HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES WITH THE GUARDS IN THE FRONT LINE [Main]


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  • Other title(s): OFFICIAL PICTURES OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE - SECOND SERIES [series]
  • Year: 1916
  • Runtime: 10 mins
  • Description: 1st or 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards, with 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, in a street, probably Richebourg-St-Vaast, about to be led off by a pipe and drum band for a Christmas service, 25 December 1915. They enter the temporary church at La Gorge (?). After the service a number of officers emerge, including the divisional commander, Major-General the Earl of Cavan, and the Prince of Wales, who served on the divisional staff. About two days later, a party led by Cavan and the Prince visits a concealed battery headquarters (no sign of guns) in a leafless wood. Men of the Scots Guards grease their feet as a protection against trench foot and put on waders before going into the line. A battalion of Irish Guards gets up and pulls on its packs after resting by the roadside. Coldstream Guards in the second line work in the rain with shovels to clear a swamped "trench road". The second line trenches are all flooded to between knee and waist depth. An Irish Guards chaplain makes his rounds. In a forward trench one of the Irish Guards uses a sniperscope to fire at the enemy. Another sniper with a head wound is taken away on a stretcher. A rear view of a Vickers machine gun team firing, then removing the gun. A platoon of 1st Battalion, the Welsh Guards, is checked by its officer for trench foot after coming out of the line.
    The front line trenches of the Guards Division in front of Aubers Ridge, and the Prince of Wales with the Earl of Cavan, December 1915.
  • Keywords: EFG1914 / World War I / Edward, Prince (Duke of Windsor) / Cavan, Frederick (Lord) / British Army, Div, Guards / British Army, Welsh Guards, 1st Battalion / British Army, Grenadier Guards, 1st Battalion / British Army, Grenadier Guards, 4th Battalion / British Army, Irish Guards / British Army, Scots Guards / British Army, Coldstream Guards / buildings, Belgian - religious: church (temporary) / religion, Christianity - military, British / weapons, British - smallarm: SMLE rifle / equipment, British - fire control: sniperscope / weapons, British - smallarm: Vickers machine gun / casualties, British wounded - battlefield / equipment, British - personal: waders / medical, British military - preventative / 01/3(4-15).4 / Aubers Ridge, Nord, France / Richebourg-Saint-Vaast, Pas-de-Calais, France / La Gorge, Béthune, Pas-de-Calais, France / mud / rain
  • Provider: Imperial War Museums
  • Rights: In Copyright / Imperial War Museums
  • Production company: British Topical Committee for War Films
  • Colour: Black & White
  • Sound: Without sound