LANDINGS ON 'SWORD' BEACH, 6 JUNE 1944 (PART 4) [Allocated Title]


  • Title: LANDINGS ON 'SWORD' BEACH, 6 JUNE 1944 (PART 4) [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 31-3
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: No 4 Commando goes into action on the morning of D-Day.
  • Description: On June 5, men of No 4 Commando board an assault ship at Southampton Docks. Commandos and naval personnel on the ship's port side watch the docks recede as it steams into the Solent. Next morning, LCAs carrying commandos approach 'Sword' Beach. At 8.20 hours, No 4 Commando lands on 'Queen Red' Beach at La Brèche with the 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment and then heads inland towards Ouistreham past shattered defences and gutted beach cottages. Supported by 13/18th Hussars amphibious Shermans, the commandos advance along the road through Riva-Bella, where members of the Resistance and civilians greet them, and encounter slight opposition. Troops file past a company HQ section operating a No 18 wireless and double past a ditched DD Sherman. From a second storey window, the camera pans over semi-derelict land behind the beach. An ex-Italian Army Organisation Todt worker and Wehrmacht soldiers are taken prisoner. Casualties are brought back into Riva-Bella for treatment. A Frenchman drapes a Tricolour in front of his house. Free French Commandos fraternise with fellow countrymen. More prisoners are sent to the rear.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-06-06
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Laws, George E J1916-02-15 (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Porteous, Patrick Anthony (person) British Army, 4 Commando (regiment/service) British Army, Yorkshire Regiment, East, 2nd Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Hussars, 13/18 (regiment/service) Royal Navy (regiment/service) Free French Forces, Free French Commandos (regiment/service) Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (regiment/service) French Resistance (regiment/service) Royal Italian Army (regiment/service) German Army, Div, Infantry, 716 & Grenadier Regt 736 (regiment/service) OrganisationTodt (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: ships, British naval - amphibious: LCA (object name) ships, British naval - amphibious: LSI (object name) armour, United States - funnies: M4 Sherman DD & [British] & [damaged] (object name) communications, British military - electronic: wireless, No 18 (object name) operations, British military - movement: ship (object name) operations, British military - movement: road (object name) prisoners of war, Italian - surrender (object name) prisoners of war, German - surrender (object name) combat, British (object name) destruction, French military - area (object name) casualties, British wounded (object name) celebrations, French - liberation (object name) society, French military - friendship (object name) 12/5(261.22).7 [ Operation Neptune] (event) GB, England & Southampton, Hants <Docks> (geography) Sword beach, Calvados, France (geography) Queen Red Beach, La Breche, Calvados, France (geography) Riva-Bella, Calvados, 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: 288 ft; Running time: 3 mins
  • Notes: Summary: the Free French Commandos were commanded by Captain Kieffer. Captain Porteous VC is seen with commandos shaking hands with a civilian in pyjamas in Riva-Bella. Wehrmacht POWs from 736 Regiment, 716th Infantry Division. All men in No 4 Commando wear steel helmets Summary: famous D-Day shot, repeatedly used since June 1944, of steady medium close-up view of soldier with steel helmet in LSI before landing looking from centre frame to left, shows Sergeant William James Cresswell ("Jim", born 24 May 1919) of the East Surrey Regiment. Remarks: excellent coverage throughout of troops boarding LSIs at Southampton Docks, troops riding in small landing craft being tossed by the waves and of the landing on 'Sword' Beach and the advance into Ouistreham with amphibious tanks racing along the road, their guns at the ready Technical: A70 31 and A70 32 are held on the same reel.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 31-3

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