This film is part of Free
Married Mens' Call
The first married men to be conscripted to fight in WWI undergo training for the trenches.
Overview
Married men were spared when conscription was introduced in March 1916. But not for long: their turn came in May. Topical Budget (or the army itself?) seems to be jumping the gun with this newsreel issued on 8 April, apparently showing the first recruits. True to patriotic form, Topical saw no cause for anxiety, and it all seems a bit of an adventure for the men, who undergo physical jerks, rifle training and a machine gun demonstration.
The men even train in replica trenches, although these strikingly tidy examples - free of mud, blood, barbed wire or the constant threat of enemy shells - could hardly compare with the real thing.
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