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Summary: Training exercises for US troops under British (possibly XI Corps) supervision, Western Front, early 1918.
Description: Sergeants of a British drill squad train US soldiers who carry British equipment and include a group of WACs. The Americans are put through bayonet practice against sandbags and parrying against a live opponent, and shown how to defend against a bayonet thrust using a knife. They go over an obstacle assault course, firing from a trench, rushing the next trench and bayoneting the sacks inside it, then firing again (some people play dead to add realism). They are shown how to deploy a Lewis machine gun, including the procedure if the machine-gunner is shot and the number 3 has to take over. In a formalised open-air classroom setting the Lewis is stripped and tabletop maintenance carried out. The men practise fire-and-movement tactics from scrape trenches while wearing gasmasks, smoke being laid down to simulate the barrage. Finally they practise ordinary physical exercises.
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Corps 11 (regiment/service)
United States Army & American Expeditionary Force (regiment/service)
United States Army & [infantry] (regiment/service)
United States Army & Women's Army Corps (regiment/service)
Keywords: training, United States military - combat (object name)
weapons, British - smallarm: Lewis machine gun & [United States] (object name)
01/3(4-15).8 (event)
France (geography)
