DESTRUCTION OF A GERMAN BLOCKHOUSE BY A 9.2 HOWITZER [Main]


View at www.iwm.org.uk
  • Other title(s): OFFICIAL PICTURES OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN FRANCE - SECOND SERIES [series]
  • Year: 1916
  • Runtime: 8 mins
  • Description: The howitzer is in a leafless wood. Its crew remove its camouflage, load the howitzer and elevate it (this is the number 4 gun of the battery). They uncover a pile of shells and roll them forward ready to be lifted up by special tongs. The howitzer fires, then is sponged out and reloaded three times. Another camera in a hide a short distance away from a German blockhouse records through a loophole the shells falling nearer to the target. Two officers in their Observation Post use trench periscopes to spot the fall of shot, and send a message via a field telephone to an RGA sergeant-trumpeter, who relays it to a second-lieutenant. Four more shells burst around the blockhouse, and the eighth shell fired scores a direct hit destroying the building. The gunners clean out their gun and do maintenance work before re-covering it with camouflage.
    A 9.2-inch howitzer of the Royal Garrison Artillery 'walking' its shells on top of a German blockhouse, Western Front, January 1916.
  • Keywords: EFG1914 / World War I / British Army, Royal Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery / weapons, British - gun: 9.2-inch howitzer & [+] / destruction, German military - aimed: artillery bombardment & [+] / defences, German - emplacement: blockhouse & [wrecked] / communications, British military - wire / 01/3(4-15).5 / France / World War, 1914-1918 -- France / Belgium / World War, 1914-1918 -- Belgium
  • Provider: Imperial War Museums
  • Rights: In Copyright / Imperial War Museums
  • Production company: British Topical Committee for War Films
  • Colour: Black & White
  • Sound: Without sound