SONS OF OUR EMPIRE EPISODE 5 : Attacking hard [Main Title]

The wounded, prisoners and captured ground from the British Somme offensive, Western Front, autumn 1916.

(Reel 9) A bombardment in progress. Mk I tanks move up. Fatigue parties (described as "doctors") move forwards. Prisoners are brought in and the captured area mopped up. The German Crown Prince's headquarters at Péronne shows shell damage. A Guards Division dressing station. The formal search of prisoners by Australians, "the Intelligence officer returns an Iron Cross to a prisoner". The troops return to their rest camps. A chaplain takes a message from a wounded man on a stretcher. Tanks and soldiers return. (Reel 10) The remains of Trones Wood and the unidentifiable rubble of villages. German dead in their trenches. A ditched Mk I tank. "Australians", "London Irish" and "Civil Service Rifles" (of 56th Division) return. An open air funeral service, "the inevitable price of victory". Mk I tanks of 'D' Company H/MGC being serviced and maintained. Aircraft return from their observation flights. An observation kite balloon lands. Men of 35th (Bantam) Division and the New Zealand Division rest. A final shot of Prime Minister Lloyd George on a balcony with H Samuel Homer Stacy, with a policy speech: "our sword was not lightly drawn, and will never be sheathed until our terms - Restitution, Reparation and Guarantees - are fully assured".

35mm