THE 7TH SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS TAKE UP POSITIONS IN THE SOULEUVRE VALLEY [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: THE 7TH SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS TAKE UP POSITIONS IN THE SOULEUVRE VALLEY [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 113-2
  • Other titles:
  • Summary:
  • Description: A Bren gun team and two riflemen from the 7th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders keep watch by a hedgerow in a field near Les Haies as the battalion digs defensive positions in hard and unyielding soil. A squadron of Churchill tanks from the 4th Tank Battalion Grenadier Guards cross the bridge over the Souleuvre river at Catheolles during the battalion's advance towards Montcharivel where it will support the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers in an attack on the village. Armour belonging to the 1st Coldstream Guards rumbles through the deserted and battered village of Catheolles. Earlier in the day, the 7th Seaforth Highlanders march from Le Beny-Bocage through lanes running through 'bocage' country to Les Haies, positioned on the Arclais ridge which overlooks the Souleuvre valley. Two riflemen of the battalion's 'B' Company search an orchard for snipers.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-08-04
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Lawrie, William Fairlie1919-07-01Family origin: Glasgow, Scotland (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Seaforth Highlanders, 7th Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Bde 46 (regiment/service) British Army, Div 15 (regiment/service) British Army, Grenadier Guards, Tank 4th Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Corps 8 (regiment/service) British Army, Guards Armoured Division (regiment/service) British Army, Coldstream Guards, Armoured 1st Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Guards Tank Bde 6 (regiment/service) British Army, Guards Bde Gp 32 (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: armour, British - tank: Churchill (object name) weapons, British - smallarm: Bren (object name) operations, Allied military - routine: digging in (object name) Operation Bluecoat, Mont Pinçon 1944, North West Europe, Second World War (event) Les Haies, Calvados, France (geography) 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: 166 ft; Running time: 2 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Note: See with A70 113-1 for complementary footage shot by Sergeant F A W Palmer. Refer also to A70 113-16 for material taken by Sergeant H J Jones and to footage showing 8th Corps formations - Guards and 11th Armoured Divisions, 15th (Scottish) and 3rd (British) Divisions and 6th Guards Tank Brigade - in action during Operation "Bluecoat". Remarks: The difficulties in fighting in such overgrown but attractive countryside and in such hot and dry conditions are immediately apparent in this footage. Documentation/associated material: read 'The 15th (Scottish) Division 1939-1945' by Lieutenant-General H G Martin, 'The Story of the Guards Armoured Division 1941-1945' by Captain the Earl of Rosse and Colonel Hill, 'The 6th Guards Tank Brigade - the story of Guardsmen in Churchill tanks' by P Forbes, and 'The Tanks : Volume 2 1939-1945' by Liddell Hart.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 113-2

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