SCENES OF THE FRONT [Main Title]

An incoherent jumble of stockshots of British and Imperial forces on the Western Front, 1916-1918.

Identifiable material is as follows. Reel 1: a flight of Bristol F2B Fighters taking off from an aerodrome; Prime Minister W F Massey of New Zealand arriving in France, probably October 1916. Reel 2: German prisoners loading captured light guns and machine guns onto lorries (compare with IWM 105); 4.5-inch howitzers and 18-pounders firing in the open and in an undisturbed village, possibly early 1916; British troops, probably in training, charging into smoke. Reel 4: American 307th Infantry Regiment, attached to British 42nd Division for training, marching past Major-General Solly-Flood on 7 June 1918; VAD members picnicking in a wood; a fire at a large hay and fodder store. Reel 5: first aid being given at Number 3 Field Ambulance (?) possibly of the New Zealand Division. Reel 6: Brigadier-General John Charteris, head of GHQ Intelligence, leaving a building in Montreuil, as despatch riders pass through the town; General Cadorna, the Italian C-in-C, entering a train; King George V at the firing of a 14-inch railway gun of 471st Siege Battery, Brayon, 8 August 1918.

35mm