Attack and Pursue.

I. 'ATTACK AND PURSUE.' Quentin Reynolds addresses the camera, informing the viewer that he is presenting a "typical day" with the British Army in the Western Desert. Indian troops standing behind Reynolds (seated), clean their stripped down Lee-Enfield Mk III .303-inch rifles and a Thompson M1928 .45-inch sub-machine gun. British infantry jump from the back of a soft-skinned vehicle during an exercise. British soft-skins and armoured cars (Marmon-Herrington ?) move across desert terrain. A British infantry detachment takes cover behind sparse desert vegetation. British infantry take cover from an artillery barrage (exercise footage ?). The commander of M3 Stuart (Honey) light tank "Bashful" sits on his turret cupola and scans the horizon with binoculars. British First Armoured Division tank crews congregate around a parked Crusader Mk I tank (2-pounder gun). Royal Tank Regiment personnel smoke cigarettes and pose for the camera. British soldiers walk past a cross made of Jerry cans marking the open grave of German dead. Indian Army Universal carriers and troops move around barbed wire obstacles (screw pickets) in desert terrain. Indian infantry throw Mills 36M grenades as they run up a desert ridge line brandishing their Lee-Enfield Mk III rifles and Thompson M1928 sub-machine guns. British troops inspect a downed Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109F (trop) fighter of JG 27. Close up footage shows the burnt-out hulk of a Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force) Breda Ba 65 ground attack aircraft. British infantry inspect a knocked-out German PzKpfw IV (Ausf C or D) tank that carries extra track links and sprockets on its hull for added protection against anti-tank rounds. British infantry pose with a battle scarred Swastika flag as they stand on the hull of a knocked-out PzKpfw IV. A British Crusader Mk I tank drives past a burning German PzKpfw IV (set alight for cameras ?). A captured German SdKfz 232 armoured car is driven away on the back of a British Army tank transporter (Mack 6x4 18-ton tank transporter ?). Italian Army personnel climb out of a German PzKpfw IV tank and surrender to waiting British troops (posed for camera). A British Crusader Mk I tank drives past a column of German Afrika Korps prisoners of war. Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Pilot Officer Rechner pulls on his flying boots and dons an Irvin leather flying jacket. RAAF (?) pilots consult maps as they sit on the ground in the desert. RAAF (?) groundcrews roll 250-lb bombs towards a waiting Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber aircraft (no squadron codes visible). Blenheim aircrew don flying helmets. The dorsal gunner of a Blenheim Mk IV climbs into his turret and is shown loading his twin Browning .303-inch air-cooled machine guns. He is later presented with a telegram which reads "Son Born, Son Born. All Well At Home- Margaret Molony." A Royal Air Force (RAF) Handley Page Harrow transport aircraft taxies past a parked Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber. Two RAF Martin Maryland Mk I bombers run up their engines prior to taking off. Aerial footage shows Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bombers in flight and Martin Maryland bomber "Calamity Jane" dropping a stick of bombs on an unseen target. Stock shots show bombs impacting on the desert floor. A British (Royal Air Force Regiment ?) anti-aircraft gun crew traverse their Bofors 40mm gun at an undisclosed location (shown in silhouette). Return to Reynolds, who asserts that as well as being able to take it, "Britain can give it".

Notes

Associated material: a negative of this film, without the introduction by Quentin Reynolds, is held at WPN 297.