We use cookies on this website.
By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings,
you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy
and for us to access our cookies on your device.
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.
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)
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
