Summary: British and French forces in the Mont des Cats-Cassel area, Second Army sector, Western Front, about 21 April 1918.
Description: Soldiers, possibly 16th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 33rd Division, in the later stages of digging a trench. Some of the men use long poles to fix barbed wire entanglements across a small stream. Three light railway trains carrying soldiers on flatcars pass along an embankment. A company of troops, possibly Royal Irish Rifles, march in column through a damaged village. A damaged farm building marked "Cinema Nightly", used as a behind-the-lines cinema for troops until the German offensive. Prime Minister Clémenceau says farewell to the officers of the British 33rd Division and its commander Major-General Pinney at Cassel on 21 April, gets into his car and drives off. Two battalions of the same division, possibly 1st Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment 2nd Battalion, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, march past Clémenceau's car. Nearer to Mont des Cats, British troops rest at the roadside by a village while French military wagons pass. British soldiers marching parallel to a light railway track. French lancers trotting along a road. Other lancers leading their horses (note that in the French Army one mounted horseholder remains out of every three men). French Cavalry, possibly 2nd Light Cavalry Division, in marching column along a road.
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Topical Film Company (Production company)
Bassill, F A (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Clemenceau, Georges Benjamin (person)
Pinney, Reginald John (person)
British Army, Div 33 (regiment/service)
British Army, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 16th Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Middlesex Regiment, 1st Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 2nd Battalion (?) (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Ulster Rifles (regiment/service)
French Army, Div, Cavalry, 2 (?) & [lancers] (regiment/service)
Keywords: operations, British military - preparation (object name)
operations, British military - movement: rail (object name)
operations, French military - movement: road (object name)
buildings, British - military: cinema (object name)
01/3(4-15).83 (event)
Cassel, Nord, France (geography)
Mont des Cats, Kemmel, West Flanders, Belgium (geography)
