The Retreat of the Germans at the Battle of Arras, 1918

Reel 1 Brit. troops debark from transports in France. New Zealanders entrain for the front. Devonshire infantry, artillery, Cavalry, and tanks advance. Norfolk troops and Indian Lancers await orders. Irish Guards and Grenadiers advance. The Gordons spread barbed wire. 6-inch guns are positioned. A 12-inch naval gun fires. A tank advances under fire. Reel 2, mules carry water to artillerymen. Trench mortars blast Ger. barbed wire. Fusiliers enter trenches. Cold-stream and Welsh guards take up positions. Scaling ladders are prepared. South Africans raid Ger. trenches and return with prisoners. Liverpool infantry advances. Supplies are issued at the front. London troops go over the top. Reel 3, Ger. shells land in a village. Artillery pounds Ger. trenches. Brit. planes reconnoiter. Antiaircraft fire drives off Ger. planes. A 6-inch howitzer is camouflaged. Ammunition is moved by pontoons on the Scarpe River. Tanks and machine gun units move into the lines. The Royal Sussex, Durham, and North Hant units move up. Reel 4, London Irish return to a rest camp. Essex engineers repair bridges and roads. Pres. Poincare' visits a recaptured village. The 10th Hussars arrive in Arras. Gordons celebrate the arrival of a train. Roye is entered. Shows captured emplacements and guns. Tanks are cleaned and repaired and take up positions. Brit. planes return. Reel 5, Ger. prisoners carry wounded. Prisoners are brought to the rear. Reel 6, Ger. dead are inspected in rubbled Monchy. Middlesex infantry and Indian cavalry encamp near the Somme. An observation balloon is berthed. Brit. planes reconnoiter. Ger. shells land in Arras. Shows masses of prisoners and equipment. Reel 7, roads are repaired and bridges erected. Artillery bombards the Hindenburg Line. Ger. trenches are occupied by Royal West Kents. Villages are liberated.