THE GREAT WAR 9 : Please God Send Us a Victory (soldier's prayer) [Main Title]

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  • Title: THE GREAT WAR 9 : Please God Send Us a Victory (soldier's prayer) [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 1065-9
  • Other titles: PLEASE GOD SEND US A VICTORY (soldier's prayer) [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: The British and Australians in the Gallipoli Campaign, from its origins to its conclusion, October 1914 to January 1916.
  • Description: At the start of 1915 there was deadlock on the Western Front. Lord Kitchener believed this was permanent, and the Allies must attack elsewhere. In early August 1914 the German warships Goeben and Breslau had escaped capture by the British in Constantinople and had been sold to the Turks. On 30th October Turkey declared war on Russia. The British War Council considered decided to force the Dardanelles and take Constantinople, so driving Turkey out of the war and opening up the supply routes to and from southern Russia. On 14th January they ordered a British naval bombardment of the Dardanelles forts. Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, believed in the plan, but it proved ineffective. Admiral Lord Fisher, the First Sea Lord, called for troop landings. Lord Kitchener released his sole reserve division, 29th Division, badly needed on the Western Front, for the Gallipoli landings. Also available were half-trained ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) troops and Indians in Egypt, a French division, and the Royal Naval Division. Kitchener appointed Sir Ian Hamilton to comnand the landings. On 18th March the French and British navies tried to force a breakthrough again, lost three battleships and on the verge of success withdrew. The Turks, in a height of nationalist passion, turned on their alien Armenian population in a massacre. The German General Liman von Sanders took command of the Gallipoli land defences. On 25th April the British and ANZACs landed, but failed to press inland and link up their bridgeheads. After a Turkish counter-attack another stalemate, just like the Western Front, resulted. Heat and infection were serious problems. By the end of May there were 38,000 British casualties and Hamilton asked for more troops. By 1st August both sides had lost about 57,000 casualties, but the British had over 1,000 a week sick with dysentry. The campaign's failure led Fisher to resign, Churchill to be sacked and the Liberal government's first coallition to fall. Troops and ammunition needed on the Western Front were absorbed by Gallipoli, but more than matched by the Turks. It was another British defeat; a failure above all for the Royal Navy. On 6th August Hamilton tried another landing, at Suvla Bay, with inexperienced divisions, which again failed to exploit their initial success. The deadlock continued: in 37 weeks at Gallipoli the Allies lost 31,000 dead, 73,000 wounded and 93,000 sick. In October Hamilton was recalled and General Monro replaced him - he decided at once to evacuate. Kitchener went out to see the situation and agreed to this. In November, after months of heat, a blizzard caused 15,000 frostbite cases. The evacuation of 120,000 men worked perfectly, without loss - 83,000 men in December and the remainder in January 1916. "The great adventure was over - the war went on."
  • Alternative Title: PLEASE GOD SEND US A VICTORY (soldier's prayer) [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: IWM 1065-9
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM: PROJECTION PRINT ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION USE
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1964
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Production sponsor) Imperial War Museum (Production sponsor) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Production sponsor) BBC (Production company) Essex, Tony (Production individual) Watkins, Gordon (Production individual) Terraine, John Alfred1921-01-152003-12-27 (Production individual) Rollins, Ed (Production individual) Manefield, Tom (Production individual) Rollins, Ed (Production individual) Terraine, John Alfred1921-01-152003-12-27 (Production individual) Jarvis, Anne (Production individual) Hipple, Rex (Production individual) Kay Film Laboratories (Production individual) Bigman, Richard (Production individual) Caravel Films (Production individual) McWatt, John (Production individual) Garland, Nicholas1935 (Production individual) Saunders, Robert (Production individual) Read, Bill (Production individual) Keene, Brian (Production individual) Callaway, Ian (Production individual) Bosworth, Pam (Production individual) Carr, Norman (Production individual) Heelas, Peter (Production individual) Toovey, Barry (Production individual) Cave, Julia (Production individual) Broadway, Anne (Production individual) Bryen, Doris (Production individual) Kersey, Jill (Production individual) Davidson, Eric (Production individual) Vigne, Jean (Production individual) Mendelsohn, Robyn (Production individual) Maloney, William (Production individual) Macloughlin, Marya (Production individual) Maros, Basil (Production individual) Virgo, Myrtle (Production individual) Descendre, Anne (Production individual) Edwards, Jeffrey (Production individual) Parry, Audrey (Production individual) Shukman, Harold (Production individual) Kuehl, Jerome (Production individual) Barrie, Alexander (Production individual) Hastings, Max Hugh Macdonald1945-12-28Researcher, BBC TV Great War series, 1963–64; Reporter, Evening Standard, 1965–67; Fellow, US World Press Inst., 1967–68; Roving Correspondent, Evening Standard, 1968–70; Reporter, BBC TV Current Affairs, 1970–73; Editor, Evening Standard Londoner’s Diary, 1976–77; Columnist, Daily Express, 1981–83; contributor, Sunday Times, 1985–86; Editor, The Daily Telegraph, 1986–95; Dir, 1989–95, Editor-in-Chief, 1990–95, The Daily Telegraph plc; Editor, The Evening Standard, 1996–2002; contributor, Daily Mail, 2002–; Contrib. Ed., Financial Times, 2009–13. As War Correspondent, covered Middle East, Indochina, Angola, India-Pakistan, Cyprus, Rhodesia and S Atlantic. Mem., Press Complaints Commn, 1991–92. Churchill Fellow, Westminster Coll., Fulton, Mo, 2011. TV documentaries: Ping-Pong in Peking, 1971; The War about Peace, 1983; Alarums and Exercursions, 1984; Cold Comfort Farm, 1985; The War in Korea (series), 1988; We Are All Green Now, 1990; Spies, in series Cold War, CNN, 1998; Hitler’s Germany, 2000; The Falklands: reluctant heroes, 2002; Winston’s War, 2003; The Falklands Legacy, 2012; The Necessary War, 2014. A Vice Pres., Game Conservancy, 1992–; President: CPRE, 2002–07; Sir Walter Scott Soc. of Edinburgh, 2012–13. Trustee: Nat. Portrait Gall., 1995–2004; Game Conservancy, 2014–. Liddell-Hart Lecture, KCL, 1994; Mountbatten Lecture, Edinburgh Univ., 2004; Leonard Stein Lectures, Oxford Univ., 2009. FRHistS 1988; FRSL 1996. Hon FKC, 2004. Hon. DLitt: Leicester, 1992; Nottingham, 2005. Journalist of the Year, British Press Awards, 1982 (cited 1973 and 1980); What The Papers Say, Granada TV: Reporter of the Year, 1982; Editor of the Year, 1988; Duke of Westminster Medal for military literature, RUSI, 2008; Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement, Chicago Pritzker Library, 2012; Friuladria Prize, Gorizia Internat. Hist. Fest., 2014 (Production individual) Liddell Hart, Basil Henry1895-10-311970-01-29 (Production individual) Terraine, John Alfred1921-01-152003-12-27 (Production individual) Barnett, Correlli Douglas (Production individual) Pitt, Barrie (Production individual) Horne, Alistair1925Trustee of the Imperial War Museum (Production individual) Bonham-Carter, Victor (Production individual) Williams, John (Production individual) Josephs, Wilfred (Production individual) BBC Northern Orchestra (Production individual) Hurst, George (Production individual) Redgrave, Michael (Sir) (Production cast) Richardson, Ralph (Sir) (Production cast) Williams, Emlyn (Production cast) Goring, Marius (Production cast) Luckman, Cyril (Production cast) Shaw, Sebastian (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:Kitchener, Horatio Herbert (person)
  • Keywords: 01/3(496.1) (event)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1543 ft; Running time: 45 mins
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