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Title:MOTORISED INFANTRY AND ARMOUR IN ACTION DURING 51ST (HIGHLAND) DIVISION'S ADVANCE TOWARDS S'HERTOGENBOSCH (PART 1) [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 182-5
Other titles:
Summary: The 51st (Highland) Division encounters light opposition on the St Oedenrode-Vught road on the southern flank of 12th Corps' push on s'Hertogenbosch.
Description: Riding in Kangaroo APCs from the 1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment and in universal carriers, the 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders moves up to 152nd Brigades front to form an exploitation force ready to capture the Dommel river crossing at St Michaelsgestel. RAMC orderlies help German prisoners ferry their wounded to the rear; seen moving up to the front is a 61st Anti-tank Regiment RA Morris Quad and 17-pounder anti-tank gun. On the St Oedenrode-Vught road between Schijndel and St Michaelsgestel, riflemen from a 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry assault troop search farmyards and orchards in Boschweg, where a German roadblock has been established. Supposed by Daimler armoured cars and Number light recce cars, the riflemen advance along the road past burning cottages, take a Fallschirmjäger Feldwebel(?) medical orderly prisoner and clear a felled branch off the road. Moving forward under fire to investigate the site of a burning cottage, they rescue a Dutch family trapped in their shelter by burning wreckage; seen keeping watch over roadblocks further up the road is a Sherman from No. 4 troop in 144th RAC's 'A' squadron.
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)
Notes: Summary: See with A70 183-1, 2, 7, 10, 17, 184-6, 186-2, 3, 187-3, 5, 189-2, 3, 190-2, 3, 192-7 for footage showing 51st (Highland) Division in action during Operation Pheasant - the clearance by 12th Corps of the area west of the 'corridor' won by 30th Corps during Operation "Market Garden" and south of the River Maas. Refer to footage showing 7th Armoured and 53rd (Welsh) Divisions similarly engaged.
Remarks: Good action footage although the sequences described in the first half of the synopsis were shot in poor (dawn) light. Best seen with the items of ciné material listed above.
Documentation/associated material: read 2nd Army HQs An Account of the Operations of 2nd Army in Europe 1944-1945: Volume 1. The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1939-1945 by J B Salmond, Battle for Antwerp by J L Moulton, L F Ellis Victory in the West; Volume 2, The Battle for Germany by H Essame, Blue Flash by Alan Jolly.
