Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

One of the official silent films of the Western Front made for showing in British cinemas during the war, this film's full title was The German Retreat and the Battle of Arras. Shot in April 1917, it includes scenes of devastation in Arras with shots of the ruined cathedral. The reopening of the railway station, a raid beyond the front lines from which South African troops return with prisoners and various events in the advance from the taking of Vimy Bridge to the capture of Monchy are also recorded.

It was the last, and least successful, of the three 'big battle' pictures made between summer 1916 and spring 1917 by British official cameramen. Compared with The Battle of the Ancre (1917) and The Battle of the Somme (1916), the film is patchy, without drama and lacks scenes of actual combat. It was a recognition of these limitations which led to the shift away from the 'big battle' format.

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