like the one that took place here, on the banks of the river somme in the summer of 1916.hat one and others such as passchendaele were bloody fail yours, passchendaele were bloody fail youi’s, as passchendaele were bloody fail yours, as the british, french were unable to penetrate german lines. but everything changed in the new year of 1918. germany managed to defeat the russians over in the east and moved one million hardened vetera ns to and moved one million hardened veterans to the western frontal system. these veterans attacked in spring 1918. the allies retreated but just held on. by but just held on. by summer the allies were ready to counter attack and the place they chose was the strategically important city of amiens. at amiens the british would unleash a new kind of warfare, revolutionary tactics that still shape the battlefield today. the infantry would move forward with protection, it was like a curtain of fire that kept the enemy from manning machine guns, and then there were these. tanks. cutting—edge technology only beenin tanks. cutting—edge technology onl

welcome to amiens cathedral, in north east france, the heart of the somme region, 100 years

attended a large number over the last four year, he was at the first in 2014 as well as events as the somme, at passchendaele. greeted by florence pa rly. and he has been to a number of these events as i say, all of them marking

somme. the marne defensive. 3rd division. somme followed that. toward the end of july and early august you have something called the advance to the vela river where more and more american divisions were getting involved. our involvement builds to a crescendo in the autumn of 1918. pershing wanted to create a single american army, that would be under american command, american officers, american soldiers wearing american uniforms, to fight in an american way on our own sector of the front. in practice, pershing and other americans, this is the first talk i've given to this sound track of horses neighing in the background, i love it. pershing had to compromise. in the spring of 1918, he had to break up american divisions and american units into smaller formations and embed them on french and british fronts on french and british command. it's important to keep that in mind. in practice we are fighting under french and british command. it's important to keep that in mind. but bellu wood was primarily a marine operation. 1918, the marines can say, rig

offences up and down the western front, like the one that took place here on the banks of the river sommely penetrate german lines. but everything changed in the new year of 1918. germany had managed to defeat the russians over in the east and move1 million hardened veterans to the western front. these veterans attacked in spring 1918. the allies retreated but just held on. by summer, the allies were ready to counter attack, and the place they chose was the strategically important city of amiens. at amiens, the british would unleash a new kind of warfare, revolutionary new tactics that still shape the battlefield today. the inventory would move forward with unprecedented protection. it was like a curtain of fire which kept the enemy from manning their machine guns. and then there were these — tanks. cutting—edge technology only been in existence on the battlefield for less than two years. these steel monsters were able to rumble across the shattered moonscape of the battlefield, crushing enemy barbed wire and suppressing their machine gun posts. plus, they were armour plated, so machine g

protecting their flank along the somme, the germans fanned out to the north and east.hilation. on may 28, the belgian army, compressed into a small space and weary of battle, lay down its arms. that left the desperate french and british defenders with their backs to the sea at the small channel port of dunkirk. ♪ narrator: one of the greatest disasters in history seemed in the making. the entire british army faced annihilation. but out of the fog and mist crowding the channel came a strange armada. navy craft, fishing boats, pleasure yachts, anything that could float. the seagoing people of britain had come to rescue their army. miles ahead, british fighter planes brought the luftwaffe to a standstill. [plane sounds] >> while below, small allied suicide units held the germans back long enough for the miracle of dunkirk to take place. ♪ [explosions] ♪ 211,500 british troops plus 112,500 french and belgian were rescued. over 300,000 battle tested men, grimly determined to go back again with new tools, new weapons with which to blast the hated nazis out of this world. for

two godfathers died and her father was badly wounded at the somme.ll those who have died in battle 100 yea rs those who have died in battle 100 years ago this year. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, the author and journalist rachel shabi, and laura perrins, the co—editor of the conservative woman. that's coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now it's time for the weather with darren bett. hello there. the last 24 hours has seen hello there. the last 24 hours has seen cooler, fresh air arrived across the whole country and temperatures may fall even lower over the next few days —— fresher air arrived. over the next few days —— fresher airarrived. on over the next few days —— fresher air arrived. on wednesday with the heat and humidity, 27 degrees at coningsby in lincolnshire, 17 to 19 was nearer the mark in that cooler, fresher air. high pressure to the south—west of the uk drawing our air down from the north or north—west, dragging down cooler air all the while and we're dragging in a whole host of showers as w

we would expect from the second world war, those big french battles, attritional struggle at the sommesnd men and ammunitions coming together, and really coordinating and planning properly. it marked the moment when the germans really started to take a huge hit for their morale. they had never experienced defeat quite like this during the conflict before, so all the chaos and confusion that came with that kind of defeat really left its mark on german morale. and we can see theresa may walking out of the cathedral behind you, but looking at the international nature of the event, the canadians there are, of course, the australians, and the germans sticking up it as well. that is important? absolutely. this was a chance to reflect on the experiences of all of those who took pa rt experiences of all of those who took part and we heard very moving testimony from soldiers at the time on both sides of the line, and that british empire edvald and, of course, the canadians, australians, heavily involved in and we shouldn't forget the french and americans as well —— british empire, of course. it

such as the somme and ypres. >> and military deaths numbers, germany losing 2.1 million soldiers.ilitary deaths throughout the war. russia, 1.8 million. france, 1.4 million. austria/hungary, 1.1 million. great britain, the british empire, with several hundred thousand deaths, 885,000. the united states of america, with 117,000 military deaths over the course of their involvement. in world war i. dave in bellevue, florida, a veteran, go ahead. >> caller: yeah, what percentage of all the casualties is given for injuries or deaths, related to disease you know, the hygiene there wasn't any, the battlefields were just mud and trenches. and the last lady took my spanish flu thunder. but that was more or less the capper. there were many troops left to really engage. so the appalling conditions, the troops fought under, with absolutely you know, no medical or anything like that. i think that accounted for you now, quite a few of the total deaths. could you comment on that, please? >> well, to point out, i'll point out first of all that the army medical services and navy as well, did a won

we often think of heavy casualties in terms of things like the first day of the battle of the somme,e human cost, particularly to the german forces, is the number of prisoners taken. it is the number of prisoners taken. it isa is the number of prisoners taken. it is a staggering quantity of men who surrender, and the reason why they do that was because of their morale being so much lower, their supply chain is so much weaker, but for allies, in contrast, confidence has grown, and this battle solidifies the confidence and allows the allies to push ahead to ultimate victory. there is a real change in fortunes thatis there is a real change in fortunes that is summarised by the battle that is summarised by the battle that we commemorate today. how important is it to commemorate the battle ? important is it to commemorate the battle? i think any centenary is a useful moments to look back and to try to understand more about the conflict. amiens is interesting, because perhaps it doesn't come as quickly to mind as the somme or something like the battle of passchendaele, and i think one of t

a lot of people are less familiar with, not like the battle of passchendaele or the battle of the sommee are lots of personal stories which will be told in the cathedral. i am told of two of those who are empowering stories weapon. tell me about relation, what relation was he? it was my grandmother ‘s brother. relation was he? it was my grandmother 's brother. have you got a picture? what was he serving an? what was his regiment? he was in the australian battalion. what you know about what he did during the battle? basically he was a private in the australian army, there were woods outside and about three o'clock in the morning they moved into position for the battle that day and their objective was a point about vehicle kilometres down the road, but he was killed somewhere between the start and three colour matters. he left a letter, like a lot of soldiers. you have got a copy of it there. very sad and poignant, but he had also thought it through. if i hold it. sad and poignant, but he had also thought it through. if! hold it. he wrote this letter about april 1917, it was basically say