AIRBORNE ARTILLERY IN ACTION IN THE ORNE BRIDGE-HEAD [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: AIRBORNE ARTILLERY IN ACTION IN THE ORNE BRIDGE-HEAD [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 110-1
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Gunners serving with the 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Airlanding Light Regiment RA's 231 Battery provides No 4 Special Service Brigade with artillery support on 6th Airborne Division's sector of the Orne bridge-head.
  • Description: On receipt of a request from No 4 SS Brigade's HQ for artillery support, the battery's gunners go into action with their American-manufactured 75mm light howitzers. The battery sergeant informs them of their targets before they are called to action stations. A loudspeaker relays firing orders from the battery's command post to the individual gun emplacements; one particular gun detachment trains its 75mm howitzer onto the selected target and prepares shells for firing.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-08-02
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Connolly, J R (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Royal Artillery (regiment/service) British Army, Div, Airborne, 6 (regiment/service) British Army, Corps 1 (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: weapons, British - gun: 75mm light howitzer (object name) observation post (object name) Orne (River), 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: 855 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Note: See A70 110-2 for complementary footage shot at an airborne OP (Observation Post) and refer generally to footage showing the 6th Airborne Division in action in the Orne bridge-head on D-Day and at other times in June 1944. From D-Day onwards until the Allied break-out from Normandy at the end of August 1944, the airborne division served in the Orne bridge-head as an ordinary infantry formation. Remarks: Good footage. Best seen with A70 110-2 and with 112-2 and 4 and 113-8 and 9 for footage showing commando units in action in the Orne bridge-head during early August 1944. Documentation/associated material: for a bibliography, refer to 'The Red Beret : The Story of the Parachute Regiment 1940- 1945' by Hilary St George Saunders, Victory in the West : Volume 1' by L F Ellis and Belfield and Essame's 'The Battle for Normandy' in which the nature of the fighting in the Orne bridge- head during July and August 1944 is well conveyed.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 110-1

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