Title:ROUGH WEATHER LANDING : an experiment by No 4 Commando [Main Title]
Film Number:COI 488
Other titles:
Summary: Film of an exercise by No. 4 Commando, showing that a landing on a forbidding coast in rough weather is a practicable military undertaking for trained troops.
Description: Cliffs and ocean are a barrier usually left to defend themselves - great opportunity for surprise attack. Operation takes the form of a progressive bridgehead, with the immediate objective the destruction of an artillery emplacement. "It is significant that this area (Cornwall) in general character is not unlike stretches of the coast of Brittany." Exercise features FBE-3 landing craft - an unsuitable type but the only craft available. Commandos transported on LCT(2) 142 which launches the boats to be paddled ashore. First troops land. "In the initial landing, craft must be sacrificed and re-embarkation is not considered." One of the four craft is swamped and the men are swept about in the sea. Remaining groups land safely and the troops scale the sea cliff. Heavy weapons - 3-inch mortars and Vickers MGs - are hauled up. Troops obtain their positions undetected and upon the signal for assault, they attack under cover of smoke and machine gun fire. The battery is captured and destroyed by sappers. Film ends with Churchill's prediction that "amphibious operations of peculiar complexity and hazard on a large scale are now approaching."
Alternative Title:
Colour:B&W
Digitised:Yes
Object_Number:COI 488
Sound:Sound
Access Conditions:
Featured Period:1939-1945
Production Date:1943
Production Country: GB
Production Details: Army Film Unit (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Commando, 4 (regiment/service)
Royal Navy, LCT2 142 (regiment/service)
Keywords: ships, British naval - amphibious: LCT[2] 142 (object name)
ships, British naval - amphibious: FBE-3 landing craft (object name)
training, British military - combat: rough weather landing (object name)
Cornwall, England, UK (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Subtitle language: None
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 970 ft; Running time: 11 mins
