On the British Army. Reel 1, supplies are unloaded at a railhead. Brit. and Australian troops take positions. Artillery shells are unloaded and taken to gun positions in horse carts. Weapons are checked, loaded, and fired. Wounded ride sleighs to the rear. Reel 2, rations arrive at the trenches. Troops travel communicating trenches to the front. Scottish and Brit. troops begin the attack. POW's are herded to the rear and searched. Antiaircraft guns strafe Ger. planes. Reel 3 shows troops resting; ruins in Beaumont; captured positions; Brit.

The British employ the first tanks ever used in battle, at Delville Wood. Although they are useful at breaking through barbed wire and clearing a path for the infantry, tanks are still primitive and they fail to be the decisive weapon, as their designers thought they would be.

Reacting to international outrage at the sinking of the Lusitania and other neutral passenger lines, Kaiser Wilhelm suspends unrestricted submarine warfare. This is an attempt to keep the United States out of the war, but it severely hampers German efforts to prevent American supplies from reaching France and Britain.

This is the diary of German Lieutenant Walter Schwieger and his account of the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915.

Congress passes the Selective Service Act authorizing the draft. Although criticized for destroying democracy at home while fighting for it abroad, President Wilson claims he sees no other option and signs the bill into law.