"Whatever you have to do," "~ you come back to me, do you hear?" "~ I'll be all right, Mum." "~ Stop worrying. ~ You don't have to be a hero, you know." "We're going!" "We're actually bloody well going!" "Germans won't know what hit 'em!" "~ Gas released!" "~ Gas released!" "~ Gas released!" "~ Masks on!" "~ Masks on!" "~ Masks on!" "It's going to hit their trenches in three minutes." ".. hit their trenches in three minutes!" "Tuck those bloody masks in!" "Come on, boys!" "Next wave!" "~ Next wave!" "~ Next wave!" "Move, move, move!" "Keep moving forward!" "Can't see a thing!" "Fogging up!" "I can't see!" "Can't breathe." "Take them off, there's no gas here." "Shit." "It's coming back at us!" "Put your masks back on!" "~ Take cover!" "~ Better put your mask back on." "TOMMY STRUGGLES FOR BREATH" "Stick together!" "Take cover!" "Take cover!" "Get down!" "Get down!" "~ Tommy!" "~ Tommy!" "Stay with us, Tommy!" "Take cover!" "THEY COUGH AND SPLUTTER" "Not much use, are they?" "Cough it up!" "And no water for a bit - makes it worse." "We can't stay here, we've got to keep moving." "Upwind of the gas." "~ No, I'm all right here!" "~ It's not safe!" "~ I'm not leaving!" "~ What's your name?" "What's your name?" "~ Tommy. ~ Have you got a dad, Tommy?" "~ Yes. ~ Well, he'll never forgive me if I let you." "EXPLOSIONS" "GUNFIRE" "We'll be all right here." "Gas cloud's moving." "No!" "No!" "No!" "No..." "Bastard." "Pocket..." "AN EXPLOSION HITS" "I've got three pairs of socks on and I still can't feel my feet." "Welcome to the Eastern Front, boys." "I heard the shells here are ten times worse." "There's no mud to absorb the impact, the ground's so hard." "I heard your hands get so cold you can't fire your rifle." "I heard they have trench parties every night, more beer than you can drink and three women for every man." "~ I like his version. ~ And me." "Let's get inside, light a fire." "~ Oh, I can smell bacon." "~ This morning it was sausages!" "Think it's a Russian secret weapon?" "Send over smells to distract us?" "Don't see how, if you're the only one who can smell it." "~ So why they picking on me?" "~ No idea." "THEY CHUCKLE" "~ GUNFIRE ~ Freddie!" "~ Ambush!" "Russians!" "My rifle!" "Mikey!" "Let's get out of here!" "Mikey, come on!" "There's a ceasefire so both sides can tend to the wounded." "Move up!" "Ceasefire!" "Tend to the wounded!" "Ceasefire!" "Tend to the wounded!" "Move!" "Ceasefire!" "Tend to the wounded!" "COUGHING" "HE GROANS" "SOLDIER QUIETLY WEEPS" "I don't think I've ever been that scared." "I thought we'd had it." "I would have done if it hadn't been for you." "He would have killed you, too." "HE SIGHS DEEPLY" "SHELLING AND GUNFIRE" "The new kids that got here yesterday said that last Christmas, on the Western Front, some of the British and German troops came out of their trenches and played football." "Well, do you believe it?" "It's not much of a war if we don't hate each other." "I don't think I did when we got here." "When it started," "I just thought of them as hats on sticks." "Like a game at the fairground." "When you see people actually die... .. people who, the day before, were telling you about their home, and their family, about a book they liked..." ".. or the food they were going to eat when they got home." "Then they're dead." "It's hard not to hate the people that did that." "Have you been writing home?" "When I can." "After a year, it's hard to say anything new." "Well, it is if you leave out the mud, rats, shells and dead people." "You need a system." "When you write to your parents, you tell them that you're bored." "That there's nothing to do, but you're safe, and there's lots of food and clean blankets." "So they don't worry." "Then to your girlfriend, if you ever get one..." ".. you tell her you're fighting the French and British single-handed." "You don't mind lying to your parents?" "Do you think I should tell them that" "I'm freezing to death on the Eastern Front?" "That I can't feel my hands or feet?" "No." "I tell them I'm proud to be fighting for my country." "~ We're getting leave. ~ When?" "~ Soon." "We're getting moved back to the Western Front and they're giving us four days leave before we go." "SOLDIERS CHATTER EXCITEDLY" "HORSE WHINNIES" "Do you know where you are?" "You've been hurt." "Do you remember?" "Thomas, try and stay with me." "~ Welcome back. ~ Where am I?" "We got the shrapnel out in one piece and they say your lungs look clear." "Was anyone else hurt?" "My friends..." "I'll ask." "Stop." "Your mum said I could come and meet you if I promised to bring you straight home." "People are struggling." "Things aren't so easy to come by." "But no-one complains." "They say the food's all going to the soldiers fighting." "If it is, I haven't seen it!" "Sometimes the bread's so hard, if we threw that at the Brits instead of bullets, we might cause more damage." "Mikey!" "Oh!" "Thank God!" "Welcome home, Michael." "~ HORRIFIED SCREAMS ~ Come on, let's get you back." "~ Sshhh. ~ You're all right." "Nearly there." "OK, there we go." "You'll be all right." "Don't worry." "Will he be all right?" "We can only fix bodies." "Don't go." "I don't know anyone else." "Two minutes." "I always thought my first time in hospital would be... falling out of a tree or something." "Not being gassed or blown up." "You were very lucky." "Yes, I am." "Do you know how long I'll be here?" "That's up to the Medical Officer." "I've finished with you." "I thought..." "I just do X-rays." "My hospital is very small and parked outside." "The truck..." "The soldiers call them "Little Curies"." "After my boss, Marie Curie." "~ Where are you from?" "~ Krakow." "That's in Austria..." "I thought we were fighting you." "I'm Polish." "We're fighting everyone." "Our country was stolen from us a long time ago, and then shared between the Austrians, the Germans and the Russians." "And now there is a war, we're on different sides." "They make us fight against each other." "Pole against Pole." "That's terrible." "My father and brother are fighting with the French." "They say this is the war we've been waiting for." "The one that will give us back our homeland." "It's funny to think of someone actually wanting all this to happen." "I must go." "You should get some sleep." "I'd rather keep talking to you." "Will I see you tomorrow?" "Wasn't that long ago I had to remind you to fetch your plate from the table." "Now look at you, washing them yourself." "Let's get some air." "He seems so much older." "He's home." "That's all that matters." "~ And we haven't got enough food to feed him. ~ We'll manage." "You've been so quiet since you got back." "Is everything all right?" "Between us?" "Of course." "It's just strange being back here again, that's all." "You can..." "You can talk to me, you know." "I know you don't want me to worry." "There's really not much to tell." "Liar." "That worries me even more." "How bad must it be to make you lie to me?" "I don't know how to explain it." "The words..." "How could you understand?" "There's nothing I could I compare it to." "Tell me how you live, where you sleep." "We live in trenches." "Underground, most of the time." "Like rabbits." "And it's cold and dark and... .. noisy and wet, and you just spend every second wishing you were somewhere else." "But there's a now-ness to everything." "It's like you're seeing it for the first time." "Like a blade of grass in the mud, or..." ".. colours." "The sky is amazing." "You can smell the air." "Everything's just more intense." "It's like your brain's taking it all in... .. knowing it might be the last cloud or blade of grass you'll ever see." "You mustn't say that." "It's hard not think that way, though." "You see life... disappear in front of you." "And, as it goes..." ".. you realise just how precious it was." "That's why I want us to get married." "~ What?" "~ Look, I, I don't have the ring that I promised you, but will you just marry me anyway?" "Now?" "There's no rush, we've got three days." "HORSE WHINNIES" "Where are we going?" "Where are we going?" "BIRD CHIRPS" "~ We're with you, Son. ~ Bye." "Bye-bye." "Farewell!" "You know, I could tell them I wasn't happy with your X-ray, and they'd keep you here longer, maybe even send you home." "I can't do that." "Not with my mates still there." "MEN WHOOP AND WHISTLE" "~ You mean she wasn't pregnant?" "~ No!" "Then why marry her?" "~ Why limit yourself to one woman?" "~ He might have a point." "One woman's enough for me." "So, do we know where we're going?" "They just said west." "~ Here he is!" "~ We thought they'd sent you home!" "I told you, he's got nine lives, this one." "You lost!" "He's back." "Pay up!" "~ So, how's it been?" "~ Well, the neighbours are a bit noisy, but we're all still here." "So come on, tell us - any pretty nurses?" "There might have been." "~ Didn't bring one back, I suppose?" "~ Couldn't fit her in the bag." "Stand to!" "Come on, boys, get a move on!" "Hurry up!" "Step up!" "Step up!" "Go, go, go, go, go!" "I don't know where we're going, but they don't normally move this many people without good reason." "Have you seen how many big guns are moving forward?" "Yeah, well, the more the merrier, as long as they're on our side." "Whatever happens here, it'll be the end of it." "This is it." "It's over." "Everyone will remember that this is where we won the war." "Here, at the Somme."