Summary: I. British troops in and near Amiens in the Somme area, Western Front, in the first days of May 1918.
II. A British monthly Army Commanders' Conference, possibly at Amiens, Western Front, June 1918.
Description: The village of Ebblinghem under German shellfire, the shells 'walking' towards the target over open fields. French soldiers marching through a crossroads on the outskirts of Amiens watched by idle British troops. They are followed by a British battalion also on the march. Damage to the law courts at Béthune and the St-Roche station at Amiens. A cage of live canaries is taken from the wreckage of a building by British soldiers. Amiens town hall in use as a temporary British headquarters. The interior of Amiens Cathedral with the sun shining through a hole in the roof. A pan over the town including the cathedral.
The assembled Army Commanders leave the Town Commandant's headquarters and pose for the camera. They are, left to right: General Sir Henry Rawlinson (Fourth Army), General Sir Julian Byng (Third Army), Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (GOC-in-C), General Sir Henry Horne (First Army), Major-General Sir Herbert Lawrence (Chief-of-Staff), General Sir William Birdwood (Fifth Army). (General Sir Herbert Plumer of Second Army is not in sight.)
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Topical Film Company (Production company)
McDowell, J B (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Haig, Douglas (person)
Rawlinson, Henry Seymour (person)
Horne, Henry Sinclair (person)
Byng, Julian Hedworth George (person)
Birdwood, William Riddell (person)
Lawrence, Herbert Alexander (person)
British Army (regiment/service)
French Army, [infantry] (regiment/service)
British Army (regiment/service)
Keywords: combat, British - artillery bombardment [I] (object name)
animals, birds: canary (object name)
buildings, French - religious: cathedral & [damaged] (object name)
01/3(4-15).81 (event)
01/3(4-15).9 (event)
Béthune, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography)
Amiens, Somme, France (geography)
Ebblinghem, Nord, France (geography)
Amiens, Somme, France (geography)
