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Title:CHRISTMAS WITH THE 8TH ARMY [Allocated Title]
Film Number:AYY 295/1
Other titles:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: Various enacted Christmas sequences in the Western Desert.
Description: I. Bofors Gun sequence. A Bofors gun crew playing draughts, the spotter sees a chicken. The gun is loaded and fired. The crew cheers, only to find an inedible blackened chicken with a few feathers. One of the men takes a tin of bully out of the ration box.
II. Armoured car sequence. A card reads A Happy Christmas. The driver gets out of an armoured car and ties a sock to the 2 pounder gun barrel and exits. A trooper sees the sock with disgust and bends down to unroll his bed. He takes out a pair of overalls, knots the ends of the trousers, climbs up the car and puts the trousers over the barrel as well. He admires his handiwork. The driver opens the trapdoor, pokes his head out and sees the overalls. He looks up at his grinning pal. They both sit on the car and pour out a drink for a Christmas toast. The camera pans to "A Happy Christmas".
III. Jam Tarts A La Armoured Car. Two Royal Tank Regiment troopers mix pastry and roll it out with a bottle. They cut out shapes for jam tarts and put the tray in the oven. They take out the cooked tarts. A hand takes a tart and spreads it with jam. The first one is sampled by the chef with great enjoyment.
IV. The Christmas Mail. A Royal Engineers postal worker picks a sack of mail from a pile and empties it out. The mail is sorted into units and a porter signals to a waiting truck. The mail is put inside and the truck drives off. Two troopers open a parcel. One reads a letter. They examine the parcel and pull out a packet of "Blighty" Players cigarettes and they both light one.
V. 25 Pound Christmas Wish. A gun crew and officers in a gun pit with a 25 pounder, having a Christmas drink. An officer accepts a Scotch. A sergeant writes Smashing Xmas Adolf on a shell. The crew look at the shell and with a wink the Number 4 pushes the shell into the breech and the shell is rammed. The breech is closed and the gun is fired.
Alternative Title:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Production Details: War Office Film Unit (Production company)
Windows, J C (Production individual)
Herbert, J R (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Eighth Army (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Engineers (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Artillery (regiment/service)
Keywords: Egypt (geography)
Western Desert 1940-1943, North Africa, Second World War (event)
North Africa 1939-1945 (theme)