A review of the British war effort on all fronts and at home, 1915-1916.

The episode opens with a table showing the increase in personnel of the Army and Navy in the first twelve months of the war. A new merchant ship is launched. Australian soldiers in dress uniform march through the streets of Sydney headed by Australian Light Horse. Munitions manufacture for British 60-pounders and 6-inch howitzers, then shown in action "to blast their inexorable way through the Hun defences". Meanwhile, "owing to the treachery of King Constantine of Greece in refusing to help Serbia - the nation she pledged herself to defend - and his intrigues with the Kaiser, the British and French Governments decided to help Serbia with all the means at their disposal. On Monday 4th October 1915, the Franco-British Expeditionary Force landed at Salonika." British forces on the Salonika Front in 1915 include mule trains and a 60-pounder. Egyptian troops prepare in their camps in Egypt. On his visit to France in 1916 Lord Kitchener reviews a New Army battalion and exchanges greetings with General Sir William Robertson on the quayside. Soldiers of 38th (Welsh) Division are transported by bus to the Loos sector where men of the Guards Division are digging and clearing their trenches. The episode ends with general scenes of gunfire.

Notes

Summary: see Notes to IWM 440-01. Although most of the material in this episode is duplicated elsewhere the scenes of the Salonika Front may be unique

Remarks: the most significant aspect of this episode, as with the rest of the series, is the captioning, in particular the justification for the invasion at Salonika