THE GUARDS IN ACTION ON THE CHÊNEDOLLÉ - BAS-PERRIER RIDGE [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: THE GUARDS IN ACTION ON THE CHÊNEDOLLÉ - BAS-PERRIER RIDGE [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 123-5
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Incidents on the 1st Battalion Welsh Guard's sector of the front.
  • Description: Welsh Guardsmen relax in a farmyard at Chênedollé; one of their number looks up at an 'aerial' dog-fight taking place overhead. The crew of a 3rd Scots Guards Churchill tank have a 'brew-up' and, nearby, plans for a patrol into the Germans' lines are made at a forward observations post belonging to the Welsh Guards' No. 2 company. A four-man team makes its hazardous journey into enemy lines through a wheatfield. The patrol reports back at the company's command post bringing with it two German prisoners - of whom one is a Sturmgeschütz crewman - who are searched and then questioned. Churchill Mark VI gun-tanks and a Churchill ARV, all from the 3rd Scots Guards, make their way from Le Bas-Perrier to Chênedollé along a narrow 'bocage' lane. A kitten, adopted as a mascot by Irish Guardsmen, inspects its new home, a Sherman tank. Officers attend a conference held at the Welsh Guard's No. 2 company Headquarters. Six Guardsmen sit down to lunch using a captured Swastika flag as a tablecloth. Three-ton lorries bring up supplies for the 2nd Irish Guards through an orchard.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-08-13
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Palmer, F A W (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Welsh Guards, 1st Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Irish Guards, Armoured 2nd Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Guards Armoured Division (regiment/service) British Army, Scots Guards, Tank 3rd Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Corps 8 (regiment/service) British Army, Guards Tank Bde 6 (regiment/service) British Army, Guards Bde 32 (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: armour, British - tank: Churchill (object name) armour, British - funnies: Churchill ARV (object name) armour, United States - tank: M4 Sherman & [British] (object name) transport, British military - truck: Bedford 3-ton 4x4 QL (object name) transport, British military - truck: Bedford 3-ton 4x2 (object name) prisoners of war (object name) animals, mammals: kitten (object name) intelligence, military, British - reconnaissance (object name) Normandy, 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: 370 ft; Running time: 4 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Note: See with A70 123-6, 7 and 8 and 119-3 and 4 for footage showing the 6th Guards Tank Brigade and the 2nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards in action in the 'bocage'. The 3rd Tank Battalion Scots Guards included a Major William Whitelaw in its ranks. His first day in action, coinciding with the beginning of "Bluecoat", saw nearly his entire Churchill squadron wiped out by 3 Jagdpanthers. Remarks: Good action footage. Best seen with items of footage listed above. Documentation/associated material: for a bibliography, refer to the first two items listed in A70 107-4 and L F Ellis' 'The Welsh Guards at War' and D Erskine's 'The Scots Guards 1919-1955'.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 123-5

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