TRANSPORTING AND FIRING THE BOCHE BUSTER RAILWAY GUN [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: TRANSPORTING AND FIRING THE BOCHE BUSTER RAILWAY GUN [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 317-1
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: The British super-heavy railway gun HMG Boche Buster is moved from Catterick , Yorkshire to Bishopsbourne, Kent in preparation for anticipated German invasion at the beginning of World War Two. Preparation and firing of the gun is demonstrated. Intertitles throughout describe what is happening.
  • Description: "Care and Preservation" General shots of the railway gun. "A LNER expert demonstrates how to withdraw water from axel-boxes." A bicycle pump is used. "2nd Lt. HT Robinson - RA ...." HMG name-plate. "Replacing camouflage hoops" Hoops put over barrel. "The Battery Train." The wagon sits in a snowy siding. "On the 2nd February 1941 Boche Buster left Catterick for its operational site." The train crosses a level crossing, covered over so as to look like a locomotive. [The site transpires to be Bishopsbourne, the gun being hidden in Borne Park Tunnel by day.] "The small accompanying train was marshalled to suit the SWALE bridge." The rain crosses the bridge in the snow. "At Catterick Bridge Station the train was re-marshalled for its journey to the south. The fighting and living trains travelling separately." "On its operational site the following film was taken by the War Office." [Taking place on 13 February 1941 a test firing took place from the cutting just north of Kingston on the Elham Valley Railway, Kent.] "Britain's Defences. Calibrating a Famous Gun HMG Boche Buster." "During the calibration the gun was protected by RAF fighters." A number of planes fly low overhead. A close-up shot of the name-plate. "HMG Boche Buster is prepared for firing - taking off the brakes." A close-up of a soldier undoing a brake wheel. "The men of the crew are specially selected." Close-up of movements but the faces of the soldiers cannot really be seen. "The gun is moved to its firing position." A shot from the front of the gun as it moves through a chalk pit, followed by shot of the crew on the gun. Plate on ... reads 17634 ARMSTRONG WHITWORTH. 1918. ELSWICK WORKS. NEWCASTLE. "The brakes are applied." The crew jump off the gun and apply the brakes. The gun comes to a halt. "And the gun laid on target." Four men operate the elevating lever. "The magazine wagon is withdrawn and the gun elevated." Overhead shots of the gun being lifted. "The crew dismounts and the gun is fired. Note the graceful movement of this wonderfully designed mounting." A high-angle shot from the rear as men jump off. The gun fires and runs back along the rails slightly. "The gun is now depressed and with the magazine wagon is returned to its firing position." "A shell - weighing one ton - is rammed and then cartridge loaded." A close-up of a shell going into breach. A team of 12 men ram the shell. Two charges of cordite are put in the breach. "Again the gun is elevated and fired." "And then breach is opened in preparation for further firing." Smoke escapes from the breach as it is opened.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 317-1
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1941-02
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: War Office (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 212 ft
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 317-1

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    MGH 317-2 (SCHOOL OF SUPER-HEAVY (RAILWAY) ARTILLERY [Main Title])
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