the WAR CLOUD [Main]

The Stock Exchange in London "closes its doors" in 1914 - a crowd is clustered around it. "Germany mobilises," a pre-war German training exercise with the troops in Prussian blue, not field grey: a 77mm gun is fired and three resting soldiers are given food and drink by a girl. In Britain sailors arrive at Portsmouth railway station and join their ships. (The fleet in Portsmouth harbour is depicte…