ANNALES DE LA GUERRE 34 [Main Title]

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  • Title: ANNALES DE LA GUERRE 34 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 508-34
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: I. French newsreel item of All Saints' Day on the Western Front, 1st November 1917. II. French newsreel item of the battlefield after the Chemin des Dames offensive from the Aisne River. Western Front, November 1917. III. French newsreel item on a supply column moving over the Alps towards Italy, November 1917.
  • Description: A procession of Chasseurs, led by priests and choirboys, makes a pilgrimage to a cemetery near the battle zone, where, as the civilian congregation watches, a monument is dedicated "To Our Dead". The soldiers wait and rest in their trenches and shellholes, passing round food and cooking on improvised fires. Some help manhandle a horse-drawn field kitchen out of the mud. Others build a corduroy road across the fields with planks. Still more collect German weapons and equipment, mainly shells and guns left behind in the retreat. One trophy is a crashed LVG CV aircraft on a trailer. The gunners dig new gunpits by the roadside for their 75mm pieces. Soldiers on salvage work collect shells which are taken to dumps in horse-drawn carts. A 75mm anti-aircraft gun on a De Dion lorry mount opens fire. Behind the new lines, the camera pans over the ruins of the village of Allemant. On the road to Maubeuge are the remains of two farms used by the Germans as strongpoints, Guardian Angel and Vaurin. Transport lorries and carts move past both of them. The tunnel entry to the Montparnasse position. The fort at Malmaison, seen from a distance, then from the inside showing its various trenches and ditches, tunnel openings and shelters. The French troops settle in. A posed shot of General Maistre, whose Sixth Army made the attack, with an aide. The lorries carry equipment and medical supplies (some are marked as ambulances). The convoy passes through the snow-covered roads on the lower reaches of the mountains and pulls up in a village for a rest before setting off again and making its way up the horse-shoe mountain passes.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: IWM 508-34
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 508-34)
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1917-11-03
  • Production Country: France
  • Production Details: Section Cinématographique de l'Armée Française (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Maistre, Paul (person) French Army, [Chasseurs] (regiment/service) French Army (regiment/service) French Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: ceremonies, French - event-related: All Saints' Day (object name) casualties, French graves - formal (object name) religion, Christianity - ceremonial, French (object name) operations, French military - routine (object name) society, French military - sustenance (object name) transport, French military - animal special: field kitchen (object name) engineering, military, French (object name) spoils, French (object name) weapons, French - gun: 75mm field gun (object name) destruction, French military - area: artillery bombardment (object name) aircraft, German - combat: LVG CV & [captured] & [wrecked] (object name) weapons, French - gun [AA]: 75mm (object name) defences, German - emplacement: [captured] (object name) operations, French military - movement: road (object name) supplies, French, movement [RA] - misc (object name) transport, French military - truck (object name) 01/3(4-15).7 (event) 01/3(4-15).7 (event) 01/3(45).7 (event) France (geography) Malmaison, Aisne, France (geography) Gare Montparnasse, Paris, Département de Ville de Paris, France (geography) Guardian Angel, Maubeuge, Nord, France (geography) Vaurin, Maubeuge, Nord, France (geography) Allemant, Aisne, France (geography) Alps (Mountains), France (geography) mud (concept) mountains (concept) snow (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: 659 ft; Running time: 11 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 508-34

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