Title:ITALIAN PRISONERS MOVING OFF; OPENING OF ALLIED HEADQUARTERS; BOMB DAMAGE AT ALGIERS [Allocated Title]
Film Number:AYY 278
Other titles:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: Activities in Algiers during the North Africa campaign
Description: 14 November. Lorries of Italian prisoners moving out of Algiers watched by angry crowds. A lorry carrying British troops follows and the crowd's shouts change to "Vive L'Anglais!" General Mark W Clark (USA Army) leaves the Hotel St George in a car. British and American flags under armed guard prior to the handing over of Hotel St George by the French to the Americans as Allied headquarters.
17 November. The 218 Coast Battery, Royal Artillery at the ceremony. An American band leads troops onto the parade ground. French troops unfold the flag. American soldiers carry the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes to their positions in front of the respective flag staffs and the flags are slowly raised. The American band leads the French, British and American troops out of the parade ground. General M Clark and Brigadier W Scott are present. Other military personalities present are Lieutenant-General Anderson, Commander of the First Army; Admiral Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet; Air Marshal Welsh, RAF Eastern Air Command; Admiral Darlan and Brigadier-General Porter, USA Army. They all take the salute as the flag is raised.
21 November. The results of the first concentrated air attack on Maison Blanche aerodrome and Algiers docks. Damaged hangars and aircraft as a result of Italian bombing on the night of 20 November, including the hangar containing equipment for the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment. Asbestos is torn off one of the buildings. Damage to the parachute arms containers. Parachute troops clearing up the debris. A bomb crater near a hangar. Three soldiers who manned Bren guns from the crater. A Flying Fortress which suffered a direct hit from a small bomb. Bomb damage in the town near the post office and Hotel Albert. Flats damaged by bombs. A damaged car is towed away. Two local men saw damaged branches off a tree. Two Frenchmen talk to a gendarme about the damage.
Alternative Title:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Production Details: Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
West, J A (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Clark, Mark Wayne (person)
Anderson, Kenneth Arthur Noel (person)
Cunningham, Andrew Browne (person)
Darlan, Jean Louis Xavier François (person)
Welsh, William Lawrie (person)
United States Army (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Artillery, 218th Coastal Battery (regiment/service)
Keywords: Algiers, Algeria (geography)
Maison Blanche, Algeria (geography)
Western Desert 1940-1943, North Africa, Second World War (event)
North Africa 1939-1945 (theme)
