June 6th footage...........

Ello,

Just thought I'd chip in as I've been looking at these markings a lot recently.

The IWM has a film that purports to show the Ox and Bucks loading Polsten guns into some of these gliders and the numbers can be clearly seen before the stripes were added - so they came before not after. The footage in question starts at 1m03s in.

[ASSAULT UNITS PREPARE FOR THE INVASION OF EUROPE (PART 7)] [Allocated] | Imperial War Museums

The big numbers on the fuselage confused me a lot. At first I thought they might of been gliders from 81 OTU which used to carry the aircraft ID aft of the fuselage but then I realised those were painted much more neatly and to A.M. specifications whereas these *generally* conform to the correct number shape but not width so they appear to of been put on in a hurry.

That said, the first glider in the clip either 98 or 88, serial LH429 looks to have had a band panted over the fuselage first before the number was applied. Small but interesting detail.

The picture of the glider with the troops leaving the glider in the Jeep I've read is *not* 1 RUR but 716th Light Composite Company RASC if that helps.

I've also tried to work out which glider that is and I *think* it might be the one at 49° 14.413'N 0° 15.309'W based on some large format aerials I have.

As for the small chalk numbers - I wouldn't pay too much attention to them. The problem with gliders is that they can be covered in different numbers from prior training exercises. I've got tons of photos of gliders with three or four different numbers plastered all over them. Usually the most recent (read fresh) number scribbled on the front loading door and next to the rear in the relevant one.

 

HighTow,

Thanks for the link! British Pathe has a variation on that video with a little better contrast starting at about 1:43.

Landing Craft - Gliders 1944

I've viewed it many times before and never noticed the numbers. Perhaps a case of "if you ain't looking, you don't see it". You are quite right about the numbers being present before the invasion stripes were applied. I'll throw up a few for illustration purposes.

It's interesting how in some cases these photos are misidentified. One variation of the jeep leaving the landing zone pulling the small trailer full of men is that it's 1 RUR returning glider pilots to the beach ...

Apologies to m kenny's for knocking his thread badly out of whack ...

Regards

Added: Pathe stills

 

Ello,

The picture of the glider with the troops leaving the glider in the Jeep I've read is *not* 1 RUR but 716th Light Composite Company RASC if that helps.


A case of misidentity on the part of the IWM, then. I'd be grateful for the source for subject being 716 LCC, in case the photo comes up in the future.

Thanks

Steve W.

 

A case of misidentity on the part of the IWM, then. I'd be grateful for the source for subject being 716 LCC, in case the photo comes up in the future.

Thanks

Steve W.

Steve,

Came across the following with regard to said photo:

"A Jeep, driven by men of the 716th Light Composite Company, RASC (left to right in the Jeep - Driver Hiram Clough, Lance-Corporal Joe Wilkenson and Driver Kenneth Brierley), carrying glider pilots, sitting in the trailer behind, to the beachhead, from where, their mission now complete, they were to return to England in preparation for further operations. This photograph has often been incorrectly labelled as depicting a group of the 1st Royal Ulster Rifles leaving LZ "N". Copyright: Imperial War Museum."

716th Light Composite Company, RASC - Pegasus Archive

Regards ...

 

Thanks, an email to Mr Hickman, then.

Steve W.

 

Commando Collection

There's a collection of 16 short Commando videos that can viewed one after the other on the Commandant Philippe Kieffer Facebook site. They show scenes of both French and British Commandos leading up to D-Day and in the days afterwards. It was interesting to see Lord Lovat striding past the camera on the video dated June 7th. Many will be familiar, but it could help give context to scenes thrown together without explanation in other mixes.

Commandos à Amfréville le 7 juin 1944 - Facebook

By the way you don't need a Facebook account to view these. I thought I would stick this here as it complements m kenny's original post. Kudos to the creators of the Commandant Kieffer site!

Cheers ...

 

Hi

This is my 1st posting. It was my dad, Kenneth Brierley who wrote to the Pegasus website to correct the caption from the photo of the troops leaving the glider. He is sat in the back of the jeep. He has for years been searching for a film that was taken at the same time that Sgt Christie took the still. Here are his words......

"716 Coy RASC.

The 2cd Lift on D-Day landed after 7pm. Perhaps 20 of the Horsa


gliders in that Lift carried three-men RASC teams each with jeep and


trailer. Their objective being to collect parachuted supply drops and


to create an ammunition and and suplies dump.


Unlike the Hamilcar glider which would open at the nose to allow


the small tank or Bren carrier that it might carry to drive directly


out, the Horsa


glider had a side exit door. First the trailer and then the jeep had


to be man-handled inches at a time to turn 90 degrees to go through


the side exit. The task was made more harduous due to the weight of


stores and ammunition with which both vehicles were loaded.


Eventually when the vehicles were on the ground and we were ready


to move off, we became aware that an army photogrpher had chosen our


glider and had cine- filmed the unloading proceedure


It was believed that all cine-film of the 6th Airborne landig was


sent in one of 716 Coy RASC jeeps to the Beach Head for urgent


dispatch back to England. On the way the trailer in which the


cine-film was stowed was blown up. The driver was unhurt.


Such rumours were in abundance. Nevertheless,throughout the years


that I have watched D-Day airborne landings on TV it has invariably


been American airborne troupes that are featured. 6th Airborne


troupes might be shown boarding aircraft before take off from England,


but not once have they been shown travelling inside aircraft or shown


on the ground in Normandy on D-Day.



I am continuing his search for this cine film and have an appointment at the IWM next month. I wonder if anyone has any pointers for where I could look?
I am also in the process of getting the IWM to change the caption.

Thanks, Louise

 

Hello Louise,
Re your search for 716 Coy cine film......are you still searching? My father served in 716 post war Palestine. I have researched 716 for years and I think I can help.
John

 

This never gets old.

A Company of the North Shore (N.B.) Regiment, landing on Nan Red at the seaside community of La Rive Plage which was part of the municipality of Bernières. The film footage shows the assault on the west side of gap N-7, which was led by A Company with C Company following in reserve. Some maintain that the footage is of C Company.

At the 1:00 mark, one soldier places a reassuring hand on the shoulder of the man in front. Many dry throats, pounding hearts and sweaty palms in that LCA.



Shot by Sergeant Bill Grant of the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit (CAFPU)

 

The wedding ring.........................................

 

I've never quite understood the 'shot by' attribution as it's clearly a fixed camera, one of a number fitted to the craft in the early waves.
Well there's a coincidence - he's just come on the telly as there's a colourised documentary on!

 

The North Shores suffered 125 casualties on June 6.
Afterwards, the Regiment was in constant contact with the enemy over the next thirty days, suffering a steady stream of casualties. The 5 day battle at Carpiquet caused over 300 casualties. 132 on July 4th alone. By the end of it, the original North Shore Regiment had effectively died. It ceased to be a 'regional' regiment after July 1944, due to the attrition in the ranks from casualties.

Within the Canadian Army, the North Shores were regarded as very tough men.

"Drawn from a rural part of a very rural province, the NSR had no stellar lineage or great social cachet. Its ranks were filled with farmers, fishermen, woodsworkers, and mill hands, drawn largely from tough Scots, Irish, and Acadian settlers along the Baie des Chaleures, the Acadian Peninsula, and the Miramichi River. … They shared many things in common, including a rough pride in eking a living from the land and sea in a tough climate of northern New Brunswick. Most exhibited a self-reliance borne of necessity, were comfortable in the woods with a rifle, understood fieldcraft instinctively, were inured to hardship and privation, and expected to move from job to job without much recognition."
Marc Milner