Title:2ND ARMY FORMATIONS OCCUPY GOUPILLIERES AND AUNAY-SUR-ODON [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 113-18
Other titles:
Summary: 59th (Staffordshire) Division follows up the German retreat opposite 12th Corps' front by sending 176th Brigade with supporting armour to seize a bridgehead over the Orne and by despatching its recce. regiment to Aunay-sur-Odon to join up with 30th Corps.
Description: Infantrymen serving the 7th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment hitch a ride to Goupillieres on Churchill tanks belonging to the 107th RAC. The battalion enters the village to find it deserted by bother the Germans and its French inhabitants, Universal carriers from the 7th Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers' Support company and a platoon of South Staffordshire riflemen riding on a Churchill tank file along a cramped and steeply-banked lane towards Goupillieres and the high ground overlooking the Orne. Two unhappy Sturmgeschütz (assault gun) crew members are taken prisoner by a pistol-brandishing 59th Recce. Regiment trooper on the outskirts of Aunay-sur-Odon. Aunay itself has been razed to the ground except for the church steeple at its centre; in the background can be seen the Mont Pincon 'massif' which at this point is still in German hands. A German route sign points the way into the village.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Johnson, John Norman (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Royal Armoured Corps, Bn 107 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde, Tank, 34 (regiment/service)
British Army, Staffordshire Regiment, South, 7th Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde 176 (regiment/service)
British Army, Div 59 (regiment/service)
British Army, Corps 12 (regiment/service)
British Army, Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal, 7th Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Artillery (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, British - tank: Churchill (object name)
prisoners of war (object name)
destruction, French military - area: bomb (object name)
armour, British - carrier: Universal (object name)
signs, military and civilian (object name)
Operation Bluecoat, Mont Pinçon 1944, North West Europe, Second World War (event)
Normandy, France (geography)
