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Waiting and Watchful

Waiting and Watchful

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The First World War: News from the Battlefields

Rare images from the theatres of war for anxious audiences back in Blighty.

The military high command maintained a tight grip on what was permissible for audiences to see, and for the most part film cameras weren't allowed anywhere near the frontlines - partly for the safety of the film crews, but more for fear that the images they sent back could seriously damage public morale.

But such was the public demand for more information that eventually the government was forced to take notice, and in 1917 the Topical Budget newsreel was requisitioned by the War Office. Images of combat remained largely off limits, though, and instead the cameras were dispatched in search of more uplifting stories of heroism and endurance.

53 videos in this collection

1

The Deliverance of Lille by Haig's Men Topical Budget 374-2

  • 1918-10-28
2

Rescue Work in No Man's Land Topical Budget 332-2

  • 1918-01-05
3

Australian Troops at the Pyramids

  • 1918
A humble scrub is all it takes to get these French troops in a lather.
4

Shower Baths in the Trenches Topical Budget 228-1

  • 1916-01-05
Colonial recruits from Trinidad meet the Lord Mayor of London during WWI
5

From Trinidad to Serve the Empire Topical Budget 230-2

  • London
  • 1916-01-22
Poignant scenes of Allied troops enjoying their Yuletide rations at the first Christmas of WWI.
6

Christmas at the Front Topical Budget 175-1

  • 1914-12-30
Sombre and moving World War I newsreel story.
7

Funeral at the Front Topical Budget 210-2

  • 1915-09-04
British troops try to coax and cajole their pack animals on to a military supply train, but they're stubborn as mules...
8

Outposts of Empire: British East African Troops Entraining on an Expedition against German Territory

  • 1915-03
Talented and obedient Red Cross dogs prepare to rescue Berlin's wounded from the Front.
9

Red cross Dogs Topical Budget 175-1

  • 1914-12-30
British submarine inspection at Spithead just before the start of World War I. This was issued in December after a sub sunk a ship in the Dardanelles action of 1914.
10

Our Submarines Topical Budget 173-1

  • 1914-12-16
Retreating Belgian troops arrive in Ostend in the wake of the Siege of Antwerp.
11

Gallant Defenders Topical Budget 165-2

  • 1914-10-24
Striking WWI scenes demonstrating a wary Belgian army's treatment of German prisoners - and newsreel cameramen...
12

German Prisoners Topical Budget 162-2

  • 1914-10-03
Scots soldiers are drilled in trench warfare techniques in leafy English countryside.
13

Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Topical Budget 164-1

  • Huntingdon
  • 1914-10-14
Moving scenes of wartime devastation in the historic Belgian city of Ypres.
14

King's Visit to Belgium Topical Budget 172-1

  • 1914
Rare film of soldiers working out before heading to the battlefields.
15

Lord Lovat's Scouts Topical Budget 164-1

  • 1914-10-14
Recruits of Lord Kitchener's 'New Army' parade on Christmas morning.
16

Christmas Church Parade Topical Budget 175-1

  • 1914-12-30
Grinning Canadian troops arrive in England.
17

Sons of the Empire Topical Budget 165-2

  • 1914-10-24
Belgian soldiers and civilian refugees gather in Ostend in early WWI, before evacuating to England.
18

Ostend in War-Time Topical Budget 165-2

  • 1914-10-24
A moving eulogy to British ships sunk by the German navy in the early months of WWI.
19

Our Naval Losses Topical Budget 168-1

  • 1914-11-11
Belgian infantry and artillery defend Antwerp against the besieging German army in an early battle of World War I.
20

The Attack on Antwerp Topical Budget 164-1

  • 1914-10-14
Britannia rules the waves! Scenes of a battleship at gunnery practice, with fine shots of the guns firing.
21

From the Fighting Top of a Battleship in Action

  • 1909
In Flanders fields - this educational compilation of WWI footage tries to teach the most important lesson of all: never again
22

The British in Belgium

  • 1930
Powerful newsreel images of displaced Serbians seeking help at a British military base during WWI.
23

British Nurses in Serbia War Office Official Topical Budget 222-1

  • 1915-11-24
Shades of Lawrence of Arabia in a worn but often beautiful film of WWI desert exercises in Egypt.
24

A Patrol in the Desert

  • 1915
Pioneering visual graphics – with added cotton wool – recreate an incendiary WWI incident involving a stricken British submarine.
25

The E13 Avenged

  • 1915
A fleeting (sorry) but reassuring glimpse of a flotilla of Royal Navy destroyers on the skyline during WWI.
26

The Eyes of the Fleet: A Destroyer Flotilla Scouting

  • 1915
Striking visual record of a prisoner-of-war camp on World War One's Eastern Front.
27

Russia's Great Haul

  • 1915
Witness the birth of motion graphics in news reporting amid the ongoing Gallipoli campaign during WWI.
28

Fight for the Dardanelles

  • 1915
A boisterous band of Allied troops makes merry in the face of an uncertain future.
29

Seeing the New Year In

  • 1915
A small band of French soldiers take to the woods of the Argonne in this military exercise - probably staged for the camera.
30

French Machine Gun in the Wooded Country of the Argonne

  • 1915
In Milan's Piazza del Duomo a crowd gathers to hear news of Italy's entry into WWI.
31

War Scenes in Italy Topical Budget 197-1

  • 1915-06-02
A military legend on location, and some vertiginous thrills from a balloon.
32

Lord Charles Beresford in France

  • 1916
33

General Haig Visits General Joffre Topical Budget 229-1

  • 1916-01-12
Mysterious unidentified footage of troops in WW1 featuring a glimpse of Edward, Prince of Wales
34

Italian and Greek Troops in Action: Italians Decorated by Prince of Wales

  • 1917
Entrenched support for the front lines: French engineers lay cables to enable HQ to direct troops from as far away as possible
35

Lines of Communication Topical Budget 306-1

  • 1917-07-04
French soldiers guard the wreck of the L.39 Zeppelin, brought down by Brought down in the Boulevard Gambetta, Compiegne
36

Wreck of L. 39 Topical Budget 292-1

  • 1917-03-28
Equipped with two men and a string of bombs, the SS Class Airship was a rapid response to the threat of U-boats
37

British Airships in the East

  • 1917
38

With the British Troops in Macedonia

  • 1917
39

Scenes of the First World War

  • 1918
40

Waiting and Watchful Pictorial News (Official)/War Office Official Topical Budget 344-1

  • 1918-03-27
41

Surrender of the German Fleet

  • Rosyth
  • 1918-11-23
42

General Allenby's Entry into Jerusalem

  • 1918
43

Life at Iwerne Minster in Wartime, August 7th & 8th 1918.

  • Iwerne Minster
  • 1918-08-07
44

Freed from Turkish Bondage Pictorial News (Official)/War Office Official Topical Budget 346-1

  • 1918-04-10
Belgium's defiance in the face of German occupation is poignantly captured in one long take.
45

Artillery at Alost Topical Budget 162-2

  • 1914-10-03
Extraordinary early WWI footage of Belgian army delaying the German advance - aided by bicycles, armoured cars and machine-gun pulling dogs.
46

The Battle of Lebbeke

  • 1914
47

British Naval Activities after the Great British Victory of Jutland

  • 1918
Ear-to-ear grins prove that an army marches on its stomach in this poignant film of young WWI reservists at a field kitchen far from home.
48

Preparing the Rations Topical Budget 167-1

  • 1914-11-04
The might of the British Empire is mobilised for war during 1914 and 1915.
49

Empire Troops

  • 1917
Intriguing instalment in Pathé series on WWI, looking at our Russian allies on the Eastern Front
50

History of the War: Russian Front

  • 1917
Tantalising fragment from Pathé's History of the War series, looking at the battle of Ypres
51

History of the War: Ypres

  • 1917
52

Surrender of the German High Seas Fleet

  • Isle of May
  • 1918-11
53

The Battle South of Arras

  • 1918-08-29
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