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Title:CYPRUS PIONEER CORPS (ALIEN UNIT) [Allocated Title]
Film Number:AYY 208/3
Other titles:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: Members of 606 Company the Cyprus Pioneer Corps (Alien Unit) in Famagusta.
Description: Palestinian troops rushing out of billets on an alarm being given. Fixing bayonets. Troops entering old city castle. Sentry standing to attention on top of battlement. Platoons taking up position on castle. Star of David flag flying. Jewish soldiers. Section running to gun pit and and manning anti-aircraft gun. Platoons manning Tommy gun on rear of battlement. Polish sergeant with Hungarian private chatting over a cigarette. Men at various gun positions.
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 253 ft; Running time: 3 mins
Notes: Remarks: all five parts of AYY 208 are compiled onto a single reel.
Summary: the dope sheet refers to this unit as the British Foreign Legion and as a Palestinian unit of the British army. It states that the unit includes men from Poland, Rumania, Hungary, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Greece and Bulgaria and that it has seen service at Dunkirk, Crete, Greece and the Western Desert. The dope sheet also refers to the Palestinian flag flying, reflecting the fact that this was before the formal establishment of the State of Israel. However, the troops themselves are Jewish and therefore the flag is marked with the Star of David.
