I. DEMONSTRATION IN TAKING AND OCCUPYING TRENCHES II. OBSERVING ENEMY POSITION III. MANNING AND SERVING FIELD GUN [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: I. DEMONSTRATION IN TAKING AND OCCUPYING TRENCHES II. OBSERVING ENEMY POSITION III. MANNING AND SERVING FIELD GUN [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: BAY 10
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Unedited and uncensored newsreel rushes showing infantry and artillery units taking part in simulated combat scenes in the sector of the British Expeditionary Force's front line on the Franco-Belgian border held by 2nd Division's 6th Brigade.
  • Description: I. Daylight exterior scenes. A brief view of a section of infantrymen serving with the 1st Battalion The Royal Berkshire Regiment carrying weapons and ammunition boxes walking across a field outside the village of Mouchin away from the camera. Scenes set up for the camera showing infantrymen in battle order running along communication trenches dug in a neat crenellated pattern and revetted with timber beams and sections of corrugated iron; the men are wearing the 1924-pattern British Army service dress and 1937-pattern ammunition pouches and carry gas masks slung around their necks in satchels. A section of riflemen manning the firing parapet of a trench pretend to fire rounds from their SMLE Mk III rifles whilst other sections run across the field immediately behind the front line to reinforce them. A close-up of a rifleman pulling the trigger of his SMLE rifle but no round is actually fired. Infantrymen advance with fixed bayonets in the manner of their forefathers in the 1914-1918 war and run back to re-occupy their trench and resume their firing positions. Their platoon leader peers through his binoculars across no-man's-land at the 'enemy' and attracts the attention of the rifleman next to him. Three men wearing Wellington boots (?) and waders trudge through a puddle in the mud. A three-man artillery spotting team mans an observation post in an outhouse; the Sergeant in the foreground is the team's W/T (wireless transmitter) operator. The forward observation officer (FOO) sits high up in the roof, peering through a gap in the roof tiles. He is seen using a compass to take a bearing on his target, writing down the details in his note pad and resuming his watch with a pair of binoculars. At another observation post next to a haystack and a corrugated iron shed, two men, the one on the left a Corporal, the one on the right a Lieutenant (?), peer at the surrounding countryside through their binoculars. At a signals post set up in a lane surrounded by hedges, an artillery officer wearing a 'British warm' with a fur collar looks over the shoulder of his W/T operator as he taps out a message on Morse keys. II. Night time exterior scenes at Mouchin close to the Franco-Belgian border lit by searchlights (?) and flares. Gunners serving with the 5th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery, drag the trails of their First World War-vintage BL 6-inch 26-cwt gun onto a new target bearing and the gunlayer elevates the gun barrel. A screen of camouflage netting conceals the entire gun position from enemy aerial reconnaissance. The firing lanyard on the 6-inch gun is pulled but no shell is fired. The gun barrel is raised and then lowered. At another gun emplacement screened by camouflage netting, gunners serving with 365 Battery, 92nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, run to man their Ordnance QF Mk I 25-pounder gun, drag its trails round so that it is on a new target bearing and pretend to go into action. Infantrymen serving with the 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment wearing greatcoats over their 1924-pattern field dress run along a communications trench to man the firing parapet in the front line. Infantrymen simulate charging an enemy-held trench, taking up position on a firing parapet and going over the top. Infantrymen run into no-man's-land and re-occupy the trench which they had left moments earlier. Infantrymen manning a trench pretend to fire their rifles at the enemy. III. At Mouchin, four British soldiers wheel a French Hotchkiss 25mm anti-tank cannon across a muddy field and manoeuvre it into a French-built pill box by the entrance at the back. The men (either 1st Loyals or 1st Royal Berkshires) are wearing 1924-pattern British Army service dress with SMLE Mk III rifles strapped to their backs. At the entrance to the pill box, the British have constructed a protective screen of sandbags held in place by wattle. Once inside, the soldiers spread the trails of the anti-tank gun. From behind the men crouched around the cannon, a view of the barrel of the Hotchkiss poking out of the pill box through the firing embrasure. An exterior view showing the muzzle projecting beyond the embrasure at the front of the pill box showing the barrel as it is traversed through a restricted arc of fire. Additional shots showing the Hotchkiss cannon being wheeled into the pill box at the back and the crew closed up around the gun in the gloom inside the fortification. IV. A high contrast, part backlit view of British soldiers on a road construction detail at the edge of a wood. A soldier in serge overalls uses a knife to cut a slice of bread. Another man opens up a tin of butter and spreads the butter on a slice of bread with a knife.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: No
  • Object_Number: BAY 10
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1939-12-01
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: British Paramount News (Production company) Bayliss, Frederick W "Fred"Paramount News (Production individual) Martin, C R (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Expeditionary Force (1939-1940) (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Artillery, 5th Medium Regiment (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's), 1st Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Artillery, 92nd Field Regiment (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Mouchin, Nord, France (geography) Phoney War 1939-1940, Second World War (event) British Army 1939-1945 (theme) Camouflage (theme) France and the Low Countries 1939-1940 (theme)
  • 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: 661 ft; Running time: 7 mins 20 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    BAY 10

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    BBY 10 (I. CONSTRUCTING ROADS II. TROOPS EATING RATIONS III. A.T. AND FIELD GUN (SIC) DEMONSTRATION [Allocated Title])
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