Title:A 6TH AIRBORNE DIVISION ARTILLERY OBSERVATION POST IN THE ORNE BRIDGE-HEAD [Allocated Title]
Film Number:A70 110-2
Other titles:
Summary: A 6th Airborne Division artillery spotter keeps watch on German positions on the east bank of the Orne estuary.
Description: Camouflage netting suspended between trees on both sides of the road leading northwards out of Sallenelles denotes the end of 6th Airborne Division's sector of the Orne bridge-head and the presence of the Germans a few hundred yards beyond; a notice warns vehicles not to travel any further. Washing hangs on a laundry line at the base of an old German OP tower built onto a tall pine tree. Nearby stands a partially-ruined house used as an OP by the 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Airlanding Light Regiment RA. Up in the loft, an RA lieutenant keeps watch through a hole in the roof. A panorama of the countryside as seen from the OP takes in the east bank of the Orne river estuary which is at present held by the 346th Infantry Division, a low-grade formation consisting of press-ganged Russian and Poles. High explosive shells and air-bursts land on German positions in a wood near Franceville-Plage held by them since D-Day.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Walter, Ernest Henry1919Family origin: Barry, Glamorgan, South Wales (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, Royal Artillery (regiment/service)
British Army, Div, Airborne, 6 (regiment/service)
British Army, Corps 1 (regiment/service)
Keywords: signs, military and civilian (object name)
observation post (object name)
combat, British - artillery bombardment (object name)
Orne (River), France (geography)
Normandy, France (geography)
