Gurkha and British troops during the Third Battle of Gaza, Palestine Front, November 1917.

Gurkhas in a trench prepare for the assault and attack. They are probably 3/3rd Battalion, the Gurkha Rifles, 75th Division, before the fall of Gaza on 18 November 1917. This is followed by a sequence of 8-inch howitzers being taken over a bridge at Belah, unlimbered, and fired. A sequence giving the view through a telescope shows a heliograph and mounted sentries on the move. The inside of the pumping station at Shellal. A press for printing British Army maps of the Palestine Front. Some West Indians, part of 1st Battalion, British West Indies Regiment (?), loaned to XXI Corps on 75th Division Front, marching down a road. There are brief views of officers on a hill surveying with binoculars and signalling, an outside view of the pumping station, and a final view of British troops in dug-outs on a hillside, possibly 1/5th Battalion, the Devonshire Regiment, 75th Division but possibly men of 60th (London) Division instead. Finally stores being landed from a ship using surf boats, perhaps at Gaza.

Notes

Title: this is taken from the shotsheet.

Intertitles: these are MS flashframes.

Shotsheet: this and the subtitles bear little relation to each other. The troops described as Devonshires by the shotsheet are given by the flashframe as "lads from the streets of London", ie 60th (London) Division.

Remarks: the Gurkha sequence is quite good, the film is otherwise a mess.