During British Expeditionary Force deployments to France, early in World War 2: Opening scene shows French troops lined up in formation on either side of a muddy path at a French military installation. They are presenting arms with their rifles. Walking along the path toward the camera is the Duke of Windsor who maintains a continuous hand salute as he passes the troops. He is escorted by a French Colonel. They turn a corner and continue past more French troops presenting arms. Next, the Duke meets and shakes hands with a group of French soldiers and officers, who stand on a step in front of a building. He exchanges salutes with and shakes hands with some. Change of scene shows the Duke of Windsor stepping from doorway of a building decorated with French and British flags. He is escorted by a French Officer and they pass more French troops presenting arms. Scene shifts to a staff car driving along the street in a French town, where local citizens wave and applaud the occupants. The Duke is next seen outside the car being greeted by France's Army Commander in Chief, General Maurice Gustave Gamelin. Closeups of the two conversing. While General Gamelin walks several feet away, The Duke reviews a contingent of French troops presenting arms. He reaches out to some junior officers and shakes their hands. General Gamelin stands with the Duke of Windsor as he speaks with a soldier outside the ranks. Scene shifts again to the Duke making his way up a steep snowy bank, at the Maginot line, escorted by French officers. At the top of the hill, surrounded by French officers, he looks at a map held by one. Closeup of the Duke studying the map of the Maginot line as General Gamelin looks on.
The time period of the Second Battle of the Marne in France during World War 1. The country side of Cierges-sous-Montfaucon in France. A line of horses towing American artillery and caissons along a road, past a French village. As camera pans, the U.S. forces are seen to be passing through the village and then turning onto the road where they were seen earlier, in the foreground. View shifts to center of the village, where Army trucks carrying U.S. soldiers are driving through. A motorcar passes a villager riding in a horse-drawn wagon. The buildings in the village show battle damage. More canvas-covered army trucks moving on the village streets.
The Aisne-Marne Operation in France during World War 1. American Expeditionary Forces (AEC) 111th Infantry contingent bivouacked on side of a hill in Crezeney, France. Their horses graze in field below. Closeup of soldiers drinking directly from a small pond, and filling containers with water from it. Battle-damaged buildings in the background. Scene shifts to U.S. 119th Field Artillery, near Mount Saint Martin in Lorraine. A gun crew is seen behind an entrenched French heavy gun (Canon de 155mm Long Mle 1917 GPF). Views of the gun breech and open split tail carriage. Closeup of Gunner cranking a control wheel to elevate the gun barrel. He then makes some fine aiming adjustments. Camera focuses on a soldier standing near a large tree trunk and then pans over to the gunner adjusting aim of the 155mm gun. Scene shifts to another gun crew in some shrubbery, firing a French 75 field piece.
American Expeditionary Forces, 42nd Infantry Division (Rainbow Division) in France during World War 1. At Glonville, on May 8, 1918, Captain D. L. Smith talks over a field phone while directing artillery fire. Another soldier stands behind him. Captain D. L. Smith and Major Curtis G. Reddon converse over the field telephone. An officer smokes standing under a tree. Troops walk along a road in the background. On May 9, 1918, In Baccarat, France, U.S. Army Major General Charles T. Menoher, Brigadier General M. J. Lenihan, U.S. Army Colonel Douglas MacArthur and staff officers confer in a field.
Activities of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division (Rainbow Division) American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in France during World War 1. Soldiers delouse clothing in large steam cabinets at an encampment dubbed "the Indian Village," in France. Soldiers are seen carrying their cleaned clothing. Other soldiers bring horses to water, as a soldier washes his clothes in a nearby outdoor wash facility
Officers inspect troops from Company B, 165th Infantry Regiment (42nd Infantry, Rainbow Division) in France during World War 1. The soldiers are lined up in front of their pup tents, in a field. Captain K. C. Siebert, Lieutenant R. Doris and Lieutenant F. W. Carter inspect strong dugouts of Company A, in a hillside just behind the front lines, at Chasseurs, France. Officers walk out of the passageway of an adjoining heavy stone structure (Headquarters?). Scene shifts to U.S. Machine gun battalions firing French Hotchkiss M1914 heavy machine guns. At each position, one soldier feeds a strip of 8mm Lebel cartridge ammunition while the other fires the weapon. Slate states that the firing is toward a German town 2,800 meters away. Men of a machine gun company are seen lined up to receive issues of personal clothing from Quartermaster. Soldiers of the 165th Infantry receiving pay from paymasters at an outdoor table near a hillside dugout. One counts out a soldier's pay and another annotates a pay ledger.
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