Metadata
- Title: THE 6TH AIRBORNE DIVISION PREPARES FOR D-DAY [Allocated Title]
- Film Number: A70 25-2
- Other titles:
- Summary: 6th Airborne Division units prepare to fly into battle.
- Description: I. Major-General Gale, the Division's commander, addresses Divisional troops at Harwell aerodrome. Airborne sappers place detonators into shrapnel mines. Military Policemen attend to their Matchless and Enfield motorcycles. An Airborne signals lieutenant and private paint the Liberation star on a cloth panel. A corporal performs a 'native' dance for off-duty signallers. Signallers check jeep-mounted radio equipment. Engineers pack PIATs and ammunition into a parachute container. Parachute Regiment troops are issued with two 24-hour compo ration boxes, etc. Men from the 2nd Battalion, the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, support platoon load ammunition and a Vickers machine gun into jeep trailers. A mechanic services a jeep. Weapons such as a Lee-Enfield rifle, a Colt .45 automatic pistol, a Mark 5 Sten gun, a Bren gun and Nos 36 and 69 grenades are examined before being packed. II. Empty Bren and Sten magazines are loaded with bullets and packed into boxes. Airborne signallers receive French 'invasion' currency. A paratrooper sharpens his knife. Three paras wearing helmets pose for the cameraman.
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
- Featured Period: 1939-1945
- Production Date: 1944-06-06
- Production Country: GB
- Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor) Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company) Harris, L W J (Production individual)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations: Gale, Richard Nelson (person) British Army, Royal Engineers (regiment/service) British Army, Bde, Airlanding, 6 (regiment/service) British Army, Div, Airborne, 6 (regiment/service) British Army, Corps 1 (regiment/service) British Army, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 2nd Battalion (regiment/service) British Army, Military Police (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Army Medical Corps (regiment/service) British Army, Independent Paratroop Coy 22 (regiment/service) Royal Air Force (regiment/service) Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm (regiment/service)
- Keywords: animals, mammals: dog (object name) equipment, British military - general: parachute canister (object name) equipment, British military - personal: parachute (object name) equipment, British military - personal: French 'invasion' currency (object name) intelligence, military, British: pep talk (object name) operations, British military - preparation: airborne (object name) operations, British military - maintenance (object name) recreation, British military - casual (object name) society, British military - sustenance: compo rations (packed) (object name) transport, British military - 2/3 wheel: motorcycle (object name) transport, British military - prime mover: Polsten gun carriage (object name) weapons, British - grenade: No 36 (object name) weapons, British - grenade: No 39 (object name) weapons, British - projector: PIAT (object name) weapons, British - gun: 6-pounder gun (object name) weapons, British - smallarm: Bren (object name) weapons, British - smallarm: Sten (object name) weapons, British - smallarm: Vickers medium machine gun (object name) Second World War, British Home Front & Operation Overlord & 2/6/1944 = 5/6/1944 (event) GB, England & Harwell, Oxon <RAF Station ?> (geography) GB, England & Brize Norton, Oxon <RAF Station> (geography) camera (concept)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
- Technical Details: Format: 35mm Footage: 678 ft; Running time: 7 mins
- Notes: Cataloguing: corresponds to dope sheet A70 25-3-1. Remarks: good, useful shots showing some of the various aspects of the preparations made by airborne troops for D-Day
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