THE 59TH STAFFORDSHIRE DIVISION GOES INTO ACTION, NORTH OF CAEN, ON THE FIRST DAY OF OPERATION "CHARNWOOD" (PART 1) [Allocated Title]
Metadata
- Title: THE 59TH STAFFORDSHIRE DIVISION GOES INTO ACTION, NORTH OF CAEN, ON THE FIRST DAY OF OPERATION "CHARNWOOD" (PART 1) [Allocated Title]
- Film Number: A70 72-5
- Other titles:
- Summary: 197th Brigade's assault on positions held by elements of the 12th SS Panzer Division 'Hitlerjugend' meets with fierce resistance.
- Description: Infantrymen belonging to the 17th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment's 'D' company advance in extended order through waist-high wheat from Les Buissons towards the village of St Contest past a knocked-out Sherman ex-DD tank (a relic of the immediate post D-Day battles between 3rd Canadian Division and the 12th SS Panzer Division 'Hitlerjugend'). A Sherman tank from the East Riding Yeomanry's 'A' squadron's HQ troop supporting the assault on ST Contest opens fire with its co-axial Browning .30 calibre machine-gun. Smoke from a bursting mortar bomb flares up in the wheat near a Sherman and a universal carrier from 68th Anti-tank Regiment RA's 298th Battery. An M10 Wolverine SPG from 62nd Anti-tank Regiment RA's 248th Battery is seen with the Sherman (note the Browning .30 calibre machine-gun mounting on its commander's hatch ring in position behind a low ridge in front of St Contest, where oily smoke from two 'brewed-up' ERY Shermans rises into the sky; the Sherman keeps its main armament trained in the direction of the blazing wrecks.
- Access Conditions: IWM
- Featured Period: 1939-1945
- Production Date: 1944-07-08
- Production Country: GB
- Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film Unit (Production company) Smales, Edgar Hiram1920-08-071984-09-19 (Production individual)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations:
- Keywords: Normandy, France (geography)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
- Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 99 ft; Running time: 1 min
- Notes: See with A70 72-4, 6, 7, 9; 73-1, 3; 74-1; 75-1; 76-2; 77-1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; 78-3 for footage showing 59th (Staffordshire) Division in action during "Charnwood". 'D' company, to which Sergeant Watkins was also attached to cover the assault on St Contest, was the 1/7th Royal Warwickshire Regiment's reserve company. Altogether, the regiment suffered 143 casualties (killed, wounded, missing) during "Charnwood" Excellent action footage. Best seen with items of ciné material listed above, notably A70 72-6, 7; 75-8 which contain virtually identical, complementary footage shot during 197th Brigades assault on St Contest. Documentation/associated material: in addition to the publications listed in A70 71-3, 72-3 and 4, read 'Europe Revisited: The East Riding Yeomanry in the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Germany' by V C Ellison.
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