Colour film of Battlefields from 1938

[ServiceRumDiluted]

More fascinating footage, of a vist by a veteran to the Western Front, courtesy of the Youtube algorithm. Of interest because it travels beyond Ypres, Vimy and the Somme to the Chemin des Dames and Verdun. 

https://youtu.be/esA9SXyzAWk

[AOK4]

Extremely interesting... Did you see them dismantling HE grenades from ca. 6:12 to 6:30?

[ServiceRumDiluted]

Judging by that mountain of rusty shells they had plenty of opportunity to practice.  Noticed a couple of what looked like 17cm minenwurfers in that pile too.  

[MikeyH]

Very evocative, his car is a very nice Delage, possibly a D8, circa 1933.

 

Mike.

[tootrock]

According to the introduction the film was made in the late 1920s, rather than 1938.

Martin

[MikeyH]

The other cars that can be seen, confirm a date of the mid 1930's onwards.

 

Mike.

[AOK4]

7 minutes ago, MikeyH said:

The other cars that can be seen, confirm a date of the mid 1930's onwards.

 

Mike.

 

Definitely, as obvious by the state of the Ypres' Cloth Hall (west side and belfry completely rebuilt).

[WhiteStarLine]

Really is fascinating.  Striking to see the similarity, looking at Vimy Ridge from the 1929 film and the images when you 'walk' the same ground with Google Street View or view a site such as greatwar.co.uk.   Evocative to see actual veterans in 1929 and the number of English language signposts suggest tours by veterans were quite common and brought in enough money to make it worthwhile.

 

[Hedley Malloch]

Excellent - I really enjoyed it. Thank you for posting.

[Fattyowls]

Many thanks from me too. Interesting that the trip took in Verdun too.

 

Pete.

[aengland]

An enjoyable few minutes.   A wonderful piece of film, thank you for sharing it.

 

Andrew

 

 

[battle of loos]

Good morning,

 

Thank you for the link.

a brief appearance of the Dud Coner in Loos.

for the dating of the film, we can say that it is after 1936 because the Canadian Vimy Memorial was inaugurated on July 26, 1936.
4 years later of hard fighting will be located not far from there (south of Arras) and a small corporal will take a picture at the foot of the Canadian monument.

 

regards

 

michel

[GROBBY]

Lovely film thank you for posting it .Its strange to think that wnen this was filmed  they were planning to start it all over again

[Steviebullsatatter]

Incredibly moving. 

How a few years change the landscape. 

[Old Forge]

Excellent film, many thanks to SRD for posting. I see William Bridgen was commissioned (I checked, to confirm the pencil sketch in the opening credits). 20th Battalion The London Regiment came under heavy gas shelling at Bourlon Wood and again serving on the right flank of 3rd Army (in 47th Div) on 21st March 1918. I wonder whether either of those occasions were the cause of Bridgen's early death in 1946?

 

Richard

 

 

Edited 12 April , 2021 by Old Forge

[maxi]

Wow that was very good.

 

Thank you for posting.