A LA GLOIRE DU TROUPIER BELGE 1 PARTIE [Main Title]

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  • Title: A LA GLOIRE DU TROUPIER BELGE 1 PARTIE [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 1050
  • Other titles: TER EERE VAN DEN BELGISCHEN SOLDAT 1 DEEL [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Belgian film of the outbreak of the First World War, and the activities of their own troops in Flanders, 1914-1916.
  • Description: The progress of the war is represented by animated maps. A hand reaches out from Germany into Belgium and grabs Liège at the start of the war. A young soldier, in an acted scene, says goodbye to his mother and sets out with his friend to the war, the start of a "calvaire sanglant et sublime". Columns of troops march to war and dig trenches. A map shows the German bombardment of the Liège fortress. German soldiers advance through woods. Belgian refugees flee before them. Belgian troops on the Yser early in the war, with shells hitting buildings for the first time. The sluices holding back the sea are opened in October and flood the lowlands between Nieuport and Dixmude. Belgian troops settle down to hold the line. They are next shown in 1916, some behind heavily piled sandbag barricades, others warming themselves by a fire in the snow. Some wash their clothes, or pick lice out of them. A platoon walks in single file over a footbridge in the flooded area. Troops enter a trench system. Two men open a corned beef tin. A sniper uses a rifle from behind a metal shield, and two others fire from slits. In the flat, flooded countryside the trenches have been built up above the ground with sandbags, rather than dug down into it.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 1050)
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1919
  • Production Country: Belgium
  • Production Details:
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Belgian Army (regiment/service) German Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: operations, Belgian military - routine (object name) operations, Belgian military - movement: march (object name) destruction, Belgian military - area: artillery bombardment (object name) demolition, Belgian - denial (object name) destruction, Belgian: flood (object name) weapons, Belgian - smallarm: sniper's rifle (object name) society, Belgian military - sustenance (object name) society, Belgian military - hygiene: [+] (object name) refugees, Belgian - flight (object name) 01/3(4-15) (event) 01/3(4-15).1 (event) Yser (Canal), Belgium (geography) Winter (concept)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: French Subtitle language: Flemish
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 628 ft; Running time: 11 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Summary: see also IWM 1051 and the rest of the series. The whole series consists of Belgian official film taken between 1914 and 1918, joined to staged or faked material, and used virtually without regard to geographical or chronological accuracy to present a series of images rather than a coherent account of the war. Note that as this is Belgian material the troops described in it are Belgian unless otherwise stated Remarks: the series generally is comparable, if superior, to IWM 420 WORLD'S GREATEST STORY, showing the same tendency to jumble material. Little faith should be placed in the accuracy of the material as used. On the other hand, much of the film used is attractive, and within its limits entertaining
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 1050

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