THE FREE FRENCH NAVY [Main Title]

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  • Title: THE FREE FRENCH NAVY [Main Title]
  • Film Number: CVN 202
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: A tribute to the units of the French Navy which remained on the Allied side after the French Defeat.
  • Description: Film starts with a dramatisation of a supposedly typical incident, a British naval tender picking up a sailing dinghy manned by 2 French escapees anxious to join the Free French Navy; recruits are shown taking oath at the Navy's London centre. Some film of training (including a floating college for under 17 year-olds) followed by film of some of the Free French Navy's ships: De Gaulle visits the Surcouf (world's largest submarine); destroyers (Le Triomphant); chasseurs (one has rendezvous with British submarine); British-built corvettes in convoy escort role; some French merchant vessels; fishermen from Normandy and Brittany work from English harbours; the old battleship Courbet permanently in harbour is manned by veterans and provides AA defences and a bakery. Closes with close-ups and histories of individual seamen: "in men like these we see reawakened the spirit of the people of France."
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: CVN 202
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-05
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor) Spectator (Production company) Carruthers, Robin (Production individual) Hankinson, Michael (Production individual) Luff, A H (Production individual) Bland, William S (Production individual) Hughes, Ken (Production individual) Kemplen, Ralph (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Gaulle, Charles AndrĂ© Joseph Marie de (person) Royal Navy (regiment/service) Free French Navy, Courbet (regiment/service) Free French Navy, Le Triomphant (regiment/service) Free French Navy, Surcouf (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: agriculture, French [Free] - fisheries (object name) operations, British naval - escort: convoy (object name) operations, French maritime - routine (object name) propaganda, British - inspirational (object name) propaganda, French - inspirational (object name) recruitment, French: Free French Navy (object name) ships, French naval - battleship: FFS Courbet (object name) ships, French naval - destroyer: FFS Surcouf (object name) ships, French naval - destroyer: FFS Le Triomphant (object name) society, British - friendship (object name) society, French - friendship (object name) training, French naval (object name) GB, England (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 775 ft; Running time: 8 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    CVN 202

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