Summary: I. French newsreel item on a hospital on the French sector of the Western Front [at Villers-Cotterets] run by Scottish women, January 1918.
II. French newsreel item on a captured German LVG CV aircraft which has landed intact behind French lines, Western Front, January 1918.
III. French newsreel item on cooperation between French and British gunners in the Ypres area, Western Front, January 1918.
IV. French newsreel item on the Cathedral of Saint Anthony at Rheims, showing shells damage and holes in the roof, Western Front, January 1918.
V. French newsreel item of 2nd Battalion, the Foreign Legion, having its standard (shown in detail) decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honour, January 1918.
Description: The hospital is of prefabricated buildings, signposted as the "Hôpital Benevole I Bis". The film captions emphasise that all the employees are women, some of whom are seen walking in the snow outside. One group carries a French soldier on a stretcher to the operating theatre where a woman doctor [Dr Elsie Inglis] performs the operation. The patient is then loaded into an ambulance. In the wards food is collected by the walking wounded and distributed to the bedridden patients. The postman, also a woman, arrives on a bicycle and the staff and patients crowd round. A final posed group of the hospital staff.
The aircraft is watched over by French soldiers before taking off to be flown by a French pilot to the aerodrome at Villacoublay further to the rear.
Gunners of 87th Artillery Regiment are introduced to their British 8-inch howitzers by men of the Royal Artillery. The Frenchmen then fuse and fire the shells, while on an observation platform two spotters direct the fire as it falls on the enemy positions. A soldier poses by peering down a howitzer barrel at the camera. A British and a French officer joke together.
Production Details: Section Cinématographique de l'Armée Française (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Red Cross (regiment/service)
French Army, Air Corps (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery (regiment/service)
French Army, Artillery Regt 87 (regiment/service)
French Army, Foreign Legion, Bn 2 (regiment/service)
Keywords: society, British - charity (object name)
medical, British military - hospital (object name)
society, British - friendship (object name)
communications, French civilian - postal (object name)
aircraft, German - combat: LVG CV & [captured] (object name)
weapons, British - gun: 8-inch howitzer & [French] (object name)
combat, French - artillery bombardment (object name)
society, British military - friendship (object name)
society, French military - friendship (object name)
buildings, French - religious: cathedral & [damaged] (object name)
ceremonies, French - event-related: investiture (object name)
arts, French military - heraldry: standard (Foreign Legion, 2nd Battalion) (object name)
01/3(4-15).8 (event)
01/3(4-15).8 (event)
01/3(4-15).8 (event)
01/3(4-15).8 (event)
01/3(4-15).8 (event)
France (geography)
France (geography)
Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium (geography)
Rheims, Marne, France (geography)
France (geography)
(concept)
Winter (concept)
camera (concept)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: None
Subtitle language: French
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 456 ft; Running time: 8 mins
