This black and white silent film records four scenes from the First World War.

1. Various shots of a big gun (much like "Killjoy" and "Big Bertha") being loaded and fired;
2. troops launching bridges across streams;
3. German prisoners of war;
4. Belgian troops marching through the street of a Belgian town.

The total time for the film is one minute and ten seconds; the source is the Video Encyclopedia. This is the text that accompanies the film in the Encyclopedia.


In 1917, the French army mutinied. The endless fighting, insufficient leave, poor recreational facilities, agitation and despair on the home front, German propaganda, and the virus of the Russian Revolution helped provoke the largest mutiny within a great army in modern history. Whole divisions refused duty. Henri Petain personally visited nearly 90 divisions in his first month as new commander of the French troops, listening to the complaints of the men. He stressed leadership and arranged for more military leaves and better food. Because the French army needed rest and recuperation, Petain told the British that they would have to shoulder the main burden on the Western Front until American forces arrived.

When the British took over, the offensive in Flanders began with a carefully prepared assault on a nine-mile front. Nearly 17 days of intense bombardment, assisted by British aircraft, preceded the attack. The British won the battle beneath the ground, above the ground and in the air. Nineteen mines, with almost 500 tons of explosives, were detonated simultaneously beneath the German positions at zero hour, 0310, on June 7, 1917. A few stunned Germans survived the explosion.

After long preparation by the British, another battle began in late July, when the Germans re-formed their line and brought up reserves. The battle was fought in mud so deep that it drowned men and animals. Wounded men who fell headlong into the shell holes were in danger of drowning. Guns sank in the mud until they were useless; food supplies inevitably were tainted with mud.

The Western front was a long and grim ordeal, its horror forever etched on the minds and hearts of those who fought there. For the first time, the Germans used a blistering, burning chemical called mustard gas, which mixed with the mud and water caused persistent casualties long after its release. The British lost at least 245,000 men, almost double the German losses. The Germans could ill afford to lose a single man.