ALONG THE WESTERN FRONT WITH THE KING
His Majesty's Arrival at Boulogne--At G.H.Q.--General ----'s
Appreciation--The King on the Battlefield of
Fricourt--Within Range of the Enemy's Guns--His Majesty's
Joke Outside a German Dug-out--His Memento from a Hero's
Grave--His Visit to a Casualty Clearing Station--The King
and the Puppy--Once in Disgrace--Now a Hospital Mascot.
That evening I reported at headquarters. "Well, Malins," said Colonel
----, "I have a special job for you. Will you be on the quay at Boulogne
to-morrow morning by twelve o'clock? Captain ---- is going down; he will
make all arrangements for you there; he will also tell you who it is
that's coming. Start at eight o'clock to-morrow morning. It is very
important; so don't fail to be there."
Leaving the Colonel I met Captain ---- outside. "Who's coming?" I asked.
"Don't know," he said. "Tell you to-morrow."
"Is it the King?" I asked.
"Well," he said, "as a matter of fact it is. He arrives to-morrow. I
shall have the full programme in the morning, and will give you a copy."
What a film! My first thought was whether he would visit the
battlefield. What scenes I conjured up in my imagination. To see
Britain's King on the battlefield with his troops; to see him inspecting
the ground; to see him in trenches lately captured from the Germans. My
imagination began to run away with me. No, I thought, it will be just
the ordinary reviews and reception.
But I was wrong. The scenes that I had pictured to myself I was soon to
witness.
On the morrow the Captain, the still picture man and myself, left G.H.Q.
for Boulogne. Arriving at the quay I looked around for any signs of
preparation, but the whole place was as usual. The Captain called at the
A.M.L.O.
"Do you know what time the King is due?" he asked.
The A.M.L.O. in tones of amazement ejaculated a long-drawn-out "What;
never heard of his coming."
"Well, he is," said the officer. "He's arriving at midday."
"I was never informed," said the other. "I will ring up the M.L.O." He
did so, and after a short time the information came through. "The King
will not arrive to-day; he will be here to-morrow at 9 a.m. His sailing
was altered at the last moment."
That night I turned in at the Hôtel Folkestone, making arrangements for
my car to take me and my apparatus to the quay at 8.30 in the morning.
The morning fortunately was beautifully bright. I sincerely hoped it
would continue. What excellent quality it promised in the films. I
compared it with the weather during the last visit to France of the late
Lord Kitchener; unfortunately it rained all the time.
I arrived at the quay. The French officials were gathered there, and
lined up was a guard of honour, formed by the North Staffordshire
Regiment. Every man had been through many engagements during the war.
I fixed up the camera. The boat had already drawn up by the quay-side.
There was a hushed whisper from several officials standing by: "There he
is." I looked and saw the King gaily chatting to the Naval Officer in
charge.
[Illustration: HIS MAJESTY THE KING, WITH PRESIDENT POINCARÉ, IN FRANCE,
1916. HIS MAJESTY GRACIOUSLY CONSENTED TO POSE FOR ME]
I wondered whether His Majesty would like being photographed, therefore
I carefully kept my camera under cover of a shelter close by. At that
moment the King's equerry came ashore. I asked him what time His Majesty
was due to land.
"Another half an hour yet," he said, "the Governor of Boulogne and other
French officials are just going aboard to be introduced."
I arranged some wheeled railings in such a manner that the opening was
close by my camera, thereby making sure that the King would pass very
near me.
The moment arrived. My camera was in position. At that moment the King
came down the gangway--he was in Field-Marshal's uniform--followed by
his suite, including Lord Stamfordham, Sir Derek Keppel,
Lieutenant-Colonel Clive Wigram, and Major Thompson. I started turning
as he stepped on the shores of France. He gravely saluted.
Passing close by he reviewed the guard of honour, giving them a word of
praise as he went. I filmed him the whole of the time, until he reached
his car, bade adieux to the many officers present, and drove away to
G.H.Q.
I had made an excellent start. The landing was splendid. Now to follow.
The King was going to G.H.Q., breaking his journey to lunch with Sir
Douglas Haig on the way. I knew I should have ample time therefore to
get well ahead and film the arrival at General Headquarters.
Arriving at G.H.Q. I took up my stand near the entrance to the building.
The Prince of Wales and other officers were there. I noticed that the
Prince, as soon as he saw me, turned and said something to a friend near
by. He evidently remembered my two previous attempts to film him.
His Majesty arrived. The Prince of Wales came to the salute, then His
Majesty--not as a king, but as a father--embraced his son. I should
have obtained a better view of that incident, but unluckily an officer
side-stepped and partly covered the figures from my camera.
I obtained many scenes during the day of His Majesty visiting, in
company with General Sir Douglas Haig, various headquarter offices,
where he studied in detail the general position of the armies. I noticed
that Sir Douglas did not look upon my camera very kindly. He was rather
shy of the machine, though latterly he has looked with a more
sympathetic eye upon it.
On the second day of the King's visit I started out and proceeded to an
appointed place on the main road, where the King's car would join us.
The weather was very dull. It was causing me much concern, for to-day of
all days I wanted to obtain an excellent film.
The cars pulled up. We had about fifteen minutes to wait. I fixed up my
camera ready to film the meeting with General Sir Henry Rawlinson. While
waiting, the General came over to me and began chatting about my work.
"I hear," he said, "that you filmed the attack of the 29th Division at
Beaumont Hamel on the 1st July, and have been told of the excellence of
the result."
He seemed much impressed by what I told him of the possibilities of the
camera.
A patrol signalled the King's arrival. His car drew up; His Majesty
alighted and heartily greeted the General. I filmed the scenes as they
presented themselves.
All aboard once more--the King leading--we started on our journey for
the battlefield of Fricourt.
Having hung about until the last second turning the handle, it was a
rush for me to pack, and pick them up again. My car not being one of the
best, I had great difficulty in keeping up with the party.
The news of the King's arrival and journey to Fricourt seemed to have
spread well ahead, for everywhere numbers of troops were strewn along
the roadside, and even far behind as I was, I could hear the echoing
cheers which resounded over hills and valleys for miles around.
Finally the cars came to a halt at an appointed place near the ruins of
the village and once beautiful woods of Fricourt, well within range of
the enemies' guns.
The spot where the King alighted was known as the Citadel, a German
sandbag fortification of immense strength.
It was arranged in the form of a circle, with underground tunnels and
dug-outs of great depth. In various sections of the walls were
machine-gun emplacements, and the whole being on the top of the hill,
formed a most formidable obstacle to the advance of our troops. I may
add that the hill is now known as "King George's Hill."
The King and his party had already alighted when I arrived to set up my
camera, and hurrying forward was very difficult work, especially as I
had to negotiate twisted masses of enemy barbed wire entanglements. But
eventually, after much rushing, and being very nearly breathless, I got
ahead, and planted my machine on the parapet of an old German trench and
filmed the party as they passed. To keep ahead after filming each
incident was very hard work. It meant waiting here and there, jumping
trenches, scrambling through entanglements, stumbling into shell-holes,
and at times fairly hanging by my eyebrows to the edge of trenches,
balancing my camera in a way that one would have deemed almost
impossible. But I am gratified to think that I managed to keep up with
the King, and I succeeded in recording every incident of interest.
At a point on the hill-top the King halted, and General ---- described
the various movements and details of the attack and capture of the
village, the King taking a very keen interest in the whole procedure.
I continued turning the handle. I did not allow a single scene to pass.
Such a thing had never been known before. Throughout it all the guns,
large and small, were crashing out, and the King could see the shells
bursting over the German lines quite distinctly.
The guide, who was a lieutenant in the Engineers, suddenly called
attention to an old German trench. The Prince of Wales first entered and
examined from above the depths of an old dug-out.
With a jump I landed on the other side of the trench and sticking the
tripod legs in the mud I filmed the scene in which His Majesty and the
Prince of Wales inspected the captured German trenches.
The party halted at the entrance to another dug-out. The guide entered
and for some moments did not reappear, the King and the General
meanwhile standing and gazing down. Suddenly a voice echoed from the
depths:
"Will you come down, sir?"--this remark to the King.
His Majesty laughed, but did not avail himself of the invitation.
All the party joined in the laughter, and all those who have seen that
picture on the screen of His Majesty's visit to his troops, will recall
the incident to which I refer. Many of the London papers in their
articles, referring to the film, wondered what the joke was that the
King so thoroughly enjoyed outside a German dug-out.
The party passed on, but some difficulty was experienced when they tried
to get out of the trench again. The King was pulled out by the Prince
of Wales, and another officer, but some members of the party
experienced a difficulty which provided quite an amusing episode.
At times I had to stop and change spools. Then the party got well ahead,
and on several occasions His Majesty, with his usual thoughtfulness and
courtesy, hung back and debated on various things in the trenches, in
order to allow me time to catch them up again.
His Majesty passed over old mine craters, and stood with his
deer-stalking glasses, resting against a tree which had been withered
during the fighting, watching the bombardment of Pozières. He made
sympathetic enquiries by the side of a lonely grave surmounted by a
rough wooden cross, on which the name and number of this hero were
roughly inscribed. A shrapnel helmet, with a hole clean through the top,
evidently caused by a piece of high-explosive shell, rested upon the
mound.
The King stooped and picked up a piece of shell and put it in his
pocket.
It was now time for His Majesty's departure. Gathered near his car was a
crowd of Tommies, ready to give their King a rousing cheer as he drove
away. I filmed the scene, and as the car vanished over the brow of the
hill, three more were called for the Prince of Wales.
Hurriedly picking up my kit I chased away after them. On the way masses
of Anzacs lined both sides of the road, and the cheers which greeted His
Majesty must have been heard miles away. The scene made a most
impressive picture for me. At that moment a battalion of Anzacs just out
of the trenches at Pozières were passing. The sight was very wonderful,
and the King saw with his own eyes some of his brave Colonials returning
from their triumph, covered with clay, looking dog-tired but happy.
His Majesty was now going to view some ruins near the front, but
unfortunately, owing to burst tyres, I could not keep up with the party,
and by the time I got on the move again it would have been impossible
for me to reach the place in time to film this scene. Therefore, knowing
that he was due at No. 18 C.C.S. or "Casualty Clearing Station," I made
hurried tracks for it. A most interesting picture promised to result.
I arrived at the C.C.S. and was met by the C.O. in charge.
"Hullo, Malins," he said, "still about? Always on the go, eh? The last
scenes you took here came out well. I saw them in London on the R.A.M.C.
film. What do you want now?"
"Well, sir," I said, "I am chasing the King, and some chase too, my
word. I lost him this morning when my old bus broke down. But up to the
present I have obtained a most excellent record. Topping day yesterday
on the battlefield of Fricourt. I wouldn't have missed it for anything."
Half an hour later the royal car drew up. The King and the Prince of
Wales alighted, and were conducted around the hospital by the C.O.
I did not miss a single opportunity of filming, from His Majesty's talk
to some wounded officers, to his strolling through the long lines of
hospital tents and entering them each in turn. At one point my camera
was so close to the path along which the King passed, that the Prince of
Wales, evidently determined not to run into my range again, quickly
slipped away and crossed higher up between the other tents. An officer
standing by me remarked with a laugh, "The Prince doesn't seem to like
you."
A touching incident took place when the King was on the point of
leaving. He stooped down and tenderly picked up a small puppy, and
gently caressed and kissed it, then handed it back to the Colonel. This
scene appears in the film, and illustrates His Majesty's affection for
dumb animals.
I had just finished turning, when an officer came up to me and said in a
low tone: "That's funny."
"What's funny?" I asked.
"Why that incident. Do you know that dog only came in here yesterday,
and he has done so much mischief through playing about, that at last the
C.O. determined to get rid of him. But we won't now. I shall put a red,
white, and blue ribbon round his neck and call him George. He shall be
the hospital's mascot."
Before I had time to reply His Majesty prepared to leave, so running
with my camera I planted it in the middle of the road and filmed his
departure, amid the cheers of the officers and men of the hospital.