Description
Object description
Unedited newsreel rushes showing the arrival by air of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for his first visit to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France since the outbreak of war in September 1939 and his inspection of defences being constructed by the BEF near the Franco-Belgian border.
Full description
Part I. Filmed from a distance on a dull day, British Army officers standing around the construction site for a ferro-concrete pill box being built by the Royal Engineers less than two kilometres from the Franco-Belgian border at Bachy; several sappers wearing leather jerkins and greatcoats to keep warm are seen at work by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who is also seen dressed for the cold and the mud. General Lord Gort, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, and the Premier are seen conversing outside a French pill box built in 1937 near several other officers including one man from a Scottish regiment in a Glengarry cap; they then move off across a muddy field. At another pill box construction site, Major-General Harold Alexander, commander of the 1st Division, is in charge of briefing Chamberlain's party and accompanies it as it approaches an anti-tank ditch dug by British troops. The Prime Minister talks to soldiers busy constructing an anti-tank ditch (?) that is already part-filled with rain water. The party moves on to the next location (the camera is running slowly at this point). British soldiers line the road just outside a French village and give three cheers in an enthusiastic fashion as Chamberlain and his escorting party arrive in Army staff cars. They watch a group of soldiers at a construction site for another ferro-concrete pill box busy fixing wooden planks in place before pouring concrete onto the foundations. Filmed from the roof of a French pill box surrounded by new field defences erected by British (?) troops, a French Army liaison officer leads Chamberlain and Gort over wooden planks in a muddy field. The Prime Minister is seen in conversation with the Frenchman and, also accompanied by Lord Gort, he strolls along a pavé road past a row of British soldiers standing on an embankment who give him 'three cheers'.
Full description
Part II. At Amiens aerodrome, the passenger door of a de Havilland DH 95 Flamingo transport aircraft belonging to RAF 24 Squadron is held open by a RAF officer and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, wearing his trade-mark black hat, coat, wing collar and bow tie, steps out of the aircraft followed by Major-General Hastings 'Pug' Ismay, Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID). He is greeted by Captain Lord Munster, aide-de-camp (ADC) to General Lord Gort, and several other RAF officers. Also seen alighting from the aircraft is Chamberlain's private secretary, a gentleman in glasses and a bowler hat. Accompanied by Lord Munster, the Prime Minister inspects the Guard of Honour provided by the French Air Force (L'Armée de l'Air) and RAF personnel in company with the local RAF and French Air Force commanding officers. A brief view of a row of RAF non-commissioned officers on parade. Munster, Chamberlain and the seniormost RAF officer at Amiens airfield walk past two de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide aircraft in the background and into a large aircraft hangar. A view of French Air Force personnel on parade on the airfield; one of the Frenchman stares at the camera with an unhappy expression . Accompanied by Gort's ADC, the Prime Minister emerges from the hangar with several other French and British officers and walks straight past another newsreel cameraman and RAF personnel on parade in the background and climbs into the back of a BEF Hillman staff car. As he does so, Munster hands over a map to the staff car's Royal Army Service Corps driver. Slightly out-of-focus shots of two staff cars (including Chamberlain's) departing; the newsreel cameraman seen filming earlier is visible on the left.
Part III. At the Franco-Belgian border near Bachy, the Prime Minister's party listens to a briefing officer as he shows them tall steel anti-tank obstacles known as Belgian Gates. BEF Commander-in-Chief Lord Gort is among the officers seen walking away from the frontier defences with Chamberlain. Lord Munster keeps company with the prime minister's personal secretary. A distant view of the party being shown around by a senior Army officer a short distance away from a pill box recently built by British troops.
Physical description
35mm