Summary: Unedited newsreel rushes showing gunners serving with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in northern France near the Belgian border celebrating Christmas with Universal News cameraman Ronnie Noble.
Description: Outside the village of Mouchin in a field covered in snow, gunners serving with 5th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery, use muscle power and ropes to haul their BL 6-inch Mk XIX cannon into position inside a firing emplacement revetted with sand bags and screened from enemy aerial reconnaissance by overhead camouflage netting. For warmth against the cold, the men are wearing greatcoats and leather jerkins over their tunics and their head gear consists of balaclavas as well as their normal 'fore-and-aft' service caps. The overhead camouflage netting is covered in snow. At another gun emplacement, this time for an Ordnance QF 25-pounder Mk I gun manned by men serving with a field artillery unit (possibly 92nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery), balloons and streamers are hanging from the overhead camouflage netting; nine gunners dressed for the wintry weather are seen sitting down around a table to celebrate Christmas; one of them, a Lance-Bombardier, is seen strumming a banjo. The other gunners sing along as he plays. Two men, one a Sergeant, the other a Lieutenant, arrive at the gun position carrying boxes. Bottles of beer are produced from one of the boxes and passed around to all the members of the gun crew. The Lieutenant extracts a Christmas cake from another box and everybody present raises his bottle and gives 'three cheers'. Cigarettes are also passed around. The mood of festive jollity at the gun emplacement continues with servings of French pastry (?) and Christmas cake and swigs from bottles of beer whilst the Lance-Bombardier keeps strumming on his banjo. Two men share a kiss whilst a third holds a sprig of mistletoe over their heads. The gun crew form a semi-circle for the camera; sitting in the middle is Ronnie Noble, wearing an officer's Battledress tunic and an officers' cap with a War Correspondent's badge on his head. He is seen cutting up the pastry cake and handing out slices to two gunners. More scenes of festive jollity - two gunners draped in Christmas decorations emerge from behind a row of sandbags and give each other a hug and a kiss before a third person pops up, another gunner seated on the ground quietly reading a book has artificial snow sprinkled over his head by two of his comrades, the gunners advance in line abreast up to and past the camera and form a conga line in a field covered in several inches of snow.
Production Details: Universal (Production company)
Noble, R (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Noble, Ronald 'Ronnie' (person)
British Expeditionary Force (1939-1940) (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Artillery, 5th Medium Regiment (regiment/service)
Keywords: Mouchin, Nord, France (geography)
Phoney War 1939-1940, Second World War (event)
British Army 1939-1945 (theme)
France and the Low Countries 1939-1940 (theme)
Camouflage (theme)
