"Rare combat footage from World War One shows two armies fighting in hand-to-hand combat."

[Skipman]

The title says " Rare combat footage from World War One shows two armies fighting in hand-to-hand combat. "

 

I doubt this is actual combat footage. I first saw it a few years ago and found it again. Any thoughts on this. Are they American, and which film might it be from. It does not look like other film footage I have seen. Just curious.

 

http://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/first-world-war/intense-battle-footage-from-wwi/2859621538001

 

Mike

[museumtom]

The rifles do not seem to have a 'kick' , it was llike they were firing blanks. Just an observation.

[Skipman]

Thanks Tom, you may well be correct.

 

At 1.15 sec there are some seriously low (and small?) aircraft.

 

Mike

[tootrock]

This would have involved a photographer standing in full view while cranking his camera. Hardly likely if it was a real battle, more likely a movie.

 

Martin

[Skipman]

Thanks Martin, a good point. Not a place I would have liked to have been standing.

 

Were there any automatic cameras available in WW1 at all?

 

I suspect you are also correct is if from a film, but which one?

 

Mike

[pierssc]

This looks like it is from the 1927 film "Wings" in which case they're ALL Americans, firing blanks, in Texas. 

 

I can't find the exact bit, but I'm sure it's the same setting - go to around 1.20 in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O-g9ptCryA&index=12&list=PL6ED54C8F90A2D565

or around the 6 minute point in this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b9YMjYVaEA&index=11&list=PL6ED54C8F90A2D565

 

It purports to be the battle of St Mihiel.  According to Wikipedia: " During the delay in the aerial shooting, Wellman extensively rehearsed the scenes for the Battle of Saint-Mihiel over ten days with some 3500 infantrymen. A large battlefield with trenches and barbed wire was created on location for the filming. Wellman took responsibility for the meticulously-planned explosions himself, detonating them at the right time from his control panel. According to Peter Hopkinson, at least 20 young men, including cameraman William Clothier, were given hand-held cameras to film "anything and everything" during the filming^."

 

I wonder whether the sequence in Mike's clip is the unedited film from one camera position.

Edited 4 October , 2018 by pierssc

[Moonraker]

5 hours ago, pierssc said:

This looks like it is from the 1927 film "Wings" in which case they're ALL Americans, firing blanks, in Texas....

 

Very similar to  my initial reaction, with the hilly background reminding me of flying films of the Great War made in the '20s and '30s showing American airfields standing in for those of France.

 

A few years ago on YouTube, I came across several clips taken from feature films purporting to show something completely different to that in the original productions.

 

Moonraker

[Skipman]

Many thanks pierssc for all the detail. There is every possibility that you are correct. Will study further.

 

Mike