Amateur film without titles shot by Sergeant Leslie Brower, a signaller in the 2nd Battalion Royal Horse Artillery, records military action in the Western Desert during the Eighth Army offensive of 1942, then off-duty scenes in Tunisia, Egypt and Palestine after his hospitalisation with infectious hepatitis.

The film begins with scenes of Brower and other soldiers shaving, checking equipment, operating signalling equipment (Brower’s commentary indicates that these scenes might even have been taken during lulls in battle). The ‘H’ flag of Brower’s battery is shown fluttering in the breeze. Shot of a battle column (tanks, armoured cars, etc.) on tarmac road. A sandstorm (in the Qattara Depression?). Sequences of battle: vehicles alight on horizon; billowing columns of smoke; low passes by fighter planes (Allied and enemy? Second low pass shot is identifiable from decals as Allied); images of heavy artillery firing. The sequences include shot of an man identified by Brower as a Sgt Major Smith crouching behind a vehicle with binoculars during a bombardment, and holding up an unexploded shell for the camera (Brower’s commentary indicates the shell may still have been live). (Smith also seen walking through sandstorm with loudhailer?) Shots of vehicles mired in the sand of the Qattara Depression; Brower’s description of events indicate these shots probably taken earlier than the action shots that precede them. Remainder of film shot while Brower was convalescing from a sever bout of infectious hepatitis, and includes scenes in Egypt (Cairo, the pyramids, local people, camels trains etc.), Tunisia (shots unidentified), and scenes shot on leave visit to Palestine (inc. various shots in Jerusalem). A long train journey may be between Egypt and Palestine? There are various shots of a zoo, sequences of social life, including a game of pin-the-tail-on-the donkey, and a long sequence of swimming and diving in a swimming pool. The film ends with further shots of the pyramids, and images of hieroglyphs.

Notes

Summary: Audio commentary indicates that the material in the film is not edited in strictly chronological order. Brower was training to be an architect when he was called up: throughout the film, particularly toward the end, buildings are shot with great care, often with long panning shots. Sound Recording (SA 12138): Recollections of early life; background to call up, studying architecture in Newcastle; called up 1941, trained at Redford barracks, Inverness, for 6 months before being assigned as signaller to 51st Highland Division; posted to Africa, sailed via Liverpool; escorted by aircraft carriers from Freetown to Durban; learned on arrival that Burma had fallen, then posted to Middle East; Port Taufik to Cairo; skirmishes with Italian and German forces before the battle of El Alamein. Discusses interest in photography; types and costs of cameras and film; reasons for taking camera to war (‘a thought for the future’); recalls that he did not ask permission of unit officers, but did not encounter any problems from them. The Alamein; description of journey to battle zone; problems in Qattara depression; description of battle; placed in charge of signals, but the sound of guns damaged hearing and was relieved of signalling duties (placed on guns); further descriptions of battle. Discusses censorship of films; reels which were removed by the censor, including footage of direct hit on gun emplacement by German Stuka; film (MGH 3649) was edited c. 1950, and is not in strictly chronological order. Discusses convalescing in US military medical facility in Cairo from infectious hepatitis contracted in a field kitchen; compares attitude of British and American army doctors. Describes some scenes which he could not bear to film: atrocities by German troops (booby-trapped ANZAC corpses) and the aftermath of an aeroplane crash. Discusses his film of local people; held them in high regard and felt that it was ‘not their war’; stopped filming after left North Africa. Took a brief ‘holiday’ in Palestine (‘quite wonderful to see the holy places’); once 6-8 month convalescence over became a set designer for the Central Pool of Artist Stars in Battle Dress [hard to hear this name?]; no further frontline action, ‘became a human being again’; failed in attempt to transfer to AFPU.