This item was probably part of a compilation covering events of the First World War but made after the war was over. Although the intertitle claims that the footage shows troops on the Western Front at the start of the Big Push, the footage is actually of the Irish Army in the 1920s. See notes for further details.

The opening intertitle on this newsreel is misleading. While it suggests that this is footage of the 'Dublin Guards' on the Western Front at the beginning of the 'Big Push' (which subsequently became the Battle of the Somme) this dating is inaccurate. It was common practice by the newsreel industry to repackage footage after events for compilation newsreels, which is probably what occurred here. It was also common practice to use library footage covering an event which wasn't necessarily the location suggested. Amanda Moreno, an expert from the Irish Fusiliers museum states that the leather gaiters on both officers and men, the cap badges, the very new shiny boots, the high collar uniform, leather pouches and the fact that all are carrying what appear to be Mauser rifles identify these soldiers as newly trained military in the Irish army of the early 1920s. A version of this newsreel also appears in the Pathé newsreel 'A Master Move' described by Pathé as ‘footage of soldiers coming ashore at an unknown location in Ireland’ and dated as 7 August 1922. The opening intertitle reads ‘Michael Collins secretly brings troops by sea and succeeds in turning rebels flank’ and the item is date 7 August 1922 on the British Universities' Newsreel Database.