Summary: British forces in the Béthune area, including gas casualties, Western Front, 9-10 April 1918.
Description: A head-on shot of a Mk IV Female tank 146 HMLS 'Inviolate' of 9th Battalion, Tank Corps, equipped with unditching equipment, crossing over a bank, followed by three other Mk IV tanks, all being driven with doors and hatches open. Men of the Chinese Labour Corps at a railway goods siding unload stores from goods wagons onto flatcars of a light railway. British troops help them unload 9.2-inch shells. A light US Baldwin 4-60 PT locomotive passes pulling truckloads of troops. A long column of German prisoners marches down a road with a British escort. Refugees pulling carts (without horses) followed by other refugees going up one side of a street, probably Béthune, while a British marching column including a limbered 60-pounder battery and some wagons goes in the other direction. Some refugees ride in army wagons, others push carts or lead donkeys. A posed shot of a German prisoner, standing with a blanket over his shoulders between a soldier of the Portuguese 2nd Division and one of 51st (Highland) Division. A line of walking wounded of 51st and 55th Divisions, mostly temporarily blinded by gas, others with flesh wounds smiling at the camera. The gassed men move off in the classic posture of the blind, each with his hand on the shoulder of the man in front; at one point, a soldier (Private John Martindale of the Lancashire Fusiliers) walks in from the right to assist the column of stricken soldiers.
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Topical Film Company (Production company)
Bassill, F A (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Tank Corps, 9th Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Div 51 (regiment/service)
British Army, Div 55 (regiment/service)
British Army, Chinese Labour Corps (regiment/service)
Portuguese Army & Div 2 (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, British - tank: Tank Mark IV Female (object name)
transport, United States military - rail: Baldwin 4-60 PT light engine & [British] (object name)
weapons, British - gun: 60-pounder (object name)
operations, British military - movement: rail (object name)
supplies, British, storage [RA] - munitions (object name)
casualties, British wounded - battlefield: [gas] & [+] (object name)
prisoners of war, German - movement (object name)
refugees, French - flight (object name)
01/3(4-15).81 (event)
Béthune, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography)
Race (concept)
