World War I - The Boys of 1918

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this.  November is the time for World War I and World War II.  Today is the last episode of the Last Voices of World War I series.  This has been an excellent series and I wish it was another episode or two.  The run time for this episode is 47:40.  The episode is called The Boys of 1918.

World War I is drawing to an end.  The Germans are launching one last major offensive to try to win.  In spring many conscripts are sent to the front to replace those who had lost their lives.  Thousands were taken prisoner of war by the Germans.  These prisoners of war would endure months of hardship.  At the same time, the Russian Revolution ended Russia’s involvement in the war.  Who would emerge from the war?

Jack Rogers was making plans to celebrate his birthday back at home.  He wrote his mother telling him not to send a cake and that he was coming home.  Plans changed with the German offensive.  All leave was canceled, and Jack and other soldiers marched towards a trench.  Instead of celebrating his birthday, the German soldiers pushed on towards their goal.  The German soldiers overwhelmed the British troops.

Bill Easton, who was with the field ambulance was shocked at the speed and the ferocity of the German attack.  They captured many British trenches and soldiers.  The British soldiers had no choice but to surrender.  Jack expected to die in the trench when a German charged him.  However, the German soldier asked for cigarettes and Jack was taken prisoner.

The British military was looking for more and more troops.  The government had lowered the age of conscripts to eighteen years old.  Fred Hodges had volunteered initially but was turned down because of his age.  Eventually, he tried again and was accepted as a soldier.  There were many conscripts who were bullied and cajoled into fighting.  However, there was another young man who was reluctant to fight.  Percy Williams was promised that it would be a year before he saw a frontline.  However, his training was cut short and he was sent to the front line to replace the man soldiers that were lost.

The Germans smashed through British lines and took many prisoners of war.  These recruits and conscripts had their training cut short to be sent to the front.  Fred could not wait to get to the front and see some action.  His parents had a hard time sending him off. 

In the meantime, thousands of prisoners of war were making their way to prisoner-of-war camps.  Jack remembers being forced into the cattle trucks without anything to eat or drink for two days.  There was a ventilator at the top that provided air.  Eventually, they entered Germany.  Bill remembers being marched into a camp and then being asked to treat wounded men in a church nearby.  Bill was the only one who volunteered to serve.  He recalls seeing forty men that needed to be treated.

Emboldened by their initial success, the Germans launched another attack.  Percy Williams was shocked by the artillery bombardment.  He was “nearly sick with fright.”  It was the first time he realized that he could potentially die.  He recalls the gas attack that happened and not being able to see because of the film on the gas mask.  He concludes that he had never experienced something so terrifying in his life.

Ernie Stevens recalled the machine guns being shot off behind him.  His regiment could not escape and so it was decided to surrender to the Germans.  Being taken prisoner left Ernie feeling dread and that he had let his family down.  Percy Williams had been shot in the leg and was captured by the Germans.  How would these men survive the prisoner-of-war experience?  To learn more about the final year of the war and the experiences of the men in trenches and prisoner-of-war camps tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

The story of Bill Easton becoming an honorary German sergeant was surprising and a delightful addition to this documentary.  This was a very strong conclusion to the series.  I would show this documentary to a history class.