Animation, actuality and reconstruction film of the British campaign in Palestine, October 1917 to October 1918.

The film blames the war, and Turkey's involvement in it, completely on Germany. It uses animated maps to show how from 1415 the Duchy of Brandenburg expanded to become the German Empire and absorb Turkey in its schemes for European domination. By autumn 1917 a British and Imperial force under Allenby had been assembled in southern Palestine to oppose this threat. Actuality film emphasises the cosmopolitan nature of this force. An animated model shows the first British breakthrough at Beersheba and Gaza in October 1917, intercutting with actuality and feature film to show the capture of Jerusalem and the raids across the Jordan. The animated map shows that by 1918 Russia has been taken by Germany, and there is a new threat. In September 1918 Allenby launches his second drive, in which the cavalry reach first Damascus, with cooperation from Feisal and Lawrence's Arabs, and then on to Aleppo, so driving Turkey out of the war. The defeat of Turkey precipitates the defeat of Germany.

Notes

Title: this appears on the film can

Remarks: not particularly good, even as entertainment. The film relies too heavily on its stop-action animated model to cover the gaps in its actuality material; even though it pays little attention to the correct use of such actuality film

Series continuity: the number IWM 1096 has been allocated to modern compilation film that is not always included in catalogues of the archival IWM series