Summary: Men serving with the 1st Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, in a sealed camp near Portsmouth, prepare for D-Day.
Description: I. At A5 camp at Waterlooville near Portsmouth, two men serving with the battalion's headquarters company receive two hundred francs each (equivalent to £1 in 1944). Two riflemen of the battalion and a royal signaller compare banknotes. A private has his hair cropped as an anti-vermin measure by the regimental barber and is shocked by the results.
II. Two officers have their identity papers checked by the battalion's intelligence officer, a lieutenant, before they enter the briefing centre guarded by two armed sentries. Inside, the intelligence officer and men examine a map model of the 'Sword' Beach area and Ouistreham (German strong-points lying inland are coded 'Skate', 'Pike' and 'Cod'). The intelligence officer also refers to vertical and oblique photographs of 'Sword' Beach taken by the RAF's Photographic Reconnaissance Unit on January 7th 1944.
Alternative Title:
Colour:B&W
Digitised:
Object_Number:A70 21-4
Sound:Silent
Access Conditions:IWM
Featured Period:1939-1945
Production Date:1944-05-27
Production Country: GB
Production Details: Army Film Unit (Production company)
O'Neill, F D (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:
Keywords: Portsmouth area, Hampshire, England, UK (geography)
