1917 is a 2019 World War I movie directed by Sam Mendes (Skyfall). With World War I at its peak, Blake and Schofield, two young British soldiers, are ordered to travel deep through hostile land to deliver an important message. But it's a race against time because this message has to be delivered fast enough to prevent an attack that would mean certain death for hundreds of soldiers. The cast also includes Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch.
British soldiers including Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay) are armed with Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk.III rifles with various attachments. The attention to detail and setting of the film extends to correctly portraying both the SMLE's magazine capacity of ten rounds, as well as ensuring the rifles are properly rechambered between shots. One exceptional example of this is after Schofield fires his SMLE and doesn't rechamber it in one scene, several scenes, and tens of minutes later he cycles the bolt before firing at the start of the next engagement.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingLee-Enfield No. 1 Mk. III - .303 British. Introduced in 1907, this was the official battle rifle of British and Commonwealth forces during the First World War.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA resting soldier on the right is seen with an SMLE equipped with a Winchester A5 telescopic sight.Error creating thumbnail: File missingCloser view of Schofield's rifle which lacks the magazine cut-off but has the rounded striker.Error creating thumbnail: File missingBefore going into No Man's land, Schofield takes a 5-round stripper clip to load his rifle which means that the chamber already contains a stripper clip. This was a common technique at that time for the Lee-Enfield rifle to prevent wear on the magazine spring.Error creating thumbnail: File missingBlake carries his SMLE, now fixed with a P07 sword bayonet, in No Man's Land. The magazine cut-off is visible. Note Schofield's trigger discipline - as with the video game Battlefield 1, both soldiers exercise the safety practice long before it was taught as standard military practice.Error creating thumbnail: File missingBlake checks a corner in the German trench. He took a bit of care of the muddy receiver in the previous scene.Error creating thumbnail: File missingSchofield cycles the bolt handle after firing at the sniper.Error creating thumbnail: File missingBritish soldiers of the Devonshire Regiment resting with their rifles.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA soldier's SMLE is equipped with a 1917 wire cutter at the muzzle.
Mauser Gewehr 1898
German soldiers use the Mauser Gewehr 1898. Notably, a German sniper fires from the hip at Schofield in the ruins of Écoust-Saint-Mein.
An unknown howitzer/siege gun can be seen in the abandoned artillery base, which could be some sort of a Ringkanone or either a captured French 155 mm Conan model 1877.
Disabled 15 cm Kanone 16 howitzers are also stationed in the base. It is a nice idea to use a completely different German howitzer than the 21 cm Mörser 16 for a WWI movie.
