Our World War (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - War Machine - full transcript
In 1918 Chas Rowland is part of the crew of the Niveleur Mark V tank under the down-to-earth Lieutenant Mould along with family man Fred Firth, young mechanic Michael Weston, a conscientious objector conscripted to the unit and the hardened Scot Dodds, whose brothers have all died in the war. The tank takes part on the first day of the battle of Amiens, mowing down Germans whilst the RFC bomb from above. Firth is wounded but survives and the unit moves to the town of Amiens for hand-to-hand fighting. After four days the German army is broken and the war about to end though the crew are one of the few to return from the battle and none of them has the heart to shoot a weeping German boy soldier who has surrendered to them. The war over Chas goes to see the widow of a man he has never known but discovered a letter home on the man's corpse and reads it to her from memory. An end title explains that, at the age of eighty-two, Chas recorded his memories of the war for his family.
This is it, boys!
We're in the war now!
Get out, Sid!
Come on!
WAR MACHINE.
EPISODE 3 OF 3.
Who's that?
I don't know.
Could be a German.
Unlikely.
Do you have a gun?
No. Do you?
No.
Lieutenant Mould.
Welcome to the Tank Corps.
Which one of you's the mechanic?
That'd be me, sir.
Do you know what happens to
a tank when it breaks down?
No, sir.
The Germans come up from behind
and they stuff it,
right up the arse.
And we don't want that, do we?
- No, sir.
- No, sir.
You'll get the hang of it.
A tank's like any
other machine of war.
Point yours at the enemy
and hope they die first.
Shall we?
Look at that!
Here she is, the Niveleur.
Is that French or something?
It is indeed French or
something, Private Weston.
It means the leveller.
Appropriate, don't you think?
Burns...
..if you have to drop something,
try and make it the pigeon.
Sorry, sir. It won't
happen again.
What's the explosives for, sir?
Germans would love their very
own Mark V to play with.
We fall into enemy hands, we have
to spoil the fun and blow her up.
With us still inside?
I wouldn't recommend it.
She's beautiful, sir.
We are going to be a
part of the biggest
mechanical assault
that has ever been.
We rode into this war on horses.
We'll ride out of it in tanks.
Welcome to the future.
Bollocks to the future.
She's pulling left. This rate we'll still
be driving circles round this bloody wood
- when the Germans reach London.
- This is Private Dodds.
- We've put him in charge of morale.
- I can fix her.
Who the hell is this?
He's a mechanic.
Can I have a poke around
under the bonnet, sir?
Be my guest.
All right?
Is that a letter from home?
Oh, um...
Blimey, you've got something
worth fighting for, haven't you?
Shame to survive the war just
to go home and be murdered
by your missus, though, eh?
Ring? Probably lying
in no-man's land, right?
These are mine.
No, no, no. This way they're
always safe. They're always close,
like a proper family.
Sorry, Fred Firth.
- Chas Rowland.
- Nice to meet you.
So how long have you
been married, Chas?
Well, I'll be damned.
He fixed it!
He's good.
You all right, hen?
Where were you
stationed before this?
Came straight here from basic.
- Ah, so, you're a conscript, then?
- Yeah.
Well, let me tell you something,
you fancy little prick.
Unlike you, I've been
here since the beginning,
and you know what I learnt?
Cowards always die first,
and you look like
a coward to me.
I'm going to make
it through this,
go home, war hero.
Don't get in my way.
Primary objective, attack
the German front line,
break through their trenches...
..here.
Make way for infantry support,
neutralise their artillery,
and then secure a position seven
miles past the crossing point...
..here.
Seven miles behind enemy lines?
As of tomorrow morning, I suspect
the antiquated view of what is
and isn't a German line may
have changed somewhat.
But, yeah. It'll be hot. I'm told
we'll have air support.
What do you mean by
air support, sir?
Support from the air, Weston.
Weaponised planes
providing covering fire.
Oh, shit the bed!
Can we do that... sir?
Well, we're going to give it
a bloody good go.
We are going to smash open
a hole in their lines so wide
and so deep they will never
recover. Sound good?
Sounds very good.
Sounds very good indeed.
Lieutenant Cohen.
So you told them, cats out the bag,
hey? Good to see you, Mouldy.
And you.
Now...
..as promised.
Is that the good Scotch, sir?
This? It's the weakest,
most piss-filled bottle
of Protestant whisky
I could find.
- We had a wager.
- Which I lost.
Apparently. Weston, stow
this somewhere, will you?
So, this is the crew
of the Niveleur?
Well, you're in good hands.
This man won't let you down.
- The best of luck.
- Aye, sir.
I'll see you in the big show.
- What's the bird for?
- It's a homing pigeon.
She'll take a message back
to HQ if we want her to.
She's our lifeline.
Aren't you, hey?
Though if Lieutenant Mould had
his way, she'd be on a spit.
"My darling Anne."
"I cannot tell you where
my earthly body is"
"but I can tell you
where my heart lies."
"It is with you in our home."
Is this you, Weston,
you soppy bastard?
It's mine.
Yeah, sorry, Chas. Didn't have you
pegged for the romantic sort.
Mind your own business.
Listen, the first rule of
working in a tank crew
is don't leave your love
letters lying around
unless you want some bastard
yanking himself off to them.
Weston. Weston!
Don't eat too much too quickly.
You'll just throw it up later.
Nice.
Nice to have a woman
around the place.
Well, another one, anyway.
O'Brien, you Irish bastard,
get some grapeshot in that cannon.
I want a body count today.
All right, Rowland,
let's get moving.
We're a long way from home
and she's not built for speed.
What, you want me to drive, sir?
- You know how, don't you?
- Yeah.
Good. Let's get moving, then.
Weston, you're on the front gun.
That's the reconnaissance squad.
They'll lead us out,
just follow the light.
They're here! They're here!
Now we just wait for our guns.
What do you mean, sir?
They'll fire a few shells to
disguise the sound of our tanks.
Not long now, boys.
They'll be bombing the German
trenches any minute now.
Here we go!
Weston's pissed himself, sir.
Don't worry, Princess. We won't
let anything happen to ya!
Get us moving!
Come on. Mike, you can do this.
Come on!
One, two...
We're going over
a German trench!
All men to positions!
They haven't got a bloody clue.
Weston's down.
Pick him up.
The bastards!
We're not walking this time!
This is it! This is it, boys!
We're in the war now!
They're surrendering!
Fire!
Dodds, the bastards
are surrendering.
Reload, O'Brien! Reload!
Fire!
Firth, shoot that bloody gun!
Fire!
Fire!
Those guns haven't
been knocked out, sir!
We'll have to do it!
Weave! Keep it moving!
The engine's stopped.
It's not working!
We can't stay here!
Somebody get us moving!
I'm on it!
Weston, you get this fucking
tank moving right now!
Bloody fool.
What's he doing, sir?
He's trying to draw their fire.
Someone get that engine
started right now, goddamnit!
- Get our tank moving now!
- Shut up and let him get on with it!
I say we bail.
No! Nobody leave the boat!
It's not safe!
Right, stay put.
Come on!
Just wait one minute!
Try it now!
Come on!
Crank it, crank it!
Fucking have that!
Go! Now!
Dodds. Dodds! It's Cohen!
Keep firing.
Get that six-pounder into
the tree line! Keep firing, dammit!
Guns are out, sir.
We're clear! Cease fire! Cease fire!
Cease fire!
Weston, stop these fumes!
Get up, Chas. Get up. Get up!
You all right, fella?
Good man.
She'll be waiting for you
when you get home.
The whole of the retreating
German army are in that valley.
If we go down there
now we can inflict...
If we go down there now, they'll
blow us to bloody pieces.
If you want us to
attack tonight,
you'd better come up with a
plan more advanced than,
"Drive down there and
see how it goes."
- If you disobey an order...
- What? What will you do?
Take us out of action in the
middle of an offensive?
I will personally
ensure that neither you
nor your crew sees a
single medal or citations.
Well, a minute ago you
were personally ensuring
that neither me nor my crew
would ever see daylight again
so I count this as progress.
Arsehole!
Don't think that I won't ask you
to drive into certain death.
But just know it'll be for
a bloody good reason.
No-one's gained this much ground
in four years of fighting.
You did well today.
You'll do well again tomorrow.
Weston.
Weston!
I don't know what you've got
to smile about, Weston.
Good men died today
because of you.
I saw them burn.
- Wasn't his fault.
- No?
No.
No. While we were sat
around scratching our arses
waiting for him to do his job
and fix that bloody engine,
that other tank
took lumps for us.
How many white feathers
did you get, Weston?
- Six.
- Six? Six!
Six. Fuck me.
Look, I'm sorry,
mate, all right?
My dad needed me at the garage.
He was depending on me, Dodds.
You're a liar and
you're a coward.
Dodds...
You can go fuck yourself,
you jock bastard.
Bloody lunatic.
Come on!
Get off me!
I'm all right, I'm all right.
Dodds, go outside and cool off.
I think he's dangerous, sir.
Good. He's supposed to be.
He had two brothers, both of
them younger than you, Weston.
Both of them enlisted.
One of them's missing,
the other one's dead.
Do you know what the wager I
had with Lieutenant Cohen was?
He bet me I couldn't take this
rabble and turn it into a team.
I told him he owed me
a bottle of whisky.
I can't give it back to him now,
so we'd better be damn sure
I don't break my bet.
For now, just try to
stay out of Dodds' way.
Setting off soon, pal.
So, where were you
before all this?
17th West Yorks.
16 months on front line.
What made you try tanks?
Seemed like the regiment to join
if you want to make a
difference, so I signed up.
You?
I was infantry as well. I had too
many nights out on no-man's-land.
I was feeling like a sniper's
drawing a sight on you.
I was too exposed.
I like to...
I like to reach out and
touch the walls, you know.
It calms me down.
She write often?
She's not the
letter-writing type.
"Your children are growing."
That's what mine said
to me in the last one.
"Your children are growing."
My daughter, when she was little,
wasn't interested in me.
Just wanted her mother...
..which is normal, I suppose.
But I was determined.
I said to her,
I said, "You will love me."
I will do whatever it
takes to win you over."
And I did.
She'd run through
walls for me now.
And my boy...
..going to be three soon.
Now, if I die, he won't
even remember me.
Missed my chance, haven't I?
Grown up without me so far.
Won't know any different.
Leaving in two minutes.
Sorry...
I'm sorry.
'My darling Anne.
'I cannot tell you where my
earthly body is as I write this,
'but I can tell you
where my heart is.
'It is with you in our home...'
Tank's on fire!
Get the starboard door open.
Burns, get the fucking map,
don't let the map burn.
Map!
All right, out.
No, no! Get low.
Out!
Get low! Get out!
Stay low,
stay close to the tank.
Move to the back.
Shit!
No!
No, we're not.
Stay behind me.
Dawson, Dodds, O'Brien,
cover our flank!
Pull back!
Pull back! Move!
Trees, on knees!
Firth!
Is he dead?
No, he's moving.
Get him back in the tank!
Cover. Fire!
You'll be fine.
It's just a graze.
Listen to me!
Argh, get me in!
Get me in...
Please get me in, please get
me in, please get me in,
please get me in...
Firth!
Get us moving and let's find
our way back to the others.
Ready as she goes, sir.
Take us forward!
All right, steady as
she goes, lads...
Argh!
They're coming!
- They're coming!
- Firth, those are our men!
Argh! They're coming! Firth!
They're coming!
They're going to surround me!
Argh!
Dodds! Lay him out,
for fuck's sake!
Did he hit anyone?
No, sir, he was firing high.
He's lost it.
He'll be all right.
He just needs some
time, that's all.
No, he won't.
We have to leave him.
Sir...
please...
This bus is full of explosives,
petrol and ammunition.
I can't have a man
like that in here.
He's one of us.
We're a machine.
If there's a faulty part
WE break down.
Sir, if we do this, he'll die.
It doesn't matter.
Sir?
It doesn't matter if he dies,
Weston.
Take us into that valley,
away from the enemy
as far as you can.
I won't make it home.
Here...
Dodds, please, mate...
Dodds, please..
- Here.
- No, no, no!
Please, please...
Come on, we can't stay here.
I'm sorry.
'I love you.
'For always.
'For always.'
There's a farm,
a rendezvous point.
That's where we need to head.
Where is everyone?
We'll go and take a look.
Two volunteers to go with me?
I'll go.
No.
Rowland, Burns.
Burns, mind your head!
Hey!
We should stay by the tank.
Why?
You all going to
leave without me?
Be quiet. Follow me.
Oh, damn!
Go, go, go!
There'll be more coming.
Get down!
Go!
Thanks, Chas.
Reload that.
That'll get us to
the right place.
'I am returning from the garden
with dirt under my nails.'
Back there...
..in the village....
I just want to say thank you.
We need a mechanic.
If you couldn't fix the bus,
I'd have left you there,
and I'd have been glad to.
Stop trying to prove yourself
to us, Weston. You can't.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about your brothers.
I know how much
they meant to you.
Nah. No, you don't.
You don't know anything.
Fine.
Naw. No, it's not fine.
None of this is fucking fine.
Piss off.
This...
..is our final end point.
If we can get our
bus from here...
..to there... then maybe
the war turns our way.
This...
is the route we
take to get back.
Driving home, boys.
Simple as that.
So let's get to it.
'You are reading your
book in my chair.'
Going to slam the door open.
I'll drive for now,
you walk alongside.
Sir?
Go on.
When we stop again, you've got
to take a look at that engine.
There's nothing I can do about
the fumes, it's the design.
Listen, I won't be
poisoned to death
because the conscientious objector
doesn't feel like doing his job.
This ain't a job.
Fixing cars is a job.
Working in a shop is a job.
That's decent, that's honest.
Killing people, leaving your
mates to die alone in the mud,
that's something else.
He was a good man.
There, Michael, I've said it!
Firth was a good man
and we put him out.
You might not be used to war,
but the rest of us here are.
We've all killed people.
We don't need somebody like
you judging us for it.
I'm not the one you need
to worry about, mate.
You think you're all going
to go home war heroes.
But no-one back home
wants to know about it.
No-one wants to know about
this tank, or this mission,
or me, or you, or your dead
fucking brothers, Dodds.
Shut up!
You've been gone so long
they've got over it.
They've got over all of us.
Maybe I ain't one of you, Dodds,
but when I get back, all they'll
see is another fucking soldier
with another fucking story
they don't want to hear.
Bitte, bitte!
Schiessen Sie nicht!
Lieutenant!
German prisoner!
Schiessen Sie nicht! Bitte!
- Bitte!
- We don't take prisoners!
He's just a wee boy, lads.
They're all just wee boys. Who do you
think you've been pointing your gun at
these last couple of days?
What do we do?
I'll do it.
Let me. I'll do it, give it here.
Schiessen Sie nicht!
Bitte!
Schiessen Sie nicht!
Bitte... schiessen Sie nicht!
Bitte...
Schiessen Sie nicht!
No! You...
I'll do it.
Aah!
Bitte!
Bitte!
Bitte... Shut up.
Bitte!
Fucking hell.
What's going on?
I can't do it.
Can't do it?!
We're in the middle of a war!
"Can't do it"?!
This is what we're
here to do, gentlemen.
It's what we're here to do.
Sorry.
Burns!
Burns, hold here!
This is it.
Lieutenant.
Where is everyone?
No-one else has
made it back yet.
Are any of you injured?
Good.
Firth.
Firth.
Right, lads...
Let's see what you're made of.
Ready?
Ah, ha, ha! No!
Right, well, we'll just pretend
that didn't happen, eh?
Come on.
We're still a long
way from home,
and she's not built for speed.
Yes?
Anne?
Can I help you?
Can I come in?
I don't understand.
Were you friends
with my husband?
Yes. No! I mean, I found him.
He were waiting to be buried.
I opened his jacket
and there you were.
Chas, what are you doing?
You took my photo from him?
It were next to the letter.
What letter?
His letter back to you.
It was like the one
I'd written home.
The one that, if I died, I hoped
would have been delivered.
Not stuck in the ground with me.
No man wants to think that his
last words wouldn't make it home.
So I carried it.
I told myself I'd carry it home.
To you.
Where is it?
This is...
This is all that were left.
Oh, no...
It wasn't... there was
a fire in MY tank.
He wasn't burnt,
I don't know how he died,
but he wasn't burnt.
- I shouldn't...
- I haven't offered you tea.
Thank you.
Your house isn't
as I imagined it.
"My darling Anne..."
"..I cannot tell you where my
earthly body is as I write this,"
"but I can tell you
where my heart lies."
"It is with you in our home."
"Our children are
asleep upstairs."
"You are reading your
book in my chair."
"I am returning from the garden
with dirt under my nails."
"We have just met on the Common."
"I have held you in my
arms for the first time."
"You have said yes
to my proposal."
"We are walking along
Southend Pier together."
"Your stomach swells
with our children."
"We are hand in hand."
"It is in all of these
places where my heart lies."
"Keep my boots by the door,"
"keep my hat on the stand,
for I mean to come home to you."
"And only death will stop me."
"In which case I will send
you these words in my place."
"I love you."
"For always."
"For always."
"Jack."
Sorry.
I didn't mean to memorise it.
Subtitles by MemoryOnSmells.
Improved by Clog.
We're in the war now!
Get out, Sid!
Come on!
WAR MACHINE.
EPISODE 3 OF 3.
Who's that?
I don't know.
Could be a German.
Unlikely.
Do you have a gun?
No. Do you?
No.
Lieutenant Mould.
Welcome to the Tank Corps.
Which one of you's the mechanic?
That'd be me, sir.
Do you know what happens to
a tank when it breaks down?
No, sir.
The Germans come up from behind
and they stuff it,
right up the arse.
And we don't want that, do we?
- No, sir.
- No, sir.
You'll get the hang of it.
A tank's like any
other machine of war.
Point yours at the enemy
and hope they die first.
Shall we?
Look at that!
Here she is, the Niveleur.
Is that French or something?
It is indeed French or
something, Private Weston.
It means the leveller.
Appropriate, don't you think?
Burns...
..if you have to drop something,
try and make it the pigeon.
Sorry, sir. It won't
happen again.
What's the explosives for, sir?
Germans would love their very
own Mark V to play with.
We fall into enemy hands, we have
to spoil the fun and blow her up.
With us still inside?
I wouldn't recommend it.
She's beautiful, sir.
We are going to be a
part of the biggest
mechanical assault
that has ever been.
We rode into this war on horses.
We'll ride out of it in tanks.
Welcome to the future.
Bollocks to the future.
She's pulling left. This rate we'll still
be driving circles round this bloody wood
- when the Germans reach London.
- This is Private Dodds.
- We've put him in charge of morale.
- I can fix her.
Who the hell is this?
He's a mechanic.
Can I have a poke around
under the bonnet, sir?
Be my guest.
All right?
Is that a letter from home?
Oh, um...
Blimey, you've got something
worth fighting for, haven't you?
Shame to survive the war just
to go home and be murdered
by your missus, though, eh?
Ring? Probably lying
in no-man's land, right?
These are mine.
No, no, no. This way they're
always safe. They're always close,
like a proper family.
Sorry, Fred Firth.
- Chas Rowland.
- Nice to meet you.
So how long have you
been married, Chas?
Well, I'll be damned.
He fixed it!
He's good.
You all right, hen?
Where were you
stationed before this?
Came straight here from basic.
- Ah, so, you're a conscript, then?
- Yeah.
Well, let me tell you something,
you fancy little prick.
Unlike you, I've been
here since the beginning,
and you know what I learnt?
Cowards always die first,
and you look like
a coward to me.
I'm going to make
it through this,
go home, war hero.
Don't get in my way.
Primary objective, attack
the German front line,
break through their trenches...
..here.
Make way for infantry support,
neutralise their artillery,
and then secure a position seven
miles past the crossing point...
..here.
Seven miles behind enemy lines?
As of tomorrow morning, I suspect
the antiquated view of what is
and isn't a German line may
have changed somewhat.
But, yeah. It'll be hot. I'm told
we'll have air support.
What do you mean by
air support, sir?
Support from the air, Weston.
Weaponised planes
providing covering fire.
Oh, shit the bed!
Can we do that... sir?
Well, we're going to give it
a bloody good go.
We are going to smash open
a hole in their lines so wide
and so deep they will never
recover. Sound good?
Sounds very good.
Sounds very good indeed.
Lieutenant Cohen.
So you told them, cats out the bag,
hey? Good to see you, Mouldy.
And you.
Now...
..as promised.
Is that the good Scotch, sir?
This? It's the weakest,
most piss-filled bottle
of Protestant whisky
I could find.
- We had a wager.
- Which I lost.
Apparently. Weston, stow
this somewhere, will you?
So, this is the crew
of the Niveleur?
Well, you're in good hands.
This man won't let you down.
- The best of luck.
- Aye, sir.
I'll see you in the big show.
- What's the bird for?
- It's a homing pigeon.
She'll take a message back
to HQ if we want her to.
She's our lifeline.
Aren't you, hey?
Though if Lieutenant Mould had
his way, she'd be on a spit.
"My darling Anne."
"I cannot tell you where
my earthly body is"
"but I can tell you
where my heart lies."
"It is with you in our home."
Is this you, Weston,
you soppy bastard?
It's mine.
Yeah, sorry, Chas. Didn't have you
pegged for the romantic sort.
Mind your own business.
Listen, the first rule of
working in a tank crew
is don't leave your love
letters lying around
unless you want some bastard
yanking himself off to them.
Weston. Weston!
Don't eat too much too quickly.
You'll just throw it up later.
Nice.
Nice to have a woman
around the place.
Well, another one, anyway.
O'Brien, you Irish bastard,
get some grapeshot in that cannon.
I want a body count today.
All right, Rowland,
let's get moving.
We're a long way from home
and she's not built for speed.
What, you want me to drive, sir?
- You know how, don't you?
- Yeah.
Good. Let's get moving, then.
Weston, you're on the front gun.
That's the reconnaissance squad.
They'll lead us out,
just follow the light.
They're here! They're here!
Now we just wait for our guns.
What do you mean, sir?
They'll fire a few shells to
disguise the sound of our tanks.
Not long now, boys.
They'll be bombing the German
trenches any minute now.
Here we go!
Weston's pissed himself, sir.
Don't worry, Princess. We won't
let anything happen to ya!
Get us moving!
Come on. Mike, you can do this.
Come on!
One, two...
We're going over
a German trench!
All men to positions!
They haven't got a bloody clue.
Weston's down.
Pick him up.
The bastards!
We're not walking this time!
This is it! This is it, boys!
We're in the war now!
They're surrendering!
Fire!
Dodds, the bastards
are surrendering.
Reload, O'Brien! Reload!
Fire!
Firth, shoot that bloody gun!
Fire!
Fire!
Those guns haven't
been knocked out, sir!
We'll have to do it!
Weave! Keep it moving!
The engine's stopped.
It's not working!
We can't stay here!
Somebody get us moving!
I'm on it!
Weston, you get this fucking
tank moving right now!
Bloody fool.
What's he doing, sir?
He's trying to draw their fire.
Someone get that engine
started right now, goddamnit!
- Get our tank moving now!
- Shut up and let him get on with it!
I say we bail.
No! Nobody leave the boat!
It's not safe!
Right, stay put.
Come on!
Just wait one minute!
Try it now!
Come on!
Crank it, crank it!
Fucking have that!
Go! Now!
Dodds. Dodds! It's Cohen!
Keep firing.
Get that six-pounder into
the tree line! Keep firing, dammit!
Guns are out, sir.
We're clear! Cease fire! Cease fire!
Cease fire!
Weston, stop these fumes!
Get up, Chas. Get up. Get up!
You all right, fella?
Good man.
She'll be waiting for you
when you get home.
The whole of the retreating
German army are in that valley.
If we go down there
now we can inflict...
If we go down there now, they'll
blow us to bloody pieces.
If you want us to
attack tonight,
you'd better come up with a
plan more advanced than,
"Drive down there and
see how it goes."
- If you disobey an order...
- What? What will you do?
Take us out of action in the
middle of an offensive?
I will personally
ensure that neither you
nor your crew sees a
single medal or citations.
Well, a minute ago you
were personally ensuring
that neither me nor my crew
would ever see daylight again
so I count this as progress.
Arsehole!
Don't think that I won't ask you
to drive into certain death.
But just know it'll be for
a bloody good reason.
No-one's gained this much ground
in four years of fighting.
You did well today.
You'll do well again tomorrow.
Weston.
Weston!
I don't know what you've got
to smile about, Weston.
Good men died today
because of you.
I saw them burn.
- Wasn't his fault.
- No?
No.
No. While we were sat
around scratching our arses
waiting for him to do his job
and fix that bloody engine,
that other tank
took lumps for us.
How many white feathers
did you get, Weston?
- Six.
- Six? Six!
Six. Fuck me.
Look, I'm sorry,
mate, all right?
My dad needed me at the garage.
He was depending on me, Dodds.
You're a liar and
you're a coward.
Dodds...
You can go fuck yourself,
you jock bastard.
Bloody lunatic.
Come on!
Get off me!
I'm all right, I'm all right.
Dodds, go outside and cool off.
I think he's dangerous, sir.
Good. He's supposed to be.
He had two brothers, both of
them younger than you, Weston.
Both of them enlisted.
One of them's missing,
the other one's dead.
Do you know what the wager I
had with Lieutenant Cohen was?
He bet me I couldn't take this
rabble and turn it into a team.
I told him he owed me
a bottle of whisky.
I can't give it back to him now,
so we'd better be damn sure
I don't break my bet.
For now, just try to
stay out of Dodds' way.
Setting off soon, pal.
So, where were you
before all this?
17th West Yorks.
16 months on front line.
What made you try tanks?
Seemed like the regiment to join
if you want to make a
difference, so I signed up.
You?
I was infantry as well. I had too
many nights out on no-man's-land.
I was feeling like a sniper's
drawing a sight on you.
I was too exposed.
I like to...
I like to reach out and
touch the walls, you know.
It calms me down.
She write often?
She's not the
letter-writing type.
"Your children are growing."
That's what mine said
to me in the last one.
"Your children are growing."
My daughter, when she was little,
wasn't interested in me.
Just wanted her mother...
..which is normal, I suppose.
But I was determined.
I said to her,
I said, "You will love me."
I will do whatever it
takes to win you over."
And I did.
She'd run through
walls for me now.
And my boy...
..going to be three soon.
Now, if I die, he won't
even remember me.
Missed my chance, haven't I?
Grown up without me so far.
Won't know any different.
Leaving in two minutes.
Sorry...
I'm sorry.
'My darling Anne.
'I cannot tell you where my
earthly body is as I write this,
'but I can tell you
where my heart is.
'It is with you in our home...'
Tank's on fire!
Get the starboard door open.
Burns, get the fucking map,
don't let the map burn.
Map!
All right, out.
No, no! Get low.
Out!
Get low! Get out!
Stay low,
stay close to the tank.
Move to the back.
Shit!
No!
No, we're not.
Stay behind me.
Dawson, Dodds, O'Brien,
cover our flank!
Pull back!
Pull back! Move!
Trees, on knees!
Firth!
Is he dead?
No, he's moving.
Get him back in the tank!
Cover. Fire!
You'll be fine.
It's just a graze.
Listen to me!
Argh, get me in!
Get me in...
Please get me in, please get
me in, please get me in,
please get me in...
Firth!
Get us moving and let's find
our way back to the others.
Ready as she goes, sir.
Take us forward!
All right, steady as
she goes, lads...
Argh!
They're coming!
- They're coming!
- Firth, those are our men!
Argh! They're coming! Firth!
They're coming!
They're going to surround me!
Argh!
Dodds! Lay him out,
for fuck's sake!
Did he hit anyone?
No, sir, he was firing high.
He's lost it.
He'll be all right.
He just needs some
time, that's all.
No, he won't.
We have to leave him.
Sir...
please...
This bus is full of explosives,
petrol and ammunition.
I can't have a man
like that in here.
He's one of us.
We're a machine.
If there's a faulty part
WE break down.
Sir, if we do this, he'll die.
It doesn't matter.
Sir?
It doesn't matter if he dies,
Weston.
Take us into that valley,
away from the enemy
as far as you can.
I won't make it home.
Here...
Dodds, please, mate...
Dodds, please..
- Here.
- No, no, no!
Please, please...
Come on, we can't stay here.
I'm sorry.
'I love you.
'For always.
'For always.'
There's a farm,
a rendezvous point.
That's where we need to head.
Where is everyone?
We'll go and take a look.
Two volunteers to go with me?
I'll go.
No.
Rowland, Burns.
Burns, mind your head!
Hey!
We should stay by the tank.
Why?
You all going to
leave without me?
Be quiet. Follow me.
Oh, damn!
Go, go, go!
There'll be more coming.
Get down!
Go!
Thanks, Chas.
Reload that.
That'll get us to
the right place.
'I am returning from the garden
with dirt under my nails.'
Back there...
..in the village....
I just want to say thank you.
We need a mechanic.
If you couldn't fix the bus,
I'd have left you there,
and I'd have been glad to.
Stop trying to prove yourself
to us, Weston. You can't.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about your brothers.
I know how much
they meant to you.
Nah. No, you don't.
You don't know anything.
Fine.
Naw. No, it's not fine.
None of this is fucking fine.
Piss off.
This...
..is our final end point.
If we can get our
bus from here...
..to there... then maybe
the war turns our way.
This...
is the route we
take to get back.
Driving home, boys.
Simple as that.
So let's get to it.
'You are reading your
book in my chair.'
Going to slam the door open.
I'll drive for now,
you walk alongside.
Sir?
Go on.
When we stop again, you've got
to take a look at that engine.
There's nothing I can do about
the fumes, it's the design.
Listen, I won't be
poisoned to death
because the conscientious objector
doesn't feel like doing his job.
This ain't a job.
Fixing cars is a job.
Working in a shop is a job.
That's decent, that's honest.
Killing people, leaving your
mates to die alone in the mud,
that's something else.
He was a good man.
There, Michael, I've said it!
Firth was a good man
and we put him out.
You might not be used to war,
but the rest of us here are.
We've all killed people.
We don't need somebody like
you judging us for it.
I'm not the one you need
to worry about, mate.
You think you're all going
to go home war heroes.
But no-one back home
wants to know about it.
No-one wants to know about
this tank, or this mission,
or me, or you, or your dead
fucking brothers, Dodds.
Shut up!
You've been gone so long
they've got over it.
They've got over all of us.
Maybe I ain't one of you, Dodds,
but when I get back, all they'll
see is another fucking soldier
with another fucking story
they don't want to hear.
Bitte, bitte!
Schiessen Sie nicht!
Lieutenant!
German prisoner!
Schiessen Sie nicht! Bitte!
- Bitte!
- We don't take prisoners!
He's just a wee boy, lads.
They're all just wee boys. Who do you
think you've been pointing your gun at
these last couple of days?
What do we do?
I'll do it.
Let me. I'll do it, give it here.
Schiessen Sie nicht!
Bitte!
Schiessen Sie nicht!
Bitte... schiessen Sie nicht!
Bitte...
Schiessen Sie nicht!
No! You...
I'll do it.
Aah!
Bitte!
Bitte!
Bitte... Shut up.
Bitte!
Fucking hell.
What's going on?
I can't do it.
Can't do it?!
We're in the middle of a war!
"Can't do it"?!
This is what we're
here to do, gentlemen.
It's what we're here to do.
Sorry.
Burns!
Burns, hold here!
This is it.
Lieutenant.
Where is everyone?
No-one else has
made it back yet.
Are any of you injured?
Good.
Firth.
Firth.
Right, lads...
Let's see what you're made of.
Ready?
Ah, ha, ha! No!
Right, well, we'll just pretend
that didn't happen, eh?
Come on.
We're still a long
way from home,
and she's not built for speed.
Yes?
Anne?
Can I help you?
Can I come in?
I don't understand.
Were you friends
with my husband?
Yes. No! I mean, I found him.
He were waiting to be buried.
I opened his jacket
and there you were.
Chas, what are you doing?
You took my photo from him?
It were next to the letter.
What letter?
His letter back to you.
It was like the one
I'd written home.
The one that, if I died, I hoped
would have been delivered.
Not stuck in the ground with me.
No man wants to think that his
last words wouldn't make it home.
So I carried it.
I told myself I'd carry it home.
To you.
Where is it?
This is...
This is all that were left.
Oh, no...
It wasn't... there was
a fire in MY tank.
He wasn't burnt,
I don't know how he died,
but he wasn't burnt.
- I shouldn't...
- I haven't offered you tea.
Thank you.
Your house isn't
as I imagined it.
"My darling Anne..."
"..I cannot tell you where my
earthly body is as I write this,"
"but I can tell you
where my heart lies."
"It is with you in our home."
"Our children are
asleep upstairs."
"You are reading your
book in my chair."
"I am returning from the garden
with dirt under my nails."
"We have just met on the Common."
"I have held you in my
arms for the first time."
"You have said yes
to my proposal."
"We are walking along
Southend Pier together."
"Your stomach swells
with our children."
"We are hand in hand."
"It is in all of these
places where my heart lies."
"Keep my boots by the door,"
"keep my hat on the stand,
for I mean to come home to you."
"And only death will stop me."
"In which case I will send
you these words in my place."
"I love you."
"For always."
"For always."
"Jack."
Sorry.
I didn't mean to memorise it.
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