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Other titles:WITH THE FORCES IN MESOPOTAMIA (offcuts) [Alternative Title]
Summary: Very jumbled film of British forces in the Battle of Ramadi, Mesopotamian Front, 28-29 September 1917.
Description: Probably offcuts from IWM 61 WITH THE FORCES IN MESOPOTAMIA. (Reel 1) Camouflaged 60-pounder guns firing dug in. A gunner observing from a perch, possibly close to Ramadi. Indian troops unload sacks from a train. A prone Lewis machine-gunner firing. British soldiers filling water buckets. A close-up of the feed action on a Vickers machine gun as it fires from a trench. An 18-pounder battery firing in the desert. Turkish 1-pounder pom-pom guns and machine guns captured at Ramadi and put on display. Shells bursting in the desert filmed from a trench. A walled city by the River Tigris with a railway station, probably Samarra. Indian troops fire through loopholes in a heavily sandbagged trench. An observation tower made from sandbags. A 6-inch 30cwt howitzer being loaded and fired. Highlanders, probably 2nd Battalion, Black Watch of 7th (Meerut) Division, march through the streets of Samarra with Lieutenant-General Sir William Marshall (?) accompanying them. A Holt tractor hauls a 60-pounder through the desert. (Reel 2) Turkish prisoners captured during the Battle of Ramadi are marched by 1/5th Battalion, the Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) through the desert, over a bridge of boats across the River Tigris at Baghdad, through 'Piccadilly Circus' and 'New Street' Baghdad and on to a prisoner of war camp.
Production Details: Department of Information (Production sponsor)
War Office Cinema Committee (Production sponsor)
International Film Service (Production company)
Varges, Ariel L (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Marshall, William R (?) (person)
British Army, Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force (regiment/service)
British Army, Black Watch, 2nd Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Kent Regiment, West Royal, Bn 1/5 (regiment/service)
Indian Army, Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force (regiment/service)
Indian Army, 7th (Meerut) Division (regiment/service)
Keywords: weapons, British - gun: 60-pounder (object name)
weapons, British - smallarm: Vickers machine gun & [+] (object name)
weapons, British - smallarm: Lewis machine gun (object name)
weapons, British - gun: 18-pounder field gun (object name)
weapons, German - gun: 1-pounder pom-pom & [British] & [captured] (object name)
weapons, British - gun: 6-inch 26cwt howitzer (object name)
combat, British - artillery bombardment [d] (object name)
buildings, Mesopotamian - commercial: railway station (object name)
combat, British - machine gun: [+] (object name)
combat, Indian (object name)
prisoners of war, Turkish - movement (object name)
prisoners of war, Turkish - custody (object name)
01/3(567) (event)
Turkey & Ramadi area, Mesopotamia (geography)
Turkey & Samarra, Mesopotamia <station> (geography)
Turkey & Baghdad, Mesopotamia (geography)
desert (concept)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: None
Subtitle language: English
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 2
Footage: 1193 ft; Running time: 20 mins
Notes: Remarks: some imaginative camerawork, even if this example is confused. Varges seems, generally, to be a better cameraman than Jeapes or Hurley in Palestine.
