FRATERNISATION BETWEEN BRITISH AND GERMAN SOLDIERS AT ATH [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: FRATERNISATION BETWEEN BRITISH AND GERMAN SOLDIERS AT ATH [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 368
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Unedited film of British and German troops in or near Ath, Belgium, during the Armistice, mid or late November 1918.
  • Description: I. A dummy dressed in German uniform suspended at the point of an arch, the entrance to a brewery, with some British soldiers passing nearby, Ath, 17th November. II. Belgian refugees with backpacks march up a hillside towards the camera. III. German soldiers, one with a white flag and the rest carrying their rifles, talk to a group of British soldiers who are also carrying a white flag. They exchange conversation and cigarettes. One of the Germans discusses the technicalities of his Mauser rifle with a British soldier. The German and British officers also converse, along with a few civilians. The four German officers, and two escorts, prepare to ride off, but as they leave they are halted by Lieutenant Ernest Brooks, the British official photographer, who checks their passes before they ride off.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 368)
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1918
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor) Topical Film Company (Production company) Wilson, F (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Brooks, Ernest (person) British Army (regiment/service) German Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: propaganda, British - inflammatory (object name) refugees, Belgian - return (object name) society, British military - friendship (object name) society, German military - friendship (object name) weapons, German - smallarm: Mauser rifle (object name) journalism and record, British - photographer (object name) First World War, Armistice & 11/1918 (event) Ath, Hainaut, Belgium (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 126 ft; Running time: 2 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Title: the shotsheet gives the title DUMMY BOCHES HANGED AT COURTRAI but the photographic evidence suggests Ath rather than Courtrai Remarks: as with many unusual scenes, the fraternisation looks almost too good to be true. There is no reason, however, to doubt its authenticity
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 368

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
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