SCENES AFTER THE FALL OF FALAISE AND TANKS OF 33RD BRIGADE MOVING UP NEAR ST SYLVAIN [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: SCENES AFTER THE FALL OF FALAISE AND TANKS OF 33RD BRIGADE MOVING UP NEAR ST SYLVAIN [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MWY 221
  • 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: Footage by four Canadian cameramen of the Canadian Army Film Unit, showing the aftermath of the capture of Falaise, and the Sherman tanks of 33rd Armoured Brigade moving up towards the frontline at Saint-Sylvain in Calvados, France.
  • Description: Shot by Sergeant Stollery on 17 August 1944: Interior of the wrecked Eglise Saint Gervais in Falaise, looking into the sanctuary showing the altar on fire. More small fires. A figure of Christ on the cross, still hanging from the wall and lit by daylight from a window. More shots of the burning interior. Exterior shot of St Gervais, seen through some of the debris of another bombed building nearby and across a deserted square. The church is very substantial and badly damaged. Possibly shot by Sergeant Millon: British or Canadian troops sitting by roadsigns that give distances to Conde Noireau, Vire, Mortain, Argentan, Caen and Lisieux; there appears to be a small sign in German and marked with the insignia of 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend attached to the roadsign as well. Tracked Universal carriers pass, some towing 6-pounder anti-tank guns. A discarded German helmet. A stray cat, which darts away and is then seen washing itself. A ruined residential street. Shot by Sergeant McCaughey on 17 August 1944: At a roadside with ‘Falaise’ roadsign; lorries and a despatch rider head towards the town. A lorry with a number of French civilian refugees aboard; one man wearing a French steel helmet stands smoking. A family of refugees apparently trying to load their belongings onto a small truck or jeep. A small child sitting in a buggy. Canadian troops of 1st Battalion, Royal Winnipeg Rifles passing. Looking down a road into Falaise. Tilt up from soldiers passing in the foreground to a wrecked and smouldering shop building. A street; a Military Police jeep (marked ‘Provost’) passes a group of refugees and building behind is marked ‘L’Echo de Falaise’. Shot by Sergeant Angelo on 16 August 1944: Near Saint-Sylvain, south east of Caen, in Calvados, British Sherman tanks of 33rd Armoured Brigade (an independent brigade operating as part of Canadian First Army) move up towards the front, relieving 4th Canadian Brigade. Each tank raises a screen of dust. A halftrack ambulance passes. Shot by Sergeant Angelo on 17 August 1944: A bombed street with burning buildings and a Canadian soldier passing. Wide shot; bombed townscape and a (Royal Canadian Engineers?) bulldozer clearing rubble near the church. A Universal carrier nips around the bulldozer. The bulldozer at work outside the walls of the church. Burning shop buildings in Falaise; one marked ‘Engrais/Charbons. Coke’ (Fertiliser/Coal/Coke). A soldier passes riding a captured Kettenkrad (half-tracked motorcycle). Fire burning inside the shop building. Something collapses inside (the roof?) and a cloud of dust billows out of the shopfront. Fire burning in the shop building. More of the building collapses with a large cloud of dust. A crowd of refugees. Photographer takes a picture. A young woman with a seven-week-old baby in her arms, apparently born in a field outside Falaise. Refugees outside the church. A Royal Canadian engineer and bulldozer driver, Sapper G Redlick L41567 of Biggar, Saskatchewan, gives candy to French toddler.
  • 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]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MWY 221
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-08-16
  • Production Country: Canada
  • Production Details: Canadian Army Film Unit (Production company) Stollery, Jack ArnoldNo. A-42276 Sergeant Jack Arnold Stollery MM, cameraman/photographer of Canadian Film & Photo Section. Decorated for bravery in the course of his duties while filming operations at Ortona in Italy. See http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7646522&queryType=1&resultcount=8 for the record of his Military Medal at the National Archives, Kew (Public Record Office). (Production individual) Millon, Lloyd PCanadian Army Film Unit cameraman, Sergeant Lloyd P Millon (Production individual) McCaughey, Hugh HCanadian Army Film Unit cameraman, Sergeant Hugh H McCaughey (Production individual) Angelo, R H CCanadian Army Film Unit Cameraman, Sergeant R H C Angelo. (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Canadian Army, Royal Winnipeg Rifles, 1st Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, 33rd Armoured Brigade (regiment/service) Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Engineers (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: British Army 1939-1945 (theme) Canadian Army 1939-1945 (theme) Falaise Gap 1944, North West Europe, Second World War (event) Falaise, Calvados, Normandy, France (geography) Saint-Sylvain, Calvados, France (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: ft; Running time: mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MWY 221

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