Summary: Unedited and uncensored newsreel rushes showing an exercise by the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, an infantry battalion in the 2nd Division's 6th Infantry Brigade, in the British Expeditionary Force's zone of operations in northern France.
Description: Five infantrymen crouching low at the edge of a field pick themselves off the snow and head off in single file along a hedgerow; the man at the back is carrying a Boys .5-inch anti-tank rifle. Views framed by the bare outlines of trees and saplings of the dark profiles of riflemen walking in single file against a pale sky. A conventionally framed wide shot showing a section of infantrymen, some wheeling bicycles, others carrying a folded up stretcher case, heading across country. Scenes showing riflemen deploying tactically in the open, snow-covered countryside, advancing in groups no larger than six men each and lying prone on the ground; an infantry officer (a company commander ?) is seen advancing with them, giving a command by gesturing with his left arm as he walks past a dug-out and observing the lie of the land whilst taking cover behind a pile of hay; one or more of the men accompanying him are carrying 2-inch mortars. The mortar is seen being operated very briefly (a camera fault) under the officer's orders. Attacking infantrymen advance through a smokescreen provided by 2-inch mortars.
Production Details: Universal (Production company)
Noble, R (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Expeditionary Force (1939-1940) (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's), 1st Battalion (regiment/service)
Keywords: France (geography)
Phoney War 1939-1940, Second World War (event)
British Army 1939-1945 (theme)
France and the Low Countries 1939-1940 (theme)
