ALLENBY MEETS WEIZMANN : Tel-el-Jelil, and Arsulf [Allocated Title]

Mixed film of British, Indian and Jewish forces, including the meeting of General Allenby with Chaim Weizmann in Jerusalem, Palestine Front, May 1918.

(Reel 1) An auction of British Army horses to civilians. A troop train arrives in Ludd (ie Lod), British soldiers climb out, form up and march away, 5 May. An Indian battalion on the march through the hills. More British troops marching away from Ludd railway. A fire in an officer's quarters at a tented camp. British troops resting in a dry wadi. Indians clearing undergrowth from a small river, described as Wadi Auja (compare with the same scene in IWM 80, captioned as "a tributary of the Tigris"). (Reel 2) Jewish recruits for 40th (Jewish) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, leaving their settlements and being taken by train through the Judaean hills to Jerusalem station, where they are greeted by Jewish officials and sent out to train with a British escort. General Sir Edmund Allenby arrives in Jerusalem to share the platform at a Jewish meeting with Chaim Weizmann and the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. After the speeches Weizmann accompanies Allenby to his car. A portrait shot of the Japanese military attaché to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. An observation kite balloon at Tel-el-Jelil being inflated on 21 June, near 7th (Meerut) Division camp. The balloon is lowered to change the observer and moved by its winch cable to a different site. 60-pounder guns, possibly under control from the balloon, fire under scrim netting. (Reel 3) British troops and Egyptian labourers build a light railway through to Beersheba. Indian troops dig ditches by the side. More Indian troops on the march through the desert. Back to the kite balloon at Tel-el-Jelil, showing the view from the observer's basket as the balloon ascends and descends again. A portrait shot of Major-General Sir V B Fane commanding 7th (Meerut) Division. A pay parade for men of 7th (Meerut) Division. Men of 121st Pioneer Regiment on the march. A horse race for men of the division on 22 June. Arsulf, captured by the British on 8 June, showing Turkish prisoners being escorted to the rear. Indian wounded are placed on narrow gauge trucks and taken to a dressing station by men of 128th, 129th and 130th Field Ambulances, then back to the base hospital at Ramleh. (Reel 4) 21st Brigade advanced headquarters is positioned covering a stretch of beach between the cliff-face and the sea; men of 2nd Battalion, the Black Watch, man a sandbag breastwork while the transport mules wait. A training exercise with Lewis machine guns for 2nd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment. Indian soldiers, followed by their camel transport, near Jericho. Transport horses at Elijah's Well, Jerusalem. A fast-travelling car throws up dust in the desert as a type of screen. British troops practise a mock attack and bayonet fighting. Transport horses being groomed. Indian troops practise throwing Mills bombs. British troops practise with the 3-inch trench mortar.

35mm