12TH CORPS FOLLOWS UP THE GERMAN RETREAT FROM THE ODON VALLEY [Allocated Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.

  • Title: 12TH CORPS FOLLOWS UP THE GERMAN RETREAT FROM THE ODON VALLEY [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 113-15
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Evrecy and the high ground between the Odon and Orne valleys are vacated by their German defenders, leaving 12th Corps to take possession of a once hotly-disputed sector of the Normandy front-line.
  • Description: An Army Film and Photographic Unit jeep drives through what is left of the village of Evrecy in company with a Crusader AA tank from 12th Corps' anti-tank unit, the 86th Anti-Tank Regiment RA. In the background can be seen Hill 112, the scene of much fierce fighting during late June and for most of July 1944. An engineer probes with is mine-detector for mines near Evrecy's church, which like the rest of the village is in ruins. Two Universal carriers from the 4th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers' Support Company rumble through the village along the main street. 53rd (Welsh) Division's troops and transport climb the slopes of Hill 120 between Evrecy and Amaye-sur-Orne; there they pass an abandoned battery of 8.8cm Flak 36 dual-purpose guns destroyed by gunners of 1/53 Luftwaffe Flak regiment (?) during the German retreat.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-08-05
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Walter, Ernest Henry1919Family origin: Barry, Glamorgan, South Wales (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Royal Engineers (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Artillery (regiment/service) British Army, Div 53 (regiment/service) British Army, Corps 12 (regiment/service) British Army, Army Film and Photographic Unit (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: transport, United States military - utility: jeep & [British] (object name) armour, British - tank: Crusader AA (object name) destruction, French military - area (object name) operations, British military - mines: clearance (object name) operations, British military - sortie (object name) armour, British - carrier: Universal (object name) weapons, German - gun [AA]: 8.8cm Flak 36 dual-purpose gun (object name) Operation Bluecoat, Mont Pinçon 1944, North West Europe, Second World War (event) Évrecy, 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: 162 ft; Running time: 2 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Note: See A70 111-5, 112-5 and 6, 113-4, 6, 18 and 19, 116-6, 118-3 and 4, 124-1, 2, 3 and 6, 126-8, 10 and 11 for footage showing 12th Corps' formations in action near Villers- Bocage, in the Orne bridge-head at Goupillieres and during the advance towards Falaise. Refer also to footage taken during Operation "Epsom" and during 8th and 12th Corps' various offensives in the Odon valley in July '44. Remarks: Good footage. Best seen with the items of ciné material listed above, especially in the last category in which A70 85-7 is especially relevant. Documentation/associated material: for a bibliography, refer to 'The History of the 53rd (Welsh) Division in the Second World War' by C N Barclay, 'Victory in the West : Volume 1' by L F Ellis and 'An Account of the Operations of the 2nd Army in Europe 1944-1945' by 2nd Army HQ.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 113-15

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
Register