Title:THE ROAD TO FLORENCE AND MOPPING UP SNIPERS IN THE CITY [Allocated Title]
Film Number:MWY 85
Other titles:INDIAN INTER-SERVICE PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTORATE COLLECTION - INDIAN HOME FRONT AND MILITARY OPERATIONS, AND ALLIED OPERATIONS IN ITALY AND THE PACIFIC DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: As 8th Indian Division advances on the open city of Florence in Italy, Indian troops are seen on the march and firing heavy mortars, while British troops of the Royal Fusiliers warily search for snipers amongst ruins close to the River Arno.
Description: At 2015 hours 3rd Battalion 15th Punjab Regiment passes camera, they walk in double file along a road with a bombed house behind them; the men are clearly in high spirits and some are singing. Lorry and trailer passes. Men of 1st Battalion 5th Mahratta Light Infantry setting up and firing 4.2-inch mortars. A jeep slowly passes a smouldering pile of debris as Indian signalmen pay out telephone cable from a drum on the jeep. Signalman climbs a telegraph pole with climbing irons. Securing the cable. In Florence; a Bren gunner of the Royal Fusiliers lying prone in front of a shop that has had its steel shutters blown out. Looking over a British soldier’s shoulder towards a row of substantial buildings a short distance away. Looking through a damaged barred window towards a doorway; a British soldier armed with Thompson submachine gun dives head first through the window, briefly vanishing out of sight before cautiously approaching and entering the doorway. A British soldier fires a Thompson through a decorative window with stone tracery. A British sergeant with Thompson vaults a mound of broken concrete and drops out of shot; a Bren gunner to his right keeps watch. A soldier with bayonet fixed to his rifle also breaks cover (to the right of the Bren gunner). Two British soldiers, quite possibly the same two seen in the previous sequence, in a deep hole or crater, they cautiously move to the lip of the crater; the River Arno can be seen in the background. A British soldier hurries up a mound of rubble, crosses a gap in a broken wall and fires a few rounds from his Thompson. As he does so another soldier goes forwards through the gap, and the first soldier follows him.
Alternative Title:INDIAN INTER-SERVICE PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTORATE COLLECTION - INDIAN HOME FRONT AND MILITARY OPERATIONS, AND ALLIED OPERATIONS IN ITALY AND THE PACIFIC DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Production Details: Public Relations Directorate, India (Production sponsor)
Indian Public Relations Film Unit (Production company)
Thomas, F (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Indian Army, 15th Punjab Regiment, 3rd Battalion (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), 1st Battalion (regiment/service)
Indian Army, 8th Indian Division (regiment/service)
Indian Army, 5th Mahratta Light Infantry, 1st Battalion (regiment/service)
Keywords: Florence, Tuscany, Italy (geography)
Arno (River), Italy (geography)
Italy 1939-1945 (theme)
Indian Army 1939-1945 (theme)
British Army 1939-1945 (theme)
(event)
