Metadata
- Title: EXODUS OF THE POPULATION [Main Title]
- Film Number: IWM 473
- Other titles: RUINED VILLAGES OF FRANCE (ledger title) [Alternative Title]
- Summary: English language version of a French film of German damage to French property, mainly in the Retreat to the Hindenburg Line, February-March 1917.
- Description: Damage in the Roye-Soissons area, showing many of the smaller towns and villages. Destroyed fruit trees. A desecrated cemetery at Tergnier. Damaged houses at Coucy-la-Ville and Coucy-le-Château. The French have highlighted the damage with signs such as "Musée Souvenir de la Kultur Boche". Damage to the station at Roye. Damage to the abbey at Mont des Cats to the North. Back to the River Somme area with a damaged calvary at Crapeaumesnil (just south of Roye), damaged churches at Beaulieu and at Lassigny, and more damage at Chauny. Damage to factories in the Rheims area. Back to Chauny, and Vauxrot (just North of Soissons). A mounted patrol moves in the wake of the German retreat. Seraucourt sugar factory is rubble. The sugar factory at Flavy-le-Martel (north of Noyon) is ruined. A political fact-finding mission visits the area. Agricultural equipment has been wrecked at Trosly-Loire. The glassworks is destroyed at Neuvillette (? this is east of Saint Quentin and still in German hands). At Corbie factories are in ruins. Refugees are taken by trains to Paris and re-located elsewhere. At Soissons the cathedral is badly damaged. The village of Trescourt is wrecked. French soldiers take part in worship in the rubble of the church at Missy-sur-Aisne (just north of Soissons). Near Verdun there is a pilgrimage of children, led by religious leaders, to the front lines. At Rheims the cathedral façade is intact but the roof is damaged and the floor covered with rubble, Cardinal Luçon and Monsignor Neven of the cathedral point out the damage. Another damaged calvary at Mont Renaud. Further north, at the Scherpenberg (just south of Ypres) a statuette of the Virgin Mary has been built into the trench line. The reason given for the German retreat is that "the continuous reinforcements of French heavy artillery compelled the Germans to shorten their lines". French 400mm and 320mm railway guns in action. The country around Noyon flooded by the Germans in their retreat. French troops liberating Noyon, working to repair the railway and roads. At Roye a mine has cratered the street, partly demolishing the town hall and church. French troops follow up after the Germans.
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 473)
- Featured Period: 1914-1918
- Production Date: 1917
- Production Country: France
- Production Details: Section Cinématographique de l'Armée Française (Production sponsor)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations: Luçon, Louis-Henri-Joseph (person) Rheims, Archbishop of (person) Neven (Monsignor) (person) French Army (regiment/service) French political fact-finding mission (regiment/service)
- Keywords: demolition, German - denial: [+] (object name) agriculture, French - arable (object name) buildings, French - commercial: railway station & [damaged] (object name) buildings, French - religious: cathedral & [damaged] (object name) buildings, Belgian - religious: abbey & [damaged] (object name) buildings, French - religious: church & [wrecked] (object name) buildings, French - commercial: sugar factory & [wrecked] (object name) buildings, French - commercial: glassworks & [wrecked] (object name) propaganda, French - inflammatory (object name) religion, Christianity - military, French: [+] (object name) refugees, french - reception (object name) transport, French civilian - rail (object name) weapons, French - gun: 400mm (railway mounted) (object name) weapons, French - gun: 320mm (railway mounted) (object name) combat, French - artillery bombardment (object name) casualties, French graves - formal: [abuse] (object name) 01/3(4-15).61 (event) Soissons, Aisne, France (geography) Paris, Département de Ville de Paris, France (geography) Tergnier, Aisne, France (geography) Coucy-la-Ville, Aisne, France (geography) Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique, Aisne, France (geography) Vauxrot, Aisne, France (geography) Trescourt, Aisne, France (geography) Missy-sur-Aisne, Aisne, France (geography) Rheims, Marne, France (geography) Mont Renault, Somme, France (geography) Roye, Somme, France (geography) Noyon, Oise, France (geography) Crapeaumesnil, Oise, France (geography) Beaulieu, Calvados, France (geography) Lassigny, Oise, France (geography) Chauny, Aisne, France (geography) Seraucourt, Meuse, France (geography) Flavy-le-Martel, Aisne, France (geography) Trosly-Loire, Aisne, France (geography) Corbie, Somme, France (geography) Verdun, Meuse, France (geography) Mont des Cats, Kemmel, West Flanders, Belgium (geography) Scherpenberg, Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium (geography) Children (concept)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: English
- Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 4 Footage: 2749 ft; Running time: 46 mins
- Notes: Title: this is taken from the shotsheet and the alternative title from the store ledger Summary: the English language version of a film, the material for which is probably all taken from the French official newsreel series IWM 508 ANNALES DE LA GUERRE. The Rheims section comes from IWM 508-25 Technical: the first two reels of this film were at one point designated as IWM 472 and the fourth reel as IWM 476 P 2 Remarks: the film gains most of its force by repetition, a catalogue of one destroyed village after another. The smashed calvaries, which show the Christ-figure apparently 'mutilated' by the loss of a limb, make a particularly strong impact. An interesting contrast both with the British experience of the war and with British film techniques
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