Original subtitles

1918. After four years of bitter struggle is a crushing German offensive.

The British and French are almost defeated.

Halfway through the year beat back the allies.

The stalemate was suddenly over.

Guns stop firing.

We were all silent and looked at each other...

because we realized that we had nothing more to do.

Members Despite the allies In 1918 most of the losses.

After this massacre was hoped that millions of deaths were not in vain.

We were delirious with joy. We all went ashore.

We danced on the streets with the injured and the girls.

This was the year in which everything changed.

It is for the first time in color.

In January 1918, the war lasted almost three and a half years.

On the western front were two million Englishmen...

killed, wounded or captured .

In the French that number three million.

The French army recovered just from uprisings in the spring of 1917.

The British Army was completely exhausted.

All fights revolved around a few kilometers French and Belgian mud.

British Prime Minister Lloyd George found which were too many lives wasted...

and refused to send reinforcements.

Both at the front and at home saw the new year bad.

When will this nightmare?

The country is starting to get tired. Everyone has had enough of war.

When we go again lead a normal life ? Will that day come?

In this new year was Germany a chance to win the war.

The Germans could finally launch a final offensive.

The Russians did not count...

and so did thousands of Germans back to the Western Front.

The German commander Ludendorff preparing for battle.

I was sure this was one of the hardest operations could ever be.

Since I did not secretive about. The German people had to give everything.

On March 21, 1918, the Germans attacked on along a 100 km front.

The Ludendorff Offensive was the biggest attack ever.

6,500 guns and trench mortars 3500...

began almost simultaneously firing.

Winston Churchill was back in government as Minister of Munitions...

and visited the headquarters in France.

As a pianist z & apos; s fingers along the keys high to low takes...

There burst a greater bombardment loose than I had ever heard before.

After the bombardment came German storm troops in action.

At last it was time.

We felt confused by anger, alcohol and blood lust...

while heavy but unsustainable steps walked towards the enemy.

It was with a heavy machine gun fired on us.

Scouts as bloodhounds for illegal, were very brave.

March 21 turned into one of the most dramatic days in the war.

The Germans were stunned by the initial success.

What we did not dare to dream, was true.

The artillery of the enemy was shut down with a big bang.

We watched from the trench to the conflagration at the English lines...

and the blood-red clouds that hung above it.

The Germans bombed us with everything they had.

When daylight came, we saw advance the Germans.

Two couriers went for instructions to & apos; t headquarters, but were killed.

The third courier came back and said that the Germans were having breakfast.

In two weeks time the Germans advanced 30 km along a front of 80 km.

That was huge compared to the stalemate of the previous years.

On April 4, the fight was over.

It will go down in history as a great achievement.

What the British and French could not , we managed well.

NB after four years of war.

This is the most critical period that we have experienced so far.

These sockets can excellent fight and have a great organization.

It was, however, the Germans failed to force a decision...

English and commander Douglas Haig tried z & apos; s soldiers to whip.

To those who are tired, I would say...

that it always perseveres who wins.

We can do nothing than continue to fight.

Each position must be defended to the last man .

With our backs against the wall and for a good cause...

we go on to the bitter end.

We now have experienced a real war .

It was a horrible time, but we are still not defeated.

The men are incredibly cheerful.

It is very sad to think to the boys who fell.

We could be retrieved any time by the man with the scythe .

If a grenade exploded above you, shots shrapnel in all directions.

Shrapnel wounds were much worse than bullet wounds.

If you were well hit by a grenade , there was nothing left of you.

For the Allies, this was the most critical moment of the war.

The Germans seemed to break through and to separate the French and English.

This was one of the reasons that Foch, the French commander...

supreme commander of the allied forces was.

Example & apos; s chief could the French and British to work together...

so that the Germans their armies could drift apart.

Ludendorff put z & apos; s sights on Paris, only 145 kilometers south.

If the Germans succeeded, they would win the war.

On May 26, the German army pulled back battle.

The sleeves came back with a massive bombardment.

They called it & apos; & apos ;, trommelfeuer ie drum fire.

Better you could not describe it. It was drumbeat widely.

In four days, the Germans advanced 50 km and reached the Marne.

They were not far from the French capital.

But the odds were now fast times.

After the first two months of the Ludendorff offensive...

there were 350,000 Allied dead wounded and prisoner of war.

But the Germans had almost as great losses.

The commanders wanted the increasingly narrower lines are advancing once.

In July 1918 the German High Command was still somewhat optimistic...

but they knew almost no time left.

After 4 attacks they had the English and French still not at the knees.

The Americans were at...

and so they have decided to launch a final offensive at the Marne.

On July 15 52 German divisions opened the attack.

The French were gone backwards.

German storm troops could not supported by artillery.

Allied tanks and infantry went on the counterattack.

German pipe was finally empty.

Their huge offensive was a last attempt to end the war.

It was she almost succeeded by attacking it in many areas.

When their army stopped, they could simply not continue.

Ludendorff knew z & apos; s gamble had unpacked wrong.

Everything I was afraid, and I so often warned...

Became this place reality.

Our war machine was exhausted...

even went most divisions heroically fighting.

Meanwhile, there were one million American soldiers added.

The Allies were able to do something back.

Not only on the Western Front was war z & apos; s head put.

In October 1917 the Germans attacked and Austrians in northern Italy...

and the Italian army withdrew rapidly back.

The Italians managed to halt the advance 25 km Venice.

British and French troops rushed to help.

In June 1918, regroup after six months...

Italy was ready to counterattack.

The English were astonished by the turnaround in the Italian morale.

The good news is that Italians their line back in order.

Everyone talks about the beginning of the end.

The Austrians are in a bad and will soon be defeated.

When we heard that Italy was saved, feast we celebrated together...

but we did not think it was done with Austria-Hungary...

and that it no longer appeared on the list of superpowers.

But the war could only be decided on the Western Front.

Allied combination of armored vehicles and manpower...

would be the greatest military power display are all times.

On July 4, 1918...

performed an Australian division a small but destructive attack.

It was an example of how there had to be fought.

Infantry backed by tanks, artillery and machine guns.

The Air Force provides support and dropping for the first time ammunition.

The success was due to to confidentiality. The Germans knew nothing.

The surprise was complete.

Through this Australian success...

planned the English and French same kind of attack on a large scale.

Led by 530 British and 70 French tanks...

the Allies built on a large force near Amiens.

On 8 August at 04.00...

while the mist still cloaked what we had prepared that night...

our artillery opened fire on the batteries of the enemy successfully.

The enemy, surprised by the ferocity and speed of the attack, withdrew.

With a thunderous noise thousand guns begin a symphony.

Immediately, the entire complex organization in action.

Every man, every unit every vehicle and every tank...

remain steadfast and irrepressible advance.

We are 10 kilometers advanced. This is the beginning of a movement war.

This was the Allies the best day so far.

The attack was so quick and unexpected...

a group of German officers were arrested during their breakfast.

The organization was perfect. Was pushed forward with tremendous speed.

It was wonderful to once again to advancing.

In March, we were the ones that were reduced.

The Allies marched 13 kilometers to and the Germans lost 27,000 men.

This was on the Western Front Since 1914 not occurred.

Inside & apos; n month, the Allies marched 40 km along a front of 55 km.

Allied commanders saw an amazing change.

German discipline disappears quickly, and their officers are no longer themselves.

I think this is the beginning of the end.

I think the sleeves themselves will have to withdraw.

You have every reason to be happy, but it's not done yet.

They are far from finished.

If after the war come together again...

we need to live by express our thanks to God well.

But I'm not yet at home.

The biggest change of all was the arrival of the Americans...

and their commander, General John J. Pershing .

The extra manpower meant that's how long it lasted...

the Allies would sooner or later win.

In July 1918, a year after arrived the first Americans...

there were one million Americans on the Western Front.

The confidence of the allies increased thanks to their presence.

There are a lot of Americans here. Our boys can & apos; t approve of them.

The Yanks can fight firmly very good.

I loved it. I got up every morning full of energy next m & apos; s bed.

In September 1918 the Americans launched their first attack.

Their target was the territory occupied by Germans at St Mihiel.

It was a great success.

Hershing was overjoyed.

St Mihiel was primarily a stimulus for our tired allies.

After St Mihiel shut the Americans in the English and French to...

for a major attack on the main German defense :

the Hindenburg Line.

The Hindenburg Line was extremely hard to conquer.

It consisted of barbed wire and concrete bunkers.

If the Germans could stop somewhere the Allies, it was here though.

For the soldiers seemed to capture of this line impossible.

Last year we had no success. This year we went to try it again.

No one saw why would go better this time.

Even the Australians found it a completely hopeless mission.

End of September...

were 123 Allied divisions about 500,000 men, together.

General Foch gave the order for the attack which could decide the war.

It is important in those operations...

the first progress be acted upon immediately.

If the line is broken, there must be immediate benefit.

Therefore, the operation in no may be interrupted any time.

The stalemate of trench warfare was over.

Using the artillery which became increasingly accurate...

led the soldiers to the desired motion by Foch war.

Immediately after the order went on track with our Lewis machine gun.

We were very excited and there was a lot of noise.

I always thought I would be hit by a grenade.

By urinate and barbed our clothes were wet and torn.

We were only 100 meters far when the fire was opened at us.

The bullets flew around our ears, but we marched on anyway.

We did not get out. Our clothes were covered in mud and were torn.

Brooks died during the march and Holten was hit by a grenade.

An English radio operator followed the infantry...

to communicate how it went on the front line.

But z & apos; s unit lost a part.

We forgot the antenna and I went to get so.

Then I went back to the support trenches.

I had about fallen men next steps.

I really communicating only with the dead...

by always sorry to say.

In three days there were huge many allied casualties.

But on September 29, she breakthroughs the once impregnable Hindenburg Line.

The news from all fronts was simply amazing.

Tomorrow we would go participate in the largest battle of the war.

The Krauts did not have a chance.

The colonel said: We cut through it like a knife through hot butter.

At Christmas we are in Berlin.

I was convinced. I had seen with my own eyes that it was impossible ...

but their enthusiasm pulled me over.

Throughout the allied armies marched on by to attack the turn.

The enemy would not get a moment's peace until the victory was complete.

The Fall of the Hindenburg Line was a huge psychological blow.

The aggressive Ludendorff decided now Z & apos; s troops could defend themselves yet...

trying to close the file.

But it had to be a file that German pride and respected their area.

In January, President Wilson arrived with 14 points for a peace proposal...

it was fair to all parties.

Allied leaders and commanders discussed the terms of peace.

Germany turned simultaneously directly to America.

The Germans made a last attempt...

to separate the US from Britain and France...

with America by negotiating and to accept the 14 points.

It was clear that they are still trying to come slicing.

No one accepted this, the Americans do not.

The British and French demanded that the German monarchy was abolished.

Conservative Ludendorff took this as an insult.

The German army seemed by wanting to fight...

and so decided Ludendorff to the hope of peace to crush.

The war was in its final phase, but still was not over.

In October 1918 the doubt hit ever more to the German home front.

The Allied naval blockade food supplies were smaller.

German ships were stuck in the port and the people starved.

At the front, the rations were by the day lower.

Although Ludendorff by wanted to fight...

knew other German commanders that the game was over.

The morale of our army is affected and their resistance decreases by the day.

They give themselves massively if the enemy attacks.

I do not think we in December still come through.

Ludendorff did not pass how serious the situation is.

There must at all costs be peace before the enemy invades Germany.

Woe to us if that happens.

While Germany but by moisture...

found the exhausted Allied soldiers war more useless than ever.

I wish the sleeves stopped there for additional, unnecessary deaths.

I can imagine someone Prefer not to leave the trench...

now it is almost peace. What I've had it with this war.

The victims of today consist of 253 officers and 6,000 soldiers.

The victim number of the last few weeks is enormous.

The average is 30,000 to 40,000 per week.

The hospitals are overcrowded.

A volunteer said some patients were so badly...

they were laid in coffins.

I dare say it will not last much longer .

The sleeves we encountered, wanted nothing more than peace.

French and Belgian refugees returned to their villages...

that lay in ruins by the war.

Early November, the Germans saw how bad it was with their men.

The German army was in bad shape.

Every soldier and civilian was hungry. Equipment was not replaced.

The new soldiers were young and wanted often risk their lives...

since the war & apos; was a lost cause.

Ludendorff wanted to fight and refused any peace proposal.

Suddenly there came to an end.

On 26 October, Ludendorff dismissed by the Kaiser.

Two weeks later, the Kaiser abdicated and went into voluntary exile.

The German politicians had to accept the allied conditions.

On November 11 at 05:00 a train was on signed the truce...

In a French forest at Compiegne.

At eleven o'clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month...

kept the guns on the Western Front on firing.

Everything stopped.

Suddenly, there was a dead silence everywhere.

We were all silent and looked at each other...

because we realized that we had nothing more to do.

Nothing.

It was a very strange feeling.

You've won the biggest war and the most holy saved:

freedom of the world.

You should be proud because you come immortal renown...

and posterity will be grateful to you.

We were delirious with joy. We all went ashore.

We danced on the streets with the injured and the girls.

I think it was the most special day in world history.

It was so crowded street that you could hardly move.

The crowd fourth party. Girls were lifted by soldiers.

Soldiers were raised by citizens.

We went home and were in a party mood.

When we returned home, we could eat sugar, sleeping in a bed...

our parents and behind the girls sit on.

Girlfriends, sons, daughters and above all mothers...

attacked the returning heroes around the neck.

She was very happy that I came back, because I was her dear son.

They patronized me very much.

She was overjoyed. I guess she just He is back home safely.

As we disembarked, I had a strange and unreal thought.

I had a future for me. Since I had not thought about for years.

When the men came back, they explained what happened to them.

People could contain just not.

People just could not contain what we had experienced.

I left the army...

and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered ...

why civilizations as & apos; s war had begun.

It is nothing other than murder.

If God exists, why did he live the Kaiser?

Why he left Hitler's life and had all those lives to be sacrificed?

English losses were not the greatest in 1916, & apos; t year of the Somme.

Or in 1917, & apos; t year of Passchendaele, but in 1918, the victory year.

A victory which was preceded by German attacks, but still.

In 1918, the year we won the war , we lost more men...

than in the entire Second World War.

People were particularly relieved and French towns welcomed the liberators.

Belgium, in 1914 the first target German aggression fourth party.

The Belgian king got tumultuous reception in Brussels.

The German army was slow back home.

The return journey was normally been depressing.

But we were just so relieved that the war was finally over.

Any problems in our lives as citizens were nothing.

I was not afraid for the future.

During the armistice German troops were allowed to return home.

That was a big psychological error Allied...

Because it gave the German people feel that they were not really defeated.

Their troops came back instead of they were captured.

12 days after the signing of the file...

German navy surrendered officially to the English.

British officers and soldiers came on board with us.

Our hearts stopped beating and shame we bite our lip.

No, not shame. We were proud all our victories and heroic deeds.

When the English flag was hoisted, we looked to our homeland.

German fleet sailed to the British base at Scapa Flow...

to inform themselves under allied control.

Nine months later brought German sailors scuttled their own vessels.

A small ray of hope for Germany's defeated commander.

The history of & apos; t German nation has come to an end through peace.

The future looks bleak.

The only bright spot was the action of our men at Scapa Flow.

All our delusions are gone. We have nothing.

We saw the ships at Scapa Flow.

From some you could see the chimney protruding and the main deck.

We could not believe it.

Allied troops crossed the border to occupy the Rhineland.

Finally we had reached our goal.

German Rhineland was guarded by British troops.

With Christmas Kaiser is not in London, but we do in the heart of Germany.

In January 1919...

delegates met in Paris gathered for the peace conference.

We were not alone in Paris to end the war...

But also to create a new Europe.

We felt that we were doing a holy mission.

We had to be alert, severe, and righteous ascetic.

We wanted to do big, permanent and admirable things.

English and French prime ministers, Lloydd George and Clemenceau...

and US President Wilson would Europe & apos; s define future.

Lloyd George and Clemenceau wanted to see dismantled the German army.

They insisted that Germany already z & apos; n planes, tanks and submarines gave up...

z & apos; s army reduced to 100,000 men...

all colonies gave up and damages paid.

They also had to cede territory to the east for the new state of Poland.

Some delegates found the conditions too harsh.

The Germans can not draw better, because it gives them no hope.

Not now and not in the future.

The winners had the power. That said Lloyd George against the House of Commons.

These conditions are in many respects atrocious.

But their actions were atrocious.

On June 28 the peace treaty in the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles was signed.

Suddenly the guns brought out a deafening salute...

to let Paris know that & apos; t signed second Treaty of Versailles.

The victors held their victory parades.

Life could normalize.

President Wilson had a bigger goal:

A new world war not occurred.

A world where the order would be preserved League of Nations.

The League of Nations was born on April 24, 1919.

When he suggested it, told Wilson:

It is a guarantee of peace. It is a guarantee against aggression.

It is a guarantee against all things...

recently had almost destroyed all civilization .

When America again grew isolated and the turmoil in Europe...

remained of Wilson & apos; s plans little about.

The war caused new revolutionary ideas.

The old world order was blamed and political system came under fire.

In London there was a wave of strikes...

including by soldiers who wanted to be demobilized.

An American labor organization caused great unrest in the streets.

The revolution was unleashed by the Bolsheviks...

But they were in danger now there a civil war threatened to break out.

Without grace we kill hundreds of enemies.

In the name of Lenin, the blood of the bourgeoisie may flow freely.

The Bolshevik revolution frightened many Europeans.

Politicians were quickly use of that fear.

In Italy, Benito Mussolini on a third force...

who was communist nor capitalist.

Z & apos; s party was known as the & apos; & apos ;. fascisti

The new German republic, bitter about the defeat...

was attacked by extremists of left and right hook.

There is in Germany there of civil war.

Public funds are wasted and used for private purposes.

The people are sunk and revels in the freedom of the revolution.

Were increasingly carnage wreaked on the street.

After the humiliation by neighbors Germany seemed to go under.

The call for a strong leader grew louder.

May Germany leaders find taking their responsibilities.

Men with a strong will to blow new strength in our weakness people.

Men who use all our creative energy for a big job.

Ludendorff, the man who had almost won the war for Germany...

got z & apos; s sense thanks to a young Austrian corporal Adolf Hitler.

The First World War had to put an end to all wars .

Instead, it was the harbinger of a European disaster...

which only two decades later its head again would stabbing.

They shall grow not old, as we are though.

The time they will not tire, nor condemn.

At sunset and the dawn of the day, we will remember them.

After all the hardships and misery many men are massacred...

and their names are now on the Menin Gate.

Tens of thousands of men who died without burial.

I ask myself often wonder...

or the sacrifices we spent it must have been worth it.

Has the time condemned us?

Because there was afterwards war.

Was it all worth it?

I think it was worth it...

For Europe at least, and a much of the rest of the world...

saw what was useless war.

I hope that eventually learned is of the two world wars.

The First World War was tragic, but certainly not in vain.

The Allies had won a negative victory.

They had prevented Europe dominated...

by autocratic German military.

They prevent suppression of democracy.

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month...

never forget and will never be forgotten.

Time lets the memories slowly fade away...

and hear the voices of yesteryear are not now.

The horrible war that has lasted four long years , is now over.

The massacre of our brave boys ends.

No more poison attacks or diseases in the trenches.

No long obituaries for more concerned family and friends.

No more terror on land and sea. No torpedo & apos; s more.

No more air strikes. That now lies forever behind us.

It is still unbelievable. It's too good to be true.

I walked away from the others to the monument of Whitehall...

when m & apos; s heart was suddenly dismayed.

Everyone I was good friends with , was gone.

Not There was one over to pick up with good and bad memories .

With the passage of years and fading memories...

disappeared men who ever m & apos; s peers were in darkness.

The war was over, and a new era dawned...

but the dead were dead and would never return.