OUR EMPIRE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM - PART 6 [Main Title]

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  • Title: OUR EMPIRE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM - PART 6 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 440-6
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: The British participation in the First Battle of the Somme (chiefly a re-edit of IWM 191 BATTLE OF THE SOMME), Western Front, summer 1916.
  • Description: This episode follows the normal structure of First World War 'battle' pictures. The troops in columns march up to the villages behind the lines. The guns, including a 12-inch railway gun and an 18-pounder battery directed by balloon observers, begin their bombardment. The troops gather and make the attack. The wounded and dead are counted. "They had gone to the great unknown, adding more glory to the immortal array of heroes who have given their blood for the Empire." Whereas the German prisoners are "a few of the Germans who escaped our terrific barrage and the bayonets of our boys". The episode ends, in a different caption style, with "Until Germany tears the God of despotism from her soul - her barbaric policy of blood and iron: until she chooses the path of civilisation, of honour, and of righteousness, this war MUST continue ! to save the CIVILISED human race, to save the universe".
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 440-6)
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1918
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details:
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: propaganda, British - inspirational (object name) propaganda, British - inflammatory (object name) 01/3(4-15).57 (event) Somme, France (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: English Subtitle language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1177 ft; Running time: 18 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Summary: see Notes to IWM 440-01. This episode is taken almost entirely by re-editing IWM 191 and IWM 116 and includes no original material Remarks: the caption in the unfamiliar style, which may be a later or mistaken addition, is, with the caption quoted in episode three, the only evidence to suggest that this film was released while the war was still being fought
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 440-6

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