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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 U nited 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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00:21:58,525 --> 00:22:01,736
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.
232
00:22:22,841 --> 00:22:27,887
They said if we can do it with the air,
let's not spill the blood.
233
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,194
(man) It's what is known
as saturation bombing.
234
00:22:43,278 --> 00:22:45,154
You felt the Earth had come to an end.
235
00:22:45,238 --> 00:22:49,825
It spouted in front of you, it shook, it
shuddered. The whole landscape heaved.
236
00:22:52,996 --> 00:22:56,582
I thought,
"There can't be a living German."
237
00:22:56,666 --> 00:23:00,252
And the astonishing thing is,
about three quarters of an hour later,
238
00:23:00,337 --> 00:23:04,965
the Germans rose out of all this mess
and came hopping towards us again.
239
00:23:12,599 --> 00:23:16,268
(man) We were bombed quite often
by mistake.
240
00:23:16,353 --> 00:23:20,564
We had a saying in the army
that when the British bombed,
241
00:23:20,649 --> 00:23:22,817
the Axis took cover.
242
00:23:22,901 --> 00:23:27,238
When the Germans bombed,
the Allies took cover.
243
00:23:27,322 --> 00:23:31,075
But when our cousins, Americans,
bombed, everybody took cover.
244
00:23:38,291 --> 00:23:40,167
(man) A battlefield is very funny.
245
00:23:40,252 --> 00:23:43,838
It's extraordinary how inanimate
the whole thing seems.
246
00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:49,093
There's a little bit of an action
going on in the right-hand corner.
247
00:23:49,177 --> 00:23:52,471
For the rest, there are people
lying about, smoking.
248
00:23:52,556 --> 00:23:56,350
It's one of the very singular things
that films and books don't bring out,
249
00:23:56,435 --> 00:23:58,602
I think Tolstoy perhaps
is the exception,
250
00:23:58,687 --> 00:24:01,647
of a battlefield
where nothing seems to be happening.
251
00:24:01,731 --> 00:24:04,859
The action is always over a hedge
in another corner,
252
00:24:04,943 --> 00:24:07,069
and it's a decisive thing.
253
00:24:07,195 --> 00:24:09,572
And then they ask you if you were there.
254
00:24:11,700 --> 00:24:15,494
(man) War is, of course,
excruciatingly boring.
255
00:24:15,579 --> 00:24:21,834
I think I've never been so totally,
absolutely bored as I was in the army.
256
00:24:31,970 --> 00:24:34,472
(man) We were so preoccupied
with the business
257
00:24:34,556 --> 00:24:37,683
of eating, sleeping,
fighting, surviving,
258
00:24:37,767 --> 00:24:41,187
that I certainly never remember
discussing the outcome of the war
259
00:24:41,271 --> 00:24:45,399
or whether the Germans were right or we
were right or anything like that at all.
260
00:24:49,279 --> 00:24:51,947
(man) The person who had lived well
prior to the war
261
00:24:52,032 --> 00:24:54,867
missed his steaks and chops
and what have you,
262
00:24:54,951 --> 00:24:58,537
but, I mean, I never missed 'em
because I never had 'em.
263
00:24:58,622 --> 00:25:01,874
You see, I was dragged up,
as we would say,
264
00:25:01,958 --> 00:25:04,376
lived in hovels, you know.
265
00:25:04,461 --> 00:25:07,046
But the army, to me,
people were looking after me,
266
00:25:07,130 --> 00:25:10,174
I was elated, sort of thing, you know.
267
00:25:13,970 --> 00:25:16,680
(man) Well, it does seem mad,
it seems incredible,
268
00:25:16,765 --> 00:25:19,683
but I think if people
get used to suffering
269
00:25:19,768 --> 00:25:22,311
and living in slums and going without,
270
00:25:22,395 --> 00:25:26,732
they adjust themselves
to this environment.
271
00:25:26,816 --> 00:25:29,693
And I think we did.
We came to accept it.
272
00:25:29,778 --> 00:25:31,111
It seems incredible.
273
00:25:31,196 --> 00:25:34,240
To pick any of you men up now
and drop you out there,
274
00:25:34,324 --> 00:25:38,494
I'd be doubtful whether you'd endure it,
but the change was gradual.
275
00:25:43,500 --> 00:25:47,878
(man) War is, of course,
a study in extreme situations
276
00:25:48,004 --> 00:25:53,425
and one's mood does shift
at an astonishing rate.
277
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:57,721
(man) An army has the morale of change,
278
00:25:57,806 --> 00:26:01,517
of being taken out
of the humdrum routine.
279
00:26:01,601 --> 00:26:06,522
(man) Myself, I always felt one good
time made up for five bad times.
280
00:26:06,606 --> 00:26:08,691
That's how I looked at it.
281
00:26:10,777 --> 00:26:16,323
(man) You can be scared to death
one minute and laughing the next.
282
00:26:19,578 --> 00:26:21,370
(jaunty music)
283
00:26:54,946 --> 00:26:56,322
(explosions)
284
00:27:01,036 --> 00:27:04,663
(man) When you're an artilleryman
and you help to fire shells,
285
00:27:04,748 --> 00:27:07,416
at that time I guess
about nine or ten miles away,
286
00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:11,545
you're not really conscious of what sort
of destruction you're creating.
287
00:27:12,547 --> 00:27:16,008
(man) We're all unable to imagine
what people are feeling
288
00:27:16,092 --> 00:27:18,093
a few hundred yards away.
289
00:27:19,471 --> 00:27:21,597
(soldier) Fire!
290
00:27:21,681 --> 00:27:24,475
(man) It is very much
a lack of imagination,
291
00:27:24,559 --> 00:27:28,312
one of the greatest
human weaknesses, I think.
292
00:27:32,025 --> 00:27:36,945
(man) I didn't quite realise what it
was until we moved through by convoy.
293
00:27:37,030 --> 00:27:41,575
We had an opportunity
to see massive destruction
294
00:27:41,660 --> 00:27:43,869
on a wholesale scale.
295
00:27:46,164 --> 00:27:50,417
(man) Many soldiers,
particularly artillerymen and flyers,
296
00:27:50,502 --> 00:27:55,172
had to kill innocent women and children,
non-combatants.
297
00:27:55,256 --> 00:27:57,383
It seems to me an immoral sin.
298
00:27:57,467 --> 00:28:01,261
There's been a great deterioration
in modern warfare.
299
00:28:10,105 --> 00:28:12,898
(man) Civilians are always a nuisance.
300
00:28:16,236 --> 00:28:22,157
Hungry, shivering ltalians
came to our mess for leftovers,
301
00:28:22,242 --> 00:28:27,371
and we at first gave them a good deal,
eating less ourselves.
302
00:28:29,207 --> 00:28:36,171
But then came an order to bury all food
that wasn't consumed
303
00:28:36,256 --> 00:28:41,051
and we were forced to throw
huge amounts of uneaten food
304
00:28:41,136 --> 00:28:45,806
into a hole in the ground
and cover it up.
305
00:28:45,890 --> 00:28:48,350
This was an appalling thing for us
306
00:28:48,435 --> 00:28:52,229
because the ltalian civilians
looked very hungry
307
00:28:52,355 --> 00:28:54,857
and in fact were very hungry.
308
00:28:54,941 --> 00:28:59,236
The ltalians weren't our enemies
at that time.
309
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,906
But when in doubt, don't do anything
310
00:29:02,991 --> 00:29:05,701
that might cause trouble
in higher headquarters.
311
00:29:18,882 --> 00:29:22,301
(man) It was a beautiful sight
to see these different ships of war,
312
00:29:22,385 --> 00:29:27,139
the tremendous power,
the flashes, the roar.
313
00:29:30,602 --> 00:29:32,227
Three one.
314
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,940
(man) I used to get a big kick
out of the tremendous power
315
00:29:37,025 --> 00:29:41,487
of these battleships when they fired
the 16-inch guns - what a crack.
316
00:29:50,288 --> 00:29:54,166
(man) I remember the action. I dream
about it. There is a certain feeling.
317
00:29:54,250 --> 00:29:56,168
I don't care who you are,
318
00:29:56,252 --> 00:30:00,380
there's a certain feeling
of exultation about combat.
319
00:30:03,718 --> 00:30:06,887
(man) You had mixed feelings there:
pride and fear.
320
00:30:06,971 --> 00:30:09,681
You're proud
that you're part of an organisation.
321
00:30:09,766 --> 00:30:12,518
You're afraid
you're gonna get killed or wounded.
322
00:30:12,602 --> 00:30:15,395
I guess it's man's nature.
323
00:30:22,779 --> 00:30:26,198
(man) You're scared,
but there's a feeling of exultation too.
324
00:30:26,282 --> 00:30:30,160
That's why there'd be so many wars.
325
00:30:31,371 --> 00:30:35,874
At night, you don't know the strength
of your enemy or anything else.
326
00:30:35,959 --> 00:30:39,461
You may be fighting an enemy
that's far superior to what you are.
327
00:30:39,546 --> 00:30:44,883
It gives you rather a strange feeling.
You're like fighting in the dark.
328
00:30:44,968 --> 00:30:48,846
But, sure, you would open fire. Your
guns were being fired by radar target.
329
00:30:48,930 --> 00:30:52,558
You, in turn, were receiving fire.
It's rather a weird sensation.
330
00:30:52,642 --> 00:30:55,853
You would rather much be seeing
what you were firing at
331
00:30:55,937 --> 00:30:58,689
and what the odds were against you.
332
00:30:58,773 --> 00:31:01,149
You wouldn't feel so helpless.
333
00:31:48,531 --> 00:31:51,033
(man) When you attack
a major naval taskforce,
334
00:31:51,117 --> 00:31:55,412
you come into the most dense firepower
ever known in military history.
335
00:31:59,125 --> 00:32:02,169
(man) I can imagine being up
in an aircraft and looking down
336
00:32:02,253 --> 00:32:05,964
and seeing all that come up at me.
It would be... unbelievable.
337
00:32:06,049 --> 00:32:08,842
lt'd be just like some kind of a dream.
338
00:32:15,099 --> 00:32:17,809
(man) You couldn't believe
it was humanly possible
339
00:32:17,894 --> 00:32:21,063
for a fly to get through
something like that,
340
00:32:21,147 --> 00:32:22,731
but some of them did.
341
00:32:34,327 --> 00:32:38,413
(man) We opened up
and when we smashed our first plane,
342
00:32:38,498 --> 00:32:42,167
it was like being at a football game -
everybody forget we was at a war
343
00:32:42,251 --> 00:32:46,296
and we all got up and started cheering.
344
00:32:46,381 --> 00:32:49,633
Then it dawned upon us,
when we seen this one ship get hit,
345
00:32:49,717 --> 00:32:51,802
that this was for real, you know,
346
00:32:51,886 --> 00:32:55,889
and then we all kind of woke up to the
fact that we were at a war, you know.
347
00:33:05,358 --> 00:33:10,153
(man) It was a cloudy, overcast day.
It was seven o'clock in the morning.
348
00:33:10,238 --> 00:33:14,408
And the duty that came in
and dropped the bombs on us
349
00:33:14,492 --> 00:33:16,535
came in at wave height.
350
00:33:17,620 --> 00:33:19,663
(man) It hit this carrier dead centre,
351
00:33:19,747 --> 00:33:22,874
and as we went by,
men were abandoning ship,
352
00:33:22,959 --> 00:33:26,211
the whole ship just seemed to explode.
There was nothing there.
353
00:33:28,589 --> 00:33:33,927
(man) When we were hit, there were
3226 men on the roster of the ship.
354
00:33:34,012 --> 00:33:38,724
The morning after at general muster,
there were 704.
355
00:33:40,018 --> 00:33:43,770
(man) Of course, aboard ship
were over 3,000 men.
356
00:33:43,855 --> 00:33:46,565
You can't know them all,
357
00:33:46,691 --> 00:33:50,485
but you are bound to have lost
358
00:33:50,570 --> 00:33:54,031
numerous of those that you did know.
359
00:33:59,787 --> 00:34:04,374
The enormous amount of damage
that one plane did
360
00:34:04,459 --> 00:34:06,293
by dropping those two bombs,
361
00:34:06,377 --> 00:34:09,546
it's something
that you just can't understand,
362
00:34:09,630 --> 00:34:13,800
the number of lives that
that man was responsible for.
363
00:34:32,820 --> 00:34:38,700
I believe the worst thing for me
was the time when we were trapped
364
00:34:38,785 --> 00:34:41,411
and just saw no way out,
365
00:34:41,496 --> 00:34:45,082
and each succeeding explosion
366
00:34:45,166 --> 00:34:49,586
accentuated the fact
that you weren't gonna get out of there.
367
00:34:49,670 --> 00:34:55,675
I can remember men that were,
many of them, so tense
368
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,845
that they couldn't talk
if they wanted to.
369
00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:04,768
Their inner souls, their inner minds,
may have been working overtime,
370
00:35:04,852 --> 00:35:07,020
but they couldn't have said a word.
371
00:35:07,105 --> 00:35:10,649
Others screaming and crying.
372
00:35:10,733 --> 00:35:13,819
Such things as that tear you apart.
373
00:35:38,636 --> 00:35:42,347
(man) I think that flying
is so impersonal,
374
00:35:42,431 --> 00:35:46,935
that is to say combat flying, that you
don't get that intimate sense of loss
375
00:35:47,019 --> 00:35:49,771
if you see an airplane get shot down
376
00:35:49,856 --> 00:35:53,984
that you'd have if your buddy
on a battlefield had his head blown off
377
00:35:54,068 --> 00:35:56,194
right within arm's length.
378
00:36:03,202 --> 00:36:06,705
(man) I don't think anyone
ever considered that he would be killed.
379
00:36:06,789 --> 00:36:11,668
Death was something which was just put
at the back of your mind.
380
00:36:11,752 --> 00:36:18,091
If it was not, you'd have just got the
jitters about it and been very worried.
381
00:36:23,848 --> 00:36:26,975
If a fellow did go missing, it was just,
382
00:36:27,059 --> 00:36:30,437
"Poor old so-and-so, he's had it,"
and that was that.
383
00:36:33,316 --> 00:36:38,361
lnwardly, of course, you'd feel it
tremendously if you lost a pal.
384
00:36:38,446 --> 00:36:41,364
But you didn't dwell
on the subject of death at all.
385
00:36:44,035 --> 00:36:46,828
(man) Exhilaration?
I don't know if that's the word.
386
00:36:46,913 --> 00:36:49,497
It's almost, "We've gotta do it."
387
00:36:49,582 --> 00:36:53,460
You never think of getting shot down,
or your safety.
388
00:36:53,544 --> 00:36:57,547
You do after you're hit,
you start thinking of self-preservation,
389
00:36:57,632 --> 00:36:59,716
but not at that time.
390
00:37:01,302 --> 00:37:05,055
(man) When you were fighting
a particular man in his machine
391
00:37:05,139 --> 00:37:08,600
and you in your machine,
the sky became empty.
392
00:37:08,684 --> 00:37:13,230
You didn't see anyone else. 200 or 300
aircraft and then suddenly nothing.
393
00:37:13,314 --> 00:37:17,275
It was just one against one, and
sometimes you knew he was very good,
394
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:19,861
sometimes you knew he wasn't so good.
395
00:37:19,946 --> 00:37:22,739
And you can assess the situation
fairly closely
396
00:37:22,823 --> 00:37:27,577
as to whether he might be lucky and hit
you, but otherwise you could get him.
397
00:37:33,751 --> 00:37:35,418
(man) Shoot-down is simple,
398
00:37:35,503 --> 00:37:38,338
but you had to calculate
the lead required,
399
00:37:38,422 --> 00:37:43,093
that is how far you would lead your guns
or bore-sight line ahead of the target.
400
00:37:43,177 --> 00:37:45,762
So you had to estimate
the target's speed.
401
00:37:45,846 --> 00:37:49,641
You had to estimate the angle
that you are from the target.
402
00:37:49,725 --> 00:37:52,769
In other words, you fired
so that when your rounds got there,
403
00:37:52,853 --> 00:37:55,772
the airplane, your target,
would intercept 'em.
404
00:37:58,359 --> 00:38:00,986
(man) I think we were just
getting on with the war,
405
00:38:01,070 --> 00:38:05,031
as one would play a game
of rugby or cricket, to win,
406
00:38:05,116 --> 00:38:07,117
that was all.
407
00:38:07,201 --> 00:38:11,371
You just played your hardest.
The other man had to come down.
408
00:38:45,364 --> 00:38:47,907
(man) Pilots and people who kill
at a distance
409
00:38:47,992 --> 00:38:51,786
don't have any particular delight
in destruction.
410
00:38:51,871 --> 00:38:54,497
They have a great delight
in their implements
411
00:38:54,582 --> 00:38:58,126
and in precision bombing and so on.
412
00:39:00,212 --> 00:39:04,841
The further you are from the target,
the less likely you are
413
00:39:04,925 --> 00:39:10,847
to have any understanding of what
deviltry your weapons are causing.
414
00:39:13,434 --> 00:39:16,853
- (man) lt'll weave a bit, Skip.
- (man
415
00:39:19,607 --> 00:39:21,107
(man
416
00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:23,318
(man) There's a flare
just to the left.
417
00:39:23,402 --> 00:39:25,362
(man
418
00:39:25,446 --> 00:39:28,073
(man) OK. Keep weaving for a while.
419
00:39:28,157 --> 00:39:31,242
- (man
- Then spread a little.
420
00:39:31,327 --> 00:39:34,287
- (man
- Bomb doors open.
421
00:39:34,372 --> 00:39:36,873
(man) Steady.
422
00:39:36,957 --> 00:39:40,377
- (man
- Steady. Bombs away.
423
00:39:40,461 --> 00:39:42,420
- (man
- There goes the cookie.
424
00:39:42,505 --> 00:39:45,340
(man
425
00:39:46,759 --> 00:39:50,762
- 4,000lb have just gone off.
- (man) And good show.
426
00:39:50,846 --> 00:39:53,139
(man
427
00:39:54,725 --> 00:39:56,810
(man
428
00:39:59,355 --> 00:40:03,608
(man recites)
This is a damned unnatural sort of war
429
00:40:03,692 --> 00:40:05,610
The pilot sits among the clouds
430
00:40:05,694 --> 00:40:09,155
Quite sure about the values
he is fighting for
431
00:40:10,199 --> 00:40:13,576
He cannot hear beyond his veil of sound
432
00:40:13,702 --> 00:40:16,287
He cannot see the people on the ground
433
00:40:16,372 --> 00:40:18,581
He only knows that on the sloping map
434
00:40:18,666 --> 00:40:21,668
Of sea-fringed town and country
435
00:40:21,752 --> 00:40:24,546
People creep like ants
436
00:40:24,630 --> 00:40:27,715
And who cares if ants laugh or weep?
437
00:40:33,889 --> 00:40:35,598
- Plane.
- On target.
438
00:40:35,683 --> 00:40:38,351
Read first 12, 800.
439
00:40:38,436 --> 00:40:43,314
- (man) That's 12, 800.
- (woman) 12, 800 set.
440
00:40:43,399 --> 00:40:48,445
(man recites) To us, he is no more than
a machine shown on an instrument
441
00:40:49,155 --> 00:40:52,824
What can he mean in human terms?
442
00:40:52,908 --> 00:40:54,993
A man, somebody's son
443
00:40:55,077 --> 00:40:57,370
Proud of his skill
444
00:40:57,496 --> 00:40:59,205
Compact of flesh and bone
445
00:40:59,290 --> 00:41:02,167
Fragile as lcarus
446
00:41:02,251 --> 00:41:04,752
And our desire
447
00:41:04,837 --> 00:41:09,257
To see that damned machine
come down on fire
448
00:41:33,574 --> 00:41:36,784
- (man) They're firing at us now.
- (man
449
00:41:36,869 --> 00:41:39,496
(man
in the front here.
450
00:41:39,580 --> 00:41:43,583
Oil's leaking out of the front carriage.
Still, it's nothing to worry about.
451
00:41:43,667 --> 00:41:45,668
(man) OK.
452
00:41:45,753 --> 00:41:47,921
(man
like this.
453
00:41:48,005 --> 00:41:50,006
(man) Neither have l.
454
00:41:58,349 --> 00:42:00,433
(man) I think my fear
manifested itself.
455
00:42:00,518 --> 00:42:03,520
First of all, I found myself
being a little more religious
456
00:42:03,604 --> 00:42:05,605
than I had been back in the States.
457
00:42:05,731 --> 00:42:09,108
I thought more about my creator
and what I ought to be doing
458
00:42:09,193 --> 00:42:12,278
to make sure
I stayed in good graces with him.
459
00:42:15,616 --> 00:42:19,536
I don't say that the fear
was an acute one,
460
00:42:19,620 --> 00:42:21,871
so that you went around trembling,
461
00:42:21,956 --> 00:42:24,541
but I think that it was pretty well felt
462
00:42:24,625 --> 00:42:28,169
that our chances of surviving
were not particularly good.
463
00:42:28,254 --> 00:42:31,589
But after all,
it was what we felt we had to do,
464
00:42:31,674 --> 00:42:34,801
and I felt if you were gonna die,
that was the best way to die.
465
00:42:34,885 --> 00:42:39,931
I'd much rather die in an airplane
than in the mud on some battlefield.
466
00:42:43,269 --> 00:42:46,938
(man) I think the overriding fear
is the fear of making mistakes.
467
00:42:54,405 --> 00:42:59,409
There's the confusion of battle.
Everything goes topsy-turvy.
468
00:42:59,493 --> 00:43:02,870
So you sort of forget
that overriding fear
469
00:43:02,955 --> 00:43:06,583
and you just try to take care
of whatever's right at hand.
470
00:43:07,710 --> 00:43:12,130
(man) It was generally understood
that the combat tour was 25 missions
471
00:43:12,214 --> 00:43:15,592
because it was anticipated
you'd be dead by the end of that time,
472
00:43:15,676 --> 00:43:19,512
so there wasn't any point in asking you
to stay around any longer.
473
00:43:43,871 --> 00:43:46,289
(man recites) Suddenly at night
the bombers came
474
00:43:46,373 --> 00:43:49,834
In the hard, reverberating bowl
of the sky
475
00:43:49,918 --> 00:43:52,962
Destroying the factory
and the tall cathedral
476
00:43:53,047 --> 00:43:56,799
The dock, the warehouse
and the railway station
477
00:43:56,884 --> 00:43:59,427
The rich house in the leafy avenue
478
00:43:59,511 --> 00:44:03,181
And the shouldering tenements
of the narrow streets
479
00:44:03,265 --> 00:44:06,351
And the bodies and souls of men
480
00:44:12,316 --> 00:44:14,817
I sought my son
among the smoking stones
481
00:44:14,902 --> 00:44:17,904
Where I had crouched with him
clutched at my breast
482
00:44:17,988 --> 00:44:20,782
U ntil the bomb burst
and the building shattered down
483
00:44:20,866 --> 00:44:24,410
And the dark came
and severed my son from me
484
00:44:24,495 --> 00:44:27,997
I cried out with a voice
harsh in my throat
485
00:44:28,082 --> 00:44:29,999
My son
486
00:44:30,084 --> 00:44:32,001
I have lost my son
487
00:44:32,086 --> 00:44:35,296
And charred faces stared at me with pity
488
00:44:39,968 --> 00:44:42,011
And I saw the city burning about me
489
00:44:42,096 --> 00:44:45,014
And the flash of guns on the dark smoke
490
00:44:45,099 --> 00:44:47,433
And I heard bombs burst in the fire
491
00:44:48,227 --> 00:44:49,977
And in my heart
492
00:44:50,062 --> 00:44:52,814
But no one came to seek my son
493
00:45:08,789 --> 00:45:12,250
(man) It's alright looking back
in hindsight at a lot of this action,
494
00:45:12,334 --> 00:45:15,420
but we as boys from school
in most cases, in fact,
495
00:45:15,504 --> 00:45:18,798
joined the air force because we felt
this was the best service.
496
00:45:18,882 --> 00:45:21,676
We accepted that there were people
in higher places
497
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:25,430
who knew the actual facts
and were directing us in the right way.
498
00:45:32,187 --> 00:45:34,230
(man recites) These are facts
499
00:45:34,314 --> 00:45:37,024
Observe them how you will
500
00:45:37,109 --> 00:45:39,694
Forget for a moment
the medals and the glory
501
00:45:39,778 --> 00:45:43,573
The clean shape of the bomb
designed to kill
502
00:45:43,699 --> 00:45:46,200
And the proud headlines
of the paper's story
503
00:45:47,536 --> 00:45:51,789
Bodies in death
are not magnificent or stately
504
00:45:51,874 --> 00:45:55,543
Bones are not elegant
that blast has shattered
505
00:45:55,627 --> 00:45:58,421
This sorry, stained and crumpled rag
506
00:45:58,505 --> 00:46:02,967
Was lately a man whose life
was made of little things that mattered
507
00:46:05,095 --> 00:46:07,513
Now he is just a nuisance
508
00:46:07,598 --> 00:46:09,474
Liable to stink
509
00:46:09,558 --> 00:46:11,559
A breeding ground for flies
510
00:46:11,643 --> 00:46:14,312
A test tube for disease
511
00:46:14,396 --> 00:46:18,983
Bury him quickly
and never pause to think
512
00:46:19,067 --> 00:46:21,861
What is the future worth
to men like these?
513
00:46:26,408 --> 00:46:29,744
(man) People talk about
morality in war.
514
00:46:29,828 --> 00:46:32,580
Tell me some action of war
that is moral.
515
00:46:33,791 --> 00:46:38,669
People say
you mustn't do anything to civilians.
516
00:46:38,754 --> 00:46:42,632
Good Lord, what's happened to civilians
in every besieged city of the past?
517
00:46:42,758 --> 00:46:47,929
Haven't they always been starved into
surrender and bombarded into surrender?
518
00:46:48,013 --> 00:46:51,015
What's the difference
between bombarding them with guns
519
00:46:51,099 --> 00:46:52,683
and bombarding the cities
520
00:46:52,768 --> 00:46:56,771
where they're manufacturing the weapons
and the ammunition?
521
00:46:56,855 --> 00:47:09,283
♪ Praise the Lord
and pass the ammunition
522
00:47:09,368 --> 00:47:13,079
♪ And we'll all stay free
523
00:47:14,122 --> 00:47:18,417
♪ Praise the Lord
and swing into position
524
00:47:18,502 --> 00:47:22,713
♪ Can't afford to be a politician
525
00:47:22,798 --> 00:47:24,966
♪ Praise the Lord
526
00:47:25,050 --> 00:47:30,847
♪ We're all between perdition
and the deep blue sea
527
00:47:30,931 --> 00:47:33,808
(man) You could get
as much employment as you wanted,
528
00:47:33,892 --> 00:47:37,228
and large families could really get
84 hours of employment.
529
00:47:37,312 --> 00:47:39,605
Families which had never had
any money at all
530
00:47:39,690 --> 00:47:42,400
were suddenly having lots of money.
531
00:47:42,484 --> 00:47:45,194
(man) As far as the unions
are concerned,
532
00:47:45,279 --> 00:47:48,781
it was a happy war,
it was a popular war, it was supported.
533
00:47:48,866 --> 00:47:52,159
The unions supported
the war considerably.
534
00:47:52,244 --> 00:47:58,624
They were busy turning out planes
and ships and war materiel.
535
00:47:58,709 --> 00:48:01,752
(man) There was quite a lot of money
made in the factories,
536
00:48:01,837 --> 00:48:05,047
but without a shadow of doubt
or fear of contradiction,
537
00:48:05,132 --> 00:48:07,925
a lot of people made a lot of money
out of the war.
538
00:48:08,010 --> 00:48:12,263
♪ Praise the Lord
We're on a mighty mission
539
00:48:12,389 --> 00:48:16,517
♪ All aboard
We're not a-goin' fishin'
540
00:48:16,602 --> 00:48:20,187
♪ Praise the Lord
and pass the ammunition
541
00:48:20,272 --> 00:48:23,983
♪ And we'll all stay free
542
00:48:47,633 --> 00:48:50,384
(man) The day was clear
when we dropped that bomb.
543
00:48:50,469 --> 00:48:54,555
It was clear, sunshiny day,
and visibility was unrestricted.
544
00:49:08,111 --> 00:49:11,948
(man) A white light just obliterated
the whole sky. I'll never forget it.
545
00:49:12,032 --> 00:49:15,910
And we saw, off our right wing,
546
00:49:15,994 --> 00:49:18,329
the cloud coming up from Hiroshima.
547
00:49:21,416 --> 00:49:23,668
(man) Where before
there had been a city,
548
00:49:23,752 --> 00:49:26,462
distinctive houses, buildings
and everything,
549
00:49:26,546 --> 00:49:31,175
now you couldn't see anything
except a black, boiling barrel of tar.
550
00:49:32,886 --> 00:49:34,971
It was terrible to look at, really,
551
00:49:35,055 --> 00:49:38,683
because you knew
there were people underneath,
552
00:49:38,767 --> 00:49:42,144
and you could speculate
what the result was there.
553
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:45,940
As far as my personal feelings
are concerned,
554
00:49:46,066 --> 00:49:49,026
I never let my personal feelings
enter into it.
555
00:49:49,152 --> 00:49:52,655
I knew there were people down below
and getting hurt by this,
556
00:49:52,739 --> 00:49:56,158
and I felt that if I let my emotions
get carried away
557
00:49:56,284 --> 00:49:59,120
and I get to worrying
about who's gonna get hurt,
558
00:49:59,246 --> 00:50:00,997
I wouldn't be effective at all,
559
00:50:01,081 --> 00:50:04,250
so I had to school myself
not to think about it.
560
00:50:05,627 --> 00:50:09,338
(man) A weapon is a weapon, and it
really doesn't make much difference
561
00:50:09,464 --> 00:50:10,756
how you kill a man.
562
00:50:10,841 --> 00:50:13,384
If you have to kill him,
that's evil to start with,
563
00:50:13,510 --> 00:50:17,263
and how you do it
becomes pretty secondary.
564
00:50:17,347 --> 00:50:21,517
I think that your choice should be
which weapon is most efficient
565
00:50:21,643 --> 00:50:27,023
and most likely to get the whole mess
over with as early as possible.
566
00:50:31,570 --> 00:50:35,823
(man) The lesson the Second World War
taught us was to keep out of war.
567
00:50:38,702 --> 00:50:43,748
(man) I think had we not have fought
that war in 1939 to 1945,
568
00:50:43,832 --> 00:50:46,959
we would not have had the world
as we know it today.
569
00:50:49,755 --> 00:50:51,881
(man) No war's worth fighting.
570
00:50:51,965 --> 00:50:55,384
All these lives,
these thousands of lives that are lost,
571
00:50:55,469 --> 00:50:57,636
and the sadness it leaves behind.
572
00:50:57,721 --> 00:50:59,805
Definitely not.
573
00:51:01,641 --> 00:51:04,643
(man) My own viewpoint
was that the war for me
574
00:51:04,728 --> 00:51:07,188
had been a complete failure
575
00:51:07,272 --> 00:51:11,734
because there were 60 million
square-headed bastards still living.
576
00:51:14,446 --> 00:51:17,490
(man) I would fight
for the government again, definitely.
577
00:51:17,574 --> 00:51:20,701
And I would fight again tomorrow,
if I had to go back in again,
578
00:51:20,827 --> 00:51:23,204
to fight for
the U nited States government.
579
00:51:25,457 --> 00:51:29,585
(man) It was a terrible waste
of human life and money,
580
00:51:29,669 --> 00:51:34,048
but it had to be done and there was
no way we could have avoided it.