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Title:PREPARATIONS FOR D-DAY NEAR THE INVASION EMBARKATION PORTS IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND (PART 5) [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 19-5
Other titles:
Summary:
Description: I. An RASC convoy of DUKW amphibious lorries - each vehicle thirty one feet long - threads its way towards Southampton (?). Civilian and military traffic head past a tank servicing depot (No 19 AFV) on the A33 Winchester bypass. Seen on the site are an RAOC platoon on the march, one or two Canadian-manufacture Ram Sexton 25-pounder self-propelled guns and Ram II tanks, several Churchills (Mark IVs brought up to Mark VI standard) and Cromwells. A War Department sign keeps trespassers at bay.
II. A dumper truck helps workmen lay prefabricated concrete sections at an embarkation 'hard' under construction at low tide at Gosport.
III. Traffic - notably four universal carriers with waterproofing side skirts, a US-manufactured White Ruxtall (?) tank transporter carrying two dumper trucks and a Pickfords lorry transporting mobile generators - passes No 19 AFV Depot. The slogan 'Open the 2nd Front Now!' adorns the side of a grocer's shop in Alton. Direction signs for a 2nd Army troops unit and a 3rd Division infantry battalion and an explicit order forbidding civilian use of local roads decorate a recently widened section of the A31 (?).
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Goddard, J H (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Army 3 (regiment/service)
British Army, 3rd Division (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Army Ordnance Corps (regiment/service)
British Army, Royal Army Service Corps (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, British - tank: Churchill Mark IV/VI (object name)
armour, British - tank: Cromwell (object name)
armour, Canadian - SPG: Sexton 25-pounder (object name)
armour, Canadian - tank: Ram II (object name)
armour, United States - amphibious: DUKW & [British] (object name)
buildings, British - commercial: grocer's shop (object name)
buildings, British - military: No 19 AFV depot (object name)
engineering, civilian, British: construction of embarkation 'hard (object name)
operations, Allied military - movement: road (object name)
transport, British civilian - truck: Pickfords lorry (object name)
transport, British military - truck, special: dumper truck (object name)
transport, United States military - prime mover: White Ruxtall tank transporter (?) & [British] (object name)
Alton, Hampshire, England, UK (geography)
Gosport, Hampshire, England, UK (geography)
GB, England & Hants <A33 Winchester road> (geography)
GB, England & Southampton, Hants (?) (geography)
Notes: Summary: filmed for production 'X'. See with A70 9-1, 2, 17-1 to 3, 19-1 to 4 for footage showing road improvement work etc. Part I of the summary was filmed on 10/5/1944 (?), part II on 11/5/1944, part III on 12/5/1944. The demand for the opening of a second front in Europe coincided with the German invasion of Soviet Russia in June 1941; no doubt, the assault troops for D- Day had their own ideas about that one.
Remarks: good footage. Best seen with the items of ciné material listed above, notably A70 19-2 which contains complementary footage.
Documentation/associated material: for details of 2nd Army's assembly areas prior to D-Day, read 'An Account of the Operations of the Second Army in Europe, 1944-45: Volume 1' by 2nd Army HQ and L F Ellis 'Victory in the West: Volume 1'.
