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Title:THE 29TH ARMOURED BRIGADE MOVES UP THROUGH ST MARTIN DES BESACES [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 107-3
Other titles:
Summary: Armour and infantry from the 29th Armoured Brigade move up through the recently-captured cross-roads village of St Martin des Besaces, situated some ten miles south of Caumont astride the N175 highway, before heading in the direction of the Souleuvre valley.
Description: Loyd carriers and six-pounder guns from the 3rd Monmouth Regiment's anti-tank platoon and some of the battalion's infantry riding on tanks belonging to the 23rd Hussars enter St Martin des Besaces from the north. Riding in a Sherman tank which bears the markings of the 29th Armoured Brigade is Brigadier Roscoe Harvey, seen here wearing eye goggles and sitting half-out of the commander's hatch of his de-gunned tank. Outside St Martin, a British officer examines one of the many wooden dummy tanks found in 326th Infantry Division sector of the Front.
Production Details: Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Lawrie, William Fairlie1919-07-01Family origin: Glasgow, Scotland (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Harvey, Charles Barnet "Roscoe" (person)
British Army, Corps 8 (regiment/service)
British Army, Monmouth Regiment, 3rd Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Hussars, 23 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde, Armoured, 29 Gp (regiment/service)
British Army, Div, Armoured, 11 (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, British - carrier: Loyd (object name)
weapons, British - gun [AT]: 57mm 6-pounder (object name)
armour, United States - tank: M4 Sherman & [British] (object name)
equipment, British military - decoy: dummy tank (object name)
Operation Bluecoat, Mont Pinçon 1944, North West Europe, Second World War (event)
Saint Martin-des-Besaces, Calvados, France (geography)
Notes: Note: See A70 102-1 and B for similar (at times virtually identical) footage and refer generally to footage showing the 11th Armoured Division and other 8th Corps' formations in action during Operation "Bluecoat". 326th Infantry Division's sector was bereft of Panzers at the beginning of "Bluecoat" - hence the dummy tanks to camouflage this deficiency - except for a Jagdpanther battalion.
Remarks: Good footage. See with items listed above.
Documentation/associated material: read 'La Charge du Taureau' by Jean Brisset (in French), 'Taurus Pursuant - The History of the 11th Armoured Division' by BAOR, 'The Story of the 23rd Hussars 1940-46', 'The History of the 2nd World War - Victory in the West : Volume 1' by L F Ellis.
