Metadata
- Title: ANNALES DE LA GUERRE 10 [Main Title]
- Film Number: IWM 508-10
- Other titles:
- Summary: I. French newsreel item of a Moroccan division's sports behind the lines in Champagne, Western Front, early May 1917. II. French newsreel item of women working on the Home Front, early May 1917. III. French newsreel item of the award of the Croix de Guerre to Madame Marchal, France, early May 1917. IV. French newsreel item of villages north of Soissons reoccupied by the French after the German retreat of February, Western Front, early May 1917. V. French newsreel item of their own forces on the Salonika Front, April or May 1917.
- Description: Troops of a Moroccan division behind the lines in Champagne march in road column, led by their band, through a village to their sports. The sports include a football match and a mule race as well as athletics. A Voisin 8 aircraft flies overhead. A percussion band plays various Moroccan instruments in accompaniment to a sword dance. Some local ladies give out prizes. Near the front a railway siding shows some shell damage. Women in uniform help clear up the rubble. Other women work in a nearby factory and steelworks. Molten metal is poured into a Bessemer converter, and steel is forged and shaped. The factory is guarded by soldiers with a Hotchkiss machine gun on an anti-aircraft mount. The award is made for Madame Marchal's help to wounded French soldiers in 1914. The military honour guard marches into position and a senior officer (not clearly seen) makes the presentation. Shown in portrait shot the lady, who is in civilian clothes, has healing face scars. At the village of Vailly the French have captured the German trench and wire system reasonably intact. A new wooden bridge has been built across the Aisne to replace that blown up by the Germans, and French transport crosses. A pan over the new German positions on a ridge with the village of Chavonne in the foreground. The ruins of the village of Soupir. A battery of 155mm howitzers shells the German positions. A soldier explores a collapsed German dugout. A Spahi Cavalry regiment makes a formal marchpast. General Sarrail, on horseback, presents the colonel of the regiment to the Greek Prime Minister, M E Venizelos. The review continues and the horsemen gallop off at its end.
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 508-10)
- Featured Period: 1914-1918
- Production Date: 1917-05-17
- Production Country: France
- Production Details: Section Cinématographique de l'Armée Française (Production company)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations: Marchal (Madame) (person) Venizelos, Eleftherios (person) Sarrail, Maurice (person) French Army, [colonial troops] (regiment/service) French Army (regiment/service) French Army (regiment/service) French Army, [spahis] (regiment/service)
- Keywords: recreation, French military - sport: athletics (object name) recreation, French military - sport: football (object name) recreation, French military - casual (object name) recreation, Moroccan military - casual (object name) society, Moroccan military - ethnic (object name) recreation, Moroccan military - dance (object name) aircraft, French - combat: Voisin 8 (object name) destruction, French military - area: artillery bombardment (object name) industry, French - primary (object name) weapons, French - smallarm (mounted): Hotchkiss machine gun (object name) society, French military - precautionary (object name) ceremonies, French - event-related: investiture (object name) destruction, French military - area (object name) demolition, German - denial (object name) weapons, French - gun: 155mm howitzer (object name) combat, French - artillery bombardment (object name) defences, German - emplacement: [captured] (object name) ceremonies, French - display (object name) delegations, Greek international - state (object name) 01/3(4-15).6 (event) 31/3(44) (event) 31/3(44) (event) 01/3(4-15).6 (event) First World War, Salonika Front & 4/1917=5/1917 (event) Marne, France (geography) France (geography) France (geography) Vailly-sur-Aisne, Aisne, France (geography) Aisne (River), France (geography) Chavonne, Aisne, France (geography) Soupir, Aisne, France (geography) Greece & Salonika area, Macedonia (geography) Race (concept) (concept)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
- Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 502 ft; Running time: 9 mins
- Notes: Title: where titles remain on the existing copies of the series, they show a threefold division. Each issue has a main title, a set of primary subtitles dividing the newsreel by geographical area, and other subtitles dealing with the actual contents of the film. The title of this episode has been taken from the shotsheet Production: the ANNALES DE LA GUERRE was the French official newsreel series comparable to the British WAR OFFICE TOPICAL BUDGET series. In May 1917 a reciprocal agreement was made whereby the two countries exchanged copies of their newsreels, and the ANNALES DE LA GUERRE series came to the Imperial War Museum through the WOCC in this manner. The exchange was agreed when the ANNALES DE LA GUERRE series had reached issue 10, catalogued as IWM 508-10, and continued to the end of the series with IWM 508-92. Note that as this is a French series the descriptive summary should be assumed to refer to French people, locations and objects unless otherwise stated. Release dates are those given in official French sources. Note, however, that there are occasional discrepancies between these dates and the contents of the issues concerned Technical: the entire series is held under the single number IWM 508. Note particularly that the series STARTS WITH IWM 508-10. The Museum collection has never included issues 1-9 Remarks: the series is, perhaps inevitably for a newsreel, often routine and even mundane in its choice of subject. In particular, virtually every issue includes the presentation of a military award followed by a marchpast. Nevertheless, the greater number of cameramen used by the French Army compared to the British or Imperial forces shows in occasionally well chosen shots, and the standard of camerawork often compensates for the newsreel's tendency to dwell on the everyday at the expense of the newsworthy
- Link to IWM Collections page:
- Related IWM Collections Objects: