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Title:HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES WITH THE GUARDS IN THE FRONT LINE [Main Title]
Film Number:IWM 207
Other titles:OFFICIAL PICTURES OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE - SECOND SERIES [Series Title]
Summary: The front line trenches of the Guards Division in front of Aubers Ridge, and the Prince of Wales with the Earl of Cavan, December 1915.
Description: 1st or 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards, with 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, in a street, probably Richebourg-St-Vaast, about to be led off by a pipe and drum band for a Christmas service, 25 December 1915. They enter the temporary church at La Gorge (?). After the service a number of officers emerge, including the divisional commander, Major-General the Earl of Cavan, and the Prince of Wales, who served on the divisional staff. About two days later, a party led by Cavan and the Prince visits a concealed battery headquarters (no sign of guns) in a leafless wood. Men of the Scots Guards grease their feet as a protection against trench foot and put on waders before going into the line. A battalion of Irish Guards gets up and pulls on its packs after resting by the roadside. Coldstream Guards in the second line work in the rain with shovels to clear a swamped "trench road". The second line trenches are all flooded to between knee and waist depth. An Irish Guards chaplain makes his rounds. In a forward trench one of the Irish Guards uses a sniperscope to fire at the enemy. Another sniper with a head wound is taken away on a stretcher. A rear view of a Vickers machine gun team firing, then removing the gun. A platoon of 1st Battalion, the Welsh Guards, is checked by its officer for trench foot after coming out of the line.
Production Details: War Office (Production sponsor)
British Topical Committee for War Films (Production company)
Malins, Geoffrey H (Production individual)
Tong, Edward G (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Edward, Prince (Duke of Windsor) (person)
Cavan, Frederick (Lord) (person)
British Army, Div, Guards (regiment/service)
British Army, Welsh Guards, 1st Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Grenadier Guards, 1st Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Grenadier Guards, 4th Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Irish Guards (regiment/service)
British Army, Scots Guards (regiment/service)
British Army, Coldstream Guards (regiment/service)
Keywords: buildings, Belgian - religious: church (temporary) (object name)
religion, Christianity - military, British (object name)
weapons, British - smallarm: SMLE rifle (object name)
equipment, British - fire control: sniperscope (object name)
weapons, British - smallarm: Vickers machine gun (object name)
casualties, British wounded - battlefield (object name)
equipment, British - personal: waders (object name)
medical, British military - preventative (object name)
01/3(4-15).4 (event)
Aubers Ridge, Nord, France (geography)
Richebourg-Saint-Vaast, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography)
La Gorge, Béthune, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography)
mud (concept)
rain (concept)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: English
Subtitle language: English
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 594 ft; Running time: 10 mins
HD Media:Yes
Notes: Cameraman: this was either Malins or Tong.
MGH 4681 is a version with Swedish intertitles, an example of British newsreel propaganda for screening to audiences in neutral Sweden, identical to IWM 207.
