped me enormously
09:16to overcome fear.
09:17By taking control
09:19of his thoughts,
09:19it said,
09:20a man could become
09:21the arbiter
09:22of his own destiny.
09:23What interested me was,
09:25in the dangerous atmosphere
09:27of battle,
09:28could the discordant thought
09:29of fear be dropped
09:30from the mind
09:31and replaced
09:32by the positive thought
09:33of courage?
09:36Soon,
09:38Jackie Smythe
09:39will win a VC,
09:40surviving an action
09:41that had already
09:42cost many lives.
09:47A company of my own regiment
09:49and of Highlanders
09:51were holding a portion
09:52of captured German trench
09:53about 300 yards
09:55in front of our own front line.
09:57They were under
09:58increasingly severe attack
10:00and were running out
10:01of grenades and ammunition.
10:03Unless these could be supplied,
10:05they would be overrun.
10:09Many men had been killed
10:10that morning
10:11trying to reach
10:12the beleaguered company.
10:14It was about to be
10:15Smythe's turn.
10:17Hello, old chap.
10:18What does it look like out there?
10:19Oh, not too good, sir.
10:20When my company commander
10:21asked if I thought it possible
10:23for me to have a go,
10:24I said no.
10:26But I would have called
10:27Stuart if required.
10:28Good luck.
10:29I must confess,
10:30there was nothing heroic
10:31about my feelings.
10:32I was in an absolute
10:34blue funk.
10:38But when I asked
10:39for volunteers,
10:40all of my men
10:41stepped forward.
10:44that put courage
10:45into me.
10:54That put courage
10:55into me.
10:58Smythe
10:59and his little band
11:00made their way
11:01across open ground.
11:05Rifle and machine gun bullets
11:07ripped up the ground
11:08around them
11:09and shells
11:10came in their direction.
11:14The corpses
11:15gave us our only cover,
11:17along with the smoke
11:18from the shells
11:19landing all around us.
11:27By the time they reached
11:28the cover of a shallow trench,
11:30almost all of Smythe's men
11:32had been killed
11:33or wounded.
11:38Eventually,
11:39I arrived with one man,
11:40Lal Singh,
11:41and one of the two boxes
11:42of bombs.
11:44Poor Lal Singh was hit.
11:46And I just dropped
11:48into the trench.
11:59To those who ask me,
12:01and many do,
12:03what sort of men
12:04win the VC?
12:05I can only reply
12:07any sort.
12:09Courage is a strange thing.
12:11Men react to different stresses
12:13and different conditions
12:14in different ways.
12:16There very few
12:17is it given
12:17to be without fear.
12:19But if there is
12:20a single common denominator
12:22among all VCs,
12:23I would be inclined
12:24to say that it's
12:25a degree of obstinacy,
12:27a refusal to be beaten
12:29or pushed around.
12:34Jackie Smythe
12:36was awarded the VC
12:37a month later.
12:39The ten Sikhs
12:40who had accompanied him
12:41were each given
12:43the Indian Order of Merit.
12:46Smythe insisted
12:47that he deserved
12:48a lesser reward
12:49and they a greater.
12:57If you don't keep
12:58your bloody head down, mate,
12:59we'll be riding home
13:00to your mother.
13:00Yeah, all right, cool.
13:01All right, boys.
13:03Take a break, mate.
13:06Over a thousand miles away,
13:07there was another
13:09very different,
13:10obstinate man.
13:13Albert Jacker
13:15is 22,
13:16an acting
13:17lance corporal
13:18from Victoria.
13:19The ex-lumberjack
13:20has led a tough
13:21frontier life,
13:22so hunting and killing
13:24are second nature.
13:25Hit anything yet?
13:26Just in goes, mate.
13:28Albert Jacker
13:29became
13:32the archetype
13:34of the Australian
13:35soldier of the First World War.
13:37He's a good shot,
13:38he's quick,
13:39he's determined,
13:41he makes decisions
13:42lightning fast.
13:44He is,
13:45if you like,
13:46a one-man killing machine.
13:49Like many Australians,
13:51Jacker was fighting
13:52on a new front
13:54against Germany's ally,
13:55Turkey,
13:56at Gallipoli.
13:58Within days,
14:00they were pinned down
14:00in a bitter struggle,
14:02fighting the Turks
14:03across trenches
14:04that were often
14:05just yards apart.
14:1219th of May,
14:141915.
14:16Jacker and his men
14:18are under fierce attack
14:19as they have been
14:21night after night.
14:22They are heavily outnumbered
14:24and cannot hold
14:25the position.
14:33When all except himself
14:35were killed or wounded,
14:36the trench was rushed
14:38and occupied
14:38by seven Turks.
14:43That was the way
14:44that business was done
14:45on the Anzac front.
14:46The Turks
14:47would very often,
14:48by sheer weight
14:49of numbers
14:49and with hand grenades,
14:51take a trench,
14:52which would then
14:53need to be counter-attacked.
14:58after several failed attempts
15:00to retake the trench
15:01head-on,
15:03Jacker decides
15:05to go it alone.
15:07He's outnumbered
15:09seven to one.
15:16A-A-A-A!
15:19B-A-A!
15:20B-A-A!
15:27B-A-A!
15:39Lance Corporal Jacka gallantly attacked them single-handed,
15:44killing the whole party.
15:45Five by rifle and two with a bayonet.
15:53I think the Jackas of this world are comparatively rare.
15:56They're the people that win and lose battles.
15:59They are the small percentage of people that make a difference.
16:03They are that indomitable few that swing the battle your way.
16:08If you could keep looking at the camera.
16:10When his Victoria Cross was announced, Jacka became a sensation.
16:17Australia's first VC, a Melbourne businessman, gave him ÂŁ500 and a gold watch.
16:32As the war scaled up, the medal did too.
16:36By the summer of 1915, over a hundred Victoria Crosses had been awarded
16:41for actions on land, in the air and at sea.
17:09It is June 1916, on the Gotland coast in South Wales.
17:17The body of a British naval officer, of the rank of commander, is washed up on the shore.
17:25His right leg has been severed below the knee.
17:33Days earlier, titans had clashed.
17:37The British and German fleets met for a mighty showdown off the Danish coast at Jutland.
17:47The Germans lost 11 ships and 2,500 men.
17:52British losses were higher, 14 ships and 6,000 dead.
18:03Among them was commander Loftus Jones, a 36-year-old career sailor, who joined the navy at the age of
18:1115.
18:18During the battle, his ship was disabled by enemy fire.
18:24Jones's leg was blown off by a shell, but he remained on the bridge and kept the ship fighting,
18:32until she was hit by a torpedo and sank.
18:39Jones went down with his ship.
18:44When his VC was awarded, his commanding officer wrote,
19:04In the days after the battle, the wounded are brought upriver to Hull.
19:10Among them, the 16-year-old Jack Cornwell, a young sailor with the rank of boy first class.
19:20The one-time tea delivery boy had realized his ambition the previous year,
19:27joining the navy just after his 15th birthday.
19:34Cornwell was part of a gun crew on the destroyer HMS Chester.
19:40They were all killed or wounded when the gun received a direct hit.
19:47But despite his wounds, Jack stayed at his post.
19:59Cornwell is taken to Grimsby Hospital and his mother is sent for.
20:12But she was never to see him alive again.
20:17John Travers Cornwell died of his wounds the following day.
20:23His body was buried in a simple grave near his home in Essex without a gravestone,
20:29as there was not enough money to pay for one.
20:40It was a quiet end, but within months,
20:43Jack Cornwell would become one of the most celebrated VCs of all time.
20:55It is July the 1st, 1916, 6.50 a.m.
21:01Troops of the Ulster Division, mainly from Northern Ireland,
21:05are making final preparations for the Battle of the Somme.
21:12The Somme attack was preceded by the biggest artillery bombardment the world had ever seen.
21:21Over a million shells were fired, designed to pulverize German defences and allow the British to break through.
21:33Before the day is out, nine men will win VCs.
21:38Among them, 20-year-old Billy McFadgen, a private from Lurgan, County Armagh.
21:47He will win his VC in the next few minutes, through a freak accident,
21:53before the battle proper has even begun.
22:13The Somme attack of the King.
22:24rewards all sorts of courage and and some acts of courage rewarded by the victoria cross are
22:29cold courage that takes a long time where somebody's doing something in the foreknowledge
22:35that it's risky billy mcfagin's vc is at the other end of the scale this is instant courage
22:42and here is a man who has to respond quickly i mean at the very most he's got four seconds
22:48he has to make an instant decision which will save other people's lives
22:53at the certain cost of his own and he makes it
23:01billy mcfagin's victoria cross was announced a year later one of four vcs won by the ulster division
23:10that day the som attack was a disaster for britain
23:18nearly 60 000 men were killed or wounded on the first day
23:25the worst casualties in the history of the british army
23:33for the military it was a severe blow
23:48back home in england public grief at the losses of the somme leads to a bizarre event
23:55three weeks after the battle a body is disinterred from a simple grave in essex
24:02load him up
24:06it is the remains of jack cornwall
24:14the story of the neglected boy hero in his paupers grave
24:18drive on has hit the papers
24:23the press launch a campaign to have the boy properly honored and the public is right behind it
24:35the admiralty agrees to dig up the body for immediate reburial in a lavish state funeral
24:45it was filmed for the newsreels and shown the length and breadth of the country
24:50the country mourning the death of so many sons on the somme
25:00within a few weeks the admiralty bowed to further public pressure and made jack cornwall the youngest vc of the
25:09great war
25:11the commonwealth vc does get awarded because of press pressure this is not to say that he wasn't brave
25:17this is not to say that it wasn't an act worthy of the vc but it is different
25:23and it shows the way in which the vc has gone from being
25:27a purely military award to something which in a sense
25:30reflects the way that the nation thinks of a particular act
25:39the somme offensive grinds on
25:42i've got another one for you doc
25:44what have we got jody in the thick of it are the liverpool scottish and their medical officer
25:49noel shavas
25:53they suffer heavy losses
25:58and shavas shows his true courage in the killing zone of no man's land
26:10the
26:12Chivara!
26:12Come in!
26:14Calm down!
26:16Take the weight!
26:21Come on!
26:23Come on!
26:33Over the next 48 hours, Chivas takes extraordinary risks,
26:38well beyond what's expected of a medical officer.
26:48Captain Chivas attended to the wounded all day under heavy fire.
26:54Any Liverpool Scots?
26:57That night, he continued the search right in front of enemy lines.
27:20We found a young private and discovered he was bleeding badly from one arm.
27:26And so we held the main artery and put a tourniquet on.
27:31Then I realised the arm was all but off, and a source of danger.
27:35Better give him something to bite down on.
27:36Bite down on this, OK? Bite hard.
27:38Got it.
27:41So, with a pair of scissors, I cut it off.
27:45Down!
27:45Down!
27:46Down!
27:47Down!
27:48Down!
27:49Down!
27:49Down!
27:57And sewed the stump up.
28:00Down!
28:08It took us two hours to get him back.
28:12Get him on a stretcher and get you back to the stretcher, it's alright.
28:18For his 48 hours of extraordinary courage,
28:22Shavassi's commanding officer recommends Noel for the Victoria Cross.
28:29The citation states that he saved the lives of at least 20 men.
28:35Thank you, sir.
28:43By 1916, the new heroes of the V.C. are the fighter pilots.
28:52Six Victoria Crosses have so far been won by airmen.
28:59It's about to become seven.
29:02Everything all right, Corporal?
29:04Yes, sir. All in order, sir.
29:05William Leif Robinson is 21,
29:08a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.
29:14On the night of September 2, 1916,
29:17he's at the front line of Britain's defence against a new threat.
29:26German zeppelins have brought the war to Britain's civilians for the first time,
29:31and many have died in bombing raids on London.
29:35shooting them down has so far proved impossible.
29:40Switch is on, sir.
29:43Contact.
29:44Contact.
29:46But tonight, Leif Robinson's plane has been fitted with a new form of ammunition
29:52designed to explode on impact.
30:01I saw nothing till 1.10 a.m.,
30:04when two searchlights picked up a zeppelin south-east of Woolwich.
30:08But the clouds were already collecting when I made in the direction of the airship,
30:12and I soon lost it in the clouds.
30:22An hour later, after three hours in the air,
30:26he encounters the zeppelin again.
30:48When the colossal thing actually burst into flames,
30:51of course it was a glorious sight.
30:54It literally lit up all the sky around, and me as well, of course.
30:58I saw my machine as in the firelight,
31:01and sat, still half-dazed, staring at the wonderful sight.
31:09Leif Robinson's exploits could be seen from the London suburbs below.
31:15These were the first British civilians ever to witness an aerial battle.
31:31Robinson is awarded the VC faster than any man before or since.
31:36It's a achievement, sir.
31:37Thank you very much.
31:38The press make him a star.
31:44Five artists have offered to paint my portrait for the Royal Academy.
31:48I am recognised whenever I go into town now, whether in uniform or mufti.
31:52The city police salute me.
31:54The waiters, hall porters, and pages of hotels and restaurants bow and scrape.
31:58I even have a telegram from the general in charge of the whole Royal Flying Corps.
32:08William Leif Robinson's VC is held in the Ashcroft Collection,
32:13the world's largest collection of Victoria Crosses.
32:17To say that he became an instant hero is almost an understatement.
32:23It is quite hard, I think, for us in the modern age
32:26to understand the impact of what this man did on the national feeling.
32:34Vast crowds turned out to line the streets of Windsor
32:38when he went there to receive his VC from King George V.
32:42Over 30,000 Londoners trekked out to see the remains of the Zeppelin on the ground
32:47and to take bits as souvenirs.
32:51I should think the feel-good factor at the time was huge,
32:57almost beyond our comprehension.
32:59And for that reason, I think in the scheme of the history of the VC,
33:04this is one of the most significant.
33:12The winter of 1916-17 was one of the coldest on record.
33:23Some commanders reported men freezing to death on the line.
33:31Many were in despair,
33:34convinced that the war would never come to an end.
33:43But suddenly, the future was a less grim prospect for Noel Chavasse.
33:50He had become engaged.
33:54From this letter, you will see that I am in love.
33:58I can hardly believe my good fortune
34:00because I used to think I should never get Gladys.
34:03The danger is in making her my religion.
34:07See, he's up, sir.
34:08Right, thank you, Private. I'll be up in a moment.
34:13I still seem to love my poor men
34:15and to feel for them more than ever.
34:17But at last, I have a reason to get through the war.
34:21I hope it will not tempt me to neglect my duty.
34:26Evening, chaps.
34:28Anything all right?
34:29In March 1917, temptation is put Chavasse's way
34:34when he's offered a safe job in a base hospital behind the lines.
34:39Let me know if anything changes.
34:40But he quickly turns it down.
34:47I have written to the base hospital
34:49and said that though I valued the offer,
34:52I thought I had better stay with the lads.
34:55They don't want to get hurt or killed any more than I do.
35:00How are you doing, Private Beebe?
35:02Let's have a little look at your cut.
35:04One of their choruses as they trudge up to the line is,
35:08Oh my, I don't want to die.
35:12I want to go home.
35:16If they have to stick it out, why shouldn't I?
35:29July 1917.
35:33Passchendaele.
35:36The biggest British offensive of the war since the Somme.
35:43The battlefield soon resembles a swamp.
35:50Among the heavy casualties are the Liverpool Scottish.
35:57Do you think we should go on?
36:00Yes, I'm fine.
36:04Chavasse is seriously wounded on the first day of battle,
36:08but against all advice, refuses to leave the men.
36:17By the end of that day,
36:19the Liverpool Scottish have fought their way
36:22to the first line of German trenches.
36:30Chavasse goes forward with the men,
36:33setting up his dressing station
36:35in an abandoned German dugout.
36:46Close to collapse,
36:48he's pushing himself further
36:50and harder than ever before.
36:59Doc.
37:01Doc.
37:04They sent me to take you back.
37:06To get that head seen to.
37:07Is someone else coming up?
37:09I can't see, sir.
37:11Well then, I can wait.
37:13Take one of the others.
37:15You sure, sir?
37:17Quite sure, Private.
37:20Now trot along.
37:21Yes, sir.
37:22I can't see.
37:26Although practically without food,
37:28worn with fatigue and faint from his wound,
37:31he continued to help the wounded,
37:33being instrumental in saving many
37:35who would otherwise have died.
37:41Later that night,
37:43in a moment of sheer bad luck,
37:47Noel's dugout is hit by a shell.
38:05He is severely injured
38:07and is taken away to a field hospital.
38:21For as much as it hath pleased
38:23almighty God of his great mercy
38:25to take unto himself
38:26the soul of our dear brother
38:27here departed,
38:28we therefore commit his body
38:30to the ground.
38:32Earth to earth,
38:33ashes to ashes,
38:35dust to dust.
38:37Noel died of his wounds
38:39the following day
38:41and was buried in a field cemetery
38:44behind British lines.
38:46...to his glorious body
38:48according to the mighty working
38:51whereby he is able to subdue
38:52all things to himself.
38:54Greater love hath no man than this
38:57that a man lay down his life
38:59for his friends.
39:01Amen.
39:03Amen.
39:05Noel Chavasse was awarded a second VC
39:08within weeks of his death.
39:11He was the only double VC
39:13of the great war.
39:17His parents received
39:19over 700 letters of condolence
39:22including one from the palace.
39:26The king is grieved to hear
39:28of the death of your son
39:30and feels the whole army
39:32will mourn the loss
39:34of so brave a brother.
39:38Among the letters
39:40was one from the nurse
39:41who was with Noel
39:43when he died.
39:46His last thoughts
39:47were for Gladys.
39:49Tell her, he said
39:51that duty called me
39:54and called me to obey.
39:59Noel Chavasse's life was over
40:02at the age of 32.
40:05But the war carried on.
40:10It is the winter of 1917.
40:13The Germans are preparing
40:15to launch a massive offensive
40:17designed to win them the war.
40:20It will be on the scale
40:22of the Somme
40:23too big to keep secret.
40:27For the British
40:28it is an eerie wait.
40:30Some have reached
40:32fateful decisions.
40:35Wilfrith Elstob is 29
40:38a rugby playing schoolmaster
40:40from Cheshire
40:41commanding a battalion
40:42of the Manchester Regiment.
40:45He tells his men
40:47they will fight to the last
40:49and there will be no surrender.
40:53He knew that he was going to die.
40:54He knew that he was going to die
40:55on Manchester Hill
40:56and he was going to take
40:57as many Germans with him
40:58as he possibly could
40:59and he was comfortable with that.
41:06The attack is launched.
41:14Elstob and his men
41:15are hopelessly outnumbered.
41:18But at midday
41:19they telephone headquarters.
41:21We will hold the hill
41:23to the last.
41:36All along the attack front
41:38the Germans push forward
41:40overwhelming the defenders.
41:42Many British positions
41:44surrender.
41:46But not Elstob's.
42:00At 3.30pm
42:02a final message
42:04is sent from Manchester Hill.
42:06The end is nearly come.
42:17By 4.30pm
42:19it's all over.
42:34Among the many dead
42:35was Elstob himself.
42:39His body was last seen
42:41half-stripped.
42:42Much of his uniform
42:43had been taken
42:44for souvenirs.
42:49Even his boots had gone.
42:53A survivor reported
42:55that before their last assault
42:57the Germans called
42:59on him to surrender.
43:00He replied
43:01never
43:02and was shot dead.
43:05I think that's a particular
43:06sort of courage
43:07where you recognise
43:08that you will lose
43:09and you will die
43:10and at the end of the day
43:12all of this
43:13all of your future
43:14will be as nothing.
43:15It will be trodden
43:15into the mud somewhere.
43:17But by your contribution
43:20you will eventually
43:21swing that long battle
43:23in favour of your own side.
43:28By late March
43:30the British
43:30in part because of Elstob
43:32and others like him
43:33were pushing the Germans
43:35back again.
43:37In August
43:38the German army
43:39had its blackest day
43:41when nearly 30,000 men
43:43became casualties
43:45and at 11am
43:47on November the 11th
43:491918
43:49the war
43:51finally came
43:52to an end.
43:57For the soldiers
43:58who'd endured
43:59its horrors
44:00it was time
44:01to come home.
44:07among them
44:08was a man
44:09who hadn't seen England
44:10for nearly five years.
44:15Sid Godley's
44:16long years
44:17as a prisoner
44:18were finally over.
44:36three months
44:37three months later
44:37he received
44:39his Victoria Cross
44:40from the King
44:41at Buckingham Palace.
44:45four and a half years
44:46four and a half years
44:47after he'd earned it
44:49on that far distant
44:50summer's day
44:51in August 1914
45:01Sid became a school caretaker
45:03after the war
45:04and died
45:05aged 68
45:06in 1957.
45:13William Leif Robinson
45:15spent the last year
45:17of the war
45:17as a prisoner
45:18having been shut down.
45:21He was home by Christmas
45:23but succumbed
45:24to the flu epidemic
45:26sweeping Europe
45:26on New Year's Eve
45:281918
45:30he died
45:31aged 23
45:36Albert Jacker
45:37became a businessman
45:39after the war
45:40but found it hard
45:41to adjust
45:42to civilian life.
45:44He died of kidney failure
45:47in 1932
45:48just before
45:50his 39th birthday.
45:53Jackie Smythe
45:54became a career
45:55army officer
45:56and rose to the rank
45:57of Brigadier.
46:00He died
46:01in 1983
46:02at the age
46:04of 89.
46:07After the war
46:09Noel Chivas
46:10was reburied
46:12near where
46:13he fell.
46:17His gravestone
46:18is engraved
46:20with two
46:20Victoria Crosses
46:22the only one
46:23like it in the world
46:26but carries
46:27an inscription
46:28that could stand
46:29for so many
46:30VCs
46:31of the great war.
46:33Greater love
46:34hath no man
46:35than this
46:37that a man
46:38lay down his life
46:40for his friends.
46:43or
46:44that a man
46:51the
46:52the
46:52moon
47:09or
47:10the
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