Landships II

James H · Legend

Genuine Combat Footage?

jellytwig · Lieutenant

I've seen it before. It's genuine and part of a longer shoot which starts earlier. There'd troop movement in one direction, interrupted by an exploding shell on the street which causes casualties, followed by a bit of scurrying about in the opposite direction. It's available somewhere ont' Tinterweb, but I'm afraid I can't remember where.

James H · Legend

Ta, Anthony. Haven't been able to find the earlier bit without sitting through the whole thing. Have you got a time?

Here's a screengrab for anyone who can't access iplayer.

jellytwig · Lieutenant

The screengrab appears to be about three-quarters of the way through the film. It begins with the tank coming into shot from the right and turning up the street accompanied by a platoon in good order. The filming is interrupted by the shell-burst whose crater is shown next to the tank and the poor chap whose copped it in the foreground.

I'll check my files and see if I can trace the whole sequence.

HorribleHarry · Corporal

BBC let me see the footage!
Love, your favorite colony... the USA.

(any chance another website has this film?)

jellytwig · Lieutenant

I've just found the latter part of the reel on British Pathe, entitled Brtitish troops on the Western Front Part 1. It's towards the end. I'll look further for the bit that shows the tank and troops entering the street.

Pat · Commander in Chief

BBC tells me the film is available for me only if I am on a certain island in the Northern Sea, so I'll have to work from memory:

It is an FT plus three or four guys in Brodies in a shell-damaged village, right? Stills from this have been discussed, wasn't it here, lately and people thought it was a) genuine combat images and b) U.S. troops c) in October 1918.

I did a search but without success.

This page has one of the two stills, captioned "Fierce fighting accompanies the American advance through the villages of the Meuse valley (a dead German lies next to the tank)." Regards, Pat

-- Edited by Pat on Sunday 17th of August 2014 09:09:56 PM

James H · Legend

Thanks, Jellytwig. Found it here http://www.britishpathe.com/video/western-front-scenes-part-1 at 2' 28". Can't find anything else at the mo.

It's an all-American compilation from the Front. The sequence in question looks very convincing, and although the usual test is "Where was the camera?", this could have been filmed from under cover or shelter. The only thing is that at the very end a soldier walks back into shot looking not very concerned at all. So was it "staged", even if very soon after the event?

Pat: excellent recall. Sorry about the BBC thing. Remember, it's not your fault you don't live in England, merely your misfortune.

-- Edited by James H on Monday 18th of August 2014 06:34:02 PM