Title:ACTIVITIES IN THE ORNE BRIDGEHEAD, JUNE 1944 (PART 1) [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 41-6
Other titles:
Summary: The 6th Airborne Division establishes its hold in the Orne bridgehead.
Description: Major-General Richard Gale, commander of the 6th Airborne Division, is seen outside his headquarters in a requisitioned château in Ranville; the British airborne forces' 'Pegasus' emblem hangs from a bamboo pole nearby. Gale briefly examines an NSKK (National Socialist Motor Corps) direction sign, which he then throws onto a pile of German junk, and lights a cigarette for one of his HQ officers; behind him in uniform and wearing spectacles is Leonard Mosley, a Kemsley Press reporter. A section of infantry from the 5th Black Watch marches across 'Pegasus' Bridge at Bénouville (captured by men from the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on D-Day) before joining the rest of 153rd Brigade in the Orne bridgehead; the three Horsa gliders which carried the 'coup de main' party to Bénouville can be seen in the background. Airborne troops riding in a jeep escort a column of prisoners of war to the rear. Horsa gliders which carried the 6th Airlanding Brigade into action on D-Day lie broken and torn on their landing zone near Ranville; note the German anti-glider stakes dotted about the fields.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Leatherbarrow, RichardPrior to the Second World War Leatherbarrow was a portrait photographer. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Armoured Corps, transferring to the Army Film and Photographic Unit in 1943, when he received training at Pinewood. He was one of the cameramen on Juno Beach during the D-Day Landings. (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Gale, Richard Nelson (person)
Mosley, Leonard (person)
British Army, Div, Airborne, 6 (regiment/service)
British Army, Black Watch, 5th Battalion (regiment/service)
Keywords: journalism and record, British - press (object name)
aircraft, British - glider: Airspeed Horsa & [wrecked] (object name)
defences, German - emplacement: anti-glider stakes (object name)
prisoners of war, German - movement (object name)
operations, British military - movement: march (object name)
Second World War, North West Europe & Operation Overlord & 11/6/1944 (event)
Ranville, Calvados, France (geography)
Pegasus Bridge, Calvados, France (geography)
Orne (River), France (geography)
