Title:2ND ARMY ADVANCES EASTWARDS TO ARGENTAN [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 129-11
Other titles:
Summary:
Description: An 11th Armoured Division sapper inspects a Sturmgeschütz III lying half-submerged in the Orne river. 30th Corps traffic crosses over the Bailey bridge into Pont Ecrepin as civilians walk over the bridge to Putanges. As seen from a vantage point overlooking the town, Putanges is surrounded by a series of hills crisscrossed with hedgerows and lines of close-growing trees, an all-too picturesque setting for a battlefield. Near Écouché, the pathetic remains of a destroyed Wehrmacht horse-transport column lie scattered along the N24 bis highway; a smiling British soldier leads thirty prisoners - including several Soviet Asians - into captivity. In Enouche, bedecked with Tricolours and Gaullist slogans, men of Leclerc's 2nd French Armoured Division mingle with its remaining inhabitants. Outside Argentan, the 15/19th Hussars wait for the fighting there to end before sending its 'C' squadron in to join the 80th US Infantry Division in occupying the town. Argentan's main church is surrounded by smouldering heaps of rubble. The long gun barrel of a destroyed 'Panther' points at a German labour recruiting office. The only original inhabitant seen in Argentan is a scrawny cat.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Parkinson (Sergeant) (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Free French Forces, Div, Armoured, French, 2 (regiment/service)
British Army, Hussars, 15/19 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde 159 Gp (regiment/service)
British Army, Div, Armoured, 11 (regiment/service)
British Army, Corps 30 (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Engineers (regiment/service)
United States Army (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, German - SPG: StuG III (object name)
engineering, military, British: Bailey bridge (object name)
armour, British - tank: Cromwell (object name)
armour, German - tank: Panther Ausf A (object name)
destruction, French military - area: bomb (object name)
animals, mammals: cat (object name)
animals, mammals: horse & [casualties] (object name)
prisoners of war, Axis - movement (object name)
transport, German - animal: horse-drawn wagon & [wrecked] (object name)
transport, British military - truck: Karrier 3-ton 4x4 truck (object name)
transport, British military - truck: Fordson 3-ton 4x4 truck (object name)
transport, British military - truck: Bedford 3-ton 4x4 QL (object name)
arts, French - heraldry: flag, Tricolour (object name)
Argentan, Orne, France (geography)
Écouché, Orne, France (geography)
Putanges-Pont-Ecrepin, Orne, France (geography)
Orne (River), France (geography)
