FLASHES OF ACTION [Main]


View at www.iwm.org.uk
  • Year: 1919
  • Runtime: 85 mins
  • Description: (Reel 1) Men board troopships, including SS Leviathan, in New York harbour. On the crossing there are sports, a dance, and jive by black troops. A submarine attack is repelled by destroyers. The men disembark at Brest and board railway cars for the front. Villages close to the front show shell damage. On 28th September 1918 men of 39th and 58th Infantry Regiments, 4th (Ivy) Division, advance under enemy fire near Montfaucon. Troops advance behind a barrage (some fakes) on 1st Division ('Big Red One') sector in front of Seicheprey on 14th September. (Reel 2) Scenes of trenches, sniping and wounded in the summer of 1918. Identified are the following units: 30th (Old Hickory) Division at Bellicourt on 29th September; 18th Infantry, 1st Division at Exermont on 5th October; wounded at Missy-aux-Bois on 16th July; 139th Infantry, 35th Division east of Verdun on 28th October; troops at Michelbach on 22nd June; 2nd Division ('racehorse brigades') near Missy-aux-Bois on 20th July; 1st Division near Exermont on 4th October; 128th Infantry, 32nd (Iron Jaws) Division in Austerlitz Woods, Alsace, 5th June; 7th Field Artillery, 1st Division, at Varmaise on 5th July using mustard gas shells; German bombardment of Thiaucourt on 21st September and of Rambucourt on 20th April; Albatros CIII shot down by the Frenchman Raymond Varnier at Cuperly on 19th July; 155mm howitzers of 32nd Division (?) shelling German positions at Sultzeren from Gérardmer on 27th August. (Reel 3) 103rd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division attack at Torcy at 4.35am on 18th July in half-light. 305th and 307th Infantry, 77th (Metropolitan) Division approach Longueville on 5th September (the 'lost battalion' episode). General John J Pershing decorating a private. A US kite balloon near Montfaucon on 3rd October defended by machine guns and 75mm anti-aircraft guns. A Fokker DVII is shot down but the pilot, Unteroffizier Hans Heinrich Marwede, survives. 75mm field guns of 6th Field Artillery, 1st Division, at Exermont on 5th October. Heavily camouflaged snipers creeping out into no man's land. Guns of 1st Division at Beaumont on 9th September. (Reel 4) 400mm and 320mm railway guns, and other lighter pieces, bombarding a town. American 75mm field guns in action at les Côtes de Forimont on 27th September. A Renault FT17 light tank. A British Mark V Female tank. US 155mm howitzers explode an ammunition dump. US Spad 13s being fitted with small (8-pounder ?) bombs before takeoff. A caption naming Quentin Roosevelt precedes film of Sopwith Camels of 148 (American) Squadron - with which QR had no connection - in the air; similarly, reference to Eddie Rickenbacker is followed by a scene with no clear link to the American fighter ace. A night bombardment. German prisoners at Saizerais (?) on 13th September. 4th Infantry, 3rd (Marne) Division marching through Bachrach after the Armistice. An American sentry by the River Rhine at Coblenz. A group of American gunners joking with a 75mm shell-case beside the American flag (possibly 'the last shot of the war' ?). (Reel 5) Post-Armistice celebrations. Pershing says formal goodbyes to Marshal Foch before boarding his ship to return. It arrives in New York to a great reception. On 10th September 1919 Pershing leads 1st Division through the streets of New York. This is followed by similar parades in Philadelphia (escorted by the Philadelphia Light Dragoons), at Wilmington in Delaware, and at Washington (this is filmed partly by airship and aircraft).
    US film of the American Expeditionary Force, from its departure for France in 1917 to its return and triumphal parades in 1919.
  • Keywords: EFG1914 / World War I / Pershing, John Joseph / Foch, Ferdinand J M / Roosevelt, Quentin / Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon 'Eddie' / Varnier, Raymond / Marwede, Hans H / United States Army & Philadelphia Light Dragoons / United States Army & American Expeditionary Force / United States Army & Div 4 & Infantry Regt 39 / United States Army & Div 4 & Infantry Regt 58 / United States Army & Div 30 / United States Army & Div 1 & Infantry Regt 18 / United States Army & Div 35 & Infantry Regt 139 / United States Army & Div 2 / United States Army & Div 32 & Infantry Regt 128 / United States Army & Div 1 & Field Artillery Regt 7 / United States Army & Div 32 & [gunners] / United States Army & Div 26 & Infantry Regt 103 / United States Army & Div 77 & Infantry Regt 305 / United States Army & Div 77 & Infantry Regt 307 / United States Army & Div 1 & Field Artillery Regt 6 / United States Army & Tank Corps / British Army, Tank Corps / United States Army & Army Air Corps / United States Army & Div 3 & Infantry Regt 4 / operations, United States military - movement: ship / ships, United States auxiliary - transport: Leviathan / recreation, United States military - sport / recreation, United States military - dance / recreation, United States military - casual / combat, United States naval - anti-submarine / operations, United States military - movement: rail / destruction, French military - area: artillery bombardment / operations, United States military - sortie / combat, United States - sniper / casualties, United States wounded - battlefield / combat, United States - artillery bombardment / combat, United States - artillery bombardment [D] / aircraft, German - combat: Albatros CIII & [captured] & [wrecked] / weapons, French - gun: 155mm howitzer & [United States] / aircraft, United States - balloon: observation kite balloon / weapons, French - gun [AA]: 75mm & [United States] / aircraft, German - combat: Fokker DVII & [wrecked] & [captured] / weapons, French - gun: 75mm field gun & [United States] / weapons, French - gun: 320mm (railway mounted) & [United States] / weapons, French - gun: 400mm (railway mounted) & [United States] / armour, French - tank: Renault FT17 & [United States] / armour, British - tank: Tank Mark V Female & [United States] / casualties, United States wounded - battlefield / aircraft, French - combat: Spad 13 & [United States] / weapons, United States air - bomb: 8-pound / prisoners of war, German - movement / celebrations, French - event-related: armistice / celebrations, United States - event-related: armistice / 12/3(261.2).011 / 01/3(4-15) / First World War, Armistice & 1918=1919 / New York, New York, United States of America / Brest, Finistère, France / Bellicourt, Aisne, France / Soultzeren, Haut-Rhin, France / Rambucourt, Meuse, France / Thiaucourt-Regnieville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France / Cuperly, Marne, France / Torcy, Pas-de-Calais, France / Exermont, Ardennes, France / Michelbach sector, Verdun, Meuse, France / Montfaucon, Aisne, France / Seicheprey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France / Missy-aux-Bois sector, Verdun, Meuse, France / Varmaise sector, Verdun, Meuse, France / Longueville sector, Verdun, Meuse, France / Beaumont, Verdun, Meuse, France / Côtes de Forimont, Verdun, Meuse, France / Saizerais, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France / Germany & Bacharach, Rhineland Palatinate / Germany & Coblenz, Rhineland Palatinate / Germany & Rhine (River) / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America / Wilmington, Delaware, United States of America / Washington DC, United States of America / race & [+] / half-light / camera / World War, 1914-1918 -- Motion pictures and the war / night
  • Provider: Imperial War Museums
  • Rights: In Copyright / Imperial War Museums
  • Production company: US Signal Corps
  • Colour: Black & White
  • Sound: Without sound

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