Title:NEW ZEALAND FIELD ARTILLERY IN ACTION, NEW YEAR'S DAY 1918 [Main Title]
Film Number:IWM 160
Other titles:VISIT TO THE NEW ZEALAND INFANTRY BASE DEPOT AT ETAPLES (extracts) [Alternative Title]
Summary: Jumble of shots from two separate films showing scenes of the New Zealand Infantry and General Training Base Depot at Etaples in France and a New Zealand howitzer battery in the Ypres salient during the winter of 1917-1918.
Description: The first scene is double-exposed and shows cookhouse fatigues and a squad of soldiers marching at the New Zealand Depot at Etaples. A 4.5-inch howitzer of a forward New Zealand battery on the Menin Road near Westhoek in the Ypres Salient is shown to cease firing, and then the gun crew covers it with white camouflage tarpaulin and a scrim net. The gunners open tinned Christmas cakes and puddings, and pass around cigarettes. The scene shists back to Etaples and the New Zealand Commandant, Lieutenant-Colonel G 'Hoppy' Mitchell, inspecting a reinforcement draft in full kit. The men shoulder arms and march off to entrain for the front. A bugler sounds a bugle call with the NZ Depot accommodation tents and cookhouse as background, and a flag is raised, the film cutting halfway through the ceremony. A reinforcement parade at the Depot and soldiers practising Swedish drill.
Alternative Title:VISIT TO THE NEW ZEALAND INFANTRY BASE DEPOT AT ETAPLES (extracts) [Alternative Title]
