description

Object description

The attack by 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, at St Eloi, Western Front, 27 March 1916.

Full description

A major commanding one of the supporting batteries receives orders to fire from a field telephone. 18-pounder field guns, completely hidden by brushwood, open fire. The view from the front line trench about an hour after the British dawn attack showing the newly-formed mine craters. A column of German prisoners, mostly 18th Jäger Battalion, being marched to the rear by escorts of 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. Men of the Northumberland Fusiliers posed two days after the attack, back in their rest area, displaying their trophies which include Jäger dress helmets. The Official Photographer, Second Lieutenant Ernest Brooks, walks among the men with his camera, posing them for the picture, and then moves out of shot. (No members of the other battalion in the attack, 4th Royal Fusiliers, are clearly identified in the film.)

Physical description

35mm