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Description: An MP on point duty at Creully salutes Montgomery as he and one of his ADCs ride past in his Humber staff car, 'Old Faithful'. Stopping en route for Caen outside the village of Malôn, Montgomery meets infantrymen serving with the 6th Battalion Staffordshire Regiment who captured the village from the 12th SS Panzer Division two days earlier and gives them packages containing Penguin paperbacks. The troops gathered around his staff car give him 'three cheers' before he leaves. In the Place Fontenette, Montgomery studies the facade of Caen's Palais de Justice, talks to a French boy (off-screen) and leaves the Abbaye aux Hommes surrounded by civilians, FFI volunteers and British and Canadian air force and army officers. He then drives off; note the presence of AFPU and war correspondent cameramen. The cameraman studies the Free French flag flying in the Place du Lycée and, above it, the twin spires of the Abbaye aux Hommes. Watched by Canadian troops around a universal carrier in the background, Montgomery confers with his 2nd Army commander, Lieutenant-General Dempsey, near Norrey-en- Bessin (?); traffic - notably jeeps and a CMP 3-ton lorry - passes by a few feet away on the Caen-Bayeux (?) road.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Collins (Sergeant) (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Dempsey, Miles Christopher (person)
Montgomery, Bernard Law (person)
AP.A & [officers] (regiment/service)
Canadian Army (regiment/service)
Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (regiment/service)
British Army, Army 2 (regiment/service)
British Army, Army Film and Photographic Unit (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Military Police (regiment/service)
British Army, Staffordshire Regiment, South (?), 6th Battalion (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, British - carrier: Universal (object name)
arts, French - heraldry: flag, Free French (object name)
delegations, British international - military: Montgomery visits Caen (object name)
journalism and record, Allied - cameraman (object name)
journalism and record, Allied - photographer (object name)
operations, Allied military, movement: road (object name)
recreation, British military - casual: Penguin paperbacks (object name)
society, British military - friendship (object name)
transport, British military - car: Humber staff car 'Old Faithful (object name)
Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen, Calvados, France (geography)
Palais de Justice, Caen, Calvados, France (geography)
Place du Lycée, Caen, Calvados, France (geography)
Place Fontanette, Caen, Calvados, France (geography)
Creully, Calvados, France (geography)
Mâlon, Calvados, France (geography)
Norrey-en-Bessin, Calvados, France (geography)
Notes: Summary: see with A70 71-3 to 5, 6, 72-3, 5 to 9, 73-1 to 4, 74-1 to 3, 75-1 to 5, 76-1 to 3, 77-2 to 8, 78-3, 5, 79-1, 2, 80-1 for footage showing 3rd and 59th Divisions in action during 'Charnwood'. Scenes inside Caen after its fall. Refer to ciné material showing the plight of refugees and the homeless in Caen, notably A70 83-1, 84-5 and 124-9.
Remarks: good footage. Best seen with the items of ciné material listed above, notably A70 78-3 and 5 which contain similar, complementary footage.
Documentation/associated material: for a bibliography refer to the publications listed in A70 71-3, 5, 72-3, 4.
