Title:PREPARATIONS FOR COMMANDOS' OPERATION ROAST AT LAKE COMACCHIO, AND PRISONERS TAKEN [Allocated title]
Film Number:AYY 896/1-2
Other titles:MOTORCYCLE TRIALS NEAR SCARPERIA [Allocated title]
BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated series title]
Summary:Troops of 2nd Commando Brigade prepare to cross Lake Comacchio, and German and Turkmen prisoners of war are taken.
Description:AYY 896/1, shot by Sergeant Frost, 31 March 1945:
Troops of the Special Boat Service (M Squadron?) work on their two-man folding kayak 'folboats'. A wide shot shows the men at work on the bank of the River Reno. Troops of either No.2 or No.9 Commando gather with their mugs and mess tins for tea and hot food. Out of focus shot shows a man applying black camouflage paint; pan to another man already cammed up, who laughs. Further shots of men, with camouflaged faces, waiting for food. Troops in full kit march to their embarkation point (brief camera speed issue here). Men pass camera. Troops in fading light.
Shot on 2 April 1945:
Wide shot; tracked vehicles drive on a beach. Troops (probably of A Troop, 43 Commando (Royal Marines) pass with enemy prisoners of war; some of these prisoners may be from the 162nd Turkestan Division). Wide shot with troops of the beach; smoke drifts in the background and the troops look back towards the smoke. Brief shot; prisoners of war carry a wounded comrade on a stretcher. Wide shot; a Sherman tank fitted with wading gear enters shot left. Wide shot; a soldier in overalls and steel helmet runs towards camera. There is a line of tanks and other vehicles behind him. A shot apparently showing troops and enemy prisoners of war scattering for cover after they come under enemy mortar fire. A German soldier lifts a blanket covering the body of a prisoner of war killed in the mortaring. Brief close-up of a German prisoner of war described by the cameraman as a 'typical arrogant Fascist'; he is apparently an Obergefreiter and wears a lightning bolt insignia on his upper left arm (a signalman?). Smoke on the horizon, apparently from the bombardment of enemy positions on the opposite bank. A track carrier crosses shot. A Churchill tank enters shot, followed by another. A Commando armed with a Thompson submachine gun sits up in the sand, looking to his front; next to him lies the dead body of a comrade apparently killed soon before by German machine gun fire. A prisoner of war raises his hands. Prisoners of war pass camera with their hands up. A Buffalo tracked amphibian drives into water towards camera. Buffalo crossing the River Reno. On the far bank two German POWs carry a stretcher case onto a folding boat raft, which pushes off to cross the river. Two men carry a box at the water's edge. A Buffalo marked W2C and fitted with a .50-calibre machine gun passes. Shots of prisoners of war. W2C goes to the aid of another Buffalo, apparently bogged down.
AYY 896/2, shot by Sergeant Huggett, 1 April 1945
Slate 'IT.14'. Pan of a group of competitors in the motorcycle trial, with their motorcycles; rider no.3, a sergeant, rides off (on a Matchless G3/L?). Rider 5 descends a slope and crosses a stream as other riders watch. Rider 16 approaches camera on a rough road. Low angle as Rider 22 negotiates a rocky path. A rider crosses a stream and climbs a steep riverbank, but fails to reach the top and dismounts. A group of spectators sit on a hillside as a rider passes. Slate IT.14. Moustachioed rider 41, in helmet and goggles, approaches cameral he lays his bike down as he fails to climb the riverbank. Wider shot showing the group of spectators; a rider splashes across the stream. Troops haul Rider 45 and his machine up the slope; the rider appears to wear the badge of the Royal Tank Regiment. Rider 48 attempts the riverbank climb but rolls back into the water. Four men haul Rider 48's machine up the slope. Rider 50 makes it to the top of the bank, but has to lay his bike down. Rider 5 passes on a hillside; another bike slips at the same point. Riders struggle with a rocky and rutted path. Slate. Rider 7 struggles in a muddy patch by a stream. Rider 41 cruises past. Rider 49 follows. A jeep (with badge of XIII Corps?) bounces along the same deeply rutted section of track,
Alternative Title:MOTORCYCLE TRIALS NEAR SCARPERIA [Allocated title]
BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated series title]
Colour:
Digitised:Yes
Object_Number:AYY 896/1-2
Sound:
Access Conditions:
Film: IWM (AYY 896/1-2)
Featured Period:1939-1945
Production Date:-1945-03-31
Production Country:United Kingdom
Production Details:War Office
Army Film and Photographic Unit
Frost, J.
Huggett, Jim
