Following the Battle of Ancre in World War 1, British troops await buses to take them back from the front to Rest Billets in the rear. The transports arrive and they board.One bus stops enroute for several more soldiers, including an artilleryman wearing Goatskin. Soldiers of the British West Yorkshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's own) and the Worcester Regiment, marching to the rear for a rest, alongside line of trucks headed the opposite way, toward the front.
Ruined villages of Martinpuich and Beaumont Hamel show utter devastation with nothing left standing above ground level. A lonely soldier walks through the silent wreckage. Scene shifts to Scottish troops resting at side of road near Beaumont Hamel. British soldier walks along what was the main street of Beaumont Hamel, where nothing is left standing but a few stubs and twigs of trees. British soldiers, digging in a hill of debris, unearth a German machine gun.
French Renault FT tank, in camouflage paint, armed with machine gun, crosses field and climbs steep ridge to a road. British Mk IV tank crosses ridge on opposite side of road and descends to road below. Mk IV crosses open country; more British tanks maneuver in fields; explosive charges detonated near tanks; British tank moves through smoke or gas.
British troops, several wearing protective leather helmets, clean and maintain a Mk I Male and Mk I Female tanks.
On the "Red Ball Express." Tires of a running Red Ball truck. Wrecked truck being cleared of the path by a tank. Convoy of Red Ball trucks. Towing truck pulls a disabled Red Ball truck. Mechanic make repairs to truck at a service station. Drivers drink coffee. The convoy moves on. Gasoline canisters being loaded on trucks. Operator inside a radio truck controls truck movements. Artillery shells being manufactured inside a plant. Medical supplies, ammunition, and equipment carried by trucks. Newspaper headlines states that the "Red Ball Express" is discontinued as French railway service improves. Montage shows Red Ball Express trucks lined up at parking lots.
Historic vintage aviation and early flight attempt: A man attempts to fly with wings attached to a bicycle like an ornithopter but the wings do not flap. A police officer and several spectators watch the experimental aircraft. An assistant runs behind him. He makes several runs back and forth, to no avail.
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