Summary: British 51st and 55th Divisions in the Béthune area, Western Front, about 10-14 April 1918.
Description: I. Soldiers haul a ditched Thornycroft lorry out into the roadside by using sheerlegs. They are passed by refugees in carts and on foot as they work. Soldiers resting and eating in an open field. Two exhausted soldiers resting with a dog. Two more soldiers posed with a fox terrier on a lead, and one of them posed again holding the terrier while eating. Gunners build up a small dump of 18-pounder shells by the roadside, limbers draw up and they refill them. Refugees, filmed through the open doors of railway goods wagons, clamber inside. Some British soldiers carry a few of the refugees, old ladies unable to walk, in their chairs to the train, which then leaves. A lancer regiment, probably of 1st Cavalry Division, rides down a tree-lined road. II. Two soldiers of 51st (Highland) Division escort a colleague with a thigh wound across the La Bassée Canal bridge. A sergeant inspects the leg of the wounded soldier who is wearing a kilt. Two officers of 55th Division pose with a baby goat. A battery of French armoured cars (the White chassis type) are parked on a verge to allow British troops to move past. A column of French lancers, probably from II Cavalry Corps, on the road. III. A squadron of DH4 light bombers lined up at their aerodrome, with 112-pound bombs being fitted under the wings of some and 16-pound bombs under the wings of others. Possibly they are 27 Squadron RFC in early 1918.
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Topical Film Company (Production company)
Bassill, F A (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Div 51 (regiment/service)
British Army, Div 55 (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Flying Corps, Squadron 27 (?) (regiment/service)
British Army, Div, Cavalry, 1 (?) &, lancers (regiment/service)
French Army, Corps, Cavalry, 2 (?) & [lancers] (regiment/service)
Keywords: transport, British military - truck: Thornycroft 3-ton lorry (object name)
armour, United States - armoured car: White & [French] (object name)
equipment, British - engineering: sheerlegs (object name)
supplies, British, storage [FA] - munitions (object name)
refugees, French - flight (object name)
society, British military - sustenance (object name)
animals, mammals: dog (object name)
animals, mammals: goat (object name)
transport, British military - rail (object name)
casualties, British wounded - battlefield (object name)
aircraft, British - combat: De Havilland DH4 (object name)
weapons, British air - bomb: 112-pound (object name)
weapons, British air - bomb: 16-pound (object name)
operations, British air - preparation (object name)
01/3(4-15).83 (event)
La Bassée Canal Bridge, Béthune, Pas-de Calais, France (geography)
La Bassée Canal, Nord, France (geography)
Age (concept)
Deprivation (concept)
