• Like men at a country fair – The occupation of Bapaume
• An uncanny feeling of an evil spirit – Bapaume Mairie (Town Hall)

Bapaume to Bullecourt [AWM F00045] silent, 59 MB

Cinematographer: George Hubert Wilkins, made March–April 1917.
This silent film shows scenes from the Australian advance from the Somme winter lines east of Flers towards the Hindenburg Line between February and April 1917. There are shots of the Mairie (Town Hall) of Bapaume which was blown up by a delayed action mine on the night of 25–26 March 1917. Below is the Australian War Memorial’s original film synopsis:

The advance on Bapaume and Bullecourt after the Germans had retreated to the Hindenburg Line. Shows Australians participating during this action. The infantry advancing across no-man’s land; the construction of light railway for the conveyance of stores to Bapaume during the advance. Bapaume was occupied on 17 March 1917; it had been destroyed by the Germans. The town hall was blown up by a delayed action mine placed there by the Germans in the hope that the town hall would be used as a headquarters. No high staff occupied the place but about 30 men were sleeping there when the explosion occurred – 6 men were rescued alive. Villages and artillery shown under heavy shellfire.

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• Like men at a country fair – The occupation of Bapaume
• An uncanny feeling of an evil spirit – Bapaume Mairie (Town Hall)