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(narrator) Some 54 million people
died in the Second World War,
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enough men, women and children
to people all of Great Britain,
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equal to one third
of the entire population
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of the United States of America.
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During the six years of the war,
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many millions of ordinary men
took up arms to kill each other.
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(priest) Say after me:
Teach us, good Lord…
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(congregation repeats)
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…to serve thee as thou deservest.
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(congregation repeats)
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To give and not to count the cost.
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(congregation repeats)
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To fight and not to heed the wounds.
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(congregation repeats)
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To toil and not to seek for rest.
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(congregation repeats)
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To labour and not to ask for any reward.
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(congregation repeats)
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Save that of knowing
that we do thy will.
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(congregation repeats)
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Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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(congregation repeats)
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Amen.
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I'm honoured
to be one of those first called,
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and I'll try very hard
to make a real good soldier.
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And I'm proud of you.
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(marching band drumming)
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Here we teach you how to kill,
get the opponent down on the ground,
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in the quickest manner possible, snuff
out his life by kicking with both feet,
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one foot, a rabbit punch, gouging
the eyes out, ripping the mouth.
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The gentle art of killing a man
is to get him on the ground
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and kick in this manner.
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(newsreel narrator) The job also
takes muscle and just plain guts.
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The infantryman has to be as hard
as the steel in the barrel of his rifle.
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It takes toughness and courage
to battle forward and parry on your own.
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You can't teach a man courage,
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but you can toughen him
for the big job ahead.
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♪ Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
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♪ Cheerio, here I go, on my way…
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(man) In the back of all our minds,
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this is the answer,
the finish of all wars.
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And none of us ever comprehended
what it could be like.
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You see? This was the point.
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(upbeat military music)
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(ship guns continue firing)
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(man) You realise
you're going in to kill,
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and we were always taught
that we had to kill or be killed.
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When you're faced with the situation
as a young man, I was only 19,
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it's confusing.
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You're built to take orders
and to obey orders,
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but, at the same token,
you're still a human being.
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(man) We were psychologically
trained, as well as militarily trained,
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to such a point where
you're doing everything by instinct.
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You sort of just move.
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(man) If you're told to do something,
there's no questioning the lieutenant.
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You get up and you start moving up.
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You tried to do it
the safest way possible, but you did it.
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(man) If they give you an order, you
have to follow it. You do it by rote.
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They'll say, “Move up, first squad.”
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The first squad will move up
like robots.
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And your squad leader is God.
I was a corporal. I was a squad leader.
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And I'd give the boys an order,
they'd do it.
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I think they fear their squad leader
more than they do the enemy.
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(man) When you start going on nerves,
you no longer function as a human being.
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You start functioning as a machine.
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(man) In a sense,
in combat everybody's on their own.
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You become your own general,
your own corporal, your own sergeant.
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(man) You're exhausted
to a point that's indescribable.
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(man) There's so much
going on in battle,
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you don't have time to concentrate
even when you see a friend die,
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as I have, because you have
yourself to think about.
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(man) When you're scared,
you're more alert.
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It's like you're playing a game
with somebody.
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You've got a gun and he's got a gun.
Who's gonna pull the trigger first?
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(man) Very often you shot together.
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Who shot who? You really don't know.
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(man) You don't know that somebody else
shot at the same time,
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so I guess that may give you a cop-out.
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You don't know whether
you really took the life at the time.
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When it's down to where two of you
are firing on about 14 people,
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you know that you must be blamed
for some.
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It's not like a game
of football or basketball,
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you know who scored the point.
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(man) At 300 yards,
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we couldn't tell whether they were
Germans or Americans
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and we started to fire,
and that's one time I hope to God
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that I missed every time I fired.
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(man) I don't think I was frightened.
I was scared.
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(man) Some people, as you know,
show fright more than others.
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I don't believe that I showed fright.
I may have.
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I tried not to because of the people
that I had with me.
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But I assure you, I was afraid.
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(man) There's no brave men.
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Everybody fights for theirself
when the time comes.
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(man) I think the most significant
factor is the desire to survive,
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and by that I mean the desire to survive
consistent of doing the decent thing,
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by not tooling it in
in front of your mates.
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(man) I think everybody was afraid,
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and later one learnt to realise that
basically this is what war is about,
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that it's really two groups of very
frightened men facing each other.
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(man) The first thing
that I can remember
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was the odour of the gunpowder,
you know, the artillery fire.
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It's a stink, an odour
you don't forget,
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and it was the first time
I'd smelt anything exactly like that.
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Of course, then you're aware of the
crack, crack, crack of the machine-gun.
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(man) The noise of war,
which is quite terrific,
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it's a very funny position to be in,
sort of in the roar of the tanks
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and some high-velocity stuff going off,
machine-guns, shells.
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(man) You imagine a large metal vessel
and you are inside it,
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and someone hits the outside
with a hammer.
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You then get this echoing of noise
which really penetrates your eardrums.
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(man) It's a particularly nasty form
of ending one's days
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if one is trapped in a tank
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and the tank blows up and is on fire.
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You will never lose the awfulness
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of screams of men trying to get out.
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(man) After a while
we didn't hear the noise
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the way we had heard it
at the very beginning.
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But it's just like anything else.
It didn't bother you any more.
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It's like my daughter playing
some of the up-to-date music.
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The first couple of minutes of it
drives me crazy
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and then after a while I don't know
whether I do become completely crazy
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and don't recognise it.
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(man) You might have had good training,
but you don't get much under fire.
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When that sorts itself out and you find
out which way the shells are going,
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and if you don't winged
or knocked out altogether,
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each time you come back,
you've got more confidence.
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You know when to duck and you don't
make a fool of yourself.
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And when you were quite satisfied
they weren't going to be too near you,
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you didn't do too much about it.
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But when they came close,
you just ducked and hoped for the best.
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(man) You get used to anything
after a while,
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even getting shot at.
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You needed a number of weapons,
and we used a great many weapons.
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(man) Flame-throwers,
that was the best weapon I had.
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(man) It's an idea
of kill or be killed.
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The method of the killing did not make
a great deal of difference
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in one's thinking at the time.
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(man) It was just a job, whether
you liked it or you didn't like it.
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It was the man's job.
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We had flame-throwers
and there was one in each platoon.
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I forget now if it was one, two…
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I remember four.
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(man) Them guys did some job.
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(man) Yeah,
we seen the people as they fell.
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I seen 'em when I'd say
there was about 14 bodies
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out there in front of us at that time.
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(man) I saw people layin' out there
with no head
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and some with their arms blown off
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and some of my friends, people
that I'd been training with for years,
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and then you see 'em get shot, you know,
it's pretty sickening.
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(man) If several thousand men
are killed,
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in the process of death, they do bleed.
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There was quite a lot of blood around.
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(man) The odour you'll never forget.
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The odour you'd never want
to smell again.
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Dead bodies. I couldn't describe it.
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(man) So many days you were
in one spot, you couldn't advance,
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and with the casualties, you found
yourself in a hole, more or less,
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with your dead bodies,
and the heat bloating them up,
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making them smell and turn black.
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And you had to just stay
right in that hole with 'em.
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You get callous to dead bodies
and bloated bodies,
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but you never get callous
to your own friends.
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(man) You could have a sandwich
any time,
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but you can't eat with your buddy
alongside of you, you can't.
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(man) You see them drop
or scream with pain.
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Some of the times
it's just a fleeting glance.
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(man) I got it taking care
of some men in a foxhole.
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One was completely dead
of blast concussion.
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There wasn't a mark on his body,
but he was dead.
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Another fellow,
I had to take off his leg.
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There was nothing left of the leg except
tendons that were tied to the body.
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(man) And see my friends falling around
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with gaping wounds in their chest,
their stomach, their arms and so forth.
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Some of them even laying there,
one minute they'd be talking to us,
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the next minute, they're gone.
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(man) I heard people hollering
and crying out for help.
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You couldn't get to them.
They'd lay there and holler.
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(man) It is a terrifying thought.
You walk along with one guy
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and turn around and look back,
you see him in two pieces.
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It has quite an effect on you.
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(man) The reaction is terrifying
in a sense.
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It only wants you to live more.
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You wanna live more yourself.
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(man) Afterwards is when your knees
go to jelly and you shake
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and you sit down and you cry.
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(man) After the operation,
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the only thing that we can say
that we mourned our dead.
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We mourned that more than anything
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and we were so happy
to be alive ourselves.
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We were just so grateful.
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To the Almighty.
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(man) One was terribly worried
because one didn't know the enemy.
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(man) The only time I ever saw them
was through field glasses,
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and I saw them in uniforms
and, you know, the dimensions of ants.
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(man) One was fearful until one
had seen them at close quarters.
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I was involved in taking some prisoner,
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and I realised
that they were human beings.
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(man) They showed kindness to their own
people too which we didn't really think.
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We thought life was cheap to them,
but that's not true.
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They showed a lot of kindness
to their own wounded
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and would tote 'em on their back,
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although they had enough trouble
just carrying theirself.
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But they would find the strength
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to carry their wounded
the same as we would.
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So they were people just like us.
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(man) Well, it struck me
how much like us they were.
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Apart from the clothes and the uniform,
they could have been anyone.
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(man) I was sort of disappointed,
because in my own mind
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I was gonna see somebody
in the peak of condition,
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who looked like everything
a soldier should look like
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and be completely dignified,
in fact even disdainful and arrogant.
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And they were a mess when I saw them.
They were filthy, dirty, beat up.
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(man) The anger I think
that most soldiers feel in war
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is a very personal anger.
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They go into battle. They're frightened.
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They lose a friend.
The friend is killed.
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And he's killed by that faceless fellow
over there who was shooting at him.
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There's where the anger comes in.
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I don't think you become a German hater
or a Japanese hater
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or anything else.
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(man) The longer you stay in combat,
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the more concerned you are
about casualties
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and impressing upon your commanders
that when they're assigned an objective,
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you're gonna hold them responsible
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for doing it the easy way
rather than the hard way.
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Naturally,
the longer troops remain in battle,
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the more they want to be supported
with artillery and air.
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They're through with fearing
they'll miss the war
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and they're ready to go out
and slug it out.
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They said if we can do it with the air,
let's not spill the blood.
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00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:36,840
(man) It's what is known
as saturation bombing.
234
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:38,720
You felt the Earth had come to an end.
235
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:43,200
It spouted in front of you, it shook, it
shuddered. The whole landscape heaved.
236
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,680
I thought,
“There can't be a living German.”
237
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,200
And the astonishing thing is,
about three quarters of an hour later,
238
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:57,720
the Germans rose out of all this mess
and came hopping towards us again.
239
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,520
(man) We were bombed quite often
by mistake.
240
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,680
We had a saying in the army
that when the British bombed,
241
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:14,840
the Axis took cover.
242
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:19,080
When the Germans bombed,
the Allies took cover.
243
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,760
But when our cousins, Americans,
bombed, everybody took cover.
244
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:31,480
(man) A battlefield is very funny.
245
00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,960
It's extraordinary how inanimate
the whole thing seems.
246
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:40,040
There's a little bit of an action
going on in the right-hand corner.
247
00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:43,280
For the rest, there are people
lying about, smoking.
248
00:22:43,360 --> 00:22:47,000
It's one of the very singular things
that films and books don't bring out,
249
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,160
I think Tolstoy perhaps
is the exception,
250
00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,080
of a battlefield
where nothing seems to be happening.
251
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:55,160
The action is always over a hedge
in another corner,
252
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,280
and it's a decisive thing.
253
00:22:57,360 --> 00:22:59,680
And then they ask you if you were there.
254
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:05,360
(man) War is, of course,
excruciatingly boring.
255
00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:11,440
I think I've never been so totally,
absolutely bored as I was in the army.
256
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,560
(man) We were so preoccupied
with the business
257
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,600
of eating, sleeping,
fighting, surviving,
258
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:30,000
that I certainly never remember
discussing the outcome of the war
259
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:34,040
or whether the Germans were right or we
were right or anything like that at all.
260
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,320
(man) The person who had lived well
prior to the war
261
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,120
missed his steaks and chops
and what have you,
262
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,640
but, I mean, I never missed 'em
because I never had 'em.
263
00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,840
You see, I was dragged up,
as we would say,
264
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,240
lived in hovels, you know.
265
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:54,800
But the army, to me,
people were looking after me,
266
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,800
I was elated, sort of thing, you know.
267
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,040
(man) Well, it does seem mad,
it seems incredible,
268
00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:06,920
but I think if people
get used to suffering
269
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,440
and living in slums and going without,
270
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,680
they adjust themselves
to this environment.
271
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,520
And I think we did.
We came to accept it.
272
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:17,880
It seems incredible.
273
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,880
To pick any of you men up now
and drop you out there,
274
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,960
I'd be doubtful whether you'd endure it,
but the change was gradual.
275
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,960
(man) War is, of course,
a study in extreme situations
276
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:39,280
and one's mood does shift
at an astonishing rate.
277
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,400
(man) An army has the morale of change,
278
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,040
of being taken out
of the humdrum routine.
279
00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:51,840
(man) Myself, I always felt one good
time made up for five bad times.
280
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,920
That's how I looked at it.
281
00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:01,240
(man) You can be scared to death
one minute and laughing the next.
282
00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:06,080
(jaunty music)
283
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:39,600
(explosions)
284
00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:47,600
(man) When you're an artilleryman
and you help to fire shells,
285
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,240
at that time I guess
about nine or ten miles away,
286
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:54,160
you're not really conscious of what sort
of destruction you're creating.
287
00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:58,480
(man) We're all unable to imagine
what people are feeling
288
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:00,480
a few hundred yards away.
289
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:03,840
(soldier) Fire!
290
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,600
(man) It is very much
a lack of imagination,
291
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,280
one of the greatest
human weaknesses, I think.
292
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:18,520
(man) I didn't quite realise what it
was until we moved through by convoy.
293
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:23,000
We had an opportunity
to see massive destruction
294
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:25,200
on a wholesale scale.
295
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,480
(man) Many soldiers,
particularly artillerymen and flyers,
296
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:36,040
had to kill innocent women and children,
non-combatants.
297
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:38,160
It seems to me an immoral sin.
298
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,880
There's been a great deterioration
in modern warfare.
299
00:26:50,360 --> 00:26:53,040
(man) Civilians are always a nuisance.
300
00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:01,920
Hungry, shivering Italians
came to our mess for leftovers,
301
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,920
and we at first gave them a good deal,
eating less ourselves.
302
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:15,360
But then came an order to bury all food
that wasn't consumed
303
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:20,080
and we were forced to throw
huge amounts of uneaten food
304
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:24,600
into a hole in the ground
and cover it up.
305
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,040
This was an appalling thing for us
306
00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:30,760
because the Italian civilians
looked very hungry
307
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,280
and in fact were very hungry.
308
00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:37,480
The Italians weren't our enemies
at that time.
309
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,000
But when in doubt, don't do anything
310
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,680
that might cause trouble
in higher headquarters.
311
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,600
(man) It was a beautiful sight
to see these different ships of war,
312
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:04,240
the tremendous power,
the flashes, the roar.
313
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,120
Three one.
314
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,640
(man) I used to get a big kick
out of the tremendous power
315
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:18,000
of these battleships when they fired
the 16-inch guns—what a crack.
316
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,160
(man) I remember the action. I dream
about it. There is a certain feeling.
317
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,080
I don't care who you are,
318
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:36,120
there's a certain feeling
of exultation about combat.
319
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,360
(man) You had mixed feelings there:
pride and fear.
320
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,040
You're proud
that you're part of an organisation.
321
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,760
You're afraid
you're gonna get killed or wounded.
322
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,520
I guess it's man's nature.
323
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,880
(man) You're scared,
but there's a feeling of exultation too.
324
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,680
That's why there'd be so many wars.
325
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,160
At night, you don't know the strength
of your enemy or anything else.
326
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,600
You may be fighting an enemy
that's far superior to what you are.
327
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:18,800
It gives you rather a strange feeling.
You're like fighting in the dark.
328
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,600
But, sure, you would open fire. Your
guns were being fired by radar target.
329
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:26,160
You, in turn, were receiving fire.
It's rather a weird sensation.
330
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,320
You would rather much be seeing
what you were firing at
331
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,040
and what the odds were against you.
332
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,400
You wouldn't feel so helpless.
333
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,240
(man) When you attack
a major naval taskforce,
334
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,440
you come into the most dense firepower
ever known in military history.
335
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,920
(man) I can imagine being up
in an aircraft and looking down
336
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,560
and seeing all that come up at me.
It would be… unbelievable.
337
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,360
It'd be just like some kind of a dream.
338
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,920
(man) You couldn't believe
it was humanly possible
339
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,000
for a fly to get through
something like that,
340
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:52,640
but some of them did.
341
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,680
(man) We opened up
and when we smashed our first plane,
342
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:11,280
it was like being at a football game—
everybody forget we was at a war
343
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,240
and we all got up and started cheering.
344
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,440
Then it dawned upon us,
when we seen this one ship get hit,
345
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:20,520
that this was for real, you know,
346
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,440
and then we all kind of woke up to the
fact that we were at a war, you know.
347
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:38,120
(man) It was a cloudy, overcast day.
It was seven o'clock in the morning.
348
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,200
And the duty that came in
and dropped the bombs on us
349
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,240
came in at wave height.
350
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,240
(man) It hit this carrier dead centre,
351
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,320
and as we went by,
men were abandoning ship,
352
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,560
the whole ship just seemed to explode.
There was nothing there.
353
00:31:55,800 --> 00:32:00,920
(man) When we were hit, there were
3226 men on the roster of the ship.
354
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,520
The morning after at general muster,
there were 704.
355
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:10,360
(man) Of course, aboard ship
were over 3,000 men.
356
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,040
You can't know them all,
357
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:16,800
but you are bound to have lost
358
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:20,200
numerous of those that you did know.
359
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:30,120
The enormous amount of damage
that one plane did
360
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:31,960
by dropping those two bombs,
361
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,080
it's something
that you just can't understand,
362
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:39,160
the number of lives that
that man was responsible for.
363
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:03,040
I believe the worst thing for me
was the time when we were trapped
364
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:05,640
and just saw no way out,
365
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:09,160
and each succeeding explosion
366
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:13,480
accentuated the fact
that you weren't gonna get out of there.
367
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:19,320
I can remember men that were,
many of them, so tense
368
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,360
that they couldn't talk
if they wanted to.
369
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:28,040
Their inner souls, their inner minds,
may have been working overtime,
370
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,200
but they couldn't have said a word.
371
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,680
Others screaming and crying.
372
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,720
Such things as that tear you apart.
373
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,080
(man) I think that flying
is so impersonal,
374
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:08,480
that is to say combat flying, that you
don't get that intimate sense of loss
375
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,200
if you see an airplane get shot down
376
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,240
that you'd have if your buddy
on a battlefield had his head blown off
377
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,360
right within arm's length.
378
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,440
(man) I don't think anyone
ever considered that he would be killed.
379
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:32,200
Death was something which was just put
at the back of your mind.
380
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:38,360
If it was not, you'd have just got the
jitters about it and been very worried.
381
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,880
If a fellow did go missing, it was just,
382
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:50,200
“Poor old so-and-so, he's had it,”
and that was that.
383
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,800
Inwardly, of course, you'd feel it
tremendously if you lost a pal.
384
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:00,680
But you didn't dwell
on the subject of death at all.
385
00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:05,960
(man) Exhilaration?
I don't know if that's the word.
386
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,480
It's almost, “We've gotta do it.”
387
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:12,280
You never think of getting shot down,
or your safety.
388
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,200
You do after you're hit,
you start thinking of self-preservation,
389
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,280
but not at that time.
390
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,400
(man) When you were fighting
a particular man in his machine
391
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,800
and you in your machine,
the sky became empty.
392
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:31,280
You didn't see anyone else. 200 or 300
aircraft and then suddenly nothing.
393
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:35,120
It was just one against one, and
sometimes you knew he was very good,
394
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,600
sometimes you knew he wasn't so good.
395
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,360
And you can assess the situation
fairly closely
396
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:45,000
as to whether he might be lucky and hit
you, but otherwise you could get him.
397
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:52,520
(man) Shoot-down is simple,
398
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,320
but you had to calculate
the lead required,
399
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,880
that is how far you would lead your guns
or bore-sight line ahead of the target.
400
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:02,440
So you had to estimate
the target's speed.
401
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:06,160
You had to estimate the angle
that you are from the target.
402
00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:09,160
In other words, you fired
so that when your rounds got there,
403
00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:12,040
the airplane, your target,
would intercept 'em.
404
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,040
(man) I think we were just
getting on with the war,
405
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,920
as one would play a game
of rugby or cricket, to win,
406
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:22,920
that was all.
407
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,040
You just played your hardest.
The other man had to come down.
408
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,040
(man) Pilots and people who kill
at a distance
409
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,760
don't have any particular delight
in destruction.
410
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,360
They have a great delight
in their implements
411
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,840
and in precision bombing and so on.
412
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:18,280
The further you are from the target,
the less likely you are
413
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:24,040
to have any understanding of what
deviltry your weapons are causing.
414
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,800
—(man) It'll weave a bit, Skip.
—(man
415
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:33,880
(man
416
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,000
(man) There's a flare
just to the left.
417
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:37,960
(man
418
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,560
(man) OK. Keep weaving for a while.
419
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:43,600
—(man
—Then spread a little.
420
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,520
—(man
—Bomb doors open.
421
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,000
(man) Steady.
422
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:52,360
—(man
—Steady. Bombs away.
423
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,320
—(man
—There goes the cookie.
424
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,120
(man
425
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,320
—4,000lb have just gone off.
—(man) And good show.
426
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,600
(man
427
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,120
(man
428
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:14,640
(man recites)
This is a damned unnatural sort of war
429
00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:16,560
The pilot sits among the clouds
430
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,960
Quite sure about the values
he is fighting for
431
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,240
He cannot hear beyond his veil of sound
432
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:26,800
He cannot see the people on the ground
433
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:29,040
He only knows that on the sloping map
434
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,000
Of sea-fringed town and country
435
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:34,720
People creep like ants
436
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:37,760
And who cares if ants laugh or weep?
437
00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:45,320
—Plane.
—On target.
438
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,960
Read first 12, 800.
439
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:52,720
—(man) That's 12, 800.
—(woman) 12, 800 set.
440
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:57,640
(man recites) To us, he is no more than
a machine shown on an instrument
441
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:01,840
What can he mean in human terms?
442
00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:03,920
A man, somebody's son
443
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,240
Proud of his skill
444
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:07,960
Compact of flesh and bone
445
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,800
Fragile as Icarus
446
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,280
And our desire
447
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:17,600
To see that damned machine
come down on fire
448
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,000
—(man) They're firing at us now.
—(man
449
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:46,600
(man
in the front here.
450
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:50,520
Oil's leaking out of the front carriage.
Still, it's nothing to worry about.
451
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,520
(man) OK.
452
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:54,680
(man
like this.
453
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:56,680
(man) Neither have I.
454
00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:06,720
(man) I think my fear
manifested itself.
455
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,680
First of all, I found myself
being a little more religious
456
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:11,680
than I had been back in the States.
457
00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:15,000
I thought more about my creator
and what I ought to be doing
458
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,040
to make sure
I stayed in good graces with him.
459
00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:25,000
I don't say that the fear
was an acute one,
460
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,280
so that you went around trembling,
461
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,800
but I think that it was pretty well felt
462
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,280
that our chances of surviving
were not particularly good.
463
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:36,560
But after all,
it was what we felt we had to do,
464
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,640
and I felt if you were gonna die,
that was the best way to die.
465
00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:44,560
I'd much rather die in an airplane
than in the mud on some battlefield.
466
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:51,280
(man) I think the overriding fear
is the fear of making mistakes.
467
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:03,240
There's the confusion of battle.
Everything goes topsy-turvy.
468
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,560
So you sort of forget
that overriding fear
469
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:10,120
and you just try to take care
of whatever's right at hand.
470
00:41:11,240 --> 00:41:15,440
(man) It was generally understood
that the combat tour was 25 missions
471
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,760
because it was anticipated
you'd be dead by the end of that time,
472
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,520
so there wasn't any point in asking you
to stay around any longer.
473
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,200
(man recites) Suddenly at night
the bombers came
474
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:51,600
In the hard, reverberating bowl
of the sky
475
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,600
Destroying the factory
and the tall cathedral
476
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,280
The dock, the warehouse
and the railway station
477
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,800
The rich house in the leafy avenue
478
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,400
And the shouldering tenements
of the narrow streets
479
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:07,440
And the bodies and souls of men
480
00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:15,600
I sought my son
among the smoking stones
481
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:18,560
Where I had crouched with him
clutched at my breast
482
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,280
Until the bomb burst
and the building shattered down
483
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,760
And the dark came
and severed my son from me
484
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,200
I cried out with a voice
harsh in my throat
485
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,120
My son
486
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:32,040
I have lost my son
487
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:35,240
And charred faces stared at me with pity
488
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:41,640
And I saw the city burning about me
489
00:42:41,720 --> 00:42:44,520
And the flash of guns on the dark smoke
490
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:46,840
And I heard bombs burst in the fire
491
00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:49,280
And in my heart
492
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:52,000
But no one came to seek my son
493
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,640
(man) It's alright looking back
in hindsight at a lot of this action,
494
00:43:10,720 --> 00:43:13,680
but we as boys from school
in most cases, in fact,
495
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,920
joined the air force because we felt
this was the best service.
496
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,680
We accepted that there were people
in higher places
497
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,280
who knew the actual facts
and were directing us in the right way.
498
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:31,720
(man recites) These are facts
499
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,400
Observe them how you will
500
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:36,960
Forget for a moment
the medals and the glory
501
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:40,720
The clean shape of the bomb
designed to kill
502
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:43,200
And the proud headlines
of the paper's story
503
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:48,560
Bodies in death
are not magnificent or stately
504
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:52,160
Bones are not elegant
that blast has shattered
505
00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:54,920
This sorry, stained and crumpled rag
506
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:59,320
Was lately a man whose life
was made of little things that mattered
507
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:03,640
Now he is just a nuisance
508
00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:05,520
Liable to stink
509
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:07,520
A breeding ground for flies
510
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:10,160
A test tube for disease
511
00:44:10,240 --> 00:44:14,640
Bury him quickly
and never pause to think
512
00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:17,400
What is the future worth
to men like these?
513
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:24,960
(man) People talk about
morality in war.
514
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:27,680
Tell me some action of war
that is moral.
515
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:33,520
People say
you mustn't do anything to civilians.
516
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:37,360
Good Lord, what's happened to civilians
in every besieged city of the past?
517
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:42,400
Haven't they always been starved into
surrender and bombarded into surrender?
518
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,360
What's the difference
between bombarding them with guns
519
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:47,000
and bombarding the cities
520
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,920
where they're manufacturing the weapons
and the ammunition?
521
00:44:51,000 --> 00:45:02,880
♪ Praise the Lord
and pass the ammunition
522
00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:06,520
♪ And we'll all stay free
523
00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:11,640
♪ Praise the Lord
and swing into position
524
00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:15,760
♪ Can't afford to be a politician
525
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:17,920
♪ Praise the Lord
526
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:23,560
♪ We're all between perdition
and the deep blue sea
527
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:26,400
(man) You could get
as much employment as you wanted,
528
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,680
and large families could really get
84 hours of employment.
529
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,000
Families which had never had
any money at all
530
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:34,640
were suddenly having lots of money.
531
00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:37,320
(man) As far as the unions
are concerned,
532
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:40,800
it was a happy war,
it was a popular war, it was supported.
533
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:44,000
The unions supported
the war considerably.
534
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:50,200
They were busy turning out planes
and ships and war materiel.
535
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:53,200
(man) There was quite a lot of money
made in the factories,
536
00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:56,400
but without a shadow of doubt
or fear of contradiction,
537
00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:59,120
a lot of people made a lot of money
out of the war.
538
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:03,320
♪ Praise the Lord
We're on a mighty mission
539
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:07,360
♪ All aboard
We're not a-goin' fishin'
540
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,920
♪ Praise the Lord
and pass the ammunition
541
00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,520
♪ And we'll all stay free
542
00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:39,840
(man) The day was clear
when we dropped that bomb.
543
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:43,840
It was clear, sunshiny day,
and visibility was unrestricted.
544
00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:00,520
(man) A white light just obliterated
the whole sky. I'll never forget it.
545
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:04,320
And we saw, off our right wing,
546
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,680
the cloud coming up from Hiroshima.
547
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:11,760
(man) Where before
there had been a city,
548
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:14,480
distinctive houses, buildings
and everything,
549
00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:18,960
now you couldn't see anything
except a black, boiling barrel of tar.
550
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:22,600
It was terrible to look at, really,
551
00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:26,200
because you knew
there were people underneath,
552
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:29,480
and you could speculate
what the result was there.
553
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:33,160
As far as my personal feelings
are concerned,
554
00:47:33,240 --> 00:47:36,120
I never let my personal feelings
enter into it.
555
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:39,560
I knew there were people down below
and getting hurt by this,
556
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,960
and I felt that if I let my emotions
get carried away
557
00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:45,800
and I get to worrying
about who's gonna get hurt,
558
00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:47,560
I wouldn't be effective at all,
559
00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:50,720
so I had to school myself
not to think about it.
560
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,600
(man) A weapon is a weapon, and it
really doesn't make much difference
561
00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:56,920
how you kill a man.
562
00:47:57,000 --> 00:47:59,480
If you have to kill him,
that's evil to start with,
563
00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:03,160
and how you do it
becomes pretty secondary.
564
00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:07,280
I think that your choice should be
which weapon is most efficient
565
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:12,520
and most likely to get the whole mess
over with as early as possible.
566
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:21,000
(man) The lesson the Second World War
taught us was to keep out of war.
567
00:48:23,720 --> 00:48:28,600
(man) I think had we not have fought
that war in 1939 to 1945,
568
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:31,680
we would not have had the world
as we know it today.
569
00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:36,360
(man) No war's worth fighting.
570
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:39,720
All these lives,
these thousands of lives that are lost,
571
00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:41,880
and the sadness it leaves behind.
572
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:43,960
Definitely not.
573
00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:48,600
(man) My own viewpoint
was that the war for me
574
00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:51,040
had been a complete failure
575
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:55,400
because there were 60 million
square-headed bastards still living.
576
00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:00,960
(man) I would fight
for the government again, definitely.
577
00:49:01,040 --> 00:49:04,040
And I would fight again tomorrow,
if I had to go back in again,
578
00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:06,400
to fight for
the United States government.
579
00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:12,520
(man) It was a terrible waste
of human life and money,
580
00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:16,800
but it had to be done and there was
no way we could have avoided it.