The Big Drive (1932)

Scenes of World War I, emphasizing its progress and horrors along French, German, Italian, Russian, Belgian and other fronts, as well as scenes behind lines are shown in chronological order. Footage of the following scenes are included: the invasion of Belgium; the German bombardment of Ypres in 1914; fighting between Belgians and Germans; an old lady in tears by her ruined home; prisoners taken in the Argonne Forest drive; the funeral of the German ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen; the last trip of the S.S. Lusitania ; President Woodrow Wilson reading his war message to Congress; activities in American training camps; transporting troops across the ocean; the U.S. troops at Château-Thierry and St. Mihiel advancing through wheat fields and under machine gun fire; British and French soldiers at the Marne, the Somme and Verdun; Americans fighting Germans hand-to-hand with bayonets in trenches; ripped bodies tossed into a huge common burial place after a battle; a town blown up and subsequent prisoners and wounded; a squadron leaping over a parapet to attack with one of its soldiers hit by a bullet and left lying spread-eagled against the side of a trench; noted military personages; the Armistice; and the return home of U.S. troops.