AUNAY-SUR-ODON [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: AUNAY-SUR-ODON [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 113-20
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Units of the 7th Armoured Division enter the devastated village of Aunay-sur-Odon from the north-west and set about clearing the streets of debris and German booby-traps.
  • Description: Among all the towns and villages of Normandy badly damaged in the fighting since D-Day, Aunay-sur-Odon is unique for the only structure still standing at its centre is a church steeple; Mont Pincon looms ominously in the background to the south. A Daimler armoured car belonging to the 11th Hussars is unable to make much progress through the bomb-craters and the heaped-up rubble; two crew members survey the desolate probe fields adjacent to a road leading into the stricken village for mines while their comrades keep watch from a Morris II light recce. car. A bulldozer starts to clear a path for military traffic. A bent road sign points the way to Thury-Harcourt and Falaise, two towns that will undergo a similar ordeal to that of Aunay in the next few weeks.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-08-06
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Covey (Sergeant) (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Hussars, 11 (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Engineers (regiment/service) British Army, Div, Armoured, 7 (regiment/service) British Army, Corps 30 (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: armour, British - armoured car: Daimler (object name) armour, British - armoured car: Morris II light reconnaissance car (object name) destruction, French military - area: bomb (object name) signs, military and civilian (object name) Operation Bluecoat, Mont Pinçon 1944, North West Europe, Second World War (event) Normandy, France (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Footage: 258 ft; Running time: 3 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Note: Refer to A70 113-18 and 21 for material shot shortly after Aunay-sur-Odon's capture by the 7th Armoured and 59th (Staffordshire) Divisions and to A70 124-7 and 8 for footage showing clearance operations underway by the Allied air forces to interrupt the flow of German reinforcements - especially Panzer units - to the Normandy front shortly after D-Day. Remarks: Good footage. Best seen with the items of ciné material listed above. Documentation/associated material: for a bibliography, refer to 'An Account of the Operations of the 2nd Army in Europe 1944- 1945 : Volume 1' by 2nd Army HQ, 'Victory in the West : Volume 1' by L F Ellis and 'A Short History of the 7th Armoured Division June 1943 - July 1945' by BAOR
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 113-20

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