This film is part of Free
Seeing the New Year In
A boisterous band of Allied troops makes merry in the face of an uncertain future.
Overview
This intriguing newsreel fragment from Pathé's Animated Gazette captures a poignant moment. As a new year dawns, a band of what look like Belgian soldiers, plus a dog and a small child, enjoy a raucous campfire gathering somewhere in open countryside. Despite the circumstances, the troops refuse to have their spirits dampened, ushering in the New Year cheerily in the face of an uncertain future.
Pathé's Animated Gazette, established in 1910, was one of the earliest British newsreels, presenting "a weekly record of the world's events in motion-pictures". True to their word, Pathé filmed fairly frequently in France and Belgium during WWI, delivering images from the Front to audiences back home.
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