NORTHERN ATTACK FORCE, SALERNO [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: NORTHERN ATTACK FORCE, SALERNO [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ADM 563
  • Other titles: MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS OF THE ROYAL NAVY [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Main LSI convoy for Operation Avalanche and scenes on the invasion beach for 56 Division, a few miles south of Salerno.
  • Description: I. Loading at Tripoli. HA onto LCI(L) alongside a landing stage, on the other side of which are a LCA and LCS(M)(3) - pan left to show a MFV off the LCI(L)'s port quarter and LCI(L) 240 alongside, but making stern way to clear her companion. Motorcycle troops and infantry form up for embarkation while lorries and mobile cranes transport and handle stores. Soldiers file past to embark on LCI(L) 185 - the heavily laden men include both British and US troops. CU of a man handling an 'Imperial' typewriter - part of the invasion stores. Other LCI(L)s prepare to take on men. II. Main personnel convoy of LSIs at sea. Various shots of other troopships in the convoy, including a Princess Beatrix Class LSI(M). RN crewman semaphores. Sub-Lieutenant takes a bearing. III. Off the coast. Men on cameraship work winch to lower LCAs. A distant Hunt Class destroyer lays a smokescreen. LSs of an Algerine Class minesweeper. LA of one of cameraship's 2-pounder AA. HMS Cadmus passes - although her bows have been damaged by a mine she keeps up a moderate turn of speed. HMS Tartar (G.43) passes. LS of HMS Orion lying offshore and pan left to HMS Mauritius firing 4-inch - answering fire strikes the water between the two cruisers. LST 322 passes crowded with men and vehicles. III. Cameraman Norman Fisher goes ashore in a LCA with Major-General Graham, CO of 56 Division and his staff. Fisher himself, in his War Correspondent's uniform, is seen briefly. LS of HMS Mauritius as an LST passes in front of her. The camera-craft approaches the shore where three LSTs are beached, all making smoke from generators at the stern - the LCA runs in close to the starboard side of LST 200, the dense smoke shrouding the ship's stern and billowing away to port. . The LCA beaches. On the beach soldiers unroll metal netting to provide a passage over the sand for disembarking transport - a Fordson 3 ton 4x4 WOT6 wades ashore. A column of troops move inland. MS over the beach area - in the background LST 408 is unloading. Bedford QLB tractor and Bofors move along the water's edge, followed by two motorcyclists from LST 200 - in the background is a large caterpillar tractor 'LOLA' and the beached LCA 517. Two Scammell Heavy Breakdown Tractors disembarked from LST 408 struggle to climb the rise from the beach - one of the tractors is fitted with overall chains. A Fordson 3 ton lorry drives down the wire mesh track. Men fit ramps from the foot of LST doors to the beach - a Fordson 3 tonner disembarks, followed by a 3 ton 4x2 Dodge. IV. Cameraman leaves the beach. As LST 200 continues to disgorge a column of trucks, the camera-LCA debeaches. LSs of LSTs generating smoke cover, and a destroyer-laid screen of black smoke offshore, contrasting with the white smoke from the LSTs. Preceded by another LCA the camera-craft closes on the port quarter of HMS Hilary, LSH for the Northern Attack Force. MS of HDML 1253. Final XLS as shells fall in the bay, well clear of an auxiliary AA vessel (?).
  • Alternative Title: MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS OF THE ROYAL NAVY [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: ADM 563
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1943-09-06
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: British Movietone News (Production company) Fisher, Norman (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Fisher, Norman (person) Graham, Douglas Alexander Henry (person) Royal Navy, CADMUS (HMS), minesweeper (regiment/service) Royal Navy, Tartar (regiment/service) Royal Navy, Orion (regiment/service) Royal Navy, Mauritius (regiment/service) Royal Navy, LCIL 240 (regiment/service) Royal Navy, LCIL 185 (regiment/service) Royal Navy, LST 322 (regiment/service) Royal Navy, LST 200 (regiment/service) Royal Navy, LST 408 (regiment/service) Royal Navy, LCA 517 (regiment/service) Royal Navy, HDML 1253 (regiment/service) Royal Navy, Hilary (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: ships, British naval - cruiser: Orion (object name) ships, British naval - cruiser: Mauritius (object name) ships, British naval - destroyer: Tartar (G.43) (object name) ships, British naval - minesweeper, ocean: Cadmus (J.230) & [damaged] (object name) ships, British naval - amphibious: LCI[L] 240 (object name) ships, British naval - amphibious: LCI[L] 185 (object name) ships, British naval - amphibious: LST 322 (object name) ships, British naval - amphibious: LST 200 (object name) ships, British naval - amphibious: LST 408 (object name) ships, British naval - amphibious: LCA 517 (object name) ships, British naval - light forces: HDML 1253 (object name) ships, British auxiliary - amphibious: LSH Hilary (object name) operations, British military - amphibious (object name) transport, British military - prime mover: Bedford QLB (object name) transport, British military - truck: Fordson 3-ton 4x4 WOT6 (object name) transport, British military - prime mover: Scammell 6x4 Heavy Breakdown (object name) weapons, British - gun: 40mm Bofors (object name) Operation Avalanche, landings at Salerno 1943, Italy, Second World War (event)
  • 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: 570 ft; Running time: 6 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ADM 563

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