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Summary: Scenes on the first and second days of Operation Epsom.
Description: I. A 25-pounder gun detachment (15th (Scottish) Division) goes into action near Cheux during an evening barrage.
II. The barrel of a Browning .50 calibre machine gun mounted on a 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry M5 halftrack points skywards after firing at a Luftwaffe fighter while it attacked a 29th Armoured Brigade harbour. Smoke rises from a vehicle 'brewed-up' in a field some distance away. Churchill tanks from a 31st Tank Brigade unit arrive (?) at their harbour north of Cheux (Cully?). Elements of the 9th Battalion the Cameronians, the 91st Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery and the 7th and 44th Royal Tank Regiments assemble outside Cheux before advancing on Grainville-sur-Odon. The cameraman records the extent of the destruction in Cheux caused by Allied and German artillery and mortars, traffic congestion and floods; a 23rd Hussars Sherman ARV reverses through the village in pouring rain. A 10th Highland Light Infantry 6-pounder anti-tank gun detachment is seen dug in by the road leading southwards out of Cheux; a truck hit by German artillery or mortar fire burns itself out nearby.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Grant, Ian James1917-04-16Family origin: Edinburgh, Scotland (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Div 15 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde, Armoured, 29 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde, Tank, 31 (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Artillery, AT Regiment 91 (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Tank Regiment, 7th Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Tank Regiment 44 (regiment/service)
British Army, Yeomanry, Fife and Forfar, 2 (regiment/service)
British Army, Scottish Rifles, Cameronians, Bn 9 (regiment/service)
British Army, Hussars, 23 (regiment/service)
British Army, Highland Light Infantry, 10th Battalion (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, British - tank: Churchill (object name)
armour, United States - funnies: M4 Sherman ARV & [British] (object name)
armour, United States - halftrack: M5 & [British] (object name)
combat, British - anti-aircraft (object name)
combat, British - artillery bombardment (object name)
destruction, French military - area: artillery bombardment (object name)
weapons, British - gun [AT]: 6-pounder gun (object name)
weapons, British - gun: 25-pounder gun (object name)
weapons, United States - smallarm (mounted): Browning Cal .50 machine gun & [British] (object name)
01/5(4-16).232 [ Operation Epsom] (event)
Cheux, Calvados, France (geography)
Cully, Calvados, France (geography)
rain (concept)
Notes: Production: part I of the synopsis was filmed on 26/6/1944, part II on 27/6/1944
Remarks: good action footage, particularly the scenes showing infantry and armoured units assembling for an attack on Grainville-sur-Odon, while the sequence showing the 25-pounder gun detachment in action was shot in poor light conditions
