HARBOUR PROTECTION FLOTILLA SCENES IN OCCUPIED CHANNEL ISLANDS, BELGIUM AND HOLLAND [Allocated Title]
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- Title: HARBOUR PROTECTION FLOTILLA SCENES IN OCCUPIED CHANNEL ISLANDS, BELGIUM AND HOLLAND [Allocated Title]
- Film Number: MGH 4451
- Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY UNKNOWN GERMAN NAVY CAMERAMAN [Alternative Title]
- Summary: Amateur film shot by an elderly lieutenant in the German Navy (who regularly appears in picture), on and off-duty, during his separate postings to the Harbour Protection Flotillas (Hafenschützflotillen) based in the Channel Islands, Ostend (Belgium) and in the Netherlands.
- Description: Reel 1: (can marked in original German hand "Guernsey") Sign outside building named Lansdowne House in St Helier (Jersey) indicates headquarters of Hafenschützflotille Kanalinseln. Sea and land views show activities of fishing boats and small launches requisitioned by German Navy to provide port and coastal protection to Channel Islands during German occupation. Sign to Corbière [misspelt Corbiére, ie by German] lighthouse (Jersey). German naval officer cycling along seafront. Harbour sign "G Williams Importeur". German Army and Navy officers watch football match, presumably between their respective service teams. German naval officer shakes hands very warmly with smiling young woman. Sailors parade for medal presentation outside large Channel Island house. Interior shots of family photos on wall (of requisitioned house?). Naval officers in company of three young women (dark-haired Latin appearance), later seen performing on stage as members of string quartet against backdrop of German sign "Es spielen für den Führer" (Playing for the Fuhrer), presumably satisfying cultural cravings of German garrison on Channel Islands. Four German officers and sailors row in rubber dinghy off coast. Timecoded details for Reel 1: 2.40 - St Peter Port and Guernsey's harbour 3.39 - Officer walking from boat looks like side of Camridge Steps, near Guernsey weighbridge 3.51 - Probably one of the Vorpostenboote boats used as harbour guard launches in St Pter Port harbour (VP703 sank in Braye Harbour, Alderney in 1944 trying to tow cargo ship off rocks) 4.16 - Castle Cornet, St Peter Port 4.30 - Sea from St Peter Port with cyclists 4.51 - Train on tram tracks along Les Banques, St Peter Port 6.00 - Schnellboot at speed 8.00 - St Peter Port harbour with Herm Island in background 9.00 - Garden party, possibly at Government House or Castle Cary, overlooking harbour 10.00 - Concert party (a concert party was held in Fort Albert, Alderney ca 1942, with properly dressed musicians) 10.10 - Views from launch approaching Alderney 10.40 - Braye Harbour with Fort Albert on rounded hill in background 10.49 - Car waiting at Braye Harbour jetty 10.56 - Les Casquets rocks and lighthouse, Alderney 11.08 - Rowing over to Les Casquets 11.16 - Naval vesel filmed from Les Casquets 11.42 - Winching supplies onto Les Casquets 12.00 - Naval or fishing vessel FK 22 12.17 - Return trip to Guernsey Reel 2: Sign indicates headquarters of Hafenschützflotille Ostende. Signalling and small boat naval activity in harbour, and out at sea, with requisitioned fishing vessels marked HS 102 and HS 94 (presumably Hafenschütz prefix). Long sequence records rescue of vessel stranded on flat beach by members of Organisation Todt (wearing white uniforms), who use spades to excavate channel to float off boat and ropes to haul away cargo of heavy petrol drums. Bomb-damaged housing on seafront (presumably coast of Northern France, Belgium or Holland). Tall war memorial commemorates French soldiers of 1914-18, while a German war memorial (presumably Second World War) proclaims "Deutschland muss leben"; pan over large cemetery of graves marked by simple wooden crosses, commemorated by German wreath and mausoleum. More small boat scenes. Large port area with railway sidings. German sailors enjoy sports day on beach, with sack and obstacle races, and some dressed up humorously in female clothing. Colour film (poor focus) of sunk shipping in harbour; HS 45 passes. Practising firing 2cm Flak from boat at sea. Reel 3: Small launch at sea; practising machine gun fire. Approaching large port. Four span girder bridge. Same German naval officer as in Reel 1 (owner of camera) has himself filmed, again. Along canal in Netherlands towards Dordrecht, with Dutch children cycling alongside. Back at sea Arado 196 and Heinkel He 59 seaplanes provide escort to small harbour protection vessels. After mooring, cameraman seen seated in his office. Bomb damage to houses. Planes practise laying smoke screen along coast, which rises into dunes. Pan over extensive bomb damage in large city, and damaged port installations (Rotterdam?) Tracking along seafront of Blankenberge, and view of the pleasure pier. Exterior of Royal Pier Hotel; cameraman has himself filmed departing by car.
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (MGH 4451)
- Featured Period:
- Production Date: 1943
- Production Country: Germany
- Production Details:
- Personalities, Units and Organisations:
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- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W (part Colour) Sound format: Silent
- Technical Details: Format: Std 8mm; VHS Number of items/reels/tapes: 3 Footage: 600 ft ca; Running time: 47 mins
- Notes: Summary: Seekommandatur Kanalinseln had headquarters in Guernsey, while port captains (Haka) under its command were based in both Guernsey and Jersey. Timecoded identification of scenes in Reel 1 courtesy of Brian Bonnard, Alderney resident and Channel Island historian. Date: reels are in no particular order and date is an estimate. (Reel 3 is German Kodak film - no date edge marking, only P 0303 2). Acquisition: these three reels of film were acquired by British Intelligence on Guernsey in 1945 and were presumed to be the personal souvenirs of a German serviceman based on the Island at some time during the Occupation.
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