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Title:OPERATION EPSOM - 49TH DIVISION AT THE VILLAGE OF FONTENAY- LE-PESNEL (PART 3) [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 58-12
Other titles:
Summary: Scenes of mortar bombardment at Fontenay-le-Pesnel.
Description: Branches fall from trees lining the Caen-Juvigny road as a mortar bombardment launched by the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend lands on Fontenay-le-Pesnel; a motorcyclist despatch rider and a Universal Carrier from a 70th Brigade unit attempt to run the gauntlet. Smoke rises from buildings set on fire by German artillery while a near-miss sends earth clods flying into the air.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Handford, Peter1919-03-212007-11-06Handford is known as a a pioneer of location sound recording. He was an AFPU Lieutenant photographer during the Second World War. He volunteered as part of the British Expeditionary Force and went to France, though he was evacuated after the German invasion. He returned as a cameraman in the D-Day landings. He was shot during fighting two days later, saved by a diary and silver cigarette lighter in his pocket. He was informant in the "Wartime Filming" interview project. His first major film was in 1949 working for Alfred Hitchcock. However, what he is best known for is his involvment in the English new wave cinema movement of the 1960s. Later he was involved in did the sound for famous films such as Gorillas in the Mist and Dangerous Liaisons. He retired in 1988. (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Div 49 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde 70 (regiment/service)
Keywords: combat, British - mortar bombardment [I] (object name)
armour, British - carrier: Universal (object name)
communications, British military - message: motorcycle despatch rider (object name)
destruction, French military - area: mortar bombardment (object name)
01/5(4-16).232 [ Operation Epsom] (event)
Fontenay-le-Pesnel, Calvados, France (geography)