Breaking Point

History, Braith. We're about to write it.

The Greeks and Trojans will be here forever...

-(YELLING) -Fall back!

..and now it's our turn.

Bugger this. Who wants to go to the beach for a swim?

There's an idea.

-What have you got there? The one that got me.

Don't hang onto that. It's bad luck.

-Tol! -Bev!

I don't care what anyone says. They're good blokes.

Two Bob's dead.

-Come on, lads! -(WHISTLE BLOWS, YELLING)

Over the past four days,

Hamilton's run up how many casualties?

20,000?

25,000?

Hamilton's task was a peninsula.

What's he managed? A few bloody acres of nothing.

Definition of insanity,

to repeat the same action over and over again

and expect a different result.

Good evening, gentlemen.

We're together on this.

-Tol, this is Celia. -Hello, Thomas.

Who's yours from?

Mum.

-What's she got to say? -Not much.

He now admits at least the break-out was a failure.

And his response is this call for more men.

Surely Kitchener can't agree to this.

Sir, the truth is, General Hamilton has lost the support

of all his closest advisers.

Sir, Lord Kitchener is about to send another cable.

He says it has to be deciphered by you alone.

I'll read it tomorrow.

-(CHINA CLINKS) -Sir.

Thank you, Simmonds.

-General, may I say... -Say nothing, Colonel.

I have not succeeded.

The moving finger writes.

And there's an end to it.

Hm.

General.

I'd like to thank you.

For your contribution.

You're very gracious, sir.

I am that. At least.

Braithwaite.

What's this?

He's been dismissed by Kitchener.

-Bean. -Sir.

So, this is your camp, hm?

Very comfortable.

We'll all be sorry to part with you, sir.

I wanted to say something about the ANZAC men, Bean.

They're splendid fellows.

And they have exceeded all my expectations.

My heartfelt wishes go with you all.

Thank you, sir.

They will be remembered.

When the storm hit, it wasn't just rain.

This was something different.

You reckon they're trying to get rid of us?

For months I thought God had abandoned us.

But that damned storm.

It was like He was coming back at us with a vengeance.

What's all that?

That's Lord Kitchener.

What's he doing here?

Coming to check on you, Tol.

You'd better watch out, Corporal.

Why is he here?

May I?

Yes, sir.

Could I have a loan of that?

Now let's see...

Oh!

Steady, Birdy.

Yes. Right.

Good.

Carry on.

-We're here, sir. Russell's Top. -Mm-hm.

And that's Pope's Hill over there.

The line lies across the Turk emplacements

named the Chessboard.

Then Quinn's, Courtney's, Steele's.

And then down over here, Lonely Pine.

-We hold that, don't we? -We hold a good part of it, sir.

So this is the extent of our right flank.

Yes, sir, more or less.

And these men,

what do your officers think they could accomplish

if we had one more push?

It's considered they could fight for 24 hours, sir.

No longer.

Thank God, Birdy, I came to see this for myself.

The country is much more...

..difficult than I imagined.

I'd no idea what you were up against.

I think you're all doing a marvellous job.

Thank you, sir.

But something must be changed here before long.

The Germans...

..are moving heavy howitzers into Turkey.

They'll be here before we know it.

Cheerio! Hoo-roo! Ta-ra!

It's a rumour, Bev. It's everywhere.

-We're not going. -Don't say that!

-Why wouldn't we? -What, withdraw without winning?

Not the Pommies, mate. They never surrender.

-They're not going to win. -And how do you know?

They've won every war they've been in since Agincourt.

And even if they didn't, they'd say they did.

And when was Agincourt? -500 years ago last week.

Doesn't count.

It does to them. And they're a great empire, Tol.

They do things differently to everyone else.

They're hopeless.

They weren't always.

Could be worse.

Like how?

They could be shooting at us.

Almost miss the flies.

Almost.

Yes, of course, General Monro, sir.

So, Kitchener's recommendations for evacuation

have gone to the war cabinet.

We are now in the direct hands

of civilians in lounge chairs, chaps.

How long till they make up their minds?

Well, come on.

I know Johnny Hamilton wasn't a betting man, but I am.

I'm taking bets.

A month? Two months?

You're right, sir.

I am.

The bloody German howitzers will be in Turkey in a week.

-Wrong, sir. -What do you mean?

The howitzers have apparently arrived in Constantinople.

So...

..they'll be here soon to blast us off the peninsula.

We prepare for evacuation.

-Without the word from London? -That's what I'm saying.

We start now.

We started the silent war.

All along the line

we were told to stop shooting for days at a time

to lull the Turks to sleep,

to make them think we were settling in for winter.

Stand down!

Corporal?

Stand down!

Reynolds!

And these howitzers,

like some horrible beast coming for us.

I was talking with Monro.

Bloody great trench-busters, they are.

He says he's experienced it in France. It's horrific.

Look at me.

I'm wondering how Bartlett would cope with this.

A roaring fire, a few servants.

Mulled wine.

Furs. Mink and so forth.

Have you heard about that soldier,

frozen to death up on the parapet?

One thing's for sure -

Sydney and Melbourne

won't be reading about that over breakfast.

Much worse down in Suvla. Hundreds.

Drowned and frozen.

Hundreds.

It gives a bullet a kind of honour, don't you think?

..and they move down to piers on North Beach, Anzac and Suvla

over a 48-hour period.

All in all we'll clear 200 guns, 2,000 vehicles,

5,000 animals and 90,000 men.

Good.

My congratulations, General.

Thank you, sir.

London.

At last.

Quiet. Quiet. Quiet.

So, we will continue with the silent war.

In the meantime, I want to thank each and every one of you.