THE MAKING OF AN OFFICER : with the Artists Rifles at the Front [Main Title]

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  • Title: THE MAKING OF AN OFFICER : with the Artists Rifles at the Front [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 203
  • Other titles: OFFICIAL PICTURES OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE - FIRST SERIES [Series Title]
  • Summary: British basic officer training in the Artists Rifles, St-Omer, Western Front, December 1915.
  • Description: Drill and musketry instruction. On sentry training British and French sentries together stop a staff car to check the occupants. Out in the country, the trainees cut brushwood for hurdles. They learn how to make bridges from tree trunks and rafts from gas capes filled with straw. They repair trench systems, and construct wire entanglements. An officer teaches them the elements of map reading. After a final address by the commanding officer they leave the training battalion in a bus of 16th AUX MT Company. On arrival at an officer cadet school they are instructed in using and stripping the Vickers machine gun and throwing hand grenades.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1916-01-31
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: War Office (Production sponsor) British Topical Committee for War Films (Production company) Tong, Edward G (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, London Regiment, Bn 1/28 (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: training, British military: [+] (object name) transport, British military - bus (object name) weapons, British - smallarm: Vickers machine gun (object name) 01/3(4-15).4 (event) Saint Omer, Pas-de-Calais, 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: 643 ft; Running time: 10 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Production: the BTCFWF symbol appears on this film as a single negative flashframe. Summary: by this date the Artists Rifles, or 1/28th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment, enjoyed a unique status not as a fighting unit but as a holding battalion entirely for men undergoing officer training in France. This film was subject to censorship at GHQ France. The resulting censored sections are now in IWM 383. See also IWM 414.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 203

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    IWM 383 (SECTIONS RELEASED FROM GHQ POSITIVE BOX [Main Title])
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